“View gallery Ghislaine Maxwell—once the confidante of Jeffrey Epstein—is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiring to abuse underage girls. Her crimes included conspiring with the disgraced financier to recruit, groom, and abuse underage girls between 1994 and 2004. The judge also imposed a $750,000 fine”, — write: hollywoodlife.com
Ghislaine Maxwell—once the confidante of Jeffrey Epstein—is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiring to abuse underage girls. Her crimes included conspiring with the disgraced financier to recruit, groom, and abuse underage girls between 1994 and 2004. The judge also imposed a $750,000 fine, the maximum allowed under the law.
The sentencing came over two and a half years after the release of the Netflix docu-series Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, which focused on Epstein, who also faced charges of sex trafficking minors. Many of his alleged victims accused Maxwell of being an active participant and accomplice, with at least one claiming she threatened them after they reported the abuse to law enforcement. Maxwell’s lawyer did not respond to Hollywood Life’s request for comment at the time of the 2022 sentencing.
In 2024, Maxwell appealed her conviction, arguing that she should be set free under the terms of a 2008 deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida. Under the agreement, prosecutors had agreed not to pursue charges against his alleged co-conspirators. However, her appeal was rejected by a U.S. court.
In a significant update, Maxwell was transferred in late July 2025 from a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, the same facility housing high-profile inmates like Elizabeth Holmes and Jen Shah. This move came shortly after Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss her cooperation in ongoing investigations and potentially provide information tied to Epstein’s alleged network—information she promised in exchange for immunity, albeit none was granted.
Here’s what else you need to know about her.
Ghislaine Maxwell Was a Well-Connected British Socialite Born in France and raised in the U.K., Maxwell is the youngest of nine children. The Oxford-educated socialite has partied with royalty and world leaders, including Prince Andrew, U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as First Lady, Melania Trump.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Father Died Under Suspicious Circumstances Maxwell’s dad, Robert Maxwell, once owned the New York Daily News and Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers. He died in November 1991 after falling off his yacht, Lady Ghislaine, off the Canary Islands. His official cause of death was a heart attack and accidental drowning, although conspiracy theorists believe he either committed suicide or was murdered, according to The Guardian. After his death, Robert was accused of plundering the Mirror Group’s pension funds of around £460 million.
How Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein First Met Maxwell reportedly met Epstein after relocating to New York in the 1990s following her father’s death. According to The Guardian, “Her family’s wealth, status and influence considerably depleted, Maxwell found something of a replacement in her relationship with Epstein.”
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 13: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend Batman Forever/R. McDonald Event on June 13, 1995 in New York City. (Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) Ghislaine Maxwell Filed a Lawsuit Against Epstein’s Estate In court documents filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2020, Maxwell claimed that she had “no involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s alleged misconduct.”
The civil lawsuit against the late financier’s estate also sought reimbursement for her legal fees and personal security costs. She claimed that she allegedly “receives regular threats to her life and safety,” which requires her to hire personal security services and “find safe accommodation.”
Ghislaine Maxwell Was Rarely Seen in Public After Epstein’s Death In 2019, Maxwell was photographed outside a Los Angeles In-N-Out Burger restaurant shortly after Epstein’s death, with the image published by the New York Post.
She was arrested in July 2020. In April 2021, her attorney released a photo of her with a black eye while awaiting trial in a Brooklyn federal prison. Maxwell told her attorneys that she didn’t know how she acquired the bruise, according to the New York Daily News.