What crimes was Ghislaine Maxwell convicted of in 2021?

1. The convictions — what the jury found

A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Maxwell on five of six counts: sex trafficking of a minor; transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; and multiple conspiracy counts related to enticing and transporting minors and sex-trafficking conspiracy — all tied to allegations she helped recruit and groom underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein between about 1994 and 2004 ^{[2] [1] [4]}.

2. How the Department of Justice described the offenses

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Maxwell “assisted, facilitated, and participated” in Epstein’s abuse by recruiting, grooming and causing minor victims to travel to his residences so they could be sexually abused; the DOJ lists the specific convictions as conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor ^[1].

3. The lone acquittal and jury deliberation

Jurors deliberated for about 40 hours and acquitted Maxwell on one charge — enticement of an individual under 17 to travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity — while finding her guilty on the other five counts, reflecting the jury’s nuanced decision-making across closely related statutory counts ^{[4] [5]}.

4. Sentencing and post-conviction posture

Following the conviction, Maxwell received a 20-year federal sentence in June 2022; subsequent reporting and court rulings show her convictions were upheld on appeal, with the Second U.S. Circuit affirming the five convictions in 2024 and her legal team signaling plans to pursue further appeals ^{[1] [3] [6]}.

5. Scope of alleged conduct described at trial

Prosecutors presented evidence alleging Maxwell enticed and groomed multiple underage girls for abuse at Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and elsewhere, and they characterized her role as actively recruiting and facilitating travel so victims could be abused — a factual narrative the DOJ and major outlets repeat in summaries of the case ^{[1] [4] [3]}.

6. Sources, disputes and legal challenges

Maxwell’s defense raised multiple challenges — including claims about trial preparation and juror issues — and has continued to contest the verdict up the courts; the appeals court rejected those arguments in 2024, and Maxwell’s lawyers indicated intentions to pursue Supreme Court review ^{[5] [3]}. The reporting and court documents show dispute over legal procedure and strategy, but not over the jury’s factual finding of guilt on five counts ^{[5] [3]}.

7. How major reference sources summarize the conviction

Reference and news outlets uniformly summarize the outcome as a December 2021 guilty verdict on five sex-trafficking–related counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, with contemporaneous write-ups explaining the charges, the jury’s split verdict on one count, and later appellate rulings upholding the convictions ^{[2] [4] [3]}.

8. What available sources do not discuss

Available sources in this packet do not delve into every evidentiary detail presented at trial (for example, full witness lists or transcripts) and do not offer a complete catalogue of all defense arguments beyond summarized appellate claims; they do, however, provide the essential counts of conviction and the prosecution’s framing of Maxwell’s role (not found in current reporting).

Contextual note: reporting here is drawn from DOJ materials, mainstream news outlets and reference summaries supplied above; where these materials agree, this account states those facts directly, and where defendants have protested or appealed, that disagreement is noted and cited ^{[1] [4] [3]}.