How Ghislaine Maxwell escaped a life sentence

The convicted sex trafficker and groomer escaped an effective life sentence thanks to a shock ruling in Manhattan federal court. Here’s how she did it.

When Ghislaine Maxwell was hauled into court wearing prison scrubs and shackles around her ankles, her victims were comforted by the fact she would likely “rot in hell” behind the bars of a prison cell for the rest of her life.

“You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims,” Australian Virginia Giuffre, the most vocal victim of Jeffrey Epstein, wrote in a statement read to the court.

But just hours before she was sentenced, that fact changed.

Ghislaine Maxwell led into court in prison scrubs and shackles at the start of her trial. Picture: Reuters

Maxwell’s defence lawyers won a major victory that reduced the sentencing guideline range down to between 15.5 to 19.5 years.

Prosecutors had asked for between 30 to 55 years based on the current law, and the vastly reduced guidelines are exactly that, just guidelines, which a judge can overrule for a vastly longer period.

The US Probation Office, however, recommended 20 years. Combined with the reduced guidelines, it set a de facto upper range for what Judge Alison Nathan likely considered when she handed down her verdict of 20 years, plus five years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

Having already served two years, the 60-year-old British socialite could walk free after her 78th birthday.

Happy days: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. Epstein died in jail awaiting trial, but Maxwell may yet walk free after serving her time. Picture: Getty Images

While not the four to five years Maxwell’s team wanted, it is well below the half century asked for by prosecutors.

She escaped the effective life sentence on a technicality.

The 30-to-55-year range asked for by prosecutors was based on sentencing guidelines established in 2004. She deserved it because of her “utter lack of remorse,” they said.

In 2004, the sentencing guideliones were increased dramatically to a maximum of 65 years, but in 2003 the limit was 19.5 years. The date of the indictment against Maxwell, as her lawyers argued, was between 1994 and 2004.

Ghislaine Maxwell

Source: News Corp

• 59 years old
• Prominent socialite daughter of late newspaper baron Robert Maxwell
• Long-time partner of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial for sex crimes
• Arrested in July 2020
• Has pleaded not guilty to six counts of enticing and transporting minors for sex with Epstein
• Prosecutors allege that Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14 between 1994 and 2004
• Four unnamed women are key witnesses in the trial
• Indictment says Maxwell took part in their abuse, wooing them with treats before coaxing them to engage in sex acts with Epstein
• Faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted

Source: Police/Court documents/US media

In a sentencing memorandum and a document objecting to the pre-trial report, lawyers for Maxwell said the “properly calculated sentencing range” under the 2003 guidelines was between 51 and 63 months - or 4.5 to 5.5 years.

“Ghislaine Maxwell stands before the Court because of her association with Jeffrey Epstein decades ago in the 1990s and early 2000s,” the sentencing memo began.

“Never before that time and never again in the roughly 20-year period since the conduct underlying this case occurred has Ms Maxwell ever been accused of a crime, much less a scheme to sexually abuse minors.”

Victims Elizabeth Stein and Sarah Ransome, who said outside the court that “Ghislaine must die in prison”. Picture: AFP

In asking for 30 years, Assistant US attorney Alison Moe said Maxwell was “one of the rare cases” for a sentence above the guidelines.

“These girls were just kids,” Ms Moe told the court. “The 2003 guidelines were inadequate. Consider the sophistication of her predatory conduct. We ask the court to send a message no one is above the law.”

After a lengthy back and forth on when the conspiracy ended, the judge all but capped the potential sentence when she agreed to apply the older framework that ended in 2003.

“The guideline is 188 to 235 months,” Judge Nathan said, before adding an extra five months to the maximum, saying “a significant sentence is necessary”.

Outside the court, Maxwell and Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome said “Ghislaine must die in prison”.

“Because I’ve been in hell and back for the last 17 years,” she said.

Instead, Maxwell will be eligible to walk out after 18 years in 2040, at the age of 78.

Originally published as How Ghislaine Maxwell escaped a life sentence