NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) – Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for helping sex offender and financial globetrotter Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, in what a judge called a “horrible scheme” which inflicted “incalculable.” damage to victims.
The 60-year-old British socialite was convicted in December on five counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, for recruiting and preparing four girls to have sex with Epstein, then her boyfriend, between 1994 and 2004.
Speaking at his sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court before learning of the sentencing, Maxwell called Epstein a “manipulative, cunning and controlling man” who tricked everyone into his orbit. He said he regretted the pain his victims experienced.
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“It’s the biggest regret of my life I’ve ever met Jeffrey Epstein,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell’s one-month trial in late 2021 was widely regarded as the trial Epstein never had, who committed suicide in a Manhattan prison cell in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting his own trial. for sex trafficking.
It was one of the most prominent cases following the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to talk about sexual abuse, often at the hands of rich and powerful people. Read more
In imposing the sentence, U.S. circuit judge Alison Nathan said Maxwell did not appear to express remorse or accept responsibility.
“Maxwell directly and repeatedly and over many years participated in a horrific plan to attract, transport and trafficking underage girls, some as young as 14, for sexual abuse by and with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. said Nathan. “The damage done to these girls was incalculable.”
Bobbi Sternheim, Maxwell’s lawyer, said Maxwell would appeal, arguing that public scrutiny of the case before the trial “left little room for her to be treated fairly.”
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via a video link during her indictment hearing in Manhattan Federal Court, Manhattan District of New York City, New York, USA, on July 14, 2020 in this outline of the courtroom. REUTERS / Jane Rosenberg
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“We all know that the person who should have been convicted today escaped responsibility, avoided his victims, avoided absorbing his pain and received the punishment he truly deserved,” Sternheim told reporters.
“GUILT DEVIATION PATTERN”
Maxwell’s lawyers had proposed that they serve no more than 5 and a half years, arguing that he was being a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes. Prosecutors had suggested last week that he serve between 30 and 55 years in prison, but on Tuesday he said the 20-year sentence would hold Maxwell responsible for “heinous crimes against children.”
“This ruling sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice,” Damian Williams, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, said in a statement.
Nathan said Maxwell’s statements showed a “pattern of deviation from guilt.”
“While Epstein was, of course, the center of this criminal scheme, Ms. Maxwell is not being punished instead of Epstein or as Epstein’s attorney,” Nathan said. “Mrs Maxwell was instrumental in the abuse of several underage girls.”
In an often emotional and explicit testimony during the trial, Annie Farmer, a woman known as “Kate,” and two other women testified that Maxwell, who was convicted of five counts, was a central figure in his abuse of part of Epstein. Read more
During Tuesday’s hearing, Farmer, now a psychologist, said her experience of being exploited by Maxwell “resulted in a major embarrassment” that sometimes made her feel like she wanted to “disappear.”
Kate said she was proud to help hold Maxwell accountable.
“Today I can look at Ghislaine and tell her that I became who I am today despite her and her efforts to make me feel powerless and insignificant, and I will give that empowerment to my daughter,” Kate said.
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Report by Luc Cohen and Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Mark Porter, Noeleen Walder and Marguerita Choy
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Brendan Pierson
Thomson Reuters
Brendan Pierson reports on product liability litigation and all areas of health care law. You can contact him at brendan.pierson@thomsonreuters.com.