Maxwell gets 20-year prison sentence
NEW YORK – Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for helping the financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
The stiff sentence was the punctuation mark on a trial that explored the sordid rituals of a predator power couple who courted the rich and famous as they lured vulnerable girls as young as 14, and then exploited them.
Prosecutors said Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial, sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, and couldn’t have done so without the help of Maxwell, 60, his longtime companion and onetime girlfriend who they said sometimes also participated in the abuse. In December, a jury convicted Maxwell of sex trafficking, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts and two conspiracy charges.
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, and Maxwell’s defense sought a lenient sentence of just five years.
Maxwell, wearing a blue prison uniform and a white mask to conform with coronavirus rules, looked to one side as the sentence was announced, but otherwise did not react.
“We will continue to live with the harm she caused us,” said Annie Farmer, one of the four accusers who testified against Maxwell at trial, inside the courtroom before the sentencing.
When she had a chance to speak, Maxwell 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,” echoing her defense attorneys’ assertions that Epstein was the true mastermind.
Maxwell, who denied abusing anyone, said she hoped that her conviction and her “unusual incarceration” bring some “measure of peace and finality.”
Nathan refused to let Maxwell escape culpability, making clear that Maxwell was being punished for her own actions, not Epstein’s. She called the crimes “heinous and predatory” and said Maxwell as a sophisticated adult woman provided the veneer of safety as she “normalized” sexual abuse through her involvement, encouragement and instruction.
Several survivors described their sexual abuse, including Farmer, who said her sister and herself tried to go public with their stories about Epstein and Maxwell two decades ago, only to be shut down by the powerful couple through threats and influence with authorities.
Inside the crowded courtroom, three of Maxwell’s siblings sat in a row behind her. Most of the others in attendance were members of the media.
Inside a courtroom crowded with reporters, three of Maxwell’s siblings sat in a row behind her. Outside the courthouse, Kevin Maxwell said that his sister won’t give up on her fight, “and we as a family will be solidly behind her.”
Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim promised to appeal, saying Maxwell “has been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.”
Earlier in court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe recounted how Maxwell and Epstein “molested these kids together.” She called Maxwell “a person who was indifferent to the suffering of other human beings.”
Epstein and Maxwell’s associations with some of the world’s most famous people were not a prominent part of the trial, but mentions of friends like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Britain’s Prince Andrew showed how the pair exploited their connections to impress their prey.
Over the past 17 years, scores of women have accused Epstein of abusing them, with many describing Maxwell as the madam who recruited them. The trial, though, revolved around allegations from only a handful of those women.
Four testified that they were abused as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s mansions in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.