Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim speaks outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, New York, after a jury found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty on December 29, 2021, of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: AFP

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty in New York on Wednesday of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier Jeffrey ­Epstein.

Maxwell faces spending the rest of her life behind bars ­after the 12-person jury convicted her on five of the six counts she was facing, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor.

The conviction, just days after she turned 60 on Christmas, caps a remarkable fall from grace for the Oxford-­educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, who grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty.

She sat passively in the Manhattan courtroom, slowly removing her mask to take sips of water, after Judge Alison Nathan read out the verdicts, reached after five full days of deliberation by the jury.

Afterward, Maxwell's attorney, Bobbi Sternheim, said her legal team was already working on an appeal and they were "confident that she will be vindicated."

"We firmly believe in Ghislaine's innocence. Obviously we are very disappointed with the verdict," Sternheim told reporters outside the courthouse. 

Sex trafficking of minors carries a maximum 40-year sentence. The lesser charges have terms of five or 10 years. Maxwell was found not guilty of one count - enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

Nathan offered her "sincere thanks" to the jury for their service, adding that they served with "diligence."

Maxwell walked out of the courtroom into detention as she has done every day of the monthlong trial. She was not handcuffed and will return to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

US Attorney Damian Williams welcomed the verdict, saying Maxwell had been found guilty of "the worst crimes imaginable - facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children."

"The road to justice has been far too long. But, today, justice has been done," Williams said in a statement.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting his own trial for sex crimes. Maxwell, his lover-turned-close friend, was arrested the following year. She pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Prosecutor Alison Moe said Maxwell was "the key" to Epstein's scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.

They cited bank records showing that she received $30 million from Epstein between 1999 and 2007 as evidence that her participation was motivated by money.