Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison And Fined $750,000 For 5 Counts Of Sex Trafficking
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein ran a successful sex trafficking ring for years, which only until recently flew under the radar. Maxwell was recently found guilty at the end of last year for five counts.
One of Maxwell's convictions was the sex trafficking of a minor, and she was convicted on five out of the six counts that were brought to her in December 2021. She was found guilty of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein groom and sexually abuse underage girls. Her sentencing was finally determined today.
Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison and Fined $750,000
US District Judge Alison J. Nathan issued the verdict in Manhattan and said, "A sentence of 240 months is sufficient and no graver than necessary." She said Maxwell, 60, played a "pivotal" role in administering "heinous and predatory" abuse to multiple young women. She was also fined $750,000.
“Ms. Maxwell directly and repeatedly and over the course of many years participated in a horrific scheme,” Nathan said. “Ms. Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable.”
Maxwell's attorneys quickly told reporters after the sentencing that they plan to appeal the verdict. Federal prosecutors were aiming for 30-55 years in prison, calling her conduct "shockingly predatory."
“She was a calculating, sophisticated, and dangerous criminal who preyed on vulnerable young girls and groomed them for sexual abuse," prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Maxwell has been held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since her arrest in July 2020. Epstein (supposedly) committed suicide in 2019, just one month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
“Your honor, it is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed in the statements made here today," Maxwell said when she addressed the court. "The terrible impact on the lives of so many women is difficult to hear and even more difficult to absorb, both in its scale and in its extent.
“I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life and fooled all of those in his orbit,” Maxwell continued. "But today is not about Jeffrey Epstein."
"To you, all the victims," she concluded. "I am sorry for the pain that you experienced."