Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys have argued that her difficult upbringing made her vulnerable to Jeffrey Epstein and that she should not receive a harsh sentence due to his actions. They have asked the judge to sentence her to a significantly lower term than the one recommended by the prosecution.

In December, a jury convicted Maxwell, 60, of five federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor, following a month-long trial in which jurors heard testimony regarding her relationship with the late Epstein. During Maxwell's trial, prosecutors said she helped him devise a scheme to lure young females into sexual encounters between 1994 and 2004.

Epstein was discovered dead in a federal jail facility shortly after being indicted for allegedly operating an adolescent sex trafficking ring, and Maxwell was apprehended the following year.

"But this Court cannot sentence Ms Maxwell as if she were a proxy for Epstein simply because Epstein is no longer here," Maxwell's attorney stated in their sentencing suggestion.

"Ms Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible."

The prosecutor's sentencing recommendation is anticipated by June 22, and Maxwell is slated to be sentenced on June 28. The probation department suggested a sentence of twenty years below the sentencing guidelines.

CNN has contacted prosecutors for comment on Maxwell's recommended sentence.

In Maxwell's request for a lighter sentence, her attorneys stated that it would be a "travesty of justice" if she received the same punishment as Epstein. They recommended a prison sentence between four years and three months and five years and three months.

While a jury found Maxwell guilty on five counts, she will only be sentenced on three because the presiding judge determined that two of the conspiracy counts she faced were redundant.

Maxwell's counsel wrote: "Ms Maxwell has already experienced hard time during detention under conditions far more onerous and punitive than any experienced by a typical pretrial detainee, and she is preparing to spend significantly more time behind bars,"

"Her life has been ruined. Since Epstein's passing, her life has been threatened, and she continues to receive death threats while inside."

Maxwell's attorneys claim that she was a "difficult, traumatic childhood" with Epstein due to a "vulnerable" and an authoritarian father and that meeting him was the "biggest mistake she made in her life." In the 15 years since her connection with Epstein ended, Maxwell's attorneys said she has not been accused of "anything untoward."

Since her arrest in July 2020, Maxwell has been held. According to her advocates, her time behind bars has been a "disproportionate pre-sentence punishment" that will continue now that she is housed among the general population.

Her attorneys assert that she was recently intimidated by a fellow inmate in her unit, who allegedly informed her that an additional 20 years in prison would be "worth the money" she would receive for killing Maxwell.

Her attorneys further believe that she is subject to many daily pat-downs, during which she claims to have been sexually inappropriately touched by correction officials multiple times.