Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for crimes abetting Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking and rape of minors between 1994 and 2004, according to the New York Times. In December, a jury of six men and six women found Maxwell guilty of five of six charges against her, including sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sex acts, and three different conspiracy counts.

Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York argued that Maxwell procured a steady stream of underage girls for Epstein and his associates to rape and that she served as “lady of the house” in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein kept an now-infamous home at his private island, Little St. James. Maxwell’s defense argued she was a victim of Epstein’s evils himself and suffered as a scapegoat for the entire far-flung network of trafficking after the 2019 death of the financier, whose only client was Les Wexner (and whose close friend was “useful idiot” Prince Andrew).

Prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence of at least 30 years. Maxwell has been in prison without bail at Metropolitan Department of Corrections in Brooklyn since July 2020. Maxwell intends to appeal.