Who are Ghislaine Maxwell's siblings? Family claims sex trafficker 'will be vindicated'
Following Ghislaine Maxwell being found guilty, her siblings are now appealing her sex trafficking conviction, saying they 'firmly believe' in Maxwell's innocence. They also said that they are 'disappointed' in the verdict delivered on Wednesday, December 29.
After a lengthy trial that began on November 29, 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted a month later on December 29, of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein for several years. Maxwell, who turned 60 behind the bars on November 25, sat as the verdict was read, after which she poured herself a cup of water, drank it and conferred with her lawyer. She showed no emotions as she was taken out of the federal court in Lower Manhattan. A date for sentencing is yet to be set.
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"We believe firmly in our sister's innocence—we are very disappointed with the verdict. We have already started the appeal tonight and we believe that she will ultimately be vindicated," Maxwell's siblings wrote in a statement released to independent journalist Jay Beecher.
Support from the siblings
Maxwell's siblings include Christine Maxwell, Ian Maxwell, Isabel Maxwell, Kevin Maxwell, Michael Maxwell, Karine Maxwell, Philip Maxwell and Anne Maxwell. Her sister Isabel and brother Kevin attended court. Her brother Ian has been constantly criticizing her prosecution and the condition she was in while on remand.
Isabel was Maxwell's only family member to attend every day of her trial. In a 2006 interview, Isabel described how she dealt with life's challenges, saying, "Personal tragedies and loss connect you to what is happening in this world... I am a survivor with an innate fire that doesn't allow me to be destroyed."
On one occasion, Kevin spoke to reporters outside the Manhattan court and claimed that Maxwell was being treated very badly in prison. He said, "he's obliged to walk up and down stairs, in the shackles, and they hurt her. She's been bruised, she's even bled, and you really have to ask yourself in 2021, what on earth are they doing shackling a 59-year-old woman in this way every day when she represents absolutely no threat to the community."
"She's on trial for her life and she received no food on the first day, she received a boiled egg, she is lucky if it is not moldy, she receives a couple of pieces of bread, maybe a Kraft slice and a banana or an apple," he had said. "That is literally everything from 6.30am until 7.30pm when she gets back to the detention center. It is simply inadequate sustenance. We don't understand how it is possible that everybody washes their hands of that problem." Ian also extended his support for Maxwell, claiming that his 'sister is not a monster'.
Who are Maxwell's siblings?
Robert Maxwell had nine children with his wife Elisabeth 'Betty' Meynard. Michael, the first-born, fell into a coma aged 15 after a car crash in 1961. He died eight years later.
Philip was a scientist and mathematician who won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, aged just 16. She studied Italian and French at Oxford, after which she trained as a Montessori teacher. She later married an osteopath and has refused to come to the limelight after her father's death.
Christine is the author of 'The Dictionary Of Perfect Spelling' and is married to an astrophysicist at a French university. They have two sons and a daughter.
Isabel and her sister Christine co-founded one of the earliest internet search engines, known as Magellan, in 1992. However, she was declared bankrupt in 2015. Isabel was married twice.
Karine died of leukemia aged three in 1957. Ian was known to have been taunted at home, and compared unfavorably to his younger brother, Kevin, after he joined the family business. Ian later launched an organization similar to the Prince's Trust in Greece.
Kevin was arrested and charged with fraud after hundreds of millions disappeared from the Maxwell empire's employee pension funds. Kevin became Britain's biggest ever bankrupt soon after his arrest, after a £407 million bankruptcy order was made against him.
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of almost all counts, with the top charge being sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum of 40 years in prison. The other counts Maxwell was found guilty of are conspiracy to entice a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; conspiracy to transport a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. While both the first and second counts carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the third carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and the fourth carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison. She was acquitted of Count 2, which involved enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.