Ghislaine Maxwell has landed herself in prison for 20 years for aiding financier Jeffrey Epstein in sexually abusing minors.
Maxwell, a former socialite closely associated with sex offender Epstein, was convicted in December on the federal trafficking charges for tempting underage girls to engage in sexual activities with Epstein.
On Tuesday morning, Maxwell with shackles around her ankles appeared in the court and the judge announced her verdict:
“I find that the defendant’s criminal activity was extensive,” reported by the New York Times. The judge also said:
“It is important to emphasize that although Epstein was central to this criminal scheme, Ms. Maxwell is not being punished in place of Epstein or as a proxy for Epstein.”
She also referred to the crimes as “heinous and predatory.”
Prior to her sentencing, Maxwell made an apology to the victims for the “pain” they had to go through. She said:
It is my sincerest wish to all those in this courtroom and to all those outside this courtroom that this day brings a terrible chapter to the end, to an end, and to those of you who spoke here today and those of you who did not, may this day help you travel from darkness into the light.
Victim Impact Statements Say Maxwell Facilitated Abuse
Ahead of the sentencing, multiple victim impact statements were also heard and one of them was Epstein’s most prominent accuser, Virginia Giuffre. Her lawyer read the statement which was addressed to Maxwell.
The statement said:
“I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible pedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you, Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims.”
Annie Farmer had revealed in her testimony that Maxwell and Epstein lured her out to a ranch that belonged to Epstein when she was just 16 years old in 1996. She told the court:
“Maxwell had many opportunities to come clean… but instead continued to make choices that caused more harm.” Kate was another victim of Maxwell and Epstein, she testified that she met Maxwell when she was 17 years old. She also addressed the court stating that Maxwell was “a manipulative, cruel and merciless person” and could have stopped the abuse.
Kate further stated:
“You could have put an end to the rapes, the molestations, the sickening manipulations that you arranged, witnessed and even took part in.”
In her supposed apology prior to the sentencing, Maxwell went on to say:
“Your honor, it is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed in the statements made here today. The terrible impact on the lives of so many women is difficult to hear and even more difficult to absorb, both in its scale and in its extent.”
She addressed the judge:
“I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a manipulative, cunning, and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life and fooled all of those in his orbit.”
The judge was asked by the prosecutors to sentence Maxwell to 30 years to 55 years, the legal maximum, and requested she receives at least 30 years. Meanwhile, Maxwell’s defense argued that she should be given four to five years because anything longer than that would practically be the same as Epstein himself.
In an attempt to receive a lighter punishment, Maxwell said her actions were due to her upbringing. She even told the judge weeks before her sentencing in a memo that her privileged and troubled childhood was the reason why she became vulnerable to Epstein.
The sentencing was announced just as exactly two years ago, Maxwell was arrested by the FBI in July 2020 in New Hampshire. Followed a year after Epstein hanged himself in his jail cell in August 2019. He had been arrested on the charges of operating a sex-trafficking business involving dozens of teenagers, some were as young as 14 years old.
Last year, Maxwell was brought to trial and faced a number of charges that involved her conspiring with Epstein for recruiting, grooming, and abusing minor girls. The trial went on for a month in Manhattan’s federal court and included testimonies from four women who alleged that Maxwell recruited them to have sex with Epstein between the 1990s to 2000s.
She was convicted on five of six counts against her which included transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking of a minor, and three counts associated with conspiracy. She was acquitted of luring a minor to travel in order to engage in illegal sexual activities.
However, Maxwell was sentenced only on three counts as the judge found two of the counts repetitive.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s life has become the subject of a number of Hollywood documentaries. Most notable ones are Starz’s recent three-part documentary, “Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?” exploring Maxwell’s life in-depth, and another docu-series by Peacock titled “Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell.”
Epstein’s life has been a hot topic of headlines for years and the sex trafficking scandal has given birth to many other projects during the #MeToo movement. In 2020, Netflix released the miniseries “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.”
In the same year, Lifetime aired “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” a documentary that revolved around the lives of the survivors of Maxwell and Epstein.
One of the executive producers for the documentary, CEO of Bungalow Media+ Entertainment reacted to Maxwell’s sentencing:
No sentence will ever undue the injustice that resulted from the crimes that she was committed of. If this brings any closure to the survivors, it was worth their time and effort to stay involved.”
KimDotcom (@KimDotcom) demanded that other people associated with the sex-trafficking ring should also be arrested and punished accordingly:
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Two of the sex trafficking victims spoke to the media outside the Court. The big question is why has the US Govt not arrested all members of the child sex ring that Jeffrey Epstein created? pic.twitter.com/jSWdF9TbPZ
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) June 29, 2022
Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) demanded that Maxwell’s associates’ names should be made public:
If Ghislaine Maxwell is guilty of child sex trafficking, there's a list of her clients who participated in this proven trafficking… MAKE THEIR NAMES PUBLIC AND ARREST THEM ALL.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) June 23, 2022
Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) mentioned Maxwell’s sentencing and fine and stated how they ought to release Epstein’s client list:
They gave Ghislaine Maxwell 20 years and a $750k fine (which is nothing to her). And they STILL won’t release the Epstein client list. That’s criminal.
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) June 29, 2022
Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) said the sentencing given to Maxwell was too less:
Ghislaine Maxwell should spend 200 years in prison, not just 20.
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) June 28, 2022
Let us know your thoughts on Maxwell’s sentencing in the comment section below.
Chris Mack
