Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex-trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell turns to sketch court sketch artist Jane Rosenberg during the trial of Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U. S. , December 7, 2021.

REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg A federal judge sentenced Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison. In December, a jury found her guilty of sex-trafficking girls for Jeffrey Epstein. The trial shed light on how Epstein and Maxwell preyed on teen girls for sex.

A judge on Tuesday sentenced Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison for trafficking girls to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein and sexually abusing them herself. Maxwell was also fined $750,000, the judge announced.  A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Maxwell in December, finding she was guilty of five of the six sex trafficking and conspiracy charges brought against her.

Four women took the stand throughout the monthlong trial and, in painful testimony, described how Maxwell befriended them as teenagers, groomed them for sex with Epstein. One of the accusers, who testified under the pseudonym Kate, said Maxwell told her Epstein needed sex three times a day and that she couldn’t keep up. Two of the accusers — Jane, a pseudonym, and a woman who testified using only her first name, Carolyn — said that the sexual acts started when they were as young as 14 and that Maxwell sometimes participated in the abuse.

Annie Farmer, the only accuser to testify using her full name, said Maxwell fondled her breasts during a visit to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch when she was 16. In the days leading up to the sentencing, prosecutors and attorneys for Maxwell’s accusers submitted statements from victims. Maxwell’s attorneys sought to limit who would be able to speak, but Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw the trial, permitted statements from each victim who testified, others identified by witnesses as her victims, and two other accusers who watched but did not participate in the trial in court.

The accuser who testified in the trial with the pseudonym Kate said that her experience on the stand was “both terrifying and retraumatizing” but that she does not “regret it for a moment. “”There is nothing more important than protecting the innocent and, if I was able to provide, in any way, information helpful to understanding the nature of this type of abuse, as perpetrated by Ghislaine Maxwell, then my pain has had meaning and therefore not been for naught,” she wrote. The trial shed light on how Epstein and Maxwell controlled girlsDuring the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that shed more light on Epstein’s lavish lifestyle, connections with the powerful, and the way he pursued children.

Epstein funded and maintained a “scholarship lodge” at a summer camp where he and Maxwell targeted Jane, instructed his household staff to pay little attention to visitors, and kept a stash of money and diamonds in a safe in his Manhattan townhouse. His victims testified that he namedropped the likes of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew to keep them in line. Epstein also gave Maxwell more than $30 million during their time together, which included a romantic relationship as well as a period of time where she acted as his household manager.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of at least 30 years in prison for the 60-year-old disgraced socialite, in addition to fines. Maxwell’s lawyers fought for five years and said she plans to appeal her conviction. During the trial, they argued she was unfairly targeted after Epstein died in prison following his arrest in 2019, and presented friends to testify that they never witnessed her sexually abuse anyone.

In a sentencing memorandum, Maxwell’s lawyers said she should be granted leniency because of childhood abuse from her father, the late British mogul Robert Maxwell. An undated photo of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein entered into evidence during her criminal trial. US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New YorkThe verdict against Maxwell was nearly derailed after one of the jurors said in media interviews that he was personally a victim of sexual abuse as a child — something he failed to disclose on his prospective juror form.

After Nathan questioned him under oath, she ruled that he made an honest mistake and that the situation didn’t meet the legal standards for throwing out the jury verdict. Prosecutors have also said they would drop a separate set of perjury charges against Maxwell, for lying about her sexual abuse in a deposition taken for a civil case involving Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre has accused Maxwell and Epstein of sexual misconduct, and earlier this year secured a settlement with Prince Andrew, who she accused of sexually abusing her as part of Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.

Giuffre was not brought as a witness in Maxwell’s criminal trial. In her own impact statement, Giuffre said she hoped Maxwell’s trial would “set a precedent for victims and the hunters who prey upon them. “”Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible pedophile.

But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you,” the statement reads, addressing Maxwell. “For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell. And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it.

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