Socialite sex 'monster' Ghislaine Maxwell jailed 20 years
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Publishing date:Jun 28, 2022 • 14 hours ago • 3 minute read • 40 Comments
Even at the bitter end of her sentencing hearing, disgraced jet-setting socialite Ghislaine Maxwell seemed to believe she was above it all.
And that she would somehow skate away, like she had done most of her life.
She wasn’t and she didn’t. Her connections and social cache amounted to nothing on Tuesday.
And she was shocked.
The 60-year-old convicted sex trafficker was sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. Federal Prison on Tuesday by Judge Alison Nathan.
She sniffed to Nathan and the victims: “I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you pleasure.”
She had faced 55 years in the slammer.
Maxwell — the daughter of fallen publishing magnet Robert Maxwell — was convicted on Dec. 29, 2021 for her star turn in billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s global sex trafficking ring.
She was convicted of five charges of recruiting and grooming four girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein — her boyfriend from 1994 to 2004.
In court, Maxwell wore a blue long-sleeve jumpsuit with a long-sleeve shirt underneath and sporting a bob haircut. She was also wearing a mask.
“The damage done to these young girls was incalculable,” Nathan said in passing sentence. “The conduct demands a substantial sentence.
“The rule of law demands, and this court agrees, that whether you are rich or powerful or entirely unknown, nobody is above the law.”
The judge added that the fallen belle of the ball is not a “proxy for Epstein” and that her antics were “heinous and predatory.”
A number of her victims gave harrowing impact statements.
“Simply put, Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster,” Juliette Bryant said in her statement. “Ever since she and Jeffrey Epstein got their hands on me, I have never felt okay. Thinking about them still gives me frequent panic attacks and night terrors.”
During her four-week trial, court heard that Maxwell was the stick that stirred the drink in Epstein’s odious apparatus that preyed on vulnerable young women and underage girls.
Maxwell would recruit and groom the girls for sex with Epstein and his coterie of wealthy like-minded pals.
Her lawyers argued that the wealthy Maxwell was also a victim of Epstein and that she should only serve four years in the slammer. The legal eagles again claimed that Maxwell was a proxy for the monied monster.
Prosecutors had asked for 30 years.
Epstein — a mysterious financier — hanged himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was 66.
Maxwell herself again pinned her predicament on Epstein in addressing the court.
“Victims considered him as a godfather, a mentor, a benefactor, a friend, a lover,” Maxwell said. “It is absolutely unfathomable today to think that was how he was viewed contemporaneously. His impact on all those close to him has been devastating.”
She added: “I’m sorry for the pain that you have experienced.”
Outside court, Maxwell’s victims called her belated apology “hollow.”
And victims had also long hoped Maxwell would name names during her trial. The socialite and her maladroit mate were famous for their little black books packed with boldface names.
None were named during the trial, but one of the lawyers representing the victims said that associates of the couple should be the feds’ “next target.”
“Let’s hope they’re the next target. If we have anything to do with it, they will be,” lawyer Brad Edwards told reporters outside federal court before proceedings.
He said he had some people in mind but “I can’t share that.”
In addition to the jail sentence, Maxwell was ordered to pay $750,000.
Judge Nathan recommended the low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut for Maxwell’s new home. The jail is best known for housing author Piper Kerman of Orange Is the New Black fame and reality TV star Teresa Giudice.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
Disgraced jet-setting socialite Ghislaine Maxwell will likely spend the rest of her life behind bars.
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