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Annie Farmer's Survivor Impact Statement At Ghislaine Maxwell's Sentencing · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Now that the campaign to rehabilitate Kallainne Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: has fully taken off, I'd like to provide you folks
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  Speaker 1: with some receipts as to why Gallaine Maxwell is nothing
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  Speaker 1: more than a monster. So let's go directly to the
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  Speaker 1: court documents themselves and let's go through the survivor impact
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  Speaker 1: statements that we're given at the sentencing of Glen Maxwell.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get to the impact statements, first, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to hear from Alison Moe, who was asking the
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  Speaker 1: court for a very very long sentence against Glaiine Maxwell.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Mo, your honor. Galaine first met Jane at summer
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  Speaker 1: camp in August of nineteen ninety four. Jane was fourteen
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  Speaker 1: years old. What Maxwell did in the years that followed
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  Speaker 1: to Jane and Kate and Annie and Virginia and Carolyn
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  Speaker 1: and Melissa was almost unspeakable. But the truth came out
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  Speaker 1: in this case, and while many years have passed, their
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  Speaker 1: pain is palpable, it's real, and it matters today. We
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  Speaker 1: asked the court to impose an above guideline sentence of
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  Speaker 1: multiple decades in prison, a sentence that holds Maxwell accountable
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  Speaker 1: for the essential role she played and in the extensive
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  Speaker 1: and disturbing child exploitation scheme, Maxwell trapped young girls in
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  Speaker 1: a horrifying nightmare. Her victims were vulnerable kids who found
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  Speaker 1: themselves alone in giant mansions where they were sexually exploited
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  Speaker 1: by adults they thought would help them. These girls were
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  Speaker 1: just kids, and they were just finding their way in
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  Speaker 1: the world, trying to figure out who they were and
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  Speaker 1: who they might be some day when they grew up.
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  Speaker 1: These kids had hopes and dreams for their future, and
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  Speaker 1: the defendant used those dreams as their tool to abuse them.
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  Speaker 1: We asked the court to take an unflinching look at
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  Speaker 1: the defendant's actions and consider what that tells you about
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  Speaker 1: who she really is. What kind of person persuades young
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  Speaker 1: girls to massage the feet of a middle aged man.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of person gets a sixteen year old girl
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  Speaker 1: all alone at a ranch in the middle of nowhere
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  Speaker 1: and tells her to take her clothes off and get
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  Speaker 1: on a massage table so she can grope that girl's chest.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of person teaches a fourteen year old girl
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  Speaker 1: how a middle aged man likes his penis to be touched.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of person sees a seventeen year old girl
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  Speaker 1: on the street and pulls over so that she can
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  Speaker 1: persuade that girl to come to the House of Horrors,
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  Speaker 1: where that young girl will be trafficked for sex. What
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  Speaker 1: kind of person flies around on a plane with underage
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  Speaker 1: girls so that when her boyfriend travels, he always has
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  Speaker 1: young girls to touch. What kind of person would use
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  Speaker 1: their privilege, their power in this world to intentionally prey
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  Speaker 1: on the vulnerable young girls from struggling families, girls without fathers,
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  Speaker 1: girls who needed help. These are the actions of a
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  Speaker 1: person who was indifferent to the suffering of other human beings.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant's actions were not a one time mistake at all.
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell was an adult woman, and she made the choice
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  Speaker 1: weak in and week out for years to commit crimes
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  Speaker 1: with Jeffrey Epstein to be his right hand to make
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  Speaker 1: his crimes possible. Those choices were hers, and they have
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  Speaker 1: to have serious consequences. What's more, her actions betrayed a
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  Speaker 1: disturbing view of the world we live in. To Maxwell,
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  Speaker 1: there were two kinds of people in this world, the
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  Speaker 1: people who really mattered and the people who were disposable.
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell wanted to make sure that she stayed among the
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  Speaker 1: people who she thought mattered. She wanted to live a
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  Speaker 1: luxurious lifestyle, jet setting around the world. She took millions
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  Speaker 1: of dollars from Epstein over the years. And that's because
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  Speaker 1: they were predators together. There were partners in crime together,
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  Speaker 1: and they molested kids together. The defendant's actions had serious
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  Speaker 1: consequences for her victims. These girls, now women, are strong.
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  Speaker 1: They have shown the world what true bravery is. And
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  Speaker 1: when the defendant prayed on them, they were just kids,
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  Speaker 1: and they'll carry that with them for their entire lives,
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  Speaker 1: the trauma of what they've experienced. What is truly remarkable
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  Speaker 1: about this case, Your Honor, is that we don't have
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  Speaker 1: to speculate about the lasting, irreparable harm that the defendants'
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  Speaker 1: actions have had. You have seen for yourself the devastating
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  Speaker 1: effects of the defendant's crimes and how much your actions
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  Speaker 1: have affected her victims even years later. The defendant has
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  Speaker 1: shown absolutely no remorse for her crimes. She has not
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  Speaker 1: owned up to the truth, She has lied repeatedly, she
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  Speaker 1: has been dishonest with the court, and she has made
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  Speaker 1: misrepresentations when it suits her, Your Honor, we recognize that
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  Speaker 1: the Court has calculated the guidelines to be one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eighty eight to two hundred and thirty five months.
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  Speaker 1: That is far below the sentence that the government believes
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  Speaker 1: is appropriate in the case. We recognize that there are
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  Speaker 1: a small number of cases where the court imposes an
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  Speaker 1: above guideline sentence. This is that case, your honor. In
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  Speaker 1: the almost twenty years since the two thousand and three
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  Speaker 1: Manual was enacted, our Sentencing Commission, our Congress, and our
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  Speaker 1: country have all recognized just how serious sex crimes against
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  Speaker 1: children are. Our country now recognizes how woefully inadequate the
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and three guidelines were, and the Supreme Court
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  Speaker 1: is expressly held that sentencing courts can vary upwards for
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  Speaker 1: exactly that reason. Again, this is that case. This is
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  Speaker 1: exactly that case. This is the time to impose above
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  Speaker 1: guideline sentence. A guideline sentence in this case would create
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  Speaker 1: unwarranted sentencing disparities with individuals being sentenced today for sex
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  Speaker 1: trafficking offenses. This case calls for an above guideline sentence
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  Speaker 1: because the breathtaking scope of the defendant's conduct, the length
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  Speaker 1: of her crime, the number of victims, the vulnerability of
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  Speaker 1: her victims, the sophistication of the defendant's predatory conduct and
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  Speaker 1: the degree to which she psychologically manipulated her victims. Her
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  Speaker 1: conduct was shockingly predatory, and it calls for an above
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  Speaker 1: guideline sentence. We ask the court to impose an above
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  Speaker 1: guideline sentence, a sentence that sends a message that those
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  Speaker 1: who would conspire with sexual predators would be held responsible
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  Speaker 1: for their significant role in those crimes. We asked the
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  Speaker 1: court to send a message that nobody is above the law,
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  Speaker 1: and nobody is too rich or too powerful to be
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  Speaker 1: held accountable. We asked the court to send a message
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  Speaker 1: that it's never too late for justice. Your honor, you
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  Speaker 1: should not hesitate to hold to defendant accountable for the
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  Speaker 1: full measure of her crimes. She deserves to spend decades
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  Speaker 1: in prison for her crimes. Thank you. All Right Now,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to move on to the first survivor impact
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  Speaker 1: statement that was given at sentencing, and this is from
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  Speaker 1: Annie Farmer. For a long time, I wanted to erase
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  Speaker 1: from my mind the crimes that Calain Maxwell and Jeffrey
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  Speaker 1: Epstein committed against me and pretend they hadn't happened. It
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  Speaker 1: was the type of dark memory that feels safest to
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  Speaker 1: keep locked away, but I've had to acknowledge the long
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  Speaker 1: lasting effects. One of the most painful and ongoing impacts
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  Speaker 1: of Maxwell and Epstein's abuse was a loss to trust
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  Speaker 1: in myself, my perception, and my instincts. When predators room
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  Speaker 1: and then abuse or exploit you, they are, in a sense,
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  Speaker 1: training you to distrust yourself. When a boundary is crossed
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  Speaker 1: or an expectation violated, you tell yourself, someone who cares
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  Speaker 1: about me to do all these nice things surely wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: also be trying to harm me. And this pattern of
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  Speaker 1: thinking is insidious. So these seeds of self doubt took root,
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  Speaker 1: even as I learned my sister had also been harmed
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  Speaker 1: by them, and came to find out years later that
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  Speaker 1: many others had been exploited. For years, these memories triggered
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  Speaker 1: significant self recrimination, minimization, and guilt. I blame myself for
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  Speaker 1: believing these predators actually wanted to help me. I felt
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  Speaker 1: tremendous survivor guilt when I heard about what other girls
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  Speaker 1: and young women had experienced at the hands of Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: and Epstein. I saw about how my sister's concern about
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  Speaker 1: me weighed on her, and I felt guilty about this
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  Speaker 1: as well. This toxic combination of being sexually exposed and exploited,
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  Speaker 1: feeling confused and naive, and blaming myself all resulted in
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  Speaker 1: significant shame. That sickening feeling that makes you want to disappear.
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  Speaker 1: It was not constant, but it would come in waves,
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  Speaker 1: similar to the waves that anxiety would also show up.
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  Speaker 1: When I think back, I see a slide show of
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  Speaker 1: moments when these feelings would surface and overwhelm me. There
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  Speaker 1: are too many of these moments to name, and though
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  Speaker 1: I have come a long way in my path of healing,
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  Speaker 1: I know that these feelings will continue to be triggered
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  Speaker 1: at times. The ripple effects of trauma are undeniable. When
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  Speaker 1: one person is abused, many others are also harmed. In
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  Speaker 1: addition to the way I was impacted as an individual,
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  Speaker 1: there was the pain I experienced as a sister due
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  Speaker 1: to how Maria was abused by Maxwell and Epstein, and
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  Speaker 1: the harm cause to the rest of my family due
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  Speaker 1: to these events. My sister Maria's abuse, the sexual assault,
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell's threats that stole her sense of safety and her career,
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  Speaker 1: and the way they used her to get to me
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  Speaker 1: had devastating effects on her. As my family watched or
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  Speaker 1: grow more isolated and more physically ill from the stress
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  Speaker 1: of all of it, we all felt powerless. It was
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  Speaker 1: heartbreaking and infuriating, and we later learned how often this
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  Speaker 1: pattern was repeated. A young person on the path of
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  Speaker 1: pursuing her dreams was pulled in by Maxwell, was abused
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  Speaker 1: and exploited, and then had to try and piece together
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  Speaker 1: a life in the aftermath of the trauma that left
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  Speaker 1: them feeling distrustful and fearful. Most of these individuals had
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  Speaker 1: families who were also negatively impacted as they witnessed and
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  Speaker 1: felt the systemic efforts of their loved ones losses and struggles.
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  Speaker 1: The number of people harmed is impossible to measure. Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: had many opportunities to come clean, but instead continue to
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  Speaker 1: make choices that cause more harm. When my sister and
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  Speaker 1: I first spoke out to the media about what happened
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  Speaker 1: to us, Maxwell lied about us and threatened Maria, thus
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  Speaker 1: helping shut down investigations into their behavior so they could
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  Speaker 1: together continue to harm children and young women. After this
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  Speaker 1: attempt to alert people to Epstein and Maxwell's abuse of behavior,
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  Speaker 1: I avoided being public about it for two decades. My
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  Speaker 1: shame told me that I should hide this fact because
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  Speaker 1: it was embarrassing. Later, as I pursued my profession as
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  Speaker 1: a psychologist, I feared it could potentially ruin my career.
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  Speaker 1: I worried clients would not want to work with me
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  Speaker 1: if I was associated with this story wrongly labeled as
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  Speaker 1: one of child prostitution. I feared being on Epstein and
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell's radar as a problem because of their previous lies
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  Speaker 1: and threats. Once arrested, Maxwell faced another choice. She could
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  Speaker 1: admit her participation in this scheme, acknowledged the harm caused,
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  Speaker 1: or even provide information that could have helped others be
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  Speaker 1: held accountable. Instead, she chose to again to lie about
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  Speaker 1: her behavior, causing additional harm to all those she victimized.
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  Speaker 1: Judge Nathan, I hope when you consider the appropriate prison
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  Speaker 1: sentence for the role Maxwell played in this sex trafficking operation,
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  Speaker 1: you take into account the ongoing suffering of the many
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  Speaker 1: women whom she abused and exploited. As we will continue
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  Speaker 1: to live with the memories of the way she harmed us.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you weigh the systemic effects of the crimes
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  Speaker 1: she perpetrated, the ways that our family members, romantic partners,
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  Speaker 1: and friends have been hurt through our suffering. I ask
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  Speaker 1: you to bear in mind how Maxwell's unwillingness to acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: her crime, her lack of remorse, and her repeated lies
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  Speaker 1: about her victims created the need for many of us
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  Speaker 1: to engage in a long fight for justice that is
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  Speaker 1: felt like a black hole sucking in our precious time, energy,
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  Speaker 1: and well being for much too long now, things that
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  Speaker 1: cannot be replaced. Thank you. All right, We're going to
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  Speaker 1: wrap up right here with episode one, and in the
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  Speaker 1: next episode, we're going to pick up where we left
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  Speaker 1: off with the next survivor impact statement, and this one's
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  Speaker 1: going to be from Kate. All of the information that
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  Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.