What was ghislaine Maxwell convicted of
Executive summary
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted by a federal jury on December 29, 2021, of five felony counts tied to her role in recruiting, grooming and facilitating underage girls for sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, including sex trafficking of a minor and related transportation and conspiracy offenses [1] [2]. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022, and her conviction and sentence have been upheld on appeal [2] [3] [4].
1. The verdict: five guilty, one acquittal — what the jury found
Jurors in the Southern District of New York returned a guilty verdict on five of the six counts in the superseding indictment on December 29, 2021, finding Maxwell criminally responsible for a scheme that prosecutors said ran from about 1994 to 2004 to recruit and groom minor girls for sexual encounters with Jeffrey Epstein; the jury acquitted her on the single substantive enticement count while convicting her on multiple conspiracy, transport and sex trafficking counts [5] [6] [2].
2. The specific charges that produced convictions
The convictions included 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 with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor — core federal counts that together described both the recruitment/grooming role and the cross‑jurisdictional movement of victims for sexual abuse [2] [3].
3. Sentence, enforcement and judicial review
After conviction, Maxwell received a 20‑year custodial sentence in June 2022; the Department of Justice emphasized that the sentence held her accountable for “perpetrating heinous crimes against children” as described in the indictment and trial record [2]. Federal appellate review rejected multiple grounds for reversal — including arguments about Jeffrey Epstein’s 2007 non‑prosecution agreement, statute‑of‑limitations claims, alleged juror bias, and alleged constructive amendment of the indictment — with the Second Circuit affirming the district court judgment and describing no reversible error in the complex proceedings [3] [5] [7].
4. Defense challenges and unresolved claims raised by Maxwell
Maxwell’s legal team filed multiple post‑trial motions and appeals asserting juror misconduct, suppression of material evidence, and that Epstein’s prior non‑prosecution agreement in Florida should have barred her prosecution; those arguments have been litigated in district and appellate courts and were rejected by the Second Circuit, though Maxwell and her lawyers have continued to press claims in further filings and habeas petitions [8] [3] [7]. Maxwell’s filings have also alleged that numerous Epstein associates reached confidential settlements with the government, a contention her lawyers say could have affected jury deliberations, but those allegations remain part of ongoing litigation and have not altered the criminal judgments against her [9] [10].
5. Public and institutional reactions, and the legal curtain‑call
Major media and official statements framed the conviction as vindication for victims who testified at trial, while Maxwell’s supporters and defense counsel have cast the prosecution as flawed and politically charged; federal prosecutors and the trial record emphasize the pattern of recruitment, grooming and transportation of underage victims, and higher courts have so far declined to reopen the verdict, with the Supreme Court declining to hear at least one appeal and appellate courts upholding the conviction [2] [4] [11]. Reporting and court opinions make clear what she was convicted of — sex trafficking and related conspiracies tied to Epstein’s abuse of minors — while certain collateral allegations Maxwell raises continue to be litigated or remain publicly disputed [1] [6] [3].