- A federal judge sentenced
Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison. - In December, a jury found her guilty of sex-trafficking girls for
Jeffrey Epstein .
A judge on Tuesday sentenced Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison for trafficking girls to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein and sexually abusing them herself.
Maxwell was also fined $750,000, the judge announced, and would be on probation for five years following her time in prison.
A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Maxwell in December, finding she was guilty of five of the six sex trafficking and conspiracy charges brought against her.
US District Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw the trial in Manhattan federal court, said the sentence — which slightly exceeded sentencing guidelines — addressed the "heinous and predatory" nature of Maxwell's crimes. She also took into account statements given by victims.
"The damage done to these girls is incalculable," Nathan said.
Before her sentencing, Maxwell, now 60 years old, addressed the court — her first public remarks since her arrest in 2020. She walked into the courtroom wearing a pale blue jail-issued smock, chains on her ankles clanking.
Though Maxwell didn't take responsibility for trafficking girls to Epstein and sexually abusing them herself, she acknowledged the "pain and anguish" expressed by the victims.
Maxwell said statements by the victims were "difficult to hear and absorb" and said she's had plenty of time to think about her actions in solitary confinement.
"It is the greatest regret of my life that I ever met Jeffrey Epstein," Maxwell said. "I have had plenty of time to think, having spent two years in solitary confinement. 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 said Epstein "should have been here" to hear the stories of the victims.
"I hope my incarceration brings you closure, some measure of peace and finality," she said. "May this day help you travel from the darkness into the light."
In issuing the 20-year sentence, Nathan said her version of events, false claims made in depositions for civil lawsuits against her for her conduct, exaggerations about her conditions in jail, and inconsistencies in financial statements for bail reflected a "pattern of deflection" and dishonesty.
"Ms. Maxwell is wealthy or that this case is high profile is not a basis for increasing punishment in any regard, but the rule of law demands — and this Court must ensure that — whether you are rich or poor, powerful or entirely unknown, nobody is above the law," Nathan said.
Maxwell's victims spoke in court before she was sentenced
Four women took the stand throughout the monthlong trial and, in painful testimony, described how Maxwell befriended them as teenagers, groomed them for sex with Epstein. One of the accusers, who testified under the pseudonym Kate, said Maxwell told her Epstein needed sex three times a day and that she couldn't keep up. Two of the accusers — Jane, a pseudonym, and a woman who testified using only her first name, Carolyn — said that the sexual acts started when they were as young as 14 and that Maxwell sometimes participated in the abuse.
Annie Farmer, the only accuser to testify using her full name, said Maxwell fondled her breasts during a visit to Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16. On Tuesday, she gave a statement to the court about her experience.
"For a long time, I wanted to erase from my mind the crimes that Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein committed against me and pretend they hadn't happened," she said.
The sentence given to Maxwell was slightly above statutory sentencing guidelines, which Nathan said demonstrated the severity of her crimes.
"There are a small number of cases where the Court imposes an above-guideline sentence," prosecutor Alison Moe told Nathan during the sentencing hearing. "This is that case."
Following the sentencing, Farmer told Insider that she was "very happy" with the 20-year sentence.
In the days leading up to the sentencing, prosecutors and attorneys for Maxwell's accusers submitted statements from victims. Maxwell's attorneys sought to limit who would be able to speak, but Nathan permitted statements from each victim who testified, others identified by witnesses as her victims, and two other accusers who watched but did not participate in the trial in court.
The accuser who testified in the trial with the pseudonym Kate said that her experience on the stand was "both terrifying and retraumatizing" but that she does not "regret it for a moment."
"There is nothing more important than protecting the innocent and, if I was able to provide, in any way, information helpful to understanding the nature of this type of abuse, as perpetrated by Ghislaine Maxwell, then my pain has had meaning and therefore not been for naught," she wrote.
The trial shed light on how Epstein and Maxwell controlled girls
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that shed more light on Epstein's lavish lifestyle, connections with the powerful, and the way he pursued children. Epstein funded and maintained a "scholarship lodge" at a summer camp where he and Maxwell targeted Jane, instructed his household staff to pay little attention to visitors, and kept a stash of money and diamonds in a safe in his Manhattan townhouse. His victims testified that he namedropped the likes of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew to keep them in line.
Epstein also gave Maxwell more than $30 million during their time together, which included a romantic relationship as well as a period of time where she acted as his household manager.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of at least 30 years in prison for the disgraced socialite, in addition to fines.
Maxwell's lawyers fought for five years and said she plans to appeal her conviction. During the trial, they argued she was unfairly targeted after Epstein died in jail following his arrest in 2019, and presented friends to testify that they never witnessed her sexually abuse anyone. In a sentencing memorandum, Maxwell's lawyers said she should be granted leniency because of childhood abuse from her father, the late British mogul Robert Maxwell.
The verdict against Maxwell was nearly derailed after one of the jurors said in media interviews that he was personally a victim of sexual abuse as a child — something he failed to disclose on his prospective juror form.
After Nathan questioned him under oath, she ruled that he made an honest mistake and that the situation didn't meet the legal standards for throwing out the jury verdict.
Prosecutors have also said they would drop a separate set of perjury charges against Maxwell, for lying about her sexual abuse in a deposition taken for a civil case involving Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre has accused Maxwell and Epstein of sexual misconduct, and earlier this year secured a settlement with Prince Andrew, who she accused of sexually abusing her as part of Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme. Giuffre was not brought as a witness in Maxwell's criminal trial.
Nathan dismissed the charges, at the prosecutors' request, at the end of the sentencing. She noted in her sentence that she believed Maxwell lied in her depositions, given the evidence in her trial.
"Overall, the behavior appears consistent with a pattern of deflection of blame," Nathan said.
In her own impact statement, Giuffre said she hoped Maxwell's trial would "set a precedent for victims and the hunters who prey upon them."
"Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible pedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you," the statement reads, addressing Maxwell. "For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell. And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it."