Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction is upheld by Manhattan court
BREAKING NEWS Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction is upheld by Manhattan court
, updated
Ghislaine Maxwell 's 2021 conviction for helping the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls has been upheld by a US appeals court.
The decision was issued by the Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.
Maxwell, 62, has been serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on five charges for having recruited and groomed four underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
She was described as 'dangerous' during her trial as jurors were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein's various properties.
Judge Alison Nathan said at sentencing that Maxwell was 'central' to Epstein's heinous crimes, not a 'proxy.'
'Ms Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable and played a pivotal role in facilitating sexual abuse,' the judge said.
MailOnline previously reported that Maxwell was 'focused and motivated' for her appeal.
The disgraced socialite has been incarcerated since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defense counsel to have her released on bail.
Maxwell's appeal focused on a 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and federal prosecutors in southern Florida , which she said barred her from being prosecuted in Manhattan 13 years later.
Her lawyer argued that references in Epstein's agreement to the 'United States' signaled the government's intent to bar prosecutions nationwide of 'potential co-conspirators' including four named in the agreement. Maxwell was not among them.
A prosecutor countered that the mention of the United States was a throwaway reference, and Epstein's agreement was intended to bind only prosecutors in southern Florida.
In addition, Maxwell argued in her appeal that prosecutors scapegoated her because Epstein was dead and the public demanded that someone else be held accountable.
She also said her trial was tainted because one juror did not disclose that he had been sexually abused as a child.
In January, DailyMail.com revealed that Maxwell had been telling her fellow inmates in prison to ignore reports on the case and instead promised she would write memoir giving 'the truth'.
A source claimed that Maxwell, who was a close associate of Epstein for years, claimed 'the documents in the news are all false or misinformation' and 'the truth will only come out when her book does.'
The insider said: 'She's bragging about how great it will be but it sounds like the same old lies she has told a thousand times.
'She really thinks she hasn't done anything wrong and that her charges will be dropped when people read it.'
In a self-serving prison interview last year, she denied knowledge of the dead financier's crimes, insisting she regretted ever meeting him and had no idea he was 'capable of evil.'
But hundreds of documents made public in January, relating to a long-settled defamation case filed against Maxwell by Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre, made a mockery of her claims of innocence.
Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, five weeks after being arrested and charged with sex trafficking.
He ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida state prosecution charge and served 13 months in jail, an arrangement now widely considered too lenient.
His victims have since recouped hundreds of millions of dollars from his estate and from banks accused of handling transactions that financed his sexual misconduct.
The scandal has stained or destroyed the reputations of former friends including Britain's Prince Andrew and onetime Barclays CEO Jes Staley.
Maxwell, who was once Epstein's girlfriend, has been serving her sentence in a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida. She is eligible for release in July 2037.