Ghislaine Maxwell Appeals 20-Year Sentence in Jeffrey Epstein Case for Sexual Abuse Conspiracy

Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys have appealed her conviction and 20-year federal prison term for executing a multi-year plan with Jeffrey Epstein to entrap and sexually assault minors.

Although Maxwell's defense strategy was not immediately accessible, her lawyers have said she is innocent ever since her arrest in 2020 and claim that Maxwell has been used as a scapegoat by the prosecution in the wake of Epstein's death in custody.

Ghislaine Maxwell Appeals Conviction

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals received an appeal notification that was submitted on Thursday. The 60-year-old Maxwell was found guilty of five of the six federal crimes brought against her in December, including three linked counts of conspiracy and trafficking in minors for sex.

After the judge determined that two of the conspiracy counts she was charged with were unnecessary, she was punished on just three counts. As she had done throughout the trial, defense counsel Bobbi Sternheim placed the responsibility on Epstein during Maxwell's sentencing in June.

Epstein, who admitted guilty to state prostitution charges in 2008, was charged in July 2019 with federal sex trafficking. A month later, in prison, he committed suicide. Since her arrest in July 2020, Maxwell has been in jail, and according to the prosecution, she has been given credit for two years of time served.

In Maxwell's month-long trial last year, harrowing testimony from victims of sexual abuse mingled with revealing testimony about some of Epstein's links to prominent figures in the entertainment industry.

Maxwell and Epstein, according to the prosecution, planned a strategy between 1994 and 2004 in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and the US Virgin Islands to entice young females into sexual connections with Epstein. During the trial, four women testified that Epstein had assaulted them and that Maxwell had sometimes assisted the abuse and other times taken part in it, according to CNN.

Prior to the imprisonment, she had also claimed in a statement that her difficult upbringing had rendered her susceptible to doing such horrific deeds when her father inexplicably passed away in 1991. Because of Maxwell's "total lack of remorse," the prosecution had urged Judge Nathan to sentence her to at least 30 years in prison; however, Maxwell argued that she should only receive four years because she poses no threat to the public.

But before Maxwell could speak in court, the heartbreaking evidence of her sex trafficking victims forced her to confront them. In their devastating victim impact statements, Annie Farmer, Sarah Ransome, Elizabeth Stein, and a lady only identified as Kate urged the judge to give the worst penalty possible and asked that Maxwell serve out the remainder of her life in jail.

Maxwell's Trial Testified by Jeffrey Epstein's Victims

Per Daily Mail, Kate claimed that Maxwell's lack of regret and her brazen refusal to accept responsibility is her ultimate insult. Stein confessed that she had to get an abortion after being repeatedly violated. She won't apologize and she'll do it once again. Kate said that women must take a stand against anybody using their position of authority to groom or traffic the weak.

After Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting prosecution, focus shifted to Maxwell, who was detained a year later and convicted in December after a high-profile trial.

During Maxwell's trial, which lasted many weeks, four women testified against her: Annie Farmer, Kate, Carolyn, and victim "Jane." Over the course of three weeks, the jury heard how Maxwell "served up" minors to Epstein at his Florida house and delighted in her role as the "Lady of the House."

Lawyers said Maxwell was Epstein's "right hand" between 1994 and 2004 and paid $200 for sexually explicit massages or possibly took part in the assault. The jury was informed that the victims, some of whom were as young as 14, received a comparable sum of money if they brought acquaintances to Epstein.

Prosecutors summoned 24 witnesses throughout the trial to paint a picture for the jury of life inside Epstein's houses, a topic of public curiosity and rumor ever since his arrest in Florida in 2006 in a child sex case.

When she handed down Maxwell's sentence last week, New York judge Alison Nathan referred to Maxwell's conduct as "heinous and predatory." During Maxwell's high-profile trial, her attorneys unsuccessfully contended that prosecutors had only targeted their client because Epstein had eluded justice.

In April, Nathan denied Maxwell's request for a fresh trial on the grounds that one of the jurors had boasted of persuading the other members of the panel to convict by sharing his own experiences as a victim of sex assault. Prince Andrew of Britain, Donald Trump, a former US president and real estate magnate, and the Clinton family were all formerly in Maxwell's circle of contacts, as per Daily Telegraph via MSN.

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