Ghislaine Maxwell's brother Ian defends her 'clear conscience'

Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother Ian defends the convicted sex trafficker’s ‘clear conscience’ and says she would ‘never have been found guilty in any civilised country’ as she awaits sentencing

• Ghislaine Maxwell faces being imprisoned for 55 years for sex trafficking crimes 
• The 60-year-old was found guilty in December and will be sentenced on Tuesday
• Her brother Ian Maxwell says he still believes she is innocent and will appeal
• Writing in The Telegraph he said she is a victim of ‘unsubstantiated allegations

Ghislaine Maxwell’s brother has defended the convicted sex trafficker’s ‘clear conscience’ and claims she ‘never would have been found guilty in any civilised country’ ahead of her sentencing.

Ian Maxwell says his 60-year-old sister has been wronged by the US justice system and is set to spend decades behind bars because of ‘unsubstantiated allegations’.

Writing in the Telegraph, the businessman also bemoaned that the British socialite had not fled to France before being taken into custody by the US authorities following their investigation into her relationship with paedophile Jeffery Epstein.

France has no extradition treaty with the US, meaning she ‘could now be cooling her heels in the Med’ instead of languishing in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center, he wrote. 

The 66-year-old said he believes that his sister decided to stay because she has a ‘clear conscience’.

Ian Maxwell, pictured here in an interview last November, says he still believes his sister is innocent

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five federal sex-trafficking charges relating to her role in recruiting and grooming teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein (pictured with her above)

He wrote: ‘I believe her when she says that she has committed no crime whatsoever and, apart from the fact that I believe her because I know her so well, the fact of her staying convinces me even more.’

Ghislaine is facing a 55-year prison sentence after being convicted of five federal sex-trafficking charges relating to her role in recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, who took his own life while in prison in 2019. 

Some of her victims will face her in court in New York on Tuesday, while several have also written emotional victim impact statements which will be read out at the hearing.

Mr Maxwell said his sister had been the victim of ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ and that her family will be ‘throwing all our efforts behind appealing her sentence’.

He wrote: ‘I feel great sympathy for any girls or women who have genuinely been abused but their abuse doesn’t give them the right automatically to be believed when they make unsubstantiated allegations, especially when those allegations are immensely well rewarded financially. That is what has happened to my sister.’

Some of Ghislaine Maxwell’s victims will be in court this week to watch when she faces a 55-year sentence for child sex trafficking

He added: ‘I know that Ghislaine is innocent and that she would never have been found guilty in any civilised country. We will never stop fighting for justice to secure her release.’

Ghislaine is currently being held in the general population area of New York’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, where an inmate recently threatened to kill her. 

A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘One woman was going around openly bragging that she was going to murder Ghislaine for $1 million.

‘There are violent felons in there who would do it just for the notoriety of killing a high-profile prisoner, but others believe they will receive money if they kill her. They have been told there is a bounty on her head.

‘Three prisoners reported the threats and the woman who was making the threats has been moved away into a special unit.

‘Ghislaine is sleeping with one eye open.’

‘The Bureau of Prisons could not keep Epstein safe. They are badly understaffed. Ghislaine is in a unit with 40 other women, many from violent gangs. She is constantly looking over her shoulder,’ the source said.

While Ghislaine could be jailed for up to 55 years, it is believed she is hoping to receive a sentence of less than 15 years because it would allow her to serve her time in a lower-security prison.

‘Anything above 15 years means a federal maximum security prison and, because of her age, will be effectively a life sentence,’ the source said.

Ghislaine faces up to 55 years in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking crimes in a New York court in December

Whatever the sentence handed down, her legal team will immediately file an appeal. Although she is entitled to make a one-minute speech in court, sources think it unlikely that she’ll do so as any comment could be used against her later.

In pre-sentencing court documents filed last week, prosecutors condemned her ‘utter lack of remorse’ and urged the judge to impose a sentence of between 30 and 55 years.

Ghislaine will apply to serve out her prison term in the UK to be closer to her family in Oxfordshire, but she will not be eligible for such a move until she has spent at least three years in a US jail.

‘Ghislaine has maintained her innocence from the start,’ the source said. ‘Whatever happens on Tuesday she will continue to maintain her innocence to the end.’

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