Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years in Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse case
LA TimesIn this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell, right, is seated beside her attorney, Christian Everdell, as they watch the prosecutor speak during her sentencing on Tuesday. But she did not admit culpability and laid blame for the abuse on Epstein, saying meeting him was the “greatest regret of my life.” She called him “a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life.” The judge said Maxwell was being punished for her “heinous and predatory” crimes, not Epstein’s. She criticized Maxwell’s “pattern of deflection and blame.” Four survivors at the sentencing described their sexual abuse, including Annie Farmer, who was briefly overcome with emotion as she addressed the judge. Carolyn testified that she was one of several underprivileged teens who lived near Epstein’s Florida home in the early 2000s and took up an offer to massage him in exchange for $100 bills in what prosecutors described as “a pyramid of abuse.” Maxwell made all the arrangements, Carolyn told the jury, even though Maxwell knew she was only 14 at the time. Robert Maxwell, they wrote, subjected his daughter to “frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections,” which “led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.” Ransome — an accuser whose allegations weren’t included in the trial — testified about the lasting harm to her life, gazing directly at Maxwell several times.