What Does The Maxwell Verdict Mean For Prince Andrew & Other Alleged High-Profile Sex Abusers?
by: Ekaterina Blinova | Publshed: December 30, 2021
Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, a British socialite and daughter of a media mogul, was found guilty by a US jury on Wednesday of conspiring with American millionaire-paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls.
According to the verdict, read by Judge Alison J. Nathan on Wednesday, the British socialite was found guilty on five of six counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three counts of conspiracy. She was acquitted of one count of enticing a minor to travel across state lines to engage in an illegal sexual act.
Maxwell's trial was largely seen as a continuation of the legal process against American millionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who was arrested in July 2019 and committed suicide a Manhattan jail cell the following month.
Epstein Conspiracy Has Already Ruined Prince Andrew's Life
Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) an alleged victim of Epstein, praised the guilty verdict in the Maxwell trial, calling it "another step towards justice" and adding that more people must be held accountable in an apparent reference to British Queen Elizabeth II's son, Prince Andrew.
Earlier, prosecutors in the Maxwell case decided not to bring charges in connection with Giuffre, who alleges that Epstein and Maxwell flew her around the world when she was 17 and 18 for sexual encounters with billionaires, politicians, heads of state, and royals, including the British prince. Los Angeles attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents several of Epstein's alleged victims, told the Daily Mail that Maxwell's conviction ought to be a warning for Prince Andrew.
On 9 August 2021, Guiffre filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New York against Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was under the age of 18. "US District Judge Lewis Kaplan is due to rule on this on 4 January", notes Fitzwilliams. "If he rules it should go to trial this is expected to be in the latter part of 2022". This is not the first time Guiffre has brought forward accusations against the Duke of York. In 2014, she launched legal action in a Florida state court, claiming that Epstein offered her to his influential peers, including the Prince Andrew. The British prince has repeatedly rejected the allegations.
Fitzwilliams has drawn attention to the embattled prince being forced to step down from royal duties in the wake of the scandal and it appears inconceivable that he will ever resume them. Following the controversial November 2019 interview the prince retired from royal duties, while in February 2020 his name was removed from Pitch@Palace, the startup-mentoring platform founded by him in 2014. He lost patronages and has been missing from military events since the sex scandal erupted.
"At 61, he does not appear to have a future and his friendships have, without doubt, proven catastrophic", Fitzwilliams highlights.
Maxwell Verdict 'Akin to Prosecuting Getaway Driver But Not Bank Robbers'
The outcome of the Maxwell trial has left more questions than answers, Jonathan Turley, an American attorney, legal writer, and a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, who has followed the legal process from the start, argues on Twitter.
Turley refers to the Daily Mail's August 2020 bombshell, showing never-before-seen photographs featuring Bill Clinton and alleged Epstein victim Chauntae Davies. "When you consider these five convictions for Maxwell, this picture becomes more glaring in the total absence of prosecution for the men on the other end of these flights", the American attorney emphasises.
Tags: Date-2021-12-30, ChildAbuse, UK
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