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For the survivors of late financier Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell‘s guilty conviction goes a small way toward justice. Today, a US jury found Maxwell guilty on five out of six counts for aiding Epstein in the trafficking of teenage girls for sexual abuse.
Maxwell had been accused of luring and grooming teenagers as young as 14 for former boyfriend Epstein, who passed away in 2019, which occurred between 1994 and 2004.
After deliberating for almost five whole days, the jury delivered the verdict that would see her convicted of conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking of minors.
In the closing arguments last week, Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe referred to Maxwell as Epstein’s “partner in crime”. Addressing the jury Moe said, “Ghislaine Maxwell made her own choices. She committed crimes hand in hand with Jeffrey Epstein. She was a grown woman who knew exactly what she was doing.”
Virginia Giuffre, who has accused Epstein of helping Prince Andrew allegedly sexually abuse her at the age of 17, spoke out on Twitter about the British socialite’s conviction.
“My soul yearned for justice for years and today the jury gave me just that. I will remember this day always. Having lived with the horrors of Maxwell’s abuse, my heart goes out to the many other girls and young women who suffered at her hands and whose lives she destroyed,” she wrote.
My soul yearned for justice for years and today the jury gave me just that. I will remember this day always.
Having lived with the horrors of Maxwell’s abuse, my heart goes out to the many other girls and young women who suffered at her hands and whose lives she destroyed.
1/2— Virginia Giuffre (@VRSVirginia) December 29, 2021
In a separate Tweet, Giuffre continued, “I hope that today is not the end but rather another step in justice being served. Maxwell did not act alone. Others must be held accountable. I have faith that they will be.”
