Ghislaine Maxwell finally spoke up during her sex trafficking sentencing, claiming that she was a “victim of supporting Jeffrey Epstein” and that the pedophile “fooled all of those in his orbit” before receiving a 20-year prison sentence.
Before the judge delivered the verdict, Maxwell addressed the court for the first time. He said to the judge: “Your honor, it is difficult for me to address the court after listening to the agony and anguish expressed today.”
“It is tough to hear about and even harder to comprehend in terms of scope and extent the awful impact on the lives of so many women. I wish to express my sorrow for them.
I have the utmost sympathy for each and every victim in this situation. I admit that by aiding Jeffrey Epstein in committing these crimes, I have been a victim.
“I am aware that I was found guilty of aiding Jeffrey Epstein in committing these crimes. Epstein’s association with me will leave me forever stained. The fact that I ever met him is the worst regret of my life.
Epstein “fooled all of those in his sphere,” she continued.
His victims viewed him as a lover, friend, and mentor. It was appropriate for Jeffrey Epstein to approach you. In 2005. In 2009. And once more in 2019. But my sentence is being handed down today.
All those who were close to him have been devastated by his effect.
Maxwell remarked after the judge who will determine her sentence concluded that instead of the anticipated maximum of 55 years, the guidelines call for her to serve only 15.6 to 19.5 years.
Due to Maxwell’s “total lack of remorse,” prosecutors had urged Judge Nathan to impose a sentence of at least 30 years. She shouldn’t serve more than four years, according to Maxwell, because she poses no threat to the public.
The judge was informed by US assistant attorney Alison More that the 2003 guidelines were inadequate. Think about how sophisticated her predatory behavior was. No one is above the law, we beg the court to say.
“This is one of the uncommon circumstances for a sentence above Guidelines.”
Sarah Ransome, the 37-year-old victim, previously said in her victim impact statement made public on Tuesday that she made two attempts at suicide after being imprisoned in Maxwell and Epstein’s dungeon of hell.
While visiting Epstein’s St. Little James private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, she once attempted to jump from a cliff.
She claimed, “[I] was nothing more than a sex toy with a beating heart and soul used to amuse Epstein, Maxwell, and others.”
The sexual demands, degradation, and humiliation I experienced during one visit to the island led me to attempt to flee by leaping off a cliff into shark-infested waters.
Just before I jumped, Maxwell and the others caught me. Being sexually assaulted once more didn’t seem as attractive at the time as that highly dangerous escape.
She arrived in New York at the age of just 22, according to Ransome, with the intention of enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
She said that an Epstein-Maxwell recruiter named Natalya Malyshev singled her out in a party and set up a meeting with a billionaire who supposedly promised to assist pay for her to attend her desired university.
Epstein and Maxwell were experts at spotting young, impressionable girls and young women to take advantage of, according to Ransome.
They pounced, entangling us in their upside-down, twisted world of rape, rape, and more rape, though, not long after lulling me and others into a false sense of security and familiarity.
The Epstein-Maxwell dungeon of sexual misery was similar to Hotel California in that you could check in but never leave. Ghislaine physically forced me into Epstein’s room where I was raped.
Despite being able to flee to the UK in 2007, Ransome claimed that she started drinking heavily because of the trauma she had experienced and her constant fear that “someday Epstein and Maxwell would harm me, my loved ones, and my family, as Epstein repeatedly told me would happen, if I ever dared to leave.”
The trauma choked Ransome to the point where she attempted suicide once more in 2018, while bringing a lawsuit against Maxwell and other Epstein colleagues, and again a year later when Epstein was going on trial.
Despite my best efforts, I have yet to reach the professional and interpersonal potential that God has given me, Ransome remarked. Even as a young girl, I have always wanted for children, but I have never been married.
I have trouble establishing new relationships and am uncomfortable around strangers because I worry that they might be connected to Epstein, Maxwell, and the enablers.
Even though she acknowledged that she still went to AA meetings, she continued, “I know that only by the grace of God do I continue to survive.” The same Maxwell I met over 20 years ago still lacks compassion and basic human decency.