Guilty: A jury on Thursday found Jelani Maraj, 38, guilty of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter when she was 11 years old
A jury on Thursday convicted superstar rapper Nicki Minajr’s brother of raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter on Long Island.
Jelani Maraj, 38, faces up to life in prison. His lawyer says he will appeal the guilty verdict.
Maraj’s lawyers said during a nearly one-month trial that the rape allegations were concocted by the girl’s mother as part of a scheme to get Nicki Minaj to pay the family $25million in hush money.
In closing arguments Monday, Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Emma Slane called that claim “absolute absurdity.”
The girl, now 14, testified in excruciating detail about sexual assaults that she said occurred as frequently as four times a week and sometimes twice a day, mostly when Maraj was home alone with the girl.
Sextortion plot: Maraj’s lawyers claim the girl and her mother made up the rape story in an attempt to shake down his sister Nicki (right) for $25million
The prosecutor said DNA evidence recovered from the girl’s pajama pants was linked to Maraj. The girl’s younger brother also testified at the trial that he witnessed one assault.
The prosecutor told the jurors it will be up to them to determine whether the testimony of the two children was credible.
‘Why tell this lie?’ Slane asked jurors. ‘This isn’t a Broadway show. It’s real life with real-life consequences.’
Defense attorney David Schwartz said in his summation that a lawyer for the girl’s mother contacted Maraj’s lawyer saying, ‘if she was paid $25million, these charges could just go away.’
‘It’s about money and it’s about revenge,’ Schwartz said. ‘This is an old-fashioned shakedown.’
The alleged attacks began not long after he married the girl’s mother, Jacqueline Robinson, in a 2015 wedding ceremony that the rapper paid for (Above Minaj left, Robinson, center, and Maraj, right)
The girl’s mother denied that the accusations were made up.
James R. Ray III, a civil attorney who briefly represented the mother, testified that he did demand $25’million from Jelani Maraj after he had already been arrested to settle a potential civil lawsuit, but he said the girl’s mother was unaware of the demand.
‘She was never involved as far as what we did,’ he testified. The woman later fired him as her attorney.
Neither Maraj nor his sister testified at the trial.
A spokesman for Minaj’s record label did not respond to an email seeking comment on the case.