Tuesday 28 June 2022 07:45 PM Ghislaine Maxwell claims she is a 'victim of helping Jeffrey Epstein' trends now
Ghislaine Maxwell has broken her silence at her sentencing for sex trafficking where she said she was a 'victim of helping Jeffrey Epstein' and said the pedophile 'fooled all of those in his orbit' before being sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Addressing the court for the first time ahead of the judge handing down the sentence, Maxwell told the judge: 'Your honor, it is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed today.
'The terrible impact on the lives of so many women is difficult to hear and even more difficult to absorb in its scale and extent. I want to acknowledge their suffering. I empathize deeply with all of the victims in this case.
The judge who will hand down Ghislaine Maxwell's sentence has determined the guidelines dictate she serve just 15.6 years to 19.5 years - not the expected 55-year maximum
In a big win for Maxwell's defense, Judge Alison Nathan ruled to use sentencing guidelines from 2003 - the year Maxwell's last offense took place. In 2004, sentencing guidelines were raised, which could have seen Maxwell facing a maximum of 55 years. But the judge ruled to now lower the maximum to 235 months - or 19.5 years
Ghislaine Maxwell will be sentenced today after being convicted of sex trafficking in December. The sentencing will mark the end of a decades-long fight for justice by victims of Maxwell and Epstein
'I acknowledge with that I have been a victim of helping Jeffrey Epstein commit these crimes.'
'I realize I have been convicted of assisting Jeffrey Epstein to commit these crimes. My associate with Epstein will permanently stain me. It is the biggest regret of my life that I ever met him.'
She added that Epstein 'fooled all of those in his orbit.'
'His victims considered him a mentor, friend, lover. Jeffrey Epstein should have stood before you. In 2005. In 2009. And again in 2019. But today it is for me to be sentenced.
'His impact upon all those who were close to him has been devastating.'
Maxwell spoke after the judge who will hand down her sentence determined the guidelines dictate she serve just 15.6 years to 19.5 years - not the expected 55-year maximum.
Prosecutors had asked Judge Nathan to impose a sentence of at least 30 years because of Maxwell's 'utter lack of remorse.' Maxwell claims she should serve just four years as she is not a danger to the public.
Assistant US attorney Alison More told the judge, 'The 2003 guidelines were inadequate. Consider the sophistication of her predatory conduct. We ask the court to send a message no one is above the law.'
'This is one of the rare cases for an above Guidelines sentence.'
Sarah Ransome, 38, (right) is pictured with fellow Jeffery Epstein victim Elizabeth Stein (left). Ransome recounted the horrors she experienced at the hands of Epstein that led her to trying to kill herself twice, in 2008 and 2018
Ransome shared photos of her in a hospital bed after her first attempt to kill herself in 2008
Ransome is pictured with casts in both legs following her second suicide attempt in 2018
Earlier, victim Sarah Ransome, 37, revealed in her victim impact statement released on Tuesday that she tried to kill herself twice after being locked up in Maxwell and Epstein's dungeon of hell.
She once tried jumping off a cliff while at Epstein's St. Little James private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
'[I was] nothing more than a sex toy with a
