The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
6 hours ago
Victim Annie Farmer, one of four women to testify against Ghislaine Maxwell at trial, is addressing the court.
Annie Farmer and her attorney Sigrid McCawley arrive at court Tuesday morning.Alec Tabak
"I felt tremendous survivor's guilt," she said. "This toxic combination of being sexually exposed and exploited, feeling confused and blaming myself, all results in significant shame.
"The number of people harmed is impossible to measure," she said, as Maxwell avoided looking at her.
6 hours ago
Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Ghislaine Maxwell to at least 30 years so that her punishment "sends a message that those who conspire with sexual predators will be held responsible for their significant role in these crimes."
"Maxwell was an adult woman and she made choices, week in, week out for years to commit crimes with Jeffrey Epstein, to be his right hand, to make his crimes possible. Those choices were hers and they have to have serious consequences," Alison Moe said.
6 hours ago
Court is back in session with prosecutor Alison Moe asking the judge to go over the federal sentencing guidelines and hand Ghislaine Maxwell at least 30 years behind bars.
"These girls were just kids," Moe said about the victims, adding that Maxwell trapped them in a "horrifying nightmare."
"What kind of person persuades young girls to massage the feet of a middle-aged man?" she said. "What kind of a person teaches a 14-year-old girl how a middle-aged man likes his penis to be touched?
"These are the actions of a person who is indifferent to the suffering of other human beings."
6 hours ago
Judge Alison Nathan called a 30-minute break around 12:30 p.m.
When court resumes around 1 p.m., prosecutors, victims, the defense -- and possibly Maxwell, if she wishes to -- will address the court.
Seven women submitted statements ahead of the sentencing, including Sara Ransome, a former Jeffrey Epstein sex slave who tried to swim shark-infested waters to escape his grasp.
Sarah Ransome, in blue, and Elizabeth Stein arrive at court on Tuesday morning.AFP via Getty Images Juliette Bryant, pictured in the BBC documentary "House of Maxwell," is also expected to deliver a statement today. BBC / Expectation Entertainment
Ransome, who is in court today, said Maxwell deserves to die in prison. She said she tried to take her own life after being used as a “sex toy” by Epstein, Maxwell and others.
“To Ghislaine I say, ‘You broke me in unfathomable ways. But [what] you didn’t break is my spirit, nor did you dampen my internal flame that now burns brighter than ever before!’” Ransome wrote.
Here are the other accusers who submitted statements and what they said:
Teresa Helm is seen arriving at court on Dec. 2, 2021 during Maxwell's trial.Alec Tabak
Maria Farmer: "Ghislaine changed everything for the worse."
Teresa Helm: "You groomed me. Then, you sent me off to another monster."
Julitte Bryant: "Simply put, Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster."
Annie Farmer arrived early to court on June 28.
Annie Farmer: "I ask you to bear in mind ... Maxwell’s unwillingness to acknowledge her crimes, her lack of remorse, and her repeated lies about her victims."
"Kate": "The best way to imprison someone, is to make them create the prison bars in their own mind."
Elizabeth Stein: "She needs to be in prison so her victims can all finally be free."
7 hours ago
Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous pal Ghislaine Maxwell has lodged more than 100 complaints during her time behind bars, claiming everything from excessive body-cavity searches to invasive shower surveillance, according to a new report.
Maxwell, who awaits sentencing after being convicted of serving as the late sex predator’s ruthless handmaiden, spent 22 months in solitary confinement at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
New court papers show that Maxwell complained of an increased number of “humiliating” body-cavity and strip searches, according to the report.
READ MORE
7 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell has been on suicide watch since Friday and hasn't been able to “properly prepare” for her sentencing hearing because prison officials abruptly put her in solitary confinement, her lawyers have claimed, while adding their client isn’t actually suicidal.
Once accustomed to the high life, Maxwell has griped about conditions at the prison and claimed her life has been threatened during her nearly two-year stay there.
Federal prosecutors have refuted those claims, and characterized her complaints about the conditions in lockup as “blatant lies” in court documents.
7 hours ago
Prosecutors have asked Judge Alison Nathan to slap Ghislaine Maxwell with at least 30 and up to 55 years in prison — what could be an effective life sentence for the 60-year-old convicted sex-trafficker.
The defense, meanwhile, said that by their calculations, the correct sentencing range is around four to five years.
Staring down the rest of her life behind bars, Maxwell looks jittery and anxious in court. She has been repeatedly looking back at her siblings in the gallery, playing with her hair and fidgeting.
8 hours ago
Judge Alison J. Nathan has overruled a series of objections that Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers had over the pre-sentence report, which is prepared by probation officers.
Her attorneys are fighting a lot of details in the report about what she and Jeffrey Epstein did, where they did it and when. The judge has mostly ruled that the testimony given during the trial validates the claims in the report.
The objections involve details of payments, sex acts and recruitment tactics.
8 hours ago
Some of Ghislaine Maxwell's relatives are in court to support the convicted sex-trafficker.
Three of her siblings, Isabella, Kevin and Christine, are sitting directly behind her in the first row.
8 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell's sentencing is officially underway.
Maxwell, 60, has a bob haircut and is wearing blue prison scrubs with a long-sleeve shirt underneath and ankle shackles. She is wearing a mask in court.
As the hearing gets underway, she's been repeatedly taking sips of water.
When asked by the judge if she reviewed the case material, she said: “I did have an opportunity to read it.”
8 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell is inside the courtroom, where she will be sentenced today for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls.
The hearing is expected to start at 11 a.m., but appears to be running a bit behind.
8 hours ago
Two more Ghislaine Maxwell accusers, Elizabeth Stein and Sarah Ransome, arrived at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan for her sentencing while holding hands.
Elizabeth Stein, left, and Sarah Ransome arrived hand-in-hand.Gregory P. Mango
Outside the courthouse, Stein said she believes hearing the punishment doled out to Maxwell "will be vindicating.”
Ransome said, “I’m disappointed [Maxwell] hasn't taken any accountability.”
8 hours ago
Virginia Giuffre called for Ghislaine Maxwell to rot in jail in a statement expected to be read today at the convicted sex-trafficker's sentencing.
Giuffre -- who has long accused Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her to Britain’s Prince Andrew -- won't be in court due to a medical issue, but her lawyer Sigrid McCawley will read a shortened version of the statement on her behalf.
An undated photo of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Maxwell.DOJ
“Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it,” Giuffre wrote. “You could have put an end to the rapes, the molestations, the sickening manipulations that you arranged, witnessed and even took part in. You could’ve called the authorities and reported that you were a part of something awful."
She continued: “Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims.”
8 hours ago
Brad Edwards, an attorney representing alleged Jeffrey Epstein victims, says he hopes the late pedophile's associates will be the "next target" following Ghislaine Maxwell's sentencing.
Asked outside Manhattan federal court how he feels about others involved with Epstein, the attorney said, “Let’s hope they're the next target. If we have anything to do with it, they will be.”
“Yes, but I can't share that," he said when asked if he had anybody in mind.
9 hours ago
Annie Farmer, who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell at trial, is here to see the convicted sex-trafficker get sentenced.
Annie Farmer arrives at court alongside her lawyer Sigrid McCawley.Alec Tabak for NY Post
She arrived at the Lower Manhattan courthouse with her lawyer Sigrid McCawley, wearing a white blazer and red sunglasses, and didn't comment as she was mobbed by photographers.
Farmer, the only of the four accusers to testify using her full name, detailed to the jurors how Maxwell molested her at Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch when she was a teen.
In a statement to the judge filed ahead of the sentencing, she wrote, "I ask you to bear in mind how Maxwell’s unwillingness to acknowledge her crimes, her lack of remorse, and her repeated lies about her victims created the need for many of us to engage in a long fight for justice that has felt like a black hole sucking in our precious time, energy, and well being for much too long now."
9 hours ago
We're outside the Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan where Ghislaine Maxwell is set to be sentenced today for sex-trafficking.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s siblings Isabel, Kevin, and Christine arrive at the courthouse this morning.Alec Tabak for NY Post Maxwell’s attorney Christian Everdell was mobbed by cameras as he arrived this morning.Alec Tabak for NY Post Attorney Bobbi Sternheim arrives at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse.Alec Tabak for NY Post
Her hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m., but people are already lined up, eagerly waiting to get in.
Maxwell's siblings, who were in court during her trial to support her, have already arrived, as have her attorneys.
9 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell is “genuine and kind” and offered to teach fellow inmates yoga, a jailhouse friend wrote to the judge who is set to sentence the convicted sex-trafficker on Tuesday.
Tatiana Venegas, who was locked up with Maxwell in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, submitted a handwritten letter in support of her buddy, court filings revealed. Maxwell, 60, has been held at the federal lockup since she was arrested in July 2020.
“When Ghislane [sic] Maxwell first arrived in the unit, she introduced herself to everyone with a handshake. ‘Hi, I am Maxwell’ she says with a smile genuine and kind,” Venegas, 31, wrote. “It took all of us by surprise.”
Read more
9 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell could be condemned to spend the rest of her life behind bars when she is sentenced Tuesday for helping pedophile Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls — with some of her accusers saying she deserves to be “trapped in a cage forever.”
Seven Maxwell accusers submitted statements ahead of the hearing detailing the horrors they say the disgraced British socialite inflicted on them, and some of the women will be in Manhattan federal court when she learns her fate.
Prosecutors have asked US District Judge Alison Nathan to slap Maxwell with between 30 and 55 years in prison — what could be a life sentence for the 60-year-old convicted sex-trafficker.
“As part of a disturbing agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell identified, groomed, and abused multiple victims, while she enjoyed a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege,” prosecutors wrote.
Victim Annie Farmer: 'I felt survivor's guilt'
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerVictim Annie Farmer, one of four women to testify against Ghislaine Maxwell at trial, is addressing the court.
Annie Farmer and her attorney Sigrid McCawley arrive at court Tuesday morning.Alec Tabak
"I felt tremendous survivor's guilt," she said. "This toxic combination of being sexually exposed and exploited, feeling confused and blaming myself, all results in significant shame.
"The number of people harmed is impossible to measure," she said, as Maxwell avoided looking at her.
6 hours ago
Feds: Maxwell should get sentence that 'sends a message'
By Ben KesslenProsecutors asked the judge to sentence Ghislaine Maxwell to at least 30 years so that her punishment "sends a message that those who conspire with sexual predators will be held responsible for their significant role in these crimes."
"Maxwell was an adult woman and she made choices, week in, week out for years to commit crimes with Jeffrey Epstein, to be his right hand, to make his crimes possible. Those choices were hers and they have to have serious consequences," Alison Moe said.
6 hours ago
'These girls were just kids,' prosecutors tells judge
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerCourt is back in session with prosecutor Alison Moe asking the judge to go over the federal sentencing guidelines and hand Ghislaine Maxwell at least 30 years behind bars.
"These girls were just kids," Moe said about the victims, adding that Maxwell trapped them in a "horrifying nightmare."
"What kind of person persuades young girls to massage the feet of a middle-aged man?" she said. "What kind of a person teaches a 14-year-old girl how a middle-aged man likes his penis to be touched?
"These are the actions of a person who is indifferent to the suffering of other human beings."
6 hours ago
Victims set to speak: Here's what they've said about Maxwell
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerJudge Alison Nathan called a 30-minute break around 12:30 p.m.
When court resumes around 1 p.m., prosecutors, victims, the defense -- and possibly Maxwell, if she wishes to -- will address the court.
Seven women submitted statements ahead of the sentencing, including Sara Ransome, a former Jeffrey Epstein sex slave who tried to swim shark-infested waters to escape his grasp.
Sarah Ransome, in blue, and Elizabeth Stein arrive at court on Tuesday morning.AFP via Getty Images Juliette Bryant, pictured in the BBC documentary "House of Maxwell," is also expected to deliver a statement today. BBC / Expectation Entertainment
Ransome, who is in court today, said Maxwell deserves to die in prison. She said she tried to take her own life after being used as a “sex toy” by Epstein, Maxwell and others.
“To Ghislaine I say, ‘You broke me in unfathomable ways. But [what] you didn’t break is my spirit, nor did you dampen my internal flame that now burns brighter than ever before!’” Ransome wrote.
Here are the other accusers who submitted statements and what they said:
Teresa Helm is seen arriving at court on Dec. 2, 2021 during Maxwell's trial.Alec Tabak
Maria Farmer: "Ghislaine changed everything for the worse."
Teresa Helm: "You groomed me. Then, you sent me off to another monster."
Julitte Bryant: "Simply put, Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster."
Annie Farmer arrived early to court on June 28.
Annie Farmer: "I ask you to bear in mind ... Maxwell’s unwillingness to acknowledge her crimes, her lack of remorse, and her repeated lies about her victims."
"Kate": "The best way to imprison someone, is to make them create the prison bars in their own mind."
Elizabeth Stein: "She needs to be in prison so her victims can all finally be free."
7 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell has filed more than 100 complaints over jail conditions
By Selim AlgarJeffrey Epstein’s infamous pal Ghislaine Maxwell has lodged more than 100 complaints during her time behind bars, claiming everything from excessive body-cavity searches to invasive shower surveillance, according to a new report.
Maxwell, who awaits sentencing after being convicted of serving as the late sex predator’s ruthless handmaiden, spent 22 months in solitary confinement at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
New court papers show that Maxwell complained of an increased number of “humiliating” body-cavity and strip searches, according to the report.
READ MORE
7 hours ago
ICYMI: Maxwell was placed on suicide watch ahead of sentencing
By Ben KesslenGhislaine Maxwell has been on suicide watch since Friday and hasn't been able to “properly prepare” for her sentencing hearing because prison officials abruptly put her in solitary confinement, her lawyers have claimed, while adding their client isn’t actually suicidal.
Once accustomed to the high life, Maxwell has griped about conditions at the prison and claimed her life has been threatened during her nearly two-year stay there.
Federal prosecutors have refuted those claims, and characterized her complaints about the conditions in lockup as “blatant lies” in court documents.
7 hours ago
Prosecutors want Maxwell locked up for at least 30 years
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerProsecutors have asked Judge Alison Nathan to slap Ghislaine Maxwell with at least 30 and up to 55 years in prison — what could be an effective life sentence for the 60-year-old convicted sex-trafficker.
The defense, meanwhile, said that by their calculations, the correct sentencing range is around four to five years.
Staring down the rest of her life behind bars, Maxwell looks jittery and anxious in court. She has been repeatedly looking back at her siblings in the gallery, playing with her hair and fidgeting.
8 hours ago
Judge overrules a handful of Maxwell's objections
By Ben KesslenJudge Alison J. Nathan has overruled a series of objections that Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers had over the pre-sentence report, which is prepared by probation officers.
Her attorneys are fighting a lot of details in the report about what she and Jeffrey Epstein did, where they did it and when. The judge has mostly ruled that the testimony given during the trial validates the claims in the report.
The objections involve details of payments, sex acts and recruitment tactics.
8 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell's siblings are sitting behind her
By Elizabeth Rosner and Ben KesslenSome of Ghislaine Maxwell's relatives are in court to support the convicted sex-trafficker.
Three of her siblings, Isabella, Kevin and Christine, are sitting directly behind her in the first row.
8 hours ago
'All rise': Ghislaine Maxwell's sentencing begins
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerGhislaine Maxwell's sentencing is officially underway.
Maxwell, 60, has a bob haircut and is wearing blue prison scrubs with a long-sleeve shirt underneath and ankle shackles. She is wearing a mask in court.
As the hearing gets underway, she's been repeatedly taking sips of water.
When asked by the judge if she reviewed the case material, she said: “I did have an opportunity to read it.”
8 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell is inside the courtroom
By Ben KesslenGhislaine Maxwell is inside the courtroom, where she will be sentenced today for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls.
The hearing is expected to start at 11 a.m., but appears to be running a bit behind.
8 hours ago
'Vindicating': Maxwell accusers arrive holding hands
By M'Niyah Lynn and Ben KesslenTwo more Ghislaine Maxwell accusers, Elizabeth Stein and Sarah Ransome, arrived at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan for her sentencing while holding hands.
Elizabeth Stein, left, and Sarah Ransome arrived hand-in-hand.Gregory P. Mango
Outside the courthouse, Stein said she believes hearing the punishment doled out to Maxwell "will be vindicating.”
Ransome said, “I’m disappointed [Maxwell] hasn't taken any accountability.”
8 hours ago
Virginia Giuffre: Maxwell should be 'trapped in a cage forever'
By Ben KesslenVirginia Giuffre called for Ghislaine Maxwell to rot in jail in a statement expected to be read today at the convicted sex-trafficker's sentencing.
Giuffre -- who has long accused Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her to Britain’s Prince Andrew -- won't be in court due to a medical issue, but her lawyer Sigrid McCawley will read a shortened version of the statement on her behalf.
An undated photo of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Maxwell.DOJ
“Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it,” Giuffre wrote. “You could have put an end to the rapes, the molestations, the sickening manipulations that you arranged, witnessed and even took part in. You could’ve called the authorities and reported that you were a part of something awful."
She continued: “Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims.”
8 hours ago
Victim's attorney: Epstein associates should be 'next target'
By M'Niyah LynnBrad Edwards, an attorney representing alleged Jeffrey Epstein victims, says he hopes the late pedophile's associates will be the "next target" following Ghislaine Maxwell's sentencing.
Asked outside Manhattan federal court how he feels about others involved with Epstein, the attorney said, “Let’s hope they're the next target. If we have anything to do with it, they will be.”
“Yes, but I can't share that," he said when asked if he had anybody in mind.
9 hours ago
Maxwell-Epstein victim Annie Farmer arrives in court
By M'Niyah Lynn and Elizabeth RosnerAnnie Farmer, who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell at trial, is here to see the convicted sex-trafficker get sentenced.
Annie Farmer arrives at court alongside her lawyer Sigrid McCawley.Alec Tabak for NY Post
She arrived at the Lower Manhattan courthouse with her lawyer Sigrid McCawley, wearing a white blazer and red sunglasses, and didn't comment as she was mobbed by photographers.
Farmer, the only of the four accusers to testify using her full name, detailed to the jurors how Maxwell molested her at Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch when she was a teen.
In a statement to the judge filed ahead of the sentencing, she wrote, "I ask you to bear in mind how Maxwell’s unwillingness to acknowledge her crimes, her lack of remorse, and her repeated lies about her victims created the need for many of us to engage in a long fight for justice that has felt like a black hole sucking in our precious time, energy, and well being for much too long now."
9 hours ago
Good morning from Manhattan federal court
By M'Niyah LynnWe're outside the Thurgood Marshall Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan where Ghislaine Maxwell is set to be sentenced today for sex-trafficking.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s siblings Isabel, Kevin, and Christine arrive at the courthouse this morning.Alec Tabak for NY Post Maxwell’s attorney Christian Everdell was mobbed by cameras as he arrived this morning.Alec Tabak for NY Post Attorney Bobbi Sternheim arrives at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse.Alec Tabak for NY Post
Her hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m., but people are already lined up, eagerly waiting to get in.
Maxwell's siblings, who were in court during her trial to support her, have already arrived, as have her attorneys.
9 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell is ‘genuine’ and ‘kind,’ fellow inmate tells judge as she faces up to 55 years
By Ben KesslenGhislaine Maxwell is “genuine and kind” and offered to teach fellow inmates yoga, a jailhouse friend wrote to the judge who is set to sentence the convicted sex-trafficker on Tuesday.
Tatiana Venegas, who was locked up with Maxwell in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, submitted a handwritten letter in support of her buddy, court filings revealed. Maxwell, 60, has been held at the federal lockup since she was arrested in July 2020.
“When Ghislane [sic] Maxwell first arrived in the unit, she introduced herself to everyone with a handshake. ‘Hi, I am Maxwell’ she says with a smile genuine and kind,” Venegas, 31, wrote. “It took all of us by surprise.”
Read more
9 hours ago
Ghislaine Maxwell learns her fate today at sex-trafficking sentencing
By Ben Kesslen and Elizabeth RosnerGhislaine Maxwell could be condemned to spend the rest of her life behind bars when she is sentenced Tuesday for helping pedophile Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young girls — with some of her accusers saying she deserves to be “trapped in a cage forever.”
Seven Maxwell accusers submitted statements ahead of the hearing detailing the horrors they say the disgraced British socialite inflicted on them, and some of the women will be in Manhattan federal court when she learns her fate.
Prosecutors have asked US District Judge Alison Nathan to slap Maxwell with between 30 and 55 years in prison — what could be a life sentence for the 60-year-old convicted sex-trafficker.
“As part of a disturbing agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell identified, groomed, and abused multiple victims, while she enjoyed a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege,” prosecutors wrote.