Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty

Let me be absolutely clear. I am not entering any kind of defence of Ghislaine Maxwell, she has done what she has been convicted of and deserves the sentence she got, but I do think that she has been programmed for this since birth.

Her father, Robert Maxwell, was a monster and a bully, she was the youngest of his 9 children and his favourite. Having been brought up in the shadow of such a monster and been favoured, there is a certain inevitability that she would be drawn to an equally monstrous person like Epstein.

Looking at the pictures of Ghislaine Maxwell with Epstein she is almost always holding him, her arms twined round him looking at him for a response. He is rarely looking at her and is never returning her embrace, he has his arm tound her. It strikes me that she is behaving like a small girl trying to get the attention of her Daddy.

She is a grown woman, she must have known that what she was doing was wrong, but having been spoiled and favoured as a child by a monstrous ego, she was putty in the hands of a similar ego.

Bravo MOnica

M0nica

Let me be absolutely clear. I am not entering any kind of defence of Ghislaine Maxwell, she has done what she has been convicted of and deserves the sentence she got, but I do think that she has been programmed for this since birth.

Her father, Robert Maxwell, was a monster and a bully, she was the youngest of his 9 children and his favourite. Having been brought up in the shadow of such a monster and been favoured, there is a certain inevitability that she would be drawn to an equally monstrous person like Epstein.

Looking at the pictures of Ghislaine Maxwell with Epstein she is almost always holding him, her arms twined round him looking at him for a response. He is rarely looking at her and is never returning her embrace, he has his arm tound her. It strikes me that she is behaving like a small girl trying to get the attention of her Daddy.

She is a grown woman, she must have known that what she was doing was wrong, but having been spoiled and favoured as a child by a monstrous ego, she was putty in the hands of a similar ego.

I agree with you.

I also noticed the same thing in the photo's with Epstein - her clinging on to him - him looking triumphant and smug.

She is also, in a way, a victim of the rich, powerful, male-ego. I almost feel sorry for her - as a woman, she will definitely come in for fierce criticism... as have the victims.

The rich / famous / powerful are not always the winners...

Perhaps being programmed from birth in your large house with servants on hand allowed her to think it was OK to programme young women to service the likes of Epstein.

I worked in publishing in Oxford and the stories about Maxwell were legendary. The whole family were monsters and now we have to bear years of appeal led by her brothers. The interesting aspect is who is being protected throughout the whole business, clearly many important people.

MOnica, no doubt your point has some merit. It’s also important to remember, she’s a very intelligent, well educated woman who made informed choices about her life. She could have got a proper job, built a career.

The young girls she and Epstein groomed and sexually exploited had very difficult, neglectful, abusive childhood experiences. They were vulnerable to exactly the kind of criminal activity perpetrated on them.

I feel sorry for the victims and what they have had to suffer from those who refused to believe them. Their bravery is to be admired, particularly as the majority of them came from dysfunctional and poor households.

Iam64

MOnica, no doubt your point has some merit. It’s also important to remember, she’s a very intelligent, well educated woman who made informed choices about her life. She could have got a proper job, built a career.

The young girls she and Epstein groomed and sexually exploited had very difficult, neglectful, abusive childhood experiences. They were vulnerable to exactly the kind of criminal activity perpetrated on them.

Agree

I have some sympathy for Ghislaine Maxwell.

This has been a show trial to divert attention from the American judiciary's woeful attempt at prosecuting and sentencing Epstein. Because he has evaded them through death and careful management of his fortune Maxwell has become his scapegoat.

The people who should be prosecuted are the men who enjoyed the services of these girls but it appears American law follows the same path as this country, (which may be different now); the madam of the brothel is prosecuted, not the clients.

Maxwell connived at, and possibly enabled, Epstein's predilection for underage girls and deserves punishment, but not the horrific sentences being cited of seventy years in prison. Possibly there will be plea-bargaining to produce evidence about others involved.

Only women from abusive childhoods and lived in poverty can be abused, never wealthy women

I hope she names the men involved…

Pleased that justice has been done. It seems that it is easier to convict a woman on the testimony of other women than it is to convict a young man who shoots three people, killing two of them. This is despite clear video evidence of the shootings. America is not a place I expect to see justice so I was surprised.

I agree that it should be the men who were involved who should be held to account but that won't happen. I was once told that prostitution exists because there is a demand for it. I hope that Maxwell's lawyers can negotiate a deal so that she doesn't carry the whole can for the clients who enjoyed the services provided.

I wasn’t surprised, she has to be kept under lock and key to keep her silent.

Anniebach

Only women from abusive childhoods and lived in poverty can be abused, never wealthy women

Not so anniebach, who said that? My experience of working with/having friendships with women and men who experienced childhood abuse was it crosses all social classes. Some manage to live good lives, others don’t.

I think that if Epstein had stood trial Maxwell would not have got such a long sentence....they went after her because he wasn't alive anymore

Iam64

MOnica, no doubt your point has some merit. It’s also important to remember, she’s a very intelligent, well educated woman who made informed choices about her life. She could have got a proper job, built a career.

The young girls she and Epstein groomed and sexually exploited had very difficult, neglectful, abusive childhood experiences. They were vulnerable to exactly the kind of criminal activity perpetrated on them.

Agree, Iam64

She could have had an excellent career with her education, connections, money and power, one on the right side of the law.
However, her father had little regard for any of his employees (or pensioners) so she had a poor example to follow. Criminal activities and using people was the norm for them.

Whitewavemark2

I feel sorry for the victims and what they have had to suffer from those who refused to believe them. Their bravery is to be admired, particularly as the majority of them came from dysfunctional and poor households.

???

Does anyone really believe she will be handed the maximum sentence? She knew what was happening, she facilitated it and should serve a prison sentence. Anyone else feel that any sentence will be served in a minimum security prison with lots of facilities.

She may have grown up with a manipulative father but how does that explain being complicit in the sexual abuse of young girls?

I have some sympathy for her given her family background and I have no doubt she was manipulated by Epstein. An American lawyer speaking on television last night thought her sentence would likely be ‘in the teens’. I found it very interesting that the prosecution didn’t call Virginia Guiffre as a witness as they had doubts about the truthfulness of the testimony she would give.

I feel far more sorry for the girls she abused and procured for others to abuse.

I read somewhere that Virginia Guiffre wasn't called because of terror at what she might disclose and that, given she is suing Prince A, there was likely pressure coming from behind the scenes of that debacle.

Her family background gave her a fabulous life and entree to all sorts of high living and massive wealth. She was hiding on her own private estate when she was arrested! It seems to me a sign of modern Britain and the kinds of people we now appear to idolise that we might have sympathy for her!

No matter what sort of upbringing she had, surely as a grown and seemingly intelligent woman she must have known that what she was doing was wrong on so many levels. I hope they lock her up and throw away the key because anything less is an insult to the young, vulnerable girls who were abused by Maxwell, Epstein and their equally unsavoury cronies. I include Prince Andrew in that group.

Only women from abusive childhoods and lived in poverty can be abused, never wealthy women

Well the court case surrounding Princess Haya knocks hat one on the head! There are plenty of others!

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/21/dubai-rulers-divorce-settlement-reveals-truly-opulent-standard-of-living

In Rachel Johnson's description of her Maxwell doesn't exactly sound like a victim deserving of sympathy.

"I wandered into Balliol JCR one day in search of its subsidised breakfast granola-and-Nescafé offering and found a shiny glamazon with naughty eyes holding court astride a table, a high-heeled boot resting on my brother Boris’s thigh. She gave me a pitying glance but I did manage to snag an invite to her party in Headington Hill Hall — even though I wasn't in the same college as her and Boris. "
From The Spectator.

lemsip

I think that if Epstein had stood trial Maxwell would not have got such a long sentence....they went after her because he wasn't alive anymore

I agree with this. However she is guilty of her crimes and should be punished. She wouldn’t have got even a quarter of that possible seventy years here in this country. As that’s what has been mentioned, I do expect her to get a very long sentence, given that she’s in America. I hope she names the men and I hope Prince Andrew is named too, as he apparently had sex with a 17 year old girl in New York where sex is illegal until the age of 18.