20 years in prison – this is the sentence Ghislaine Maxwell received in court yesterday. Her crimes in assisting Jeffery Epstein in his sickening escapade of sexual abuse and sex trafficking will see her spending time until she is 80 years old.
After almost 7 months since being found guilty for 5 of the 6 counts, Maxwell has learned that not only will she spend the next 20 years behind bars, but be ordered to pay a fine of $750 thousand as well as 5 years of supervised release once her sentence is complete.
Maxwell was accused of her part in grooming underage girls between 1994 and 2004
According to four women who testified against her, claiming that Epstein sexually abused them and that Maxwell was even involved on occasion. Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial, sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, exploiting vulnerable girls as young as 14. Prosecutors said he couldn’t have done so without the help of Maxwell, his longtime companion.
U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan, who also imposed a $750,000 fine, said “a very significant sentence is necessary” and that she wanted to send an “unmistakable message” that these kinds of crimes would be punished. Prosecutors had asked the judge to give her 30 to 55 years in prison, while Maxwell’s defense sought a lenient sentence of just five years.
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‘Peace and finality‘
Even though Maxwell still claims she had no hand in helping Epstein, said she hoped that her conviction and her “unusual incarceration” bring some “measure of peace and finality.”
The jet-setting socialite who was once seen brushing shoulders with famous billionaires, royalty, and even the president, spoke up and said she empathized with the survivors and that it was her “greatest regret of my life that I ever met Jeffrey Epstein.” Maxwell called him “a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life.”
Annie Farmer, one of the women who was abused as a minor at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell said: “Maxwell had many opportunities to come clean, but instead continued to make choices that caused more harm. She chose to lie about her behavior, causing additional harm to all of those she victimized.”
Sarah Ransome, another woman who suffered as a minor child thanks to Epstein said:
“It’s been an incredibly long road to justice for myself and for many other survivors. This is for the girls that didn’t have their say, the ones that weren’t here.” Staring right at Maxwell, Sarah continued: “You broke me in unfathomable ways but you did not break my spirit.”
Read: Elon Musk Questions Why Jeffery Epstein’s Client List Hasn’t Been Revealed
Sources
- Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years for helping Epstein. AP News. Tom Hays and Larry Neumeister. June 29, 2022
- Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years over sex trafficking. BBC. Patrick Jackson