Judge Alison Nathan handed down her verdict five hours after one of Maxwell’s lawyers pointed out an interview given by the jury for “Ghislaine: Partner in Crime,” an unreleased Paramount + documentary examining Maxwell and the relationship. with the embarrassed financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“The accused does not provide any basis for concluding that the interview would affect the analysis or the conclusion of the court,” Nathan wrote.
Maxwell’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Maxwell, 60, was sentenced Dec. 29 for sex trafficking and four other counts of aiding and abetting Epstein abusing underage girls.
The verdict was blurred when the jury, a man known as Juror 50, told the media that he had revealed during the jury discussions that he had been sexually abused as a child, after not revealing it in a preliminary questionnaire.
After hearing the jury at a March 8 hearing, Nathan concluded Friday that the failure was “very unfortunate but not intentional” and that the jury was not biased against Maxwell and could serve fairly and impartially.
The trailer for the Paramount + series reported that the “bomb revelation” of the Juror 50 came in his “only in-depth interview” about Maxwell’s case. Juror 50’s lawyer said the interview took place on January 4.
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The network is a unit of Paramount Global, which until recently was known as ViacomCBS.
Nathan was taken to federal court in Manhattan this week, but retained jurisdiction over Maxwell’s case.
(Report by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Edited by Mark Porter and Daniel Wallis)
