NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Ghislaine Maxwell had her life threatened by a fellow inmate at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, as alleged by one of her attorneys on Wednesday, in an apparent bid to secure her a lighter sentence later this month.
According to the court filing obtained by the Daily News, "[one] of the female inmates in Ms. Maxwell’s housing unit told at least three other inmates that she had been offered money to murder Ms. Maxwell and that she planned to strangle her in her sleep," said lawyer Bobbi Sternheim.
Her lawyer added that this specific example highlights "the brutal reality that there are numerous prison inmates who would not hesitate to kill Ms. Maxwell — whether for money, fame, or simple 'street cred.'"
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to the outlet's inquiry about Sternheim's claim.
The British socialite who was convicted in December of luring teenage girls from 1994 to 2004 to be sexually abused by New York financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Her conviction was upheld in April and Maxwell is due to be sentenced on June 28.
Court papers also revealed allegations of abuse Maxwell allegedly suffered from her father, disgraced media mogul Robert Maxwell, who is described as an "overbearing, narcissistic, and demanding father."
"Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster," Sternheim said. "This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaine's dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come."
Though Maxwell's father died in 1991 — right before she met Epstein — the filing alleges that the "corporal punishment" of his children contributed to his daughter's being "vulnerable" to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019.
"It is the biggest mistake she [has] made in her life and one that she has not and never will repeat," Sternheim added.
The filing additionally includes revelations of Maxwell's psychiatric evaluation she underwent in jail, which claimed her personality had changed since her July 2020 arrest.
Her lawyer quotes her doctor, Alexander Sasha Bardey, as saying that her longtime associate, Leah Saffian, had noticed her "marked deterioration."
"Ms. Saffian added that recently, Ms. Maxwell has completely lost her sense of humor and often ‘misses the beat,’" said Bardey in a August 2021 letter.
According to the report, Maxwell's lawyers have requested that Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alison Nathan sentence her to less than the 20 years recommended by probation officials, who argued that she should serve less time than federal guidelines suggest.
An excerpt from the probation department that was included in the filing said, "we further acknowledge that Maxwell is not solely responsible for the horrendous and irreparable damage caused by the decade."
Prosecutors declined to comment to the Daily News on the filing.
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