Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty in sex abuse case

A jury on Wednesday convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of a British medial mogul, of luring girls as young as 14 to be abused by her former boyfriend, the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein. Multiple women accused Epstein of sexually assaulting them while they were teenagers in the 1990s and 2000s, sometimes when Maxwell was present. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial over allegations that he assaulted or raped dozens of underage girls.

What was Maxwell accused of? Four women in the trial said Maxwell, now 60, befriended them and then facilitated Epstein’s sexual assaults against them at his homes while they were teenagers, typically under the ruse of recruiting them to give massages to her companion. One woman identified by the pseudonym “Jane” said Maxwell and Epstein met her at a music camp when she was 14 and later took her shopping for clothes. She testified Maxwell instructed her how to give sexual massages to Epstein and was sometimes in the room when Epstein sexually assaulted her. Maxwell denied the charges, and her lawyers questioned the witnesses’ memories and said prosecutors were using her as a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes. After deliberating for five days, the jury convicted Maxwell of five out of six counts. The judge did not immediately set a date for her sentencing, but she likely faces years in prison.

Dig Deeper: Read Mickey McLean’s report in The Sift about Epstein’s death in jail in 2019.