EXCLUSIVE: ‘She is shocked and perturbed by the decision’: Child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother blasts judge’s ‘loaded’ refusal to grant her a retrial after ‘deeply tainted’ conviction
- Ian Maxwell, 69, says the case against his sister Ghislaine was loaded against her from the start
- Lawyers for the former socialite, 60, sought a retrial when it emerged that one of the jurors in her case had been sexually abused, but failed to disclose it
- But a judge in the US rejected the application, which has left Maxwell and her family fuming
- Ian, who has supported his sister throughout her sex trafficking trial, said the family is planning to appeal
- Maxwell, a friend of Prince Andrew, was convicted of procuring underage girls for sex with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and faces 65 years in jail
- Speaking for the first time about it, Ian said: ‘The verdict was unsafe by virtue of this juror and the decision is deeply tainted’
Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother says the family is ‘shocked’ and ‘perturbed’ by a judge’s decision to reject a retrial request – saying it was ‘loaded’ against her.
The former socialite and close pal of Prince Andrew was found guilty last year but it later emerged jury member Scotty David had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child.
Her family and legal team say this swayed the jury to find her guilty of being a recruiter of teenage girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and she now could face 65 years in jail.
Defence lawyers had hoped they could secure a retrial for Maxwell, 60, after the juror revelations emerged but last week district judge Alison Nathan dismissed the request.
Ghislaine Maxwell is pictured with her ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell, 60, has been denied a retrial after her December conviction on sex trafficking charges
Maxwell (pictured in a court sketch during her trial) was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and faces 65 years in jail
Speaking for the first time about it, Maxwell’s brother Ian said: ‘To say we were shocked is understated, clearly Ghislaine was also very perturbed by it, if I had to summarise it, the dice were loaded by the court.
‘The verdict was unsafe by virtue of this juror and the decision is deeply tainted.
‘This is going to go to appeal. It’s just one of many points of appeal pretrial, in trial, post-trial and we are confident that Ghislaine will be successful on appeal.’
He also slammed the US judicial system saying that it was always going to be against his sister and said: ‘The prosecution held an infamous press conference the day of her arrest, they pointed to a picture of Epstein and my sister, and the implication was that she was guilty which meant it was open season on Ghislaine and it’s never let up.
Her brother Ian Maxwell (above) has blasted the judge’s decision to deny her a retrial
‘There is no possibility in English system prosecutor hold a press conference and say this woman is guilty before any trial has taken place. Ghislaine was depicted as some evil moll, its grotesque.’
‘Numerous accusers who were not called in this trial, lawyers have been vociferous and none of it has been put to the test. It’s just drip, drip, drip.’
Speaking to journalist Jay Beecher of his sister’s case, Ian, 66, said: ‘It’s got sex, it’s got death, these guys dying in prison, it’s got royalty, it’s got money, it’s got famous people, young girls, everything you could dream of, all the elements are there.’
He also suggested the Me Too social movement against sexual abuse and harassment had also played it’s part in Maxwell’s guilty verdict last December in a New York court.
Ian explained: ‘This has also had an enormous impact, all women must be believed, all victims must be believed
‘But we know in this county, that so called victims turn out not to be victims, Carl Beech (invented claims of widespread establishment sex abuse) would be the finest example of that.
‘These kinds of things go on and jury verdicts have been overturned time and time again and obviously we hope this is going to happen on this occasion as well.
‘All this forms a powerful package of appeal points that for me show this trial was not fair, with on top of that the lying juror.’
Ian added: ‘My sister has been banged up now, it will be two years in July, she is in horrendous incarceration, she is in isolation, she is on suicide watch, she continues to have torches shone in her eyes every 15 minutes to make sure she is still breathing.
Maxwell was convicted of procuring underage girls for sex with paedophile Epstein. Court Evidence pics show her giving his a foot massage against the breasts on a private plane
In this courtroom sketch, Maxwell enters the courtroom escorted by U.S. Marshalls at the start of her trial, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in New York
Maxwell was found guilty last year but it later emerged that jury member Scotty David (pictured) had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child
‘She is denied all kinds of rights and opportunities. It’s a shocker, she was already frail mentally and physically at the start of the trial and I think this impacted for sure on whether she would give evidence in her own defence knowing what an aggressive affair that would have been.
‘These kind of conditions in a first world country should not be acceptable, they are not acceptable in our country and they should not be acceptable in America but they appear to be.’
He also questioned why given the amount of accusations she has made, Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew was not called to testify.
Ian said: ‘I think they realised she would have had a very difficult time under cross examination and that she could have done more damage than helped the prosecution’s cause.
‘If you have a powerful witness, whom you believe is telling the truth and whose combination of the truth and the way they can tell that truth sincerely, hand on heart, look the jury in the eye and say this happened, you are going to use that person because it’s going to be very effective.
‘The fact they didn’t use her tells us all we already know; they couldn’t not stand her up under cross examination because of the tremendous multiple inconsistences in her prior accounts on almost every subject for years. That is why I believe they did not run with this particular witness.’
When asked how his sister was coping in jail Ian admitted they family was concerned for her welfare.
He said: ‘We all have to be worried about that because she has now been banged up for two years.
Ghislaine Maxwell in June 2019 (pictured front) with her six living siblings. Ian Maxwell, her older brother, top right, shared the photo in March 2021. A month after it was taken, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and Ghislaine went into hiding with her husband, Scott Borgerson. The siblings, L-R, are: Anne, Kevin, twins Isabel and Christine, Philip, and Ian
Her siblings left to right: Kevin Maxwell, Christine Maxwell, Isabel Maxwell, and Ian Maxwell were all seen walking to the New York court for her trial on December 20 last year
‘She’s had this terrible rollercoaster of arrest, then lost three, four, five bail applications consistently turned down for reasons that are wrong because the court doesn’t want to find itself on the wrong side of public opinion.
‘So, she has really had a dose of it, the way treatment has been dished out in jail has been really shocking but I know that she remains resolute, she is determined to see this through, she believes in her innocence completely of the charges that she faces.
‘She is getting on with preparing her appeal, the next thing coming is her sentencing and obviously we are not holding our breath that there is not going to be some incredibly savage sentence and I suspect nor is she, but we are absolutely determined that justice will prevail for Ghislaine.
‘However unpopular it is and however counter to the prevailing narrative this is about the justice system doing what it should do and that the basis of why we have appeal courts and it may have to go the Supreme Court.
‘Regardless of what this court has decided, on the basis of what it has decided we are confident that on that central point of the appeal, not to mention the other points that Ghislaine will be successful.
‘She has hope, she has a strong and supportive family. We have hope we are going to fight.’
Maxwell is due to be sentenced in June.
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