Federal judge upholds Maxwell’s conviction following retrial bid

Federal Judge Alison Nathan upheld a guilty verdict against Ghislaine Maxwell after the validity of the conviction was questioned due to a juror’s mistake made on a questionnaire. 

Attorneys for Maxwell, a British socialite and former girlfriend of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, filed for a retrial after it was discovered a man, called Juror 50, said that he was never sexually abused on a questionnaire that was meant to screen for bias in the jury selection process.

It was discovered the man told his story of abuse during deliberations in the case, causing Maxwell’s lawyers to call for a retrial.

Nathan ruled on Friday that she does not believe the juror purposely lied about his abuse to get on the jury. The judge further stated the juror did not display bias and the lawyers did not reach the level of evidence needed for a retrial. 

Nathan’s decision upholds Maxwell’s guilty verdict after she was convicted in December of five out of the six charges against her. The charges included enticing minors to travel to engage in sex acts, transporting minors with the intent of having them engage in criminal sexual activity and perjury.

She was found not guilty on one count of enticing a minor to travel to engage illegal sex acts.

The Friday decision came almost a month after the juror testified to the judge regarding the mistake on the questionnaire. 

“This was one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made in my life,” the man told Nathan in March. “I didn’t lie in order to get on this jury.”

The man told Reuters he only shared his experience because jurors during the deliberations questioned why victims who testified in Maxwell’s trial had faulty memories of their experiences.

“When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse,” he said.