Key Points
- Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a New York judge on Tuesday
- The term means the 60-year-old former socialite will spend much of the rest of her life in jail.
This article contains references to sexual assault, child abuse and suicide.
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a New York judge on Tuesday for helping the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls.
The term, handed down in the Manhattan federal court, means the 60-year-old former socialite will spend much of the rest of her life in jail.
On Tuesday morning, Maxwell was brought into the courtroom in ankle shackles where judge Alison J. Nathan said, "I find that the defendant's criminal activity was extensive," according to the New York Times.
The judge later said, "It is important to emphasise that although Epstein was central to this criminal scheme, Ms Maxwell is not being punished in place of Epstein or as a proxy for Epstein."
The judge called the crimes "heinous and predatory."
Moments before she was sentenced, Maxwell apologised to the victims for the "pain" they experienced.
"It is my sincerest wish to all those in this courtroom and to all those outside this courtroom that this day brings a terrible chapter to the end, to an end," Maxwell said in court.
"And to those of you who spoke here today and those of you who did not, may this day help you travel from darkness into the light."
The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell was convicted late last year on five of six counts, the most serious for sex trafficking minors.
Numerous victim impact statements were made ahead of the sentencing, including from one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, Virginia Giuffre, whose lawyer read her statement, addressed to Maxwell.
"I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible pedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you," Ms Giuffre's statement read.
"Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims."
Annie Farmer, who testified that Epstein and Maxwell lured her to Epstein's ranch when she was 16 years old in 1996, told the court, "Maxwell had many opportunities to come clean... but instead continued to make choices that caused more harm."
Maxwell spoke ahead of the sentencing, telling the judge, "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. 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 compartmentalised life and fooled all of those in his orbit," Maxwell said to the judge.
Her lawyers had argued for leniency, citing a traumatic childhood and claiming that Maxwell was being unfairly punished because Epstein escaped trial. They had asked for a maximum of five years while prosecutors had called for between 30 and 55 years in jail.
In the end, judge Alison Nathan went with 20, the amount of time recommended by the US probation office.
During Maxwell's high-profile trial in late 2021, prosecutors successfully proved that she was "the key" to Epstein's scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.
Money manager Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 aged 66 while awaiting his own sex crimes trial in New York.
"Ms Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible," her attorneys pleaded.
'Devastating harm'
But the prosecution contended in its own court filing last week that Maxwell "was an adult who made her own choices."
They argued that she had shown an "utter lack of remorse" for her crimes, committed between 1994 and 2004.
"Today's sentence holds Ghislaine Maxwell accountable for perpetrating heinous crimes against children," Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said.
"This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice," he added.
Maxwell has already been held in detention for some two years following her arrest in New Hampshire in the summer of 2020.
Maxwell's sentencing caps a dramatic fall for the former international jet setter who grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty. Her circle included Britain's Prince Andrew, former US president and real estate baron Donald Trump and the Clinton family.
In February, Prince Andrew settled a sexual abuse lawsuit with Ms Giuffre, who said she had been trafficked to the royal by Epstein and Maxwell.
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