Maxwell has already been held in detention for some two years following her arrest in New Hampshire in the summer of 2020.
Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
The sentencing on Tuesday was the culmination of a prosecution that detailed how Epstein and Maxwell flaunted their riches and associations with prominent people to groom vulnerable girls and then exploit them.
Those crimes occurred even as the couple hobnobbed with some of the world’s most famous and wealthy people, including former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and England’s Prince Andrew.
During Maxwell's high-profile trial, the prosecutors successfully proved that she was "the key" to Epstein's scheme of enticing young girls to give him massages, during which he would sexually abuse them.
Two of Epstein's victims, identified as "Jane" and "Carolyn," testified that they were as young as 14 when Maxwell began grooming them.
Her lawyers have argued for leniency, citing a traumatic childhood and claiming that Maxwell is being unfairly punished because Epstein escaped trial.
Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 aged 66 while awaiting his own sex crimes trial in New York.
READ MORE: British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell convicted in Epstein sex abuse case
Utter lack of remorse'
The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell was convicted late last year on five of six counts, the most serious for sex trafficking minors.
Prosecutors have asked that Maxwell receive between 30 and 55 years in jail, arguing that she has shown an "utter lack of remorse" for her crimes, committed between 1994 and 2004.
In February, Prince Andrew also settled a sexual abuse lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre, who said she had been trafficked to the royal by Epstein and Maxwell.
READ MORE: Prince Andrew settles sex assault lawsuit with Virginia Giuffre
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