A federal prosecutor working on the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, which is set to go to trial on Monday, is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
Maurene Comey, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), is one of the lead prosecutors in the criminal case against Maxwell, and had been picked to hold a similar role in the case of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein prior to his death in August 2019.
As the child sex-trafficking trial of Epstein associate Maxwell is scheduled to begin on November 29, attention now turns to the prosecutors in the case, which includes Comey and assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Rossmiller and Alison Gainfort Moe.
Maxwell is charged with six sex-trafficking charges. She has pleaded not guilty in the case and if convicted on all charges, faces a prison sentence of up to 50 years.
Who Is Maurene Comey?
Assistant U.S. Attorney Comey heads the SDNY's Violent and Organized Crime Unit, and has been with the office since 2015, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The 32-year-old Harvard Law School graduate has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including against former gynecologist Robert Hadden who is accused of sexually assaulting as many as 70 women during medical appointments.
She has also worked on cases involving embezzlement, obstruction of justice, and drugs and weapons crime, according to Law & Crime.
Daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and Patrice Failor, she is one of six children, and is married to Lucas Issacharoff, a Harvard Law School graduate and U.S. Assistant Attorney for the SDNY's Civil Division since September 2019.
James Comey was famously fired by former President Donald Trump in 2017.
Before joining the SDNY office, Comey spent a year as a legal clerk for Loretta Preska, who at the time was the chief judge at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
She graduated from Harvard Law School with a doctorate in 2013, and prior to that, gained a Bachelor's Degree in History and Music from the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2010.
Maxwell's trial was originally set for July, but was pushed back until November 29. Jury selection for the case began on November 16, and is down to 12 members and six alternates. The trial is expected to run for six weeks.
Maxwell has been detained in a Brooklyn jail since she was arrested by FBI agents at her New Hampshire estate on July 2, 2020.
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