(NEW YORK) — The brother of Ghislaine Maxwell says that he denies any possibility that his sister is guilty of the sex trafficking crimes she was convicted of on Wednesday.
Kevin Maxwell, in an American television exclusive, spoke to ABC News a day after a jury convicted his sister of conspiring with and aiding serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was convicted Wednesday on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls between 1994 and 2004.
Kevin Maxwell told ABC News’ James Hill that his sister had been unfairly portrayed as Epstein’s “demon queen” accomplice, and that while accusers’ testimony might have been moving, she should not be pilloried for her longtime associate’s crimes.
“I think that anybody who sat in and listened to the accusers’ testimony — I’m a dad, I’m a brother, anybody, just any normal guy listening to their testimony — is going to have been moved. And I can also understand anger. But that doesn’t mean that I believe for a single second that my sister is guilty of the crimes of which she was convicted,” Kevin Maxwell said.
Epstein, the one-time millionaire financier, died by suicide in jail in 2019.
Ghislaine and Kevin Maxwell are two of the children of controversial British publishing mogul Robert Maxwell, who drowned in the Atlantic Ocean after falling off his yacht in 1991.
Kevin Maxwell sat through his sister’s trial for a substantial portion of the proceedings, often accompanied by her other siblings, Isabel, Christine and Ian. Less than 24 hours after his sister was convicted, he told ABC News that he was “still shocked” at the verdict in what he described as a “tremendous injustice.”
His sister will appeal the verdict, Maxwell said, and he was certain that it would be overturned and that she would be vindicated.
“The reality is that there are myriad jury cases, miscarriages of justice involving juries, where the verdicts have been overturned on appeal. This will just be yet another one,” Maxwell said.
“Because of the, we think, very strong legal grounds and evidential grounds for the appeal, obviously that has to wait for sentencing, so it’s some way off, but the work is already in hand and we’re very confident,” he said.
Though multiple accusers testified that Ghislaine Maxwell had groomed them for Epstein’s abuse — and had at times participated in it herself — Kevin Maxwell pushed back on her role.
“There’s no, simply no, question that there are many victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” Maxwell said. “They’re simply not crimes that were committed by my sister.”
Kevin Maxwell would not say if he had anything to tell Epstein’s accusers and those who say Ghislaine Maxwell played a role in abetting Epstein’s crimes.
“I don’t want to use this opportunity to denigrate in any way the evidence that’s been given by those accusers; that’s their evidence,” he said. “As I say, I remain absolutely persuaded of Epstein’s crimes. I’m equally persuaded that my sister will be exonerated on appeal, and these guilty verdicts will be overturned.”
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