NEW YORK – Ghislaine Maxwell learned her fate on Tuesday when she was sentenced to 20 in prison for her role in helping powerful pedophile Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls.
US District Judge Alison Nathan said the sentence of 240 months was “sufficient and not greater than necessary” for 60-year-old Maxwell, the New York Post reported.
The British socialite who fell from grace addressed some of her victims in court, saying, “I am sorry for the pain that you experienced. I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you closure,” she said.
However, the victims who testified that Maxwell groomed young girls for sex were likely unmoved by her apologies based upon prior statements to the court.
One victim called on the judge to lock Maxwell up and throw away the key. Another said, “Maxwell had many opportunities to come clean, but instead continued to make choices that caused more harm.”
Virginia Giuffre Roberts, who has long accused Maxwell and Epstein of pimping her to Britain’s Prince Andrew, described the condemned woman “like a wolf in sheep’s clothing” in her letter to the court.
“Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell,” she wrote. “You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims.”
Epstein reportedly died by suicide while in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August 2019.
Maxwell — dressed in blue jail scrubs — remained stoic as she learned the length of her incarceration. She later left the courtroom without speaking to siblings, who were sitting in the row behind her, according to the Post.
“Today’s sentence holds Ghislaine Maxwell accountable for perpetrating heinous crimes against children,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement. “This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice.”
