Ghislaine Maxwell received a 20-year prison sentence on Tuesday for assisting wealthy billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in sexually assaulting young children.

The investigation into how Epstein and Maxwell cultivated naive women before taking advantage of them by displaying their money and connections to powerful people came to a close with her hearing in New York.

After being charged with federal sex trafficking, Epstein passed away in custody in 2019.

“Today’s sentencing holds Ghislaine Maxwell accountable for committing horrible crimes against children,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. This line makes it clear that no one is above the law and that justice may always be served. We want to thank the victims of Epstein and Maxwell once again for having the guts to come forward, speak in court, and share their experiences at today’s sentencing.

According to the charges in the indictment, legal papers, and testimony at trial:

GHISLAINE MAXWELL helped, enabled, and took part in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of young girls from at least 1994 until and included in or around 2004. Among other things, she assisted Epstein in recruiting, grooming, and finally abusing victims that MAXWELL and Epstein knew were under the age of 18. When they were groomed and mistreated by MAXWELL and Epstein, both of whom were aware that their victims were in reality kids, the victims were as young as 14 years old. MAXWELL and Epstein lured and prodded young victims to go to Epstein’s homes in various states as part of and to advance their plan to abuse them. MAXWELL knew and intended that this would lead to the young victims being groomed for and subjected to sexual abuse.

MAXWELL lured and trained young females to abuse them in various ways. For instance, MAXWELL made an effort to get to know some of the victims by asking them about their homes, families, and schools and accompanying them to the movies or the mall. By merely being present during victim contacts with Epstein, MAXWELL also helped victims become accustomed to his behaviour. This helped victims feel more at ease since they had the assurance and comfort of an adult woman who appeared to be okay with Epstein’s activities. Additionally, MAXWELL urged some victims to accept Epstein’s aid when he promised to pay for their travel and/or educational possibilities. Because of this, victims felt obligated and thought MAXWELL and Epstein were attempting to assist them.

By talking about sexual matters, taking off clothes in front of the victim, being there as the victim undressed, and encouraging the victim to massage Epstein, MAXWELL also normalised and enabled sexual abuse for a victim.

These grooming practises made young victims open to sexual assault by Epstein, as MAXWELL and Epstein planned. Ghislaine Maxwell later witnessed sex acts committed by Epstein against child victims while present for specific sexual contacts between minor victims and Epstein, such as exchanges in which a minor victim was naked. This abuse comprised group sexualized massages performed by Epstein on a child victim while MAXWELL was present, as well as individual sexualized massages performed on a victim who was completely or partially naked.

Finally, sexual abuse of minors includes touching a victim’s breasts or genitals, placing a sex item like a vibrator on a victim’s genitals, ordering a victim to touch Epstein while he masturbated, and ordering a victim to touch Epstein’s genitals. At Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida, and New Mexico as well as MAXWELL’s home in London, England, the victims of MAXWELL and Epstein were groomed or mistreated.

MAXWELL and Epstein found vulnerable females throughout the earlier stage of the conspiracy, at least from around 1994 to roughly 2001. These girls often came from single-mother families and had severe financial situations.

In the previous stage, the defendant and Epstein had to pick out one female at a time to groom and abuse. In the later phase, between roughly 2001 and at least roughly 2004, MAXWELL and Epstein lured and recruited, and caused to be lured and recruited, young girls to go to Epstein’s Palm Beach residence to engage in sex acts with Epstein, after which Epstein, MAXWELL, or another employee of Epstein’s would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash. One or more of the victims were persuaded to travel with Epstein by MAXWELL and Epstein with the goal of having sex with Epstein.

Additionally, MAXWELL and Epstein paid some victims to find new females to be similarly assaulted by Epstein in order to preserve and grow his victim pool. MAXWELL and Epstein established a network of young victims for Epstein to sexually abuse in this manner.
Maxwell, 60, was also given five years of supervised release after his prison term and was had to pay a $750,000 fine.

Mr. Williams thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its excellent job.

The Public Corruption Unit of the Office is handling this case. The prosecution is being led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey, Alison Moe, Lara Pomerantz, and Andrew Rohrbach.