On Tuesday, a New York federal court sentenced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell to 20 years in prison for procuring underage girls for late billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The New York Times reported that Judge Alison Nathan handed down the sentence, saying Maxwell “worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable” and facilitated the abuse. Nathan also commented that Maxwell’s actions justified the “substantial sentence” and that she was not being punished for Epstein’s actions.
In December, Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of federal sex trafficking for grooming underage girls, some as young as 14, for Epstein, 66, to sexually abuse between 1994 and 1997.
In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Officials’ determination that Epstein hanged himself has been met with skepticism. At the time, he was jailed without bond amid allegations he sex-trafficked dozens of underage girls from 2002 to 2005.
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[Featured image: Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell/AP Photo/John Minchillo, File]
