Offer made to drop perjury charges in Ghislaine Maxwell case

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors say the U.S. government will agree to drop pending perjury charges against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell if her sex trafficking case goes to sentencing later this year.

The offer was made in a letter to a judge late Monday that was filed jointly by the prosecutors and Maxwell's attorneys in federal court in Manhattan.

The defense countered by asking that questions about the perjury charges be put off until the judge rules on its request for a new trial.

The 60-year-old Maxwell was convicted last month of recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

A new trial could come after a juror in the trial revealed in media interviews following the conviction that he disclosed during deliberations that he'd been sexually abused as a child.

He said the information he shared helped him convince some jurors that a victim's imperfect memory of sex abuse doesn't mean it didn't happen.

The jury later returned a guilty verdict of five federal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said the defense has until Jan. 19 to request a new trial, and prosecutors have until Feb. 2 to reply.