Ghislaine Maxwell gets 20 years for sex trafficking

NEW YORK: For her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually assault adolescent girls, Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Between 1994 and 2004, the 60-year-old British socialite recruited and groomed four young women into having sex with Epstein, who was then her boyfriend. She was found guilty in December.

In the eyes of the public, the month-long trial was Epstein’s final reckoning. He committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66. An example of a high-profile case in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward and report allegations of sexual assault by affluent and influential men,

As the trial progressed, four women testified that Maxwell was a key figure in their abuse at the hands of Epstein.

The punishment was read out by U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan at a federal court hearing in Manhattan.

It was revealed last week that the prosecution described Maxwell’s actions as “shockingly predatory” and estimated that she should be sentenced to 30 years in prison for the five counts on which she was found guilty.

Court papers filed by Maxwell’s legal team stated that she should be sentenced to no more than 5-1/4 years because she was being blamed for Epstein’s actions and had already served a large amount of time in prison.

In July of 2020, Maxwell was taken into custody and his bail was repeatedly denied. At Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), she has complained of vermin and sewage odors in her cell since her arrest in September. Attorneys for the woman have likened her treatment to that of Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Over the weekend, a suicide watch was put in place for Maxwell. Although she was not suicidal, according to her attorneys,

After rejecting Maxwell’s acquittal request, Nathan allowed guilty verdicts on two charges to be set aside because they overlapped. Maxwell’s maximum sentence was reduced from 65 years to 55 years as a result of this.