Ghislaine Maxwell Appeals Sex Trafficking Conviction And Sentence

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Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has filed an appeal after she was convicted of grooming and trafficking young girls to be abused by sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein and sentenced to two decades in prison.

Ghislaine Maxwell during The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefiting Wall Street Rising Starring … [+] Rod Stewart at Ciprianis Wall Street in New York City, New York.

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Key Facts

According to documents filed Thursday by her legal team in the Southern District of New York, Maxwell is appealing both her conviction and her sentence, a 20-year prison stint and a $750,000 fine.

Her appeal has been directed to the US Court of Appeals, according to the docket.

Maxwell’s legal team previously signaled she would appeal the sentence, and her attorney Bobbi Sternheim did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Tangent

The filling did not include an argument for why the sentence and conviction should be overturned, but Maxwell previously argued that the trial should have been thrown out after it was revealed that one of the jurors was a victim of sexual abuse and failed to disclose the information on pre-trial forms. Her legal team also argued that some of the victims were above the age of consent in some of the states where the abuse took place.

Key Background

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $750,000 last week after she was convicted in April of five of six charges brought against her, including sex trafficking, transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and conspiracy. Her conviction rested heavily on the testimony of four women who told the court that Maxwell groomed them as teenagers for Epstein, and sometimes participated in the abuse. Maxwell pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence, saying she too was manipulated by Epstein. At her sentencing, Maxwell called herself “a victim of helping Jeffrey Epstein commit these crimes,” and court documents show she blames her father, the late disgraced British media billionaire Robert Maxwell, for her getting involved with Epstein. Her father’s “psychologically abusive treatment” of Maxwell “foreshadowed Epstein’s own ability to exploit, manipulate and control her,” her legal team wrote.

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