Her circle included Britain's Prince Andrew, former US president and real estate baron Donald Trump and the Clinton family. The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, the former international jetsetter grew up in wealth and privilege as a friend to royalty. "It is the biggest mistake she made in her life and one that she has not and never will repeat." "It made her vulnerable to Epstein, whom she met right after her father's death," the lawyers said. The lawyers emphasized Maxwell's emotional wounds, saying that "she had a difficult, traumatic childhood with an overbearing, narcissistic, and demanding father." Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible." Maxwell as if she were a proxy for Epstein simply because Epstein is no longer here," her lawyers wrote. Her sentence, which is slated to come down on June 28 in Manhattan's federal court, could be an effective life behind bars. Maxwell, 60, was convicted late last year of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late US financier Epstein.Ī jury found her guilty on five of six counts, the most serious for sex trafficking minors. In a brief filed Wednesday evening, Maxwell's lawyers urged Judge Alison Nathan to sentence the disgraced British socialite to less than the probation department's recommended 20 years. Ghislaine Maxwell cited a traumatic childhood and vulnerability to Jeffrey Epstein in a plea for leniency two weeks before her scheduled court sentencing for child sex trafficking.