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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 674 Filed 06/24/22 Page 15 of 29

Sarah Ransome – Victim Impact Statement for Ghislaine Maxwell

It has been a long journey to bring Maxwell to justice for the horrific crimes inflicted on me and hundreds of other girls and young women. Sadly, the accurate count of victims will never be known. My book Silenced No More chronicles my “journey to hell and back”. Although I have physically escaped the trap set by Epstein, Maxwell and their minions, I continue, now 17 years later, to suffer from the horrific trauma it caused.

I was born into a dysfunctional family. My parents divorced when I was three-and-a-half years old. My mother, with whom I lived during most of my youth, was a chronic alcoholic, and my father was largely absent after the divorce. My vulnerability and brokenness made me a prime target for sexual predators.

I came to New York when I was 22 years old, wanting to start my life over after an incredibly abusive relationship, and hoping to attend FIT and work in the fashion industry. Those dreams and aspirations were torn apart.

Soon after arriving, I met an Epstein/Maxwell recruiter named Natalya Malyshev in a club. She befriended me and, soon after that, arranged for me to meet “Jeffery”. She described him as a kind philanthropist who could help me get into FIT and provide much-needed support, something which was alien to me.

Over the next seven to eight months, I became, against my will, nothing more than a sex toy with a heartbeat and soul used to entertain of Epstein, Maxwell and others. Sometimes I was subjected to his sexual predation multiple times per day, both in his New York mansion and on his private island St. Little James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, aided by Maxwell and others. On one visit to the island, the sexual demands, degradation and humiliation caused me to try to escape by jumping off a cliff into shark-infested waters; I was caught by Maxwell and company moments before jumping. At the time, that extremely risky escape seemed more appealing than being raped one more time.

As the evidence at the Maxwell trial proved, and my own experience confirms, Maxwell was his righthand woman. She was the Five Star General of several recruiters and many others who provided the means and cover for Epstein’s predation.

Epstein and Maxwell were masters at finding young, vulnerable girls and young women to exploit. Upon targeting a vulnerable girl/young woman, they would ingratiate themselves to her, giving her compliments and small gifts, telling her how special she was. They would tell her that Epstein was a very wealthy, generous man whose primary interest was to help the less fortunate. He and Maxwell were sophisticated, worldly adults with deep ties to important people, world leaders and institutions who could give the victims the lifeline they needed to make their dreams reality or crush them.

However, soon after lulling me and others into a false sense of comfort and security, they pounced, ensnaring us in their upside-down, twisted world of rape, rape and more rape. Like Hotel California, you could blindly check into the Epstein-Maxwell dungeon of sexual hell, but you could never leave. Jeffery and Ghislaine made sure of that.

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