\u201cThe witnesses at trial testified about Ms. Maxwell\u2019s facilitation of Epstein\u2019s abuse, but Epstein was always the central figure: Epstein was the mastermind, Epstein was the principal abuser, and Epstein orchestrated the crimes for his personal gratification,\u201d they wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n
Epstein and Maxwell\u2019s associations with some of the world\u2019s most famous people were not a prominent part of the trial, but mentions of friends like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Britain\u2019s Prince Andrew showed how the pair exploited their connections to impress their prey.<\/p>\n
Over the past 17 years, scores of women have accused Epstein of abusing them. Many described Maxwell as acting as a madam who recruited them to give massages to Epstein.<\/p>\n
The trial, though, revolved around allegations from\u00a0only a handful of those women.<\/p>\n
Four testified that they were abused as teens in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein\u2019s mansions in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n
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![\"Youtube](\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/tiGlR46kjFU\/maxresdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThree were\u00a0identified in court\u00a0only by their first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy: Jane, a television actress; Kate, an ex-model from the U.K.; and Carolyn, now a mom recovering from drug addiction. The fourth was Annie Farmer, who identified herself in court by her real name after speaking out publicly.<\/p>\n
They described how Maxwell charmed them with conversation and gifts and promises that Epstein could use his wealth and connections to help fulfill their dreams.<\/p>\n
Then, they testified, she led them to give massages to Epstein that turned sexual and played it off as normal.<\/p>\n
Carolyn testified that she was one of several underprivileged teens who lived near Epstein\u2019s Florida home in the early 2000s and took up an offer to massage him in exchange for $100 bills in what prosecutors described as \u201ca pyramid of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maxwell made all the arrangements, Carolyn told the jury, even though she knew the girl was only 14 at the time.<\/p>\n
The allegations against Epstein first surfaced publicly in 2005. He pleaded guilty to sex charges in Florida and served 13 months in jail, much of it in a work-release program as part of a deal criticized as lenient. Afterward, he was required to register as a sex offender.<\/p>\n
In the years that followed, many women sued Epstein over alleged abuse. One, Virginia Giuffre, claimed that Epstein and Maxwell had also pressured her into sexual trysts with other powerful men, including Prince Andrew. All of those men denied the allegations and Giuffre ultimately settled a lawsuit against Andrew out of court.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors in New York revived the case against Epstein after stories by the Miami Herald in 2018 brought new attention to his crimes. He was arrested in 2019, but killed himself a month later.<\/p>\n
Eleven months later after his death, Maxwell was arrested at a New Hampshire estate. A U.S., British and French citizen, she has remained in a federal jail in New York City since then as her lawyers repeatedly criticize her treatment, saying she was even unjustly placed under suicide watch days before sentencing. Prosecutors say the claims about the jail are exaggerated and that Maxwell has been treated better than other prisoners.<\/p>\n
Her lawyers also fought to have her conviction tossed on the grounds of juror misconduct.<\/p>\n
Days after the verdict, one juror gave media interviews in which he disclosed he had been sexually abused as a child \u2014 something he hadn\u2019t told the court during jury selection. Maxwell\u2019s lawyers said she deserved a new trial. A judge disagreed.<\/p>\n
At least eight women have submitted letters to the judge, describing the sexual abuse they said they endured for having met Maxwell and Epstein. Four of them plan to make oral statements at sentencing, including two women \u2014 Annie Farmer and Kate \u2014 who testified at the trial.<\/p>\n
In letters to the judge, six of Maxwell\u2019s seven living siblings pleaded for leniency.<\/p>\n
Anne Holve and Philip Maxwell, her eldest siblings, wrote that her relationship with Epstein began soon after the 1991 death of their father,\u00a0the British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell.<\/p>\n
They said Robert Maxwell had subjected her daughter to \u201cfrequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors called Maxwell\u2019s shifting of blame to Epstein \u201cabsurd and offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaxwell was an adult who made her own choices,\u201d they wrote to the court. \u201cShe made the choice to sexually exploit numerous underage girls. She made the choice to conspire with Epstein for years, working as partners in crime and causing devastating harm to vulnerable victims. She should be held accountable for her disturbing role in an extensive child exploitation scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ghislaine Maxwell,\u00a0the jet-setting socialite\u00a0who once consorted with royals, presidents and billionaires, is set to be sentenced Tuesday for helping the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. The 11 a.m. sentencing in New York is the culmination of a prosecution that detailed how the power couple flaunted their riches and prominent connections to lure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":23918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4791,11261,1448,11264,11941,3195,5307,5268,7960,9194,9214,287,11254,9331,12679,8032,8590,11282,9560,10507,2808,7234,12326,11273,12559,7346,5321,6351,6225,7345,9809,10859,9997,10321,7351,7734,739,7547,12005,6580,3040,9515,7939,12309,1510,6283,4995,7806,6209,990,1670,11973,12238,740,12953,8306,11926,10614,11167,6431,11307,7584,10934,7312,11091,6704,9428,7465,7391,9766,9313,8206,11581,9539,9268,10943,5320,10415,36,594,5140],"class_list":["post-23917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-abuse","tag-accused","tag-actress","tag-allegations","tag-bill","tag-bill-clinton","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-case","tag-charges","tag-child","tag-children","tag-citizen","tag-city","tag-clinton","tag-conspiracy","tag-conversation","tag-convicted","tag-conviction","tag-court","tag-daughter","tag-death","tag-decade","tag-drug","tag-epstein","tag-epstein-sex-abuse-case","tag-florida","tag-french","tag-friends","tag-ghislaine-maxwell","tag-gifts","tag-girlfriend","tag-guilty","tag-illegal","tag-jail","tag-jane","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-jet","tag-judge","tag-jury","tag-kate","tag-killed","tag-maxwell","tag-men","tag-mexico","tag-miami","tag-minor","tag-model","tag-new-mexico","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-one","tag-oral","tag-prince-andrew","tag-principal","tag-prison","tag-prisoners","tag-privacy","tag-prosecution","tag-release","tag-sentence","tag-sex","tag-sex-abuse","tag-sex-offender","tag-sex-trafficking","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-socialite","tag-sued","tag-suicide","tag-teens","tag-trafficking","tag-treatment","tag-trial","tag-victims","tag-virginia","tag-watch","tag-women","tag-work","tag-world","tag-who","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}