Ghislaine Maxwell loses bid to dismiss sex trafficking indictment, despite Cosby claim
The 59-year-old British socialite has pleaded not guilty to the eight-count indictment
A US judge on Friday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to dismiss her sex-trafficking indictment, which the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein claimed was justified by the recent overturning of Bill Cosby's 2018 sexual assault conviction.
US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said she was not bound by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's June 30 decision to free https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bill-cosbys-sexual-assault-conviction-i... Cosby, and that Maxwell had not been promised she would not be prosecuted, as the Pennsylvania court said Cosby had.
Nathan also rejected Maxwell's arguments that prosecutors waited too long to charge her with sex trafficking between 2001 and 2004, saying Congress's 2006 elimination of the statute of limitations applied retroactively.
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Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 59-year-old British socialite has pleaded not guilty to the eight-count indictment, which concerns her alleged efforts to find and groom underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.
Maxwell is being held in a Brooklyn jail, and could face 80 years in prison if convicted.
