Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty in Epstein sex abuse case
LA TimesBritish socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein. With the maximum prison term for each charge ranging from five to 40 years in prison, Maxwell faces the likelihood of years behind bars — an outcome long sought by women who spent years fighting in civil courts to hold Maxwell accountable for her role in recruiting and grooming Epstein’s teenage victims, and sometimes joining in the sexual abuse. They said the script would darken when Maxwell coaxed them into giving massages to Epstein that turned sexual, encounters she played off as normal: After one sexual massage, Kate, then 17, said Maxwell asked her if she’d had fun and told her: “You are such a good girl.” Carolyn testified that she was one of several underprivileged teens who lived near Epstein’s Florida home in the early 2000s and took up an offer to give massages in exchange for $100 bills, which prosecutors described as “a pyramid of abuse.” Maxwell made all the arrangements, Carolyn told the jury, even though she knew the girl was only 14 at the time. She declined to take the risk of testifying, telling the judge: “The government has not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt so there is no reason for me to testify.” “The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things that Jeffrey Epstein did,” one of Maxwell’s lawyers, Bobbi Sternheim, told the jury.