Ghislaine Maxwell prosecutors seek probe of juror who told media after trial he was sexually abused

Federal prosecutors who won the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell on multiple sex crimes related to underage girls asked a judge Wednesday to open an inquiry into a juror who revealed to reporters after the trial that he was sexually abused as a child.

Prosecutors cited three interviews given this week by the juror on the trial of Maxwell, the British socialite who was found guilty on Dec. 29 of obtaining underage victims to be sexually exploited by the late money manager Jeffrey Epstein.

‘In particular, the juror has described being a victim of sexual abuse,” prosecutors wrote Judge Alison Nathan in a letter filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The 35-year-old juror also said he discussed that abuse during jury deliberations when some of his fellow jurors questioned the reliability of testimony by Maxwell’s accusers, according to reports by Reuters, DailyMail.com and The Independent.

The prosecutors noted that the juror is quoted in reports as saying he “flew through” a prospective jury questionnaire before he was picked for the trial, and did not recall being asked whether he had been a victim of sexual abuse.

But in interviews, the Manhattan resident told reporters he would have answered honestly if asked that question, the letter noted.

That questionnaire did ask if a would-be juror had been sexually abused, or if anyone in their families had been a victim of such abuse.

The letter did not reveal whether the juror who gave the interviews disclosed on his questionnaire that he had been sexually abused, much less whether that man was then questioned by Judge Nathan if that fact would affect his ability to be fair to Maxwell.

But if the juror failed to disclose being sexually abused when asked on the questionnaire, Maxwell’s could cite that fact in a motion seeking to set aside the jury’s verdict.

“The Government believes the Court should conduct an inquiry,” prosecutors wrote in their letter.

Maxwell’s lawyer Bobbi Sternheim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maxwell, 60, faces decades in prison when she is sentenced for the five counts on which she was convicted.

Prosecutors asked Nathan to schedule a hearing in one month and suggested the juror be asked whether he wants a court-appointed lawyer for that hearing. That request implies that the juror might have legal exposure if he failed to disclose his sexual abuse on the questionnaire.

Prosecutors said they reached out to Maxwell’s defense team to discuss the juror’s comments as reported in media outlets, but have not yet heard back from her attorneys, nor are they aware of the defense’s position on the issue.

The man, identified in interviews by his first and middle names, Scotty David, told The Independent that he told fellow jury members during their deliberations about his abuse to explain why some of Maxwell’s accusers might misremember certain details related to their own abuse.

“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the colour of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he told The Independent.

“But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.”

The newspaper also reported that some jurors questioned why Maxwell’s accusers did not come forward earlier with their allegations.

David told The Independent that he had not disclosed his own abuse “until I was in high school,” and said the jury room went completely silent when he shared the story of that abuse.

Epstein, 66, died in August 2019 from what has officially been ruled a suicide by hanging while in a Manhattan federal jail as he awaited his own trial on child sex trafficking charges.

A former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as of Britain’s Prince Andrew, Epstein has been accused of abusing scores of underage girls over the years.