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Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking crimes in December, was sentenced to 20 years in prison this Thursday for recruiting teenage girls for Jeffery Epstein to abuse.
Maxwell, 60, maintained her innocence throughout the trial.
Epstein had been convicted of sex-traffic counts in July 2019, according to The Guardian. He killed himself around a month after his arrest in the New York City federal jail. Epstein had been waiting for his own trial on sex trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan for the Southern District of New York said when pronouncing the sentence that Maxwell’s actions had been "heinous and predatory," according to BBC.
"Ms Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable and played a pivotal role in facilitating sexual abuse," Nathan said.
In addition to the 20 years in prison, the 60-year-old British socialite was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after she is out of prison and a $750,000 fine, NBC News reported.
The given sentence was shorter than the government’s recommendation, according to the New York Times. The federal procreators had asked the judge for a sentence of at least 30 years.
Maxwell was convicted of multiple other counts including transportation of an individual under the age of 17 with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of individuals under the age of 18, The Guardian reported.
In the trials, the prosecutors said that Maxwell preyed on and manipulated young girls so that they could be sexually abused by Epstein.
“Years of sexual abuse, multiple victims, devastating psychological harm: none of this could have happened without Maxwell,” the prosecutors said, according to the New York Times.
Maxwell also spoke in court for the first time, which was also her first time addressing the issue publicly for the first time.
“I empathize deeply with all of the victims in this case. I also acknowledge that I have been convicted of helping Jeffrey Epstein commit these crimes,” said Maxwell according to The Guardian. “And despite the many helpful and positive things I have done in my life and will continue to do … I know that my association with Epstein and this case will forever and permanently stain me.”
In the end, Maxwell added that she was "sorry for the pain you have experienced,” reported NBC News.
The trial had four accusers against Maxwell: Jane, Kate, and Carolyn who went by first names, and Annie Farmer who used her full name.
Kate said to NBC News that Maxwell’s lack of guilt or acknowledgment was an “insult.”
“She doesn’t think what she did was wrong," Kate said. "She is not sorry.”
Maxwell is the daughter of Robert Maxwell, a British publisher. She also had been Epstein’s long-time girlfriend, the New York Times reported. Maxwell previously lived in Epsiten’s mansions in both Manhattan, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida.
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