Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty of complicity in the trafficking of minors.
“I’m sorry for the pain you experienced. I hope that my incarceration will allow you to put an end to it and bring you peace. For the first time, Ghislaine Maxwell apologized. She spoke for a few minutes at the bar, standing, but without turning to her victims: she was reading a text, in a serious and calm voice, to judge Alison Nathan responsible for deciding the number of years to which she was going be condemned. “It is difficult for me to address this court after hearing the pain you have expressed. It was hard to hear, hard to absorb.
Narrative : Ghislaine Maxwell, the demon in the skin
A few minutes earlier, five victims had marched to the bar one last time to describe their ordeal. “Seventeen years after the fact, I continue to suffer,” said Sarah Ransome, one of them. “I had become a sex toy against my will. They (Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, editor’s note) took advantage of my dysfunctional family history to achieve their ends. They told me I was exceptionally smart. And now I don’t trust people easily, I find it hard to make new friends, I’m not married, I don’t have children, although I always wanted to have some, and I have made two suicide attempts. Sarah had to fight back tears to speak. She turned her head to the left to speak directly to Ghislaine Maxwell who was staring straight ahead, her eyes lowered, avoiding her gaze. “Ghislaine Maxwell is the same as the one I met twenty years ago,” concluded Sarah Ransome.
Maxwell wanted to explain, but it was a bit short: “I know that my association with Jeffrey Epstein will forever be a stain for me,” she justified herself. She described her ex-lover as a ‘manipulative’, ‘in control’ man who ‘compartmentalized’ his life. “He should have stood here in front of you,” she adds. Everything would therefore be her fault and she would have nothing to reproach herself with, to hear her, which the judge did not fail to note in rendering her verdict: “Madame Maxwell has just mentioned the pain of the victims: c It was important for them to hear it. But there was no acceptance of any responsibility on his part, no remorse for his behavior. I therefore conclude that the correct sentence is 20 years incarceration followed by 5 years of supervised release upon his release.” If she leaves prison, Ghislaine Maxwell will therefore be 80 years old. Thus ends the Maxwell trial, two years after his arrest in New Hampshire, after a final hearing of three and a half hours. For the victims, it’s the end of a long ordeal, a page that turns.