Professor Cheryl Bader shared her expert opinion on Ghislaine Maxwell’s recent sentencing hearing and the statement she made to her victims and to the judge.
On June 28, 2022—for the first time since befriending and betraying them—Ghislaine Maxwell spoke directly to the young women she and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused.
“I am sorry for the pain that you experienced,” the 60-year-old former socialite told victims at her sentencing in Manhattan federal court.
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Federal Judge Alison J. Nathan didn’t buy it. She sentenced Maxwell to 20 years in prison for her role in what prosecutors called a decade-long scheme to “recruit, groom and ultimately abuse” teenage girls.
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Although Maxwell expressed empathy for the victims, “she didn’t say she was sorry about the pain she caused,” former assistant U.S. attorney and current Fordham School of Law Associate Professor Cheryl G. Bader tells A&E True Crime. “She stopped short of accepting responsibility. And I think that impacted the judge.”
What was it about Maxwell that made victims trust her?
The allure of power and money was irresistible for some young, impressionable girls, Bader says. “Maxwell understood that—and she used her status and ability to seduce these young girls to carry this out.”