The Sins Of The Father

The conviction of Ghislaine Borgerson (nee Maxwell) of being a procurer of young women .... 

The Relationship With Her
Father Had Great Influence ...

 ...... one of whom at least was under the US sexual legal age, for the pleasure of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein (and allegedly his friends), has attracted press coverage around the globe.

At the age of 60, and given that she also faces another criminal trial on two further charges of lying under oath about Epstein's abuse of underage girls, then she almost certainly faces the strong likelihood that she will spend the rest of her life in a US prison, even if she gets only the lower end sentences for each offence of which she has been convicted (which of course is not likely to be the case). This would be a very daunting prospect for anyone, but particularly for someone who has only ever lived in absolute wealth and privilege.

Age Of Consent Laws In The U.S

The exact convictions for which she has been convicted so far, are five sex trafficking-related counts, one count of sex trafficking of a minor, one of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three of conspiracy to commit also-charged choate (already formed or completed?) felonies. It should be noted that 'minor' in the US usually means a person under the age of 18, but can be 21 in relation to alcohol, gambling, and handguns in some states. 

However, somewhat confusingly, the 'age of consent' in the US can be from 16 to 18 depending upon which US state you are in. So claims about someone being trafficked to have sex with another person when they were 17 and therefore a minor under US law, can be contradictory, depending upon which state your in, as civil and criminal laws can conflict with each other. The offence can often depend on the age difference between, or position of trust or authority of the participants.

Much will be written about her relationship with her abusive father Robert Maxwell, and how she seems to have been compelled to move from one abusive rich man, her father, to another, Jeffrey Epstein. Even Scott Borgerson, her husband since 2016, has been reported as having a controlling nature (with his divorce, prompting court accusations of him being physically violent, abusive, and 'extremely controlling' towards his first wife, and his having an alcohol problem - he also attacked his ex wife Rebecca on June 15, 2014 and was charged with assault and domestic battery, according to court papers).  

Of course this is only legal argument round one, as she has already signalled an appeal (and indeed possible malfeasance by at least one juror is being investigated), but she will remain in custody throughout this process (and the other trials if they go ahead), which even if successful (and that's extremely unlikely, given the fact that she's not a born US citizen, and the nature of the offences), could take up to three years to exhaust.

Her custody conditions while awaiting trial, were, according to her brother Ian Maxwell, terrible while in the Metropolitan Detention Centre. Conditions there are seen as appalling by some UK and Western European standards, with reports that cells are often infested with the rats, overcrowded and with poor sanitation. Conditions that are common for many prisoners held there. 

She herself has been in small cell with a concrete bed, that is just 6ft by 9ft (1.8m by 2.7m) with bad food, a lack of hygiene, and the poor ventilation, all while she is under strict control. She was he said, effectively in solitary confinement for over 500 days prior to her conviction (she was being woken every 15 minutes with a torch shone in her eyes, and faced some strip searches).

"She is under 24-hour, around-the-clock surveillance, with 10 cameras, including one that moves and tracks her movement," he said. "She's not allowed to move into the corners of her cell and she's not allowed to be within two and a half feet of the cell door. That is her existence."

Even post conviction she is unlikely to initially be placed in general population (at least until her appeal trial is heard), due to her high profile. Like her erstwhile lover/employer Epstein, she will likely be housed in a special housing unit with another inmate. In view of Epstein's successful suicide in similar conditions (he was supposedly under suicide watch, but somehow managed to avoid being seen committing suicide - conspiracists claim he was murdered), she will probably be under close observation until they consider that she poses no self harm threat.

Now all this will be written about in far greater detail elsewhere .... but I have to admit that personally I feel some sorrow for her and her current plight. Now I have to emphasise that I don't in any way condone her activities on Epstein's behalf (and especially in the case of the under age of consent minor, where even she must have known she had crossed a red line), but she seems to me to have almost been conditioned to appease powerful rich men, from her troubled childhood up until now.  

How much that early conditioning drove her later actions, as opposed to the financial and lifestyle rewards her activities gained her from Epstein (Epstein paid her $30m over eight years for being a glorified housekeeper), I guess is a matter that the US courts have now determined. Her apparent lack of remorse, and her unwillingness to admit any fault or guilt, all count against too much sympathy for her, but therein also lies her tragedy, in being a player in one of the darkest of modern fairytales.

But I for one can at least understand how her childhood, where she learnt to emotionally and physically placate a physically violent (he used his belt on his children), and emotionally bullying father, could lead her to seek out similar male models in her adult later life. How she could have been so conditioned by her childhood experiences, so as to not see her own and Epstein's outrageous behaviours for what they really were.

Its a fact that if you are conditioned to think that unhealthy or abusive behaviours are normal, then it’s hard to identify a relationship as being abusive, and therefore there’s no reason to leave it. People in such emotionally abusive relationships may not understand that they are being mentally abused, especially if there’s no violence involved. 

So Maxwell having feelings of love for someone who is making emotionally abusive requests from her, unfortunately is not an uncommon circumstance for many other women, and if they were also exerting financial control as well, then its perhaps not so strange if Maxwell didn't break away from Epstein. However as she reportedly had a more than liveable independent income of £80,000 pa ($107,642), from a trust set up by her late father, then any financial control being exerted over her could at best only be described as relative.

A last couple of thoughts: Firstly, considering Epstein's arrest, conviction and fate, and that Ghislaine Maxwell has French nationality (as well as being a naturalised US citizen, and a UK subject), then why didn't she simply flee to France immediately after he was convicted? France as we have noted before (Roman Polanski), does not extradite its own citizens (although she may still have faced trial in France for offences committed in the US ... but with much shorter sentences, better conditions, and the possibility of parole).

So unless she was just so spoilt by a lifetime of entitlement and wealth, that she just assumed she was untouchable (unlikely after seeing Epstein's downfall and death) .... then the only rational explanation for her behaviour is that she was so conditioned by her earlier life, that she simply didn't think that by servicing Epstein's wishes, no matter what they were, she was doing anything wrong, and therefore not in danger of arrest, much less conviction.

Secondly .... she still holds a lot of the dark secrets of a lot of very powerful men's activities (Epstein after all, had male guests who were Presidents, a Prince, a famous Harvard lawyer and a few world famous scientists to name but a few - and who all deny doing or seeing anything wrong, and none of whom have been charged, let alone been convicted) .... So if she decides to plea bargain with the Feds by naming names, she could in theory cut her jail time down to around 10 years, and possibly be out in just seven (with good behaviour) .... a fact that might look increasingly attractive as she faces up to the bleakness of her future life in a hell hole.

Whether she can overcome her Maxwell family conditioning, and confess all to the authorities, in return for a chance at a life after prison, will determine her final fate.

Update January 2022: As suspected her lawyers are applying for a retrial following the jurors admission that they used their own child abuse experiences to try and influence their fellow jurors.

Update April 2022: Ms Maxwell's request for a retrial due to a juror making a false declaration on experiencing child abuse was denied.

Update March 2023: Ghislaine Maxwell has launched another appeal against her sex trafficking conviction, which raises a number of points that her lawyers say should result in her conviction being overturned or, alternatively, a new trial or re-sentencing.

These include that she was protected by a 2007 non-prosecution agreement made between federal prosecutors in southern Florida and Epstein, regarding alleged abuse at his Palm Beach mansion, and that she was charged long after the expiration of a five-year statute of limitations on her offences. Her appeal also re-raises the juror who allegedly used his own stories of childhood sexual abuse to sway fellow juror members.