In December, Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of sex trafficking. The associate, intimate, and partner in crime with the infamous late Jeffery Epstein will be sentenced today.
The prosecution has argued for a minimum 30-year sentence, citing Maxwell’s lack of remorse.
The prosecution noted that sentencing guidelines were raised in 2004 and that Maxwell’s crimes could warrant a 55-year sentence.
However, Alison Nathan, the judge who will rule on the matter, has determined sentencing guidelines indicate that Maxwell will serve between 15.6 years and 19.5 years.
Maxwell claims she should serve just four years, arguing that she is not a danger to the public.
Not boding well for Maxwell is the news that one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, Sarah Ransome, recently profiled her two suicide attempts stemming from the trauma of sexual abuse. The crimes she endured were committed by Epstein but enabled by Maxwell.
Noting the significant emotional and psychological impact of the abuse she suffered, Ransome, claimed in her victim impact statement: “I was nothing more than a sex toy with a heartbeat and soul used to entertain Epstein, Maxwell, and others,” according to the Daily Mail.
Ransome has shown pictures in court, depicting her in hospital beds after attempting suicide in 2008 and 2018.
The Daily Mail reports Ransome said:
“On one visit to the island, the sexual demands, degradation, and humiliation ensued me to try to escape by jumping off a cliff into shark-infested waters. I was caught by Maxwell and company moments before jumping. At the time, that extremely risky escape seemed more appealing than being raped one more time.”
Arguing for a maximum sentence for Maxwell in her victim impact statement, Ransome wrote:
“Maxwell is today the same woman I met almost 20 years ago – incapable of compassion or common human decency,” she added. “Sentencing her to the rest of her life in prison will not change her, but it will give survivors a slight sense of justice.”
Speaking outside the courthouse, Ransome reportedly said: “Ghislaine must die in prison. I’ve been in hell and back for the past 17 years.”
Other victims, Annie Farmer, Elizabeth Stein and a woman identified only as “Kate,” are scheduled to read their victim impact statements to the court before sentencing.
The sentencing will mark the end of a decades-long fight for justice by victims of Maxwell and Epstein.
Epstein died under mysterious circumstances while in custody awaiting trial in 2019. Since then, prosecutors turned their attention to prosecuting Maxwell, arguing that she was aware of and complicit in multiple crimes. Maxwell was arrested in 2019 and found guilty in December 2021.
Maxwell argues that she has been made a “scapegoat” for Epstein.
The Daily Mail reports that “Maxwell’s fall from grace is all the more astonishing given her background as a wealthy socialite and the daughter of Robert Maxwell, the late newspaper tycoon who fell off his yacht in the Canary Islands in 1991 in mysterious circumstances.”
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