Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting minors for Jeffrey Epstein

Ghislaine Maxwell, a figure of British high society and ex-partner of American tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, was sentenced to 20 years in prison this Tuesday in a New York court, after verifying her participation in cases of sexual trafficking of girls and adolescents who would later be abused. by Epstein.

Maxwell, 60, had been in preventive detention since 2020 and was found guilty on December 30 of last year for the crime of sexual trafficking of minors. Previously, the Manhattan prosecutor’s office had requested a sentence of at least 30 years for the British.

During the hearing on Tuesday, several testimonies from the victims were heard, including that of Annie Farmer, presented as “Kate”, who said that she was exploited and humiliated by Maxwell, assured that her experience “turned out to be a great shame” and that it made her feel as if she wanted to “disappear”.

After hearing the sentence, Maxwell’s lawyers reacted by saying that the sentence should not have been more than five and a half years, arguing that their client was a “scapegoat” for Epstein’s crimes and that he had already spent a long time in jail. .

In the court where she was tried, Maxwell referred to Epstein as a “manipulator, cunning and controlling man”, assured that having met him was the worst mistake of her life and that she was deceived by the millionaire tycoon.

Before sentencing, Alison J. Nathan, a judge in the case, said: “Maxwell was directly, repeatedly and over many years involved in a horrific scheme to lure, transport and traffic in underage girls, some as young as 14 years, for her and Jeffrey to abuse their victims.”

Maxwell’s defense said it will appeal the decision, arguing that the blame for the crimes falls on Epstein and not on his ex-partner, “we all know that the person who should have been sentenced today escaped responsibility, avoided his victims, avoided absorbing his pain and receive the punishment he truly deserved,” said attorney Bobbi Sternheim.

Maxwell’s lawyers had asked Judge Nathan in writing in mid-June to impose a sentence of less than 20 years on the defendant. The maximum sentence for this type of crime is 55 years.

This case, which is directly linked to that of Jeffrey Epstein, has been one of the best known against which the #MeToo movement has protested, which began in October 2017 and seeks for women around the world to report cases of sexual abuse. by public figures and members of the circles of power.

Epstein, from academic to sexual predator

The case of Maxwell and Epstein has been of great interest to public opinion. The high-society couple had a romantic relationship between 1994 and 2004 and surrounded themselves with important world figures such as presidents and members of the British royalty.

Jeffrey Epstein achieved a fortune that included a 100-acre island in the Caribbean and one of the largest mansions in New York. He was one of the most prominent professors and scientists at Harvard University, to which he donated millions of dollars to develop academic research.

Epstein gained attention because he began his career in Brooklyn as a middle-class math teacher, later becoming a “Wall Street high-finance genius.”

Chronology in the case of Maxwell and Epstein

The sentence known this Tuesday is the product of a long legal process. In March 2005, the first investigation against Jeffrey Epstein was opened, when the family of a 14-year-old girl accused the tycoon of sexually abusing the minor before the police in Palm Beach, Florida.

Later, different testimonies from high school students began to be known, where it was learned that Epstein hired them to give sexual massages. In July 2006, the American millionaire was arrested after a judge charged him with the crime of soliciting prostitution.

By June 2008, the mogul pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting minors for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Through a secret agreement, the federal prosecutor’s office agreed not to prosecute Epstein for federal crimes, granting him a more lax sentence, which allowed him to leave in the day and return at night.

In July 2009, Epstein is released, meanwhile, new testimonies from several women are known. Virginia Giuffre, one of the victims, put the name of Ghislaine Maxwell in the public eye for the first time, assuring that she was in charge of organizing sexual encounters with artists, academics, businessmen, millionaires and even members of royalty, including the Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

The American newspaper ‘The Miami Herald’ published a series of articles in November 2018, reviewing the Epstein case, which had lost importance in public opinion. Following the posts, the case was reopened and Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on a federal sex trafficking charge.

On August 10 of that same year, guards at the New York federal prison, where Epstein was being held, found him dead in his cell. The official autopsy report concluded that he committed suicide.

Despite Epstein’s sudden death, the case continued. On July 2, 2020, Ghislaine Maxwell was accused of sexual crimes, through evidence and testimony that proved that she recruited girls for her ex-partner to sexually abuse them, and even that she herself participated in the acts.

Finally and after a month of trial, Maxwell, daughter of fellow tycoon Robert Maxwell, was found guilty on multiple charges in December 2021 and this Tuesday, June 28, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, closing one of the cases of most controversial sexual crimes in recent years.

With Reuters and AP