I Don’t Believe It But Ghislaine Maxwell Has Been Found GUILTY On 5 of 6 Charges

NYT- Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of a British media mogul and the former companion to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted on Wednesday of conspiring with him over a decade to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls.

A federal jury in Manhattan found Ms. Maxwell, 60, guilty of sex trafficking and the four other charges against her.  She was acquitted of one count of enticing a minor to travel across state lines to engage in an illegal sexual act. 

The trial was widely seen as the courtroom reckoning that Mr. Epstein never had because he was found dead in a Manhattan jail August 2019 while awaiting his own trial.

Well I’ll be damned…

A rollercoaster trial originally predicted to last two to three months, but saw the US government's case start with a hasty 25-minute opening statement, and wrap after just 10 days, and four victim-witnesses.

And a defense case that somehow wrapped even quicker, with witnesses refusing to testify left and right, despite being given extra time to prepare, and a case that looked like it had fallen apart.

It all stank to high hell, and with the jury being instructed by the judge this morning that they were staying all night to reach a verdict, because they were so deadlocked (it appeared), a verdict has been reached.

I’d be lying if I told you I expected this outcome.

I don't think anybody did.

Once the jury started requesting further information on witnesses and asking the judge for clarification it seemed like the beginning of the end. A cloudy case presented by the government, which should have been a slam dunk, the longer deliberations take the worse the it looks. But we were wrong. 

Justice has been served.

She didn’t ask for a plea deal ahead of this trial, (ballsy), and for some bizarre reason she wasn’t offered one in exchange for information, but here’s hoping she starts singing now that the hens have come home to roost. And here’s hoping she stays alive long enough to actually do the singing.