Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, the one time girlfriend of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, have asked a U.S. district court in New York for a sentence that is “well lower” than the 20 years recommended by the Probation Department.
Maxwell was convicted in late 2021 for sex trafficking minors to the late Epstein, a wealthy financier with ties to elite figures in the British royal family and the U.S. business and political spheres. Maxwell’s bid for a new trial was thrown out of court in April.
Now, in court papers filed in Manhattan on June 15, attorneys for Maxwell claimed she deserved leniency because, while she facilitated Epstein’s abuse, it was the late financier who was “the mastermind” and “principle abuser.”…