Prosecutors make recommendation in court filing a week before Maxwell’s sentencing for sex-trafficking conviction
The FBI announced the charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2020. Prosecutors have called for her to be jailed for at least 30 years.The FBI announced the charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2020. Prosecutors have called for her to be jailed for at least 30 years.Last modified on Thu 23 Jun 2022 14.34 BST
The prosecution’s filing comes one week after Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she should receive “well below” the 20-year sentence recommended by sentencing officials. Although Maxwell’s defense attorneys and prosecutors each make their arguments for an appropriate sentence, the decision ultimately rests with Alison Nathan, the judge.
Epstein was apprehended by federal authorities in July 2019, on sex-trafficking counts. He killed himself in a, Maxwell’s lawyers contended that her jail conditions were harrowing, alleging that “an inmate in Ms Maxwell’s unit threatened to kill her, claiming that an additional 20 years’ incarceration would be worth the money she’d receive for murdering Ms Maxwell”.
“And as elder siblings, we witnessed our father taking Ghislaine under his wing, whereby she became over-dependent on his approval and vulnerable to his frequent, rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections,” they said. “This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.”. Nor did she show any after leaving him, which she eventually managed to do,” they claimed.
“Although many defendants come before sentencing courts with compelling mitigating factors from difficult upbringings, Maxwell is not among them. She has enjoyed a remarkable life of privilege, having lived in luxury and moved in social circles among the famous and powerful,” they wrote.