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Epstein\u2019s 2019 death in federal custody while awaiting trial, which authorities ruled a suicide, prompted a heightened outcry over the financier\u2019s long trail of crimes, his connections to celebrities and global leaders, and the justice that he\u2019d never see. (He negotiated a non-prosecution agreement while pleading guilty to soliciting a child for prostitution in 2008.) While Epstein never faced his victims in court, Maxwell, his foremost accomplice who shared in his riches and status, listened on in November and December as four women testified about the ruin the pair brought to their lives.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s sentencing hearing provided a further venue for these accounts. Sarah Ransome,<\/strong> whose recent book, Silenced No More,<\/em> detailed her experiences with Epstein and Maxwell, stood near the socialite as she addressed her. She said that the pair\u2019s \u201cdungeon of sexual hell\u201d eventually lead her to two suicide attempts.<\/p>\n\u201cTo Ghislaine, I say, you broke me in unfathomable ways,\u201d Ransome continued, \u201cbut you did not break my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the victim statements, Maxwell, for the most part, looked straight ahead or at the table in front of her. She occasionally whispered to her lawyers between the statements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn more ways than one, they almost killed me,\u201d Elizabeth Stein<\/strong> said as she turned to Maxwell. She noted that \u201cfor the past 25 years, Ghislaine Maxwell has been free to live a life of wealth and privilege that is almost incomprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\nWhen it came time for Maxwell and her attorneys to make their plea to Nathan, they offered some penance, but nothing so firm as an admission of responsibility. Maxwell\u2019s lead attorney, Bobbi Sternheim<\/strong> drew a parallel between her \u201cnarcissistic, brutish father\u201d\u2014the late, disgraced publishing baron Robert Maxwell\u2014and the \u201ccontrolling, demanding, and manipulative Jeffrey Epstein\u201d and said that her client\u2019s childhood experience should be factored into her sentence.<\/p>\nWhen Maxwell took the podium shortly after, her statement constituted her most extensive public comments in years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed in the statements today,\u201d she said in a mostly steady voice.<\/p>\n
Maxwell said that in her two years of solitary confinement since her arrest, she had had ample opportunity to reflect on her relationship with Epstein, his \u201cprofoundly compartmentalized life,\u201d and how he \u201cfooled all of those in his orbit.\u201d She described her association with him as \u201cthe greatest regret of my life\u201d and one that would \u201cforever and permanently stain me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJeffrey Epstein should have been here before all of you,\u201d Maxwell said. She noted the years 2005, 2009, and 2019: \u201call the many times he was accused, charged, and prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Maxwell conceded that \u201ctoday it is not about Epstein ultimately,\u201d she left her apology to victims inside and outside the courtroom in the passive voice: \u201cI\u2019m sorry for the pain you have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
In announcing her sentencing decision and its rationale, Nathan paused to parse that kind of language. She noted that the abuse described over the course of the trial happened \u201cby and with Epstein,\u201d and repeated those words again. \u201cMaxwell is not being punished in place of Epstein,\u201d Nathan said, in what could amount to a rejoinder to Maxwell\u2019s central argument at trial: that she had been scapegoated. Maxwell was \u201cinstrumental\u201d to Epstein\u2019s abuse, Nathan said, and \u201cshe participated in some of the abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sternheim and Maxwell acknowledged the courage and pain of the victims who had spoken, Nathan continued. But \u201cwhat wasn\u2019t expressed,\u201d she said, \u201cwas acceptance of responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
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READ MORE<\/header>\n<\/div>\n\n
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VANITIES<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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\u201cHer Life Has Been Ruined\u201d: Ghislaine Maxwell Asks for Leniency<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The British socialite was convicted in December on charges of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s abuse. In a new court filing, her lawyers asked for a sentence of four to five years after a federal probation department recommended 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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BY <\/span>DAN ADLER<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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VANITIES<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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\u201cAn Adult Who Made Her Own Choices\u201d: Prosecutors Recommend at Least 30 Years in Prison for Ghislaine Maxwell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The British socialite and convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice will be sentenced in federal court next week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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BY <\/span>DAN ADLER<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dan Adler, June 28, 2022 The British socialite, convicted of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s abuse, addressed her victims in court on Tuesday. By the time Ghislaine Maxwell, dressed in blue prison garb and shackles, walked into a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday morning, her descent from the heights of society and wealth had been well in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13629"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13631,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13629\/revisions\/13631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}