Jury finds Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking
Legal experts Jim Trusty and Brian Claypool react to the verdict reached in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial and discuss what is next for Maxwell.
Ghislaine Maxwell will learn her fate Tuesday in Manhattan federal court when she’s sentenced to up to 55 years in prison for recruiting and grooming young girls to be abused by late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted after trial of procuring teenage girls for sexual encounters with her and Epstein between 1994 and 2004 at the billionaire’s mansions and estates in Manhattan, New Mexico, Florida and the Virgin Islands.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting a federal trial on similar charges.
Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York are pushing U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan to lock up Maxwell for 30 to 55 years, calling her crimes "monstrous" and saying she played an "instrumental role in the horrific sexual abuse of multiple young teenage girls."
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Maxwell "enjoyed a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege" while preying on troubled young girls, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing submission. "In her wake Maxwell left her victims permanently scarred with emotional and psychological injuries," the filing says.
Ghislaine Maxwell sits at the defense table during a hearing in Manhattan federal court. (Jane Rosenberg via Reuters)
Defense lawyers requested no more than five years in prison for the disgraced British socialite, arguing that she shouldn’t pay for Epstein’s crimes.
Maxwell has been jailed since her July 2020 arrest, and prosecutors noted that nearly all of the $22.5 million in assets that she offered in a rejected bail package was given to her by Epstein.
A photo illustration of Ghislaine Maxwell attending Nationlal Urban Tech Center in 2014 in in New York City and an image of her and Jeffrey Epstein. (Photo by Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan via Getty Image)
Eight women filed victim impact statements asking the judge to consider their suffering in determining a just sentence for Maxwell. Defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim tried to bar some of the victim statements, arguing that their claims were not part of the case.
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Nathan ruled Monday that she will weigh all the written submissions and allow six of Maxwell's accusers to speak at the sentencing: Annie Farmer, Virginia Giuffre, Elizabeth Stein, Sarah Ransome, Teresa Helm and "Kate," who has used the pseudonym to identify herself. Farmer and Kate testified at the trial, while the others did not.
David Boies, representing several of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims, center, shown with Annie Farmer, right, and Virginia Giuffre, alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at federal court in New York. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Annie Farmer blasted Maxwell in her written statement for her lack of remorse and for forcing "a long fight for justice that has felt like a black hole sucking in our precious time, energy and wellbeing."
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Ransome said that the half of a year she spent treated as a "sex toy" by Maxwell and Epstein spurred her to attempt suicide twice. Graphic photos of her taken inside a hospital room after those attempts were included in the filing.
A photo combination of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (Getty Images)
She wrote a book, "Silenced No More," about the "horrific trauma" she endured at the hands of her abusers.
Maxwell’s most vocal accuser, Giuffre, called her a "wolf in sheep’s clothing" who had "opened the door to hell" for so many young girls.
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"You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims," Giuffre wrote. "If you ever get out of prison, I will be here, watching you, making sure you never hurt anyone else again."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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