Ghislaine Maxwell loses bid to toss sex trafficking conviction, as sentencing looms

The UK socialite faces decades in prison for helping recruit girls for late financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse

The judge did, however, reject guilty verdicts reached on two counts, reducing the maximum possible sentence by 10 years to 55 years behind bars

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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein are seen in an undated image submitted as evidence for her trial in New York. Photo: US District Court for the Southern District of New York via AFP

Published: 6:31am, 30 Apr 2022Updated: 11:36am, 30 Apr 2022

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday lost a bid to overturn her December 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges, paving the way for her to be sentenced to decades in prison.

Maxwell, 60, who was convicted of helping recruit girls for deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, is expected to be sentenced in June.

US Circuit Judge Alison Nathan ruled on Friday that three counts of the guilty verdict were supported by testimony and evidence presented at Maxwell’s trial in Manhattan federal court.

Nathan, however, rejected the guilty verdicts reached on two of the counts, reducing the maximum possible sentence faced by Maxwell by 10 years to 55 years behind bars.

A selection of headlines from British newspapers is pictured in a store in London in December 2021, the morning after a jury in New York found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: AFP

Nathan said three of the charges effectively covered the same offence, so upheld only one of those three guilty verdicts.

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