Maxwell jailed for 20 years over sex trafficking girls

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for luring young girls to massage rooms for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest.

The 60-year-old looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as a judge in the Southern District of New York passed sentence in front of a packed public gallery.

Her accusers came face to face with her yesterday as several women read victim impact statements to the court – describing her as a “manipulative, cruel and merciless person.”

Maxwell, who was described as “dangerous” by the prosecution during her three-week trial last year, helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein’s various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

At the hearing yesterday, the socialite apologised to her victims, saying she hopes her sentence will allow them “peace and finality”.

Maxwell said meeting Epstein was the “greatest regret of my life” and that she wanted to “acknowledge the suffering” of her victims.

“I know my association with Epstein will follow and forever stain me,” she said in court.

“It is the greatest regret of my life that I ever met Jeffrey Epstein.”

Addressing her victims directly, she said: “To you, all the victims that came today inside the court and outside... I am sorry for the pain you have experienced.

“I hope my sentence... brings you closure... peace and finality. To help you put those experiences in a place that helps you move forward.”

Maxwell said the knowledge of the effects of her crimes “tortures me every single day”, and that she hoped the sentence “brings this terrible chapter to an end and... help you travel from darkness into the light”.

Jurors heard that the socialite summoned a 14-year-old girl to an orgy, groped another victim, and laid a schoolgirl outfit out for a third accuser before a sexualised massage with Epstein, because she “thought it would be fun”.

She was convicted of five offences in December last year, including sex trafficking minors, conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Sentencing Maxwell to 20 years in prison, Judge Alison Nathan told the court she “repeatedly, and over the course of many years participated in a horrific scheme to traffic young girls, some the age of 14”.

Judge Nathan said it was important that although “Epstein was central to this scheme” she was not being sentenced “as a proxy” for him.

She said: “The defendant’s conduct... was heinous and predatory.”

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled suicide.

COURT: Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced for enticing girls to Jeffrey Epstein’s properties for him to abuse.