Epstein case: Ghislaine Maxwell appeals sex trafficking conviction
Ghislaine Maxwell lived for several years with financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in New York, where he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has appealed her 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking underage girls for the benefit of deceased US financier Jeffrey Epstein, US media reported on Wednesday.
At the end of 2021, Ms Maxwell had been found guilty of having recruited young girls so that Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in 2019 before being tried, could abuse his #x27;they sexually. His sentence was set at 20 years in prison at the end of June 2022.
During his trial, the prosecution had succeeded in convincing the court that the daughter of ex-media magnate Robert Maxwell had played a “key” role in the schemes set up between 1994 and 2004 to pushing teenage girls aged 14 to 17 to give Epstein massages during which he abused them.
Lawyers for the 61-year-old Briton appealed her conviction, saying she had not received a fair trial and that American justice had made her a scapegoat for lack of ;to have been able to judge Mr. Epstein, according to legal documents filed Tuesday evening and revealed by several American media.
Ghislaine Maxwell recruited young girls to then deliver them to Jeffrey Epstein who had sex with them in exchange for money.
The government prosecuted Ms Maxwell […] respond to public outrage over an unpopular waiver agreement and the death of the main perpetrator, defense attorney Arthur Aidala wrote in a statement quoted by ABC News. p>
According to her lawyers, Ms Maxwell should have benefited from an agreement reached in 2007 by federal prosecutors in Florida and Mr Epstein guaranteeing the non-prosecution of his possible accomplices, and was also convicted for acts prescribed.
Castigating the authorities' zeal to hold Ms Maxwell responsible for Epstein's crimes, her lawyers also again denounced the April 2022 dismissal of Epstein; a request for a new trial, which was based on the alleged bias of a juror.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were in a relationship in the early 1990s before becoming professional collaborators and accomplices for their sexual crimes for nearly 30 years.
In a separate part of this file with international ramifications, British Prince Andrew, friend of the Maxwell-Epstein pair, had sealed in February 2022 a financial agreement with the American Virginia Giuffre, herself the alleged victim of the couple, who accused her of having sexually assaulted her in 2001 when she was a minor.
