Ghislaine Maxwell prosecutors will drop perjury charges if there is no retrial in the sex trafficking case | US news

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The two perjury charges against Ghislaine Maxwell will be dropped if she is allowed to be found guilty of aiding Jeffrey Epstein in the sexual assault.

The charges are set to be the subject of a separate trial, but prosecutors said dismissing the case would help victims “close” and avoid “the trauma of testifying again”.

The offer to drop the charges came in a letter Monday evening to District Judge Alison Nathan.

Maxwell allegedly lied about her knowledge of Epstein’s behavior in a separate civil lawsuit in 2016. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted last month of trafficking underage girls for sexually assaulting Jeffrey Epstein and faces up to 65 years in prison.

She was accused of recruiting and grooming four teens for Epstein to molest massage rooms between 1994 and 2004 at his various properties.

In the letter, prosecutors also asked the judge to sentence Maxwell within three to four months.

More on Ghislaine Maxwell

Calling for a new experience

Defense attorneys oppose any timetable because they called for a retrial in the main case after two of the jurors who convicted her said they had been sexually assaulted.

They told Judge Nathan that the case “provides indisputable grounds for a new trial.”

Maxwell’s attorney was given until January 19 to formally explain his reasons for overturning the conviction. Plaintiffs will have until February 2nd to respond.

Epstein, an American financier, was found dead in his New York cell in August 2019, with the coroner concluding that it was a suicide.

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