Federal prosecutors in New York have asked the judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s case to sentence her to 30-55 years in prison for her “instrumental role in the horrific sexual abuse of multiple young teenage girls.”
The behavior of the British socialite has been described as “shockingly predatory” in newly filed court documents, and her offenses have been labeled as “monstrous.”
In December, Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting adolescent girls for the US financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault between the years of 1994 and 2004. On the following Tuesday, a judge is scheduled to pass judgment on the 60-year-old man.
Her legal team has argued in the past that she should spend no more than four or five years behind bars, and they allege that she has been subjected to harsh and punishing conditions in jail ever since her arrest in July of 2020.
Those who represent Maxwell claim that she has been subjected to death threats while she is incarcerated, and that the terrible conditions have caused her to lose both her hair and weight.
However, while making their recommendations to the judge, the prosecutors stated that accusations of inadequate confinement circumstances were not a cause for a lesser sentence; in addition, they stated that she had “enjoyed amazing perks as a high-profile inmate.”
They noted that it is “undoubtedly a frightening and unpleasant experience to go from being served on hand and foot to jail.”
According to the federal sentencing guidelines, Maxwell should serve somewhere between thirty and fifty-five years in jail.
As part of a troubling deal with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell identified, groomed, and assaulted several victims while she enjoyed a life of exceptional luxury and privilege, according to the writings of the prosecutors.
“In her wake, Maxwell left her victims with enduring emotional and psychological scars from the injuries they sustained at her hands. The damage done by Maxwell’s actions can never be undone, but it can be taken into account when determining an appropriate punishment for those actions.”
In addition, it was requested that the judge take into consideration her “total lack of remorse,” and the accompanying document stated, “Instead of demonstrating even a hint of acceptance of responsibility, the defendant makes a desperate attempt to cast blame wherever else she can.”
The attorneys for Maxwell have stated that she is being made a scapegoat for the crimes committed by Epstein; however, the prosecution have deemed this argument to be “absurd and disrespectful.”
In response to the fact that she was an adult and hence responsible for her own decisions, they wrote: “She made the decision to engage in sexual activity with a number of minors against their will. She made the decision to plot with Epstein over a long period of time, working with him as criminal accomplices to cause irreparable harm to victims who were already vulnerable.”
In 2019, at the age of 66, Epstein took his own life in a Manhattan jail cell where he was being held pending trial on allegations of sex trafficking.
Maxwell’s trial was widely viewed as the reckoning Epstein never had, and in testimony that was frequently forceful and graphic, four women testified that the socialite was a significant factor in Epstein’s abuse of them over the course of his career.
