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British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell convicted of sex trafficking
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This combination of pictures created on July 2, 2020 shows Ghislaine Maxwell (L) during an event on September 20, 2013 in New York City and an undated handout photo obtained on July 11, 2019 courtesy of the New York State Sex Offender Registry of Jeffrey Epstein (R). (New York State Sex Offender Registry/AFP/Handout/Laura Cavanaugh)
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ritish socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty in New York on Wednesday of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell faces spending the rest of her life behind bars after the 12-person jury convicted her on five of the six counts she was facing, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor.
The conviction, just days after she turned 60 on Christmas, caps a remarkable fall from grace for the Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, who grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty.
She sat passively in the Manhattan courtroom, slowly removing her mask to take sips of water, after Judge Alison Nathan read out the verdicts, reached after five full days of deliberation by the jury.
Afterwards, Maxwell's attorney, Bobbi Sternheim, said her legal team was already working on an appeal and they were "confident that she will be vindicated."
"We firmly believe in Ghislaine's innocence. Obviously we are very disappointed with the verdict," Sternheim told reporters outside the courthouse.
Sex trafficking of minors carries a maximum 40-year sentence. The lesser charges have terms of five or 10 years. Maxwell was found not guilty of one count -- enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
