National
Maxwell Is Now Charged With Sex-Trafficking a 14-Year-Old
- New charge alone carries a maximum prison sentence of 40 years
- Government alleges a decade of crimes stretching into 2004
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Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, faces two additional criminal charges and a new accuser who prosecutors say was about 14 when she was groomed as a victim of the duo’s alleged sex-trafficking scheme.
The revised indictment raises the already steep stakes for Maxwell, 59, who could spend decades in prison if convicted. Her lawyers have argued that the government’s case is weak because it’s based on decades-old allegations from three women. On Monday, prosecutors added more heft to it, expanding the time frame of the alleged crimes from a few years in the 1990s to a decade and directly accusing Maxwell of sex trafficking of minors stretching into 2004.