Ghislaine Maxwell gets 20 years in prison for sex crimes
Ghislaine Maxwell, the globe-trotting socialite, was handed a 20-year jail term by a New York court for perpetrating heinous crimes against children and helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. The prosecutors said that Maxwell had helped her long-time companion Epstein, and sometimes also participated in the abuse. Epstein had killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Maxwell was convicted in December
Maxwell (60) was found guilty on five out of the six counts. These included sex trafficking of minors and helping her then-boyfriend Epstein in sexually abusing minor girls between 1994 and 2004. She was convicted in December for recruiting and grooming four girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein. US Circuit Judge Alison Nathan read the sentence at a hearing.
A very significant sentence is necessary, says judge
Judge Nathan also imposed a $7,50,000 fine and said, "a very significant sentence is necessary" and that she wanted to send an "unmistakable message" that these kinds of crimes would be punished. While Maxwell's defense pleaded for leniency and a sentence of up to five years, the prosecutors had asked the judge to give her 30 to 55 years in prison.
Maxwell was arrested in 2020
Maxwell has been in prison since her arrest in 2020. Epstein, who was arrested earlier, killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell's defense argued that she couldn't be held responsible for all the crimes committed by Epstein. However, she was handed down the sentence as she "was an adult who made her own choices" and groomed minors for Epstein.
Maxwell being punished for her own actions, not Epstein's: Judge
Four accusers testified against Maxwell during the trial. One of them said that she and her sister tried to go public with the abuses for two decades, but were threatened. Meanwhile, Maxwell called Epstein a "manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life." The judge, however, made it clear that Maxwell was being punished for her own actions, not Epstein's.
Maxwell complained of vermin, smell of raw sewage in cell
Meanwhile, Maxwell's lawyer likened her confinement conditions at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) to those of Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 movie, The Silence of the Lambs. Maxwell reportedly complained of vermin and the smell of raw sewage in her cell. She was also put under suicide watch over the weekend, but her lawyers said that she wasn't suicidal.
