Arguing that Ghislaine Maxwell should not be punished for the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s legal team requested a far more lenient prison sentence than the 20 years recommended by the probation department, arguing that she should be sentenced to no more than five years and three months.
The filing comes less than two weeks before Maxwell is set to be sentenced for sex trafficking and related charges. At her trial late last year, federal prosecutors demonstrated how Maxwell groomed and recruited four girls for Epstein’s abuse. Epstein died in federal custody in 2019. He was suspected of abusing hundreds of girls and women.
“But this Court cannot sentence Ms. Maxwell as if she were a proxy for Epstein simply because Epstein is no longer here,” Maxwell’s legal team wrote. “Ms. Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible.”
