Ghislaine Maxwell wants to spend just FOUR YEARS in jail for sexually abusing underage girls and says another inmate was offered money to strangle her as she slept while blaming ‘tragic death’ of her dad for driving her into Jeffrey Epstein’s arms
- Pre-sentencing filing sent by Maxwell’s lawyers claim she should spend far less time behind bars than the 50 year stretch she’s currently facing
- Paints Maxwell as a victim of pedophile ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, and says her life has already been ruined by the disgrace of her conviction
- Says inmate at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center had been offered cash to strangle Maxwell in her sleep
- Also contains letter from Maxwell’s siblings Philip and Anne blaming newspaper tycoon dad Robert Maxwell’s abuse for driving Ghislaine into Epstein’s arms
- Maxwell was convicted of trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls in December 2021, and will be sentenced on June 28
Ghislaine Maxwell has asked to serve just four years and three months in jail when she is sentenced later this month – and claimed she is getting death threats in prison.
Maxwell should serve substantially less than the 50 year maximum sentence at the hearing on June 28, her lawyers claimed in court documents published Wednesday
They said that the higher sentence would be ‘absurd’ and that Maxwell does not present a ‘containing danger to the public’
The filing said that Maxwell’s ‘life has been ruined’ and an inmate in her prison said the extra 20 years in jail would be worth it for the ‘money’ they would get for killing her.
It also revealed that her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, 46, had foundered as a result of the scandal and disgrace heaped upon her after she was arrested for child sex abuse.
And the filing detailed a letter sent to the court from Maxwell’s brother Philip and sister Anne. It said abuse she’d suffered at the hands of their newspaper tycoon father Robert Maxwell had ultimately left her ‘vulnerable’ and open to manipulation from her pedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.
The most recent known image of Ghislaine Maxwell, released by her lawyers in 2021. They’re now demanding she serves just four years behind bars for child sex abuse
Maxwell’s lawyers say she was vulnerable when she was driven into the arms of her pedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. The pair are pictured together at a NYC charity event in 2005
Maxwell is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where her lawyers claim one inmate plotted to strangle the sex abuser in her sleep in return for cash
Detailing the bloodcurdling threat allegedly made against the disgraced socialite, the filing said: ‘Recently, an inmate in Ms. Maxwell’s unit threatened to kill her, claiming that an additional 20 years’ incarceration would be worth the money she’d receive for murdering Ms. Maxwell.
‘On information and belief, one of the female inmates in Ms. Maxwell’s housing unit told at least three other inmates that she had been offered money to murder Ms. Maxwell and that she planned to strangle her in her sleep.
‘The inmate who made the threat has been moved to the SHU (special housing unit), presumably to protect Ms. Maxwell. This incident reflects the brutal reality that there are numerous prison inmates who would not hesitate to kill Ms. Maxwell – whether for money, fame, or simple “street cred.”’
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Her sentencing was delayed while the court resolved questions over whether a juror unfairly influenced the jury by failing to disclose his history of sexual abuse.
A judge subsequently found he did not.
In their 77-page sentencing submission and 29-page legal argument, Maxwell’s lawyers said that she should not be made a ‘proxy’ for Epstein.
Maxwell’s lawyers – and two of her siblings – say abuse she suffered at the hands of her late father Robert (pictured in Cannes with Maxwell and his wife Elisabeth in 1990) made her ‘vulnerable’ to a predator like Epstein
This sketch shows the moment Maxwell was convicted of four of the five counts she faces in December 2021. She will be sentenced on June 28
The financier hanged himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 and attention turned to Maxwell who became his replacement, the document claims.
The filing states: ‘In sentencing Ms. Maxwell, the Court cannot be influenced by this inexorable drumbeat of public condemnation calling for her to be locked away for good.
‘The Court cannot heal the wounds caused by Epstein by heaping on Ms. Maxwell’s shoulders the pain of every one of his victims, the outrage of society, the public scorn of the community, and then driving her out of the community forever.
‘While that may assuage the public and give the perception that “justice was done,” that is not justice. That is scapegoating. Ms. Maxwell must be sentenced on the record before the Court and not these external pressures’
Arguing that Maxwell was treated far more harshly than any other suspect held in custody ahead of their trial, the filing claims her ‘life has been ruined.
It continues: ‘Ms. Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible. Ms. Maxwell has already experienced hard time during detention under conditions far more onerous and punitive than any experienced by a typical pretrial detainee, and she is preparing to spend significantly more time behind bars.
‘Her life has been ruined. Since Epstein’s death, her life has been threatened and death threats continue while she is incarcerated.1 It would be a travesty of justice for her to face a sentence that would have been appropriate for Epstein.
In seeking to explain Maxwell’s background, her lawyers blamed her conduct on her late father, the disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell who died in mysterious circumstances after falling off his yacht in 1991.
A letter from Philip and Anne Maxwell said: ‘Her relationship with Epstein began at a moment of extreme vulnerability. Ghislaine’s life after the tragic death of our father. He (our father) was a powerful and dominant figure.
Maxwell’s latest filing also told of how her marriage to tech tycoon Scott Borgerson, pictured, crumbled in the wake of child sex charges
Maxwell with her siblings – two of whom have since moved to defend her, and who continue to maintain her innocence
‘And as elder siblings we witnessed our father taking Ghislaine under his wing whereby she became over dependent on his approval and vulnerable to his frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections.
‘This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.’
The document stated that he would subject his children to verbal abuse every Sunday.
Robert Maxwell ‘would explode, threaten, and rant at the children until they were reduced to pulp. Mr. Maxwell was relentless, with children ending up in tears, punishments being doled out, and the whole family in utter distress’, the filing claims.
The document states: ‘Mr. Maxwell employed corporal punishment on his children. Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster. This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaine’s dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come’.
The filing notes that Maxwell’s estranged husband Scott Borgerson was ‘besieged by media coverage and had lost his employment and professional relationships’.
It states: ‘Sadly, the marriage could not survive the negative impact of this case nor a husband’s association with his dishonored wife.’
Maxwell is pictured at an LGBT rights event in New York City in 2013. Her glitzy world came crashing down in summer 2020 after she was arrested in New Hampshire on child sex charges
Borgerson married Maxwell on Christmas Day 2016 – her 55th birthday – and dumped her during a heated phone call while she was in solitary confinement.
He has since moved on, and was reported to be seeing a yoga teacher mom-of-two called Kris McGinn earlier this year.
The sentence of 51-63 months was appropriate as Maxwell has never been accused of any sex offenses—or any crimes, for that matter—in the almost 20-year period since the conduct at issue in this case ended, the filing claims.
It states: ‘There is absolutely no evidence that Ms. Maxwell is attracted to minors or has the sort of uncontrollable impulses that would compel her to re-offend. According to the trial record, it was Epstein who had such proclivities, whereas Ms. Maxwell’s role was to facilitate Epstein’s sexual abuse.
‘Indeed, after she moved on from Epstein in the early 2000s, Ms. Maxwell was involved in two long-term relationships with men who had young children and was actively involved in their lives without even the slightest hint of impropriety. Most importantly, the government concedes that Ms. Maxwell is not a danger to the community.
‘The government never made that assertion in connection with Ms. Maxwell’s numerous bail applications and there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a claim. Put simply, Ms. Maxwell is not “dangerous” and there is no risk that Ms. Maxwell will ever “repeat” the offense.’
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