Ghislaine Maxwell: prosecutors defend new indictment as July trial looms

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Defense complains of ‘gamesmanship’ and may seek trial delay

Arraignment on new charges due in New York this month

Associated Press in New York
Sat 10 Apr 2021 16.46 EDT

Prosecutors in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell have defended a late expansion of charges against her, saying it became necessary because a woman spoke after the Briton’s arrest about abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.

Prosecutors also told a judge in New York they opposed any move to delay Maxwell’s trial, which is set to begin on 12 July.

The rewritten indictment against the 59-year-old Maxwell, daughter of the press baron Robert Maxwell, was lodged on 29 March. It added sex trafficking charges to allegations Maxwell recruited three teenage girls from 1994 to 1997 for Epstein to sexually abuse. The new charges stretched the conspiracy to 2004.

Two days after the superseding indictment was returned in Manhattan federal court, the defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim called it “shocking, unfair, and an abuse of power”, saying the charges were based on evidence prosecutors had for years.6

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/10/ghislaine-maxwell-prosecutors-defend-new-indictment-july-trial-