‘Greatest regret of my life that I met Epstein’: Maxwell jailed for 20 years for sex trafficking

New York: Ghislaine Maxwell, the jet-setting socialite who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping the late 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.

Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.Credit: AP

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, his long-time companion and one-time 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.

Judge Alison J. Nathan noted as she imposed the prison term and a $US750,000 ($1 million) fine that Maxwell never expressed remorse for her crimes. The judge said she wanted the sentence to send an “unmistakable message” that nobody was above the law.

Addressing the court earlier in prison blues, Maxwell said she empathised with survivors and that meeting Epstein was the “greatest regret of my life”. But she did not admit culpability and laid blame for the abuse on Epstein, calling him “a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalised life”.

Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein at the Queen’s Balmoral cabin in 1999. Credit: US District Attorney’s Office

The judge refused to let Maxwell escape culpability, making clear that she was being punished for her own actions, not Epstein’s. Nathan called the crimes “heinous and predatory” and said Maxwell, as a sophisticated adult woman, provided the veneer of safety as she “normalised” sexual abuse through her involvement, encouragement and instruction.

“We will continue to live with the harm [Maxwell] caused us,” said Annie Farmer, one of the four accusers who testified against the socialite at trial, inside the courtroom before the sentencing.

She described how she and her sister 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.

Assistant US Attorney Alison Moe recounted how Maxwell subjected girls to “horrifying nightmares” by taking them to Epstein. “They were partners in crime together and they molested these kids together,” she said, calling 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.

Elizabeth Stein and Sarah Ransome (right), alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, leave court after Maxwell’s sentencing.Credit: AP

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 wouldn’t give up on her legal battle, “and we as a family will be solidly behind her”.

After the sentencing, Maxwell’s defence lawyer Bobbi Sternheim promised to appeal. She said Epstein left Maxwell “holding the whole bag”. “We all know that the person who should have been sentenced today escaped accountability, avoided his victims, avoided absorbing their pain and receiving the punishment he truly deserved,” she said.

The sentence was shorter than the 30 to 55-year term sought by prosecutors, but Epstein’s accusers still expressed relief it was more than the five years Maxwell’s team had pushed for.

“It’s been an incredibly long road to justice for myself and for many other survivors,” said Sarah Ransome, one of Epstein’s accusers. “This is for the girls that didn’t have their say, the ones that weren’t here.”

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.

Audrey Strauss, then-acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, outlined the charges against Ghislaine Maxwell at a press conference on July 2, 2020. Credit: AP

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.

Three were identified in court only by their first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy: Jane, a television actress; Kate, an ex-model from the UK; and Carolyn, now a mother recovering from drug addiction. The fourth was Farmer, the sole accuser to identify herself in court by her real name, after speaking out publicly.

They described how Maxwell charmed them with conversation and gifts and promises that Epstein could use his wealth and connections to help fulfil their dreams.

Then, they testified, she led them to give massages to Epstein that turned sexual and played it off as normal.

Carolyn testified that she was one of several underprivileged teens who lived near Epstein’s Florida home in the early 2000s and took up an offer to massage him in exchange for $US100 bills in what prosecutors described as “a pyramid of abuse”.

Maxwell made all the arrangements, Carolyn told the jury, even though she knew the girl was only 14 at the time.

The allegations against Epstein first surfaced publicly in 2005. He pleaded guilty to sex charges in Florida and served 13 months in jail, much of it in a work-release program as part of a deal criticised as lenient. Afterwards, he was required to register as a sex offender.

A courtroom sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell on December 20, 2021.Credit: AP

In the years that followed, many women sued Epstein over alleged abuse. One, now Australian resident, Virginia Giuffre, claimed that Epstein and Maxwell had also pressured her into sexual trysts with other powerful men, including Prince Andrew. All of those men denied the allegations and Giuffre ultimately settled a lawsuit against Andrew out of court.

Federal prosecutors in New York revived the case against Epstein after stories by the Miami Herald in 2018 brought new attention to his crimes. He was arrested in 2019, but killed himself a month later.

Eleven months after his death, Maxwell was arrested at a New Hampshire estate. A US, British and French citizen, she has remained in a federal jail in New York City since then as her lawyers repeatedly criticise her treatment, saying she was even unjustly placed under suicide watch days before sentencing. Prosecutors say the claims about the jail are exaggerated and that Maxwell has been treated better than other prisoners.

Her lawyers also fought to have her conviction tossed on the grounds of juror misconduct. Days after the verdict, one juror gave media interviews in which he disclosed he had been sexually abused as a child — something he hadn’t told the court during jury selection. Maxwell’s lawyers said she deserved a new trial. A judge disagreed.

Annie Farmer, one of the four accusers who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell at trial, speaks, to the media outside court after the sentencing.Credit: AP

At least eight women submitted letters to the judge, describing the sexual abuse they said they endured for having met Maxwell and Epstein. Six of Maxwell’s seven living siblings wrote to plead for leniency. Maxwell’s fellow inmate also submitted a letter describing how Maxwell has helped to educate other inmates over the last two years.

Anne Holve and Philip Maxwell, her eldest siblings, wrote that her relationship with Epstein began soon after the 1991 death of their father, the British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell.

They said Robert Maxwell had subjected his daughter to “frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections”.

“This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature,” they wrote.

Before her fate was announced, Maxwell looked down and scribbled on a notepad as Sarah Ransome — an accuser whose allegations weren’t included in this trial — spoke of the lasting harm to her life, gazing directly at Maxwell several times.

Ransome, who twice tried to die by suicide, finally drew a look from Maxwell when she said: “You broke me in unfathomable ways but you did not break my spirit.”

AP

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