Prince Andrew’s pal disgraced Ghislaine Maxwell has appeal against sex trafficking convictions thrown out by a US court
GHISLAINE Maxwell's appeal against her sex trafficking convictions has been thrown out by a US court.
The 62-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for Prince Andrew's paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the southern district of New York in June 2022.
On Tuesday, judges upheld her five convictions - including sex trafficking minors, conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
The decision - issued by three judges in the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan - was unanimous.
The court said Maxwell's sentence was "procedurally reasonable".
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Maxwell's lawyer had claimed she was immune from prosecution as Epstein had signed an agreement with prosecutors in Florida in 2008 that covered "co-conspirators".
She said it barred her from being prosecuted in Manhattan 13 years later.
But judges said the so-called "sweetheart deal" did not protect her from prosecution.
Maxwell also argued that prosecutors "scapegoated" her because Epstein was dead and the public demanded that someone else be held accountable.
She said her trial was tainted because one juror didn't disclose that he had been sexually abused as a child.
Epstein was found dead in jail in 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
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