Convicted & Sentenced to 20 years! Ghislaine Maxwell trial begins (11.29.2021)

[Howl]

Will be interesting to see if there are any bombshells. 

Anyway, conviction may be an uphill slog. Ghislaine Maxwell Heads to Court for a Sex Trafficking Trial a Quarter Century in the Making. Here’s What to Look for.

I've always wondered where the evidence went that was collected at Epstein's NY mansion, which was supposed to be loaded with cameras and black mail materials and if any of that will have bearing on this particular trial.  Maxwell may have more trials coming up for perjury. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by hoipolloi

[Cartmann99]

 

[Cartmann99]

Yesterday's testimony:

 

[Cartmann99]

Article on today's testimony:

 

[Chickenbutt]

Twitter Users Freak After Ghislaine Maxwell Matches Suspect Sketch for Madeleine McCann Disappearance (westernjournal.com)

 

[Howl]

8 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

Twitter Users Freak After Ghislaine Maxwell Matches Suspect Sketch for Madeleine McCann Disappearance (westernjournal.com)

Not sure where to go with this...😱   What does it all mean?

[Chickenbutt]

I dunno either. If I had mad computer skills, I would be all over this trying to track where Maxwell was during the pertinent timeframe. 

[Howl]

Stunning likeness to Maxwell in the sketch, but in June 2020 a German citizen was identified as a prime suspect in the Madeline McCann abduction: 

Madeleine McCann: police identify German paedophile as new prime suspect  Man in jail on another charge was living near where toddler vanished in Portugal in 2007

Madeleine McCann: What is known about the German suspect? (trigger warning) 

I think if Maxwell was involved in the sexual abuse of young children, some evidence of that would have been exposed by now.  If there was any evidence of it, it's what she would be on trial for today or already in prison.  That said, she led an international life of wealth and freedom, and money can be used to cover a lot of sins. 

Epstein's paraphilia was laser focused on young teen- to mid-teen girls.  It doesn't seem as though Maxwell also had a paraphilia, but acted as a sociopathic/psychopathic/amoral accomplice. 

Closing arguments in the Ghislaine Maxwell case are underway today. 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Howl

[adidas]

She has been found guilty on 5 of the 6 charges! 

[Howl]

Fantastic news!  IANAL (or a judge) she's a huge flight risk & won't be released before sentencing. 

[WiseGirl]

From article "After her guilty verdict, Ghislaine Maxwell has two options: Cooperate with investigators and start naming names or appeal the decision."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-could-cooperate-or-appeal-after-guilty-verdict-2021-12%3famp

BBC article about Prince Andrew connection.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59780323

Charges explained.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/26/us/ghislaine-maxwell-charges/index.html
 

[Gobsmacked]

Prince Andrew will be shaking in his boots. I don’t think we will hear of him being arrested until after the Queens death. Hopefully then it will be open season and he will be charged etc. IMO he is totally involved. 

[EmmieJ]

Saw on my news feed this morning that the BBC had Alan Dershowitz on to discuss the Maxwell verdict!  They are apparently getting a lot of negative feedback (rightly so), but how in the hell did that even happen?  That was a purposeful decision.

[Howl]

1 hour ago, EmmieJ said:

They are apparently getting a lot of negative feedback (rightly so), but how in the hell did that even happen?  That was a purposeful decision.

It was more like a chorus of hundreds of thousands of women screaming "WTAF, you incompetent morons. READ THE ROOM!!!!!!!!!"

BBC is going to look into it and try to understand how it happened.  No, SRSLY, that was the essence of their statement.  Again, and I can't emphasize this enough, WTAF, BBC?  

[Ozlsn]

Interesting article about the defence's attempt to claim the accusers had false memories.

I hadn't realised Professor Elizabeth Loftus was testifying - I only came across her through "Oh no! Ross and Carrie have a podcast", and made it about two thirds of the way through the one she was interviewed on before turning it off in disgust (she started essentially blaming women for being raped.). She struck me then as someone who had started by doing interesting research, but had then started believing her own publicity - from the comments I wasn't alone in that.

Her testimony was very effectively countered by the prosecution, and the article goes into the difference between "normal" and "traumatic" memory retention. What really pissed me off though was this:

"Maxwell's defence team has centred its case around the idea that the prospect of financial gain can be enough to plant a false memory. Here's their theory: These victims saw the media coverage of the accusations against Epstein, and then discovered in 2019 when he died in a Manhattan jail cell that his estate planned to dedicate a chunk of his fortune to compensating his victims.

After realising they could make money from Epstein's estate, the women "made up a story" about Ghislaine Maxwell in order to bolster their claims for compensation from the Epstein fund, the defence argues. They heard about the impending criminal case against Maxwell, the theory goes, and believed that co-operating with the government to help prosecute Maxwell would help them get payouts from the fund.

I thought we might have moved past this trope by now — the idea that accusers lie for attention, money, or some other personal gain — but that's a different piece. What's interesting from the perspective of memory is that this trial is the first time Loftus has used her science to support the notion that the desire for cash could cause a human brain to create a false traumatic memory."

So basically how you accuse someone of lying while appearing to be sympathetic to their traumatic memory is to claim that money did it. What. The. Hell. The fact that Loftus testified for the defence and helped advance this pretty bloody awful and ludicrious theory discredits her even further in my eyes. Although she was pretty much already discredited: 

"In some ways, Elizabeth Loftus's science of memory is old hat — it's been used again and again to defend those accused of inflicting trauma on others (in another fascinating moment, the prosecution asked Loftus: "You wrote a book called Witness For The Defence, right?" "Yes." "Have you ever written a book called Impartial Witness?" "No.")."

I hope she is discredited again, and again and again as courts become more trauma informed.

[MadameOvary]

I agree with @Gobsmacked that pedo Andy won't be brought to justice before the queen's death. If then. But why is he the only one that is even that close to being arrested? He sure as hell wasn't the only man enjoying Epstein's "hospitality" what with ex-presidents and half of Hollywood known to be regular guests. Ghislaine Maxwell also had ample time before she was arrested to make sure the information and evidence is out there as a life insurance for her. Yet here we are: a woman is jailed but the men seemingly protected. Disgusting, but I'm not surprised.

[Howl]

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in the pen today.  Yup, a 20-year staycation in the Gray Bar Hotel. 

 

[WiseGirl]