Ghislaine Maxwell Files For Retrial For Sex-Trafficking Case
Maxwell's lawyers have filed for a retrial weeks after she was convicted of five out of the six charges she faced.
Ghislaine Maxwell has officially filed a motion for a retrial, weeks after she was found guilty on child sex trafficking charges.
The 60-year-old former socialite was found guilty on five out of the six charges in helping American financier Jeffrey Epstein traffic and abuse teenage girls.
The landmark ruling was announced in December and Maxwell awaits sentencing. She faces up to 65 years in jail.
However, the retrial request comes after a juror told the Independent that he used his own experience of being sexually abused to influence the verdict decided with the other jurors.
Earlier this month, lawyers for Maxwell wrote to Judge Alison Nathan regarding the issue of the juror and said it was “incontrovertible grounds" for a new trial.
A letter sent by Maxwell’s defence lawyer, Bobbie C. Sternheim to U.S. district judge Alison Nathan on Wednesday, said: “Today, counsel for Ghislaine Maxwell filed her motion for a new trial.”
The letter also requests that all submissions from “juror no. 50” remain under seal until the court decides on the motion for a retrial.
During Maxwell’s month-long trial, accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14 were told in court by four women, who described being abused as teenagers in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York and New Mexico.
Deliberations between the jurors took five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of five of six counts.
The five counts Maxwell was found guilty of includes sex trafficking of an individual under the age of 18 and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
The one count she was found not guilty was enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
Maxwell is thought to have remained closely associated with Epstein until he was prosecuted to procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute in 2008.
After Epstein was arrested again in 2019, Maxwell effectively went into hiding, communicating with the courts only through her lawyers.
She was found in a remote New Hampshire location in July last year, after the FBI managed to track Maxwell's location through mobile phone calls to her sister Isobel and her legal representatives.
This week, Maxwell and Epstein’s friendship with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has received renewed attention after ITV aired the documentary, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, which featured interviews with two of Epstein and Maxwell’s victims.
Teresa Helm and Lisa Phillips gave testimonies about meeting Maxwell and trusting her as well as the abuse they survived.
If you have been affected by any of the content in this article, you can find help, support and advice at The Survivor's Trust.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: News, Jeffrey Epstein
Gregory Robinson