Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five of the six charges against her at her sex-trafficking trial Wednesday evening – capping a stunning fall for the disgraced British socialite, who groomed underage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse while mingling with the rich and famous.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued in closing statements in Manhattan federal court that she was an innocent scapegoat in the Epstein saga – while prosecutors labeled her a “sophisticated predator” who exploited young, vulnerable girls.
Since the start of Maxwell’s trial Nov. 29, prosecutors sought to portray her to jurors as inexorably linked to Epstein, including in his pursuit of underage girls to sexually abuse.
“Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein’s right hand,” Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe said in her closing statement.
“Maxwell and Epstein were partners. They were partners in crime who sexually exploited young girls together,” Moe said.
Over the course of three weeks, prosecutors called two dozen witnesses, including four accusers who detailed how Maxwell groomed them for abuse by Epstein – and how she at times participated in the sexual contact.
The first accuser to take the stand, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” told the jury that she met Maxwell and Epstein when the pair approached her at a Michigan arts camp in the early 1990s when she was 14 years old.
From there, the teen was groomed for abuse at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion by Maxwell, who exposed her to nudity and sexualized conversations in an attempt to normalize the behavior, prosecutors alleged.