Ghislaine Maxwell, the U.S. socialite who was convicted late last year of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said: “A sentence of 240 months is sufficient and no graver than necessary.”
Before issuing the verdict, Nathan addressed those gathered inside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, including Maxwell and some of her victims.
“I find that the defendant’s criminal activity was extensive,” Nathan said.
In December, Maxwell was convicted by a jury of five charges, including sex trafficking, transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts and two conspiracy charges.
Federal prosecutors were seeking a sentence of 30 to 55 years in prison.
“Maxwell’s conduct was shockingly predatory,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “She was a calculating, sophisticated, and dangerous criminal who preyed on vulnerable young girls and groomed them for sexual abuse.”
Her attorneys had asked the judge for a sentence of four to five years.
Before Maxwell’s sentence was handed down, the judge heard impact statements from victims, including Annie Farmer, who had testified she was 16 when Maxwell introduced her to Epstein, and a woman identified as Kate who told jurors that Maxwell once gave her a “schoolgirl” outfit to wear during an encounter with him.
Maxwell has been held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since her arrest at a New Hampshire estate in July 2020.
Epstein committed suicide in prison in 2019 one month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
Yahoo News
