Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein has been found guilty of five counts of sex abuse. According to Reuters, a jury ruled that they believed Maxwell helped Epstein “sexually abuse teenage girls.”
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Epstein hung himself in his jail cell in August 2019 after being arrested and charged with sex abuse as well. Maxwell and Epstein had known each other for years.
Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Partner in Crime’ Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty of Sex Abuse
As Reuters continued in their report, it is believed Maxwell helped Epstein recruit and groom their victims for at least 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. During her closing statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe told the jury that Maxwell was Epstein’s “partner in crime.”
“Ghislaine Maxwell made her own choices. She committed crimes hand in hand with Jeffrey Epstein. She was a grown woman who knew exactly what she was doing,” Moe continued. Maxwell’s defense argued that she was being used as a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s affair.
“Epstein’s death left a gaping hole in the pursuit of justice for many of these women,” Maxwell’s defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim said. “She’s filling that hole, and filling that empty chair.”
Before coming to the guilty verdict, the jury deliberated for a total of five days. Once her fate was sealed, Maxwell reportedly pulled the mask off her face and poured herself a glass of water.
Before her arrest in July 2020 and a few months after Epstein’s death, Maxwell bought a $1 million dollar home in New Hampshire where she stayed quiet until she was taken into custody. A handful of women spoke out against both Epstein and Maxwell, some saying they were as young as 14 when they were abused by the pair.
Three women, according to Reuters, said even Maxwell touched them inappropriately herself. One of the victims, known as Jane, testified that “Maxwell sometimes took part in her sexual encounters with Epstein and acted as if it was normal.”
“It made me feel confused because that did not feel normal to me,” Jane said. “I’d never seen anything like this or felt anything like this.” Moe said in her statements that it was Maxwell’s job to make the victims feel comfortable so as not to set of “alarm bells” within the victims.
Ghislaine Maxwell will be sentenced at a later date.
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