Former British socialite and convicted solicitor Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of recruiting and trafficking young girls.
It is a significant sentence that reflects the enormity of what the judge called his crimes “atrocious.” In the weeks leading up to his conviction, his lawyers presented arguments for his mitigation. Much of this was a long description of Maxwell’s childhood unhappiness. Before you take off your handkerchiefs and declare, “Oh, that explains it,” I’ll remind you of what Maxwell was convicted of: conspiracy to lure minors into engaging in illegal sexual acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in activities criminal sex. , the transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, and child sex trafficking.
One of the girls was 14 when Maxwell lured her from the street into a life of horrible abuse. Now it is definitely an unhappy childhood.
Maxwell’s life has been horrible in some parts, no doubt. His father, publisher Robert Maxwell, was one of the biggest scammers in the history of British companies. His older brother, Michael, suffered a car accident when Maxwell was two days old, which left him with catastrophic injuries and in an unconscious state until he died a few years later. At age three, allegedly suffering from anorexia, Maxwell declared to his mother, “Mom, I exist.” His father was often out and when he was at home he was a dominant bully. On one occasion, he says he hit her hand with a hammer, leaving her bruised for weeks. She was sent to a boarding school. Her parents separated when she was 20 years old. His father mysteriously drowned when authorities approached him. He always said he would not leave money to his children.
But as you read this, you probably think of people you know who suffered some of these childhood experiences: the death of a brother, a tyrannical father. A whole class of Britons were sent to boarding schools. And to a whole other class of Britons their parents never left money. Did they spend years looking for children for a rapist?
Maxwell’s lawyers have said of her background that “made her vulnerable to Epstein.” This speaks to the popular narrative that Maxwell’s crimes can be told because he is the victim of two bullies; his father and Epstein. I spent almost two years researching Maxwell for a TV series. I reject this story. She was a bad criminal, greedy and depraved in her own right. He was an active couple in attracting and treating girls and engaged in sexual assaults. He reveled in the luxury lifestyle provided in return by Epstein, who made him, among many gifts, an estimated $ 20 million, with which he bought a $ 17 million townhouse in New York. His lifestyle was impressive; Flying in private jets between Epstein’s house, New York’s largest private house, and its fabulous Caribbean island.
Of course, the nature of Maxwell’s crimes is hard to believe. As a society, it is hard for us to accept that a woman takes advantage and sexually assaults other women. But it happens. Maxwell was an empowered woman who used her cunning and intelligence to commit crimes for years that brought her great wealth. Robert Maxwell can be blamed for many things: the theft of his company’s pension scheme and his son Kevin became the biggest bankruptcy in British history. But Ghislaine Maxwell is to blame for her own crimes, not her father’s.
If we believe in equality, we must treat male and female sexual predators alike. Why should we assume that the woman is not responsible for her own actions and the man is the person really guilty of her crimes? I run a women’s university in Cambridge. I am a feminist. I think women can be as good as men and as bad as men.
One of the interviewees in our documentary, The Making of a Monster, describes Maxwell’s attitude toward his victims. When, without fully realizing the enormity of what was happening, this woman expressed her concern for very young women to be with Epstein, Maxwell told her, “It’s rubbish.” There is a connection with his father there. Robert Maxwell also treated both women and men as garbage. Someone who knew them both told me, “When they raise you without a moral compass, you can’t get one later.”
My favorite section of the mitigation statement notes that later in life, Ghislaine created a charity to save the oceans. It’s great to know that he cared about fish. Unfortunately, the oceans will not have the benefit of their altruism during their 20 years in prison. I think we can live with that.
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Ghislaine Maxwell: The Making of a Monster will air on Channel 4 at 9pm on July 5th. Dorothy Byrne is a documentary filmmaker and president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
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