A judge has denied Ghislaine Maxwell's motion to overturn the sex trafficking conviction after one of jurors confessed he had been sexually abused in the past and described his experiences in the deliberations.
At the same, the judge combine all three of Maxwell's conspiracy counts into one, decreasing the overall number of counts from five to three. However, she is still facing a harsh sentence, since the other two charges combined may bring her a maximum of 50 years in prison.
Maxwell's legal team tried to go for a retrial after one of jurors said under oath on 8 March that he had failed to indicate that he was a victim of sexual abuse, saying he had made an "inadvertent mistake" in filling out his jury questionnaire form.
Ghislaine Maxwell attends the 2014 ETM (EDUCATION THROUGH MUSIC) Children's Benefit Gala at Capitale on May 6, 2014 in New York City.
© ROB KIM
Maxwell, an ex-girlfriend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted on 29 December 2021 due to her role in sex trafficking of minors, which allowed the billionaire to sexually abuse underage girls.
After her conviction, Maxwell was put in a room at the prison with a psychiatrist and two other cellmates, including a guard, in order to ensure her security. This step was taken after Epstein was found dead in his New York federal jail cell in 2019 - which was proclaimed a suicide.