Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late business tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, was threatened to be killed in the jail by a fellow inmate. This claim was made by the British socialite's lawyer while seeking a lighter sentence for the British socialite.
On Wednesday, Maxwell's attorneys argued that the disgraced socialite should be sentenced to "well below" the 20 years imprisonment that the probation authorities have recommended in her New York federal sex-trafficking case. Her sentencing is due on June 28.
Money Being Offered to Inmate to Kill Maxwell
The Guardian reported that in their report, the attorneys while detailing the alleged unsafe conditions for Maxwell in the jail said that "an inmate in 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".
"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," her attorneys claimed. "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."
It may be recalled that Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on a number of charges including trafficking young women and underage girls for sexual gratification between 2002 to 2005. He was found hanging in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. The death of the 66-year-old was ruled as suicide by hanging.
Attorneys Blame Maxwell's Abusive Father For Traumatic Upbringing
Maxwell, who is scheduled to be sentenced on 28 June, faces up to 55 years behind bars. Claiming that Maxwell's " life has been ruined," her attorneys argued that it would be a travesty of justice for her to face a sentence that would have been appropriate for Epstein.
The lawyers even went on to blame the British socialite's father, Robert Maxwell, a publishing tycoon, for her traumatic upbringing and victimhood. The Daily Beast reported the attorneys claimed that the alleged physical abuse inflicted on Maxwell by her father, "led her to become very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature."
"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," her attorneys said. "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."