NEW YORK: A request for a new trial by Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Jeffrey Epstein associate who was convicted of child sex trafficking late last year, was denied on Friday by a federal judge in New York.

Maxwell’s lawyers filed for a retrial in January after juror Scotty David — identified by his first and middle names — told media outlets he had persuaded fellow panelists to convict the 60-year-old by recalling his own experiences as a sex abuse victim, a fact he did not reveal during jury selection.

Maxwell, a disgraced British socialite, was convicted of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late US financier Jeffrey Epstein. Her sentence, which will be decided on June 28, could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.

Two of Epstein’s victims, identified as “Jane” and “Carolyn,” testified in Maxwell’s trial that they were as young as 14 when she began grooming them and arranging for them to give massages to Epstein that ended in sexual activity.

Scotty David, referred to as Juror 50 in court filings, said in interviews that he had helped convince jurors who were doubting the accounts of “Jane” and “Carolyn” by telling them that he did not remember every single detail of the abuse he had received.

Maxwell’s lawyers had argued that Juror 50’s omission of his prior sexual assault could have biased the jury. He had said the omission occurred because he “flew through” the questionnaire. Her circle included Britain’s Prince Andrew, former US president and real estate baron Donald Trump and the Clinton family. Prosecutors in her trial said Maxwell was “the key” to Epstein’s scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022