Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, was found guilty of five counts of sex abuse in 2021. Months later, Maxwell learned her fate after she was sentenced for her crimes on June 28.
As Reuters reported back in December 2021, a jury ruled that they believed Maxwell helped Epstein “sexually abuse teenage girls.” As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Epstein committed suicide by hanging in prison while he await his fate as well back in August 2019.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Partner in Crime,’ Learns Her Fate as She Is Sentenced After Being Found Guilty of Sex Trafficking
Maxwell and Epstein had known each other for years. And now, after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking, Maxwell is apologizing for her aiding her longtime friend and rumored lover.
While awaiting her sentencing, some of her victims were in the courtroom. While addressing the court, Maxwell looked at some of her victims and apologized.
“I am sorry for the pain that you experienced. I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you pleasure,” she said, according to The New York Post.
Maxwell also called Epstein “cunning and manipulative,” while adding she wished she never met him. “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.”
She continued by addressing Epstein’s suicide, saying he “should have been here before all of you. But added, “Today is not about Epstein. It is for me to ultimately be sentenced.” Prior to Maxwell’s sentencing, she was put on suicide watch after she claimed jail employees threatened her.
It’s unclear if she will remain on suicide watch as she returns to jail for the next 20 years.
RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell Is On Suicide Watch After Saying She Was Threatened
As it has been reported, it is believed Maxwell helped Epstein recruit and groom their victims for at least 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe had labeled Maxwell Epstein’s “partner in crime” during her trial.
“Ghislaine Maxwell made her own choices. She committed crimes hand in hand with Jeffrey Epstein. She was a grown woman who knew exactly what she was doing,” Moe said at the time. However, Maxwell’s defense argued that she was instead being used as a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s affair.
“Epstein’s death left a gaping hole in the pursuit of justice for many of these women,” Maxwell’s defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim said. “She’s filling that hole, and filling that empty chair.”
Before coming to the guilty verdict, the jury deliberated for a total of five days.
Prior to her arrest in July 2020 and a few months after Epstein’s death, Maxwell bought a $1 million dollar home in New Hampshire where she stayed quiet until she was taken into custody. A handful of women spoke out against both Epstein and Maxwell, some saying they were as young as 14 when they were abused by the pair.
Three women, according to Reuters, said even Maxwell touched them inappropriately herself. One of the victims, known as Jane, testified that “Maxwell sometimes took part in her sexual encounters with Epstein and acted as if it was normal.”
“It made me feel confused because that did not feel normal to me,” Jane said. “I’d never seen anything like this or felt anything like this.” Moe said in her statements that it was Maxwell’s job to make the victims feel comfortable so as not to set of “alarm bells” within the victims.
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