The federal case in which Ghislaine was accused of assisting Jeffrey Epstein in his decadelong scheme of grooming and sexually abusing girls as young as 14 years old ended on Wednesday after she was found guilty of sex trafficking charges.
The Associated Press reported that she was found guilty of five federal charges. She will face years in prison.
In the government's closing argument, the assistant US Attorney described the woman as a dangerous one.
She was a predator who knew what she was doing. She ran the same thing over and over. She groomed her victims for sexual abuse. She harmed young girls for a long time. It is time to hold her accountable.
The daughter of a British media magnate was the former girlfriend and associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. With his death coming before he faced a jury, the case marked a major milestone in a saga that has stretched decades, only drawing renewed attention after a series of articles in the Miami Herald highlighted how the justice system had failed the women who said they were abused.
She was arrested on July 20, 2020, after vanishing from the public eye for more than a year. The FBI used data and coordinates from her cellphone to track her. She has been held without bail since her arrest. She was found guilty of conspiracy to entice minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and sex trafficking of a minor. She was found not guilty of enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
"I want to commend the bravery of the girls who stepped out of the shadows and into the courtroom, now grown women," US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the verdict was announced. The result is possible because of their courage and willingness to face their abusers.
The government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt, so there is no need for her to testify.
Four women testified during the three-week trial that they were sexually abused while they were between the ages of 14 and 17 by Epstein and that he assisted in grooming them and occasionally participated in the abuse herself. According to prosecutors and the victims' testimonies, the two men sought out vulnerable young girls, particularly those in need of money, with single mothers and difficult home lives, and made them feel special and cared for, taking them shopping and to the movies, offering to pay for school, and asking
The rich and famous were friends of Maxwell and Epstein. One of the victims said they introduced her to both Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, but did not accuse either of them of any wrongdoing. The former pilot of the private jet testified that Trump, Clinton, Spacey, Tucker, Glenn, Mitchell, and Perlman were passengers.
During the grooming process, Maxwell would bring up sexual topics, being naked or topless around them, and encourage them to give Epstein massages. The women said that these massages were used by Epstein to initiate sexual contact with his victims and give them the impression that what they were doing was normal. The sexual abuse would go on for years with the girls often being flown on the private jet of the man.
The women said that they were told to have sex with Epstein. Three of the witnesses testified that she had touched their breasts. One said that she was made to participate in group sexual encounters with a couple and other people, and another said that she was made to wear a schoolgirl outfit to serve tea.
One of the victims testified under the name Jane and said that it made her feel confused. You don't know what's going on when you're 14.
The prosecutor said in her closing argument that this was the reason why Maxwell was key to the whole operation.
"Epstein could not have done this alone," he said. A middle-aged man who invites a teenage girl to visit his ranch, to come to his house, to fly to New York, is very strange. That sets off alarm bells.
When that man is accompanied by a woman of a certain age, everything starts to seem legit. When that woman encourages those girls to massage that man, she makes them into a trap, because she acts like it is normal for the man to touch those girls. The man can get away with molesting girls if he silences the alarm bells.
In the trial and in their closing argument, defense attorneys questioned the witnesses' memories of the abuse, questioning whether their memories were faulty or even invented. They accused the women of being out for money because they had received large settlements from the compensation fund for the victims of Epstein.
They said that she was being treated as a scapegoat because he was no longer alive to face the consequences.
Laura Menninger hammered these points home in the defense's closing argument, claiming that the women had "erroneous memories" and that their "stories have changed dramatically over time." She said one of the accusers was like an actress who forgot her lines, and that they had not been certain of the details.
Menninger said that Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein. She is being tried for being with Jeffrey Epstein. Maybe that was the biggest mistake of her life, but it wasn't a crime.
The government told the jury to not get distracted by the defense's nonsense.
The defense is desperate for you not to believe the women because of the mountain of evidence, said the assistant US Attorney. If you think about the arguments for a little bit, you will see that they don't hold any water.
The defense tried to undermine the accusers' memories by including details of the defendant grooming them in the same way.
She said that some things are ingrained in your brain forever.
The idea that Maxwell was unaware of the abuse was described as laughable by the defense.
He was attracted to the girls because he wanted to have sex with them. She was suggested that she didn't know borders.
The jury was asked to use their common sense and believe the testimony of the four women who took the stand.
The defendants didn't think that the teenage girls would have the strength to report what happened to them. In her eyes, they were just trash. Who would believe those girls if they ever stood up to Jeffrey and Ghislaine?
She said that the defendants didn't count on those teenage girls growing up into the women who testified at the trial, who would be willing to tell the truth about what happened.
