Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson pictured at 2017 party

EXCLUSIVE: Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson are seen at a 2017 holiday party – a year after they married – as her lawyers reveal details of their relationship and her devastation when he dumped ‘dishonored wife’ in a heated call while in solitary

• Days before her sentencing for her sex trafficking conviction, DailyMail.com has obtained a never-before-seen photo of Ghislaine Maxwell with husband Scott Borgerson in 2017 
• The picture, at a nursing home Christmas party, was taken just around their one-year anniversary and is only the second known photo of them together 
• A filing by Maxwell’s lawyers requesting a lowest term sentence reveals new details of Maxwell’s personal life and her relationship with now-estranged husband Borgerson, 46
• ‘Sadly, the marriage could not survive the negative impact of this case nor a husband’s association with his dishonored wife,’ the filing states 
• They say that Maxwell went into hiding after Jeffrey Epstein’s death ‘to safeguard her husband and two young stepchildren’
• Borgerson ended the relationship during a heated phone call while Maxwell was in solitary confinement  

and now-estranged husband Scott Borgerson are pictured together in a never-before-seen photo taken at a 2017 nursing home party. 

DailyMail.com obtained the photo that shows the couple during happier times, Borgerson’s arm lovingly around his wife, standing with group of nursing home residents in as they are being serenaded presumably with Christmas carols by a group of children.

The picture was taken just around their one-year anniversary and is only the second known photo of them together. Borgerson married Maxwell on Christmas Day 2016 – her 55th birthday.

On Monday, Maxwell will be sentenced for her sex trafficking conviction, and her lawyers have urged the court that she serve only four years and three months and not the 50-year maximum.

In their arguments, her lawyers revealed that her life has been ruined, not in small part by the end of her relationship with Borgerson, that, they reveal, began in 2013.

The photo is a world away from Maxwell’s old life with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in the 1990s. In their place at the nursing home were Cub Scouts wearing Santa hats and nursing home residents in wheelchairs.

At the time Maxwell was living under the radar with Borgerson at their home in Manchester-by-the-sea as she dealt with a growing number of lawsuits against her.

This comes as her lawyers have revealed new details of Maxwell’s relationship with Borgerson, including how she went into hiding to protect him and his kids, how her arrest ruined their marriage and how he dumped her in a heated phone call while she was in solitary confinement.

In a court filing published Wednesday, Maxwell’s lawyers claim that her now-estranged husband, 46, was ‘besieged by media coverage and had lost his employment lawyers near me and professional relationships’ due to her arrest in July 2020. 

It states: ‘Sadly, the marriage could not survive the negative impact of this case nor a husband’s association with his dishonored wife,’ adding that Borgerson ended the relationship during via phone call while Maxwell was behind bars. 

FBI agents arrested Maxwell at the New Hampshire home – called Tuckedaway – where she had taken refuge after Epstein’s death to escape the upsurge of media coverage that had ‘engulfed’ her and her family, the lawyers reveal. 

‘She had relocated alone, separating from her family to safeguard her husband and two young stepchildren and to secure the personal safety of her family,’ the filing states.’Ms. Maxwell was also worried for herself, having legitimate reason to fear for her own life.’

Her lawyers go on to ask that she serve just four years and three months in jail when she is sentenced next week and claim she is getting death threats in prison. 

She is facing a maximum 50-year sentence. 

In 2013, Maxwell began a new relationship with the man she would later marry.

‘She was with her husband for over seven years and became a devoted stepmother to her husband’s two youngsters, who were ages three and four and a half at the start of the relationship,’ the filing states. 

He has since moved on, and was reported to be seeing a yoga teacher mom-of-two called Kris McGinn earlier this year.

Harriet Jagger, a school mate from age 15, detailed Maxwell’s longing for a family life as part of letters written on her behalf.  

‘The last time I saw Ghislaine was in her home in New York a few years ago.I listened to her as she spoke of her wish to find the security and happiness within a family unit, she was visibly upset that this, the simplest of things for so many others had still not been a part of her own life. I felt truly sorry for her.

‘Having known her large and great family, her love and great respect for her parents and closeness to her brothers and sisters, I knew this was something she had always craved. 

‘I gave her a huge hug on departing.So I was then thrilled to learn that she had finally met and married someone and was helping bring up his young children, but then desperate to hear that this much sought-after joy was so short.’

In their 77-page sentencing submission and 29-page legal argument, Maxwell’s lawyers said that she should not be made a ‘proxy’ for Epstein.

They said that the 50-year maximum sentence would be ‘absurd’ and that Maxwell does not present a ‘containing danger to the public.’

The filing said an inmate in her prison said the extra 20 years in jail would be worth it for the ‘money’ they would get for killing her.

Detailing the bloodcurdling threat allegedly made against the disgraced socialite, the filing said: ‘Recently, an inmate in Ms.Maxwell’s unit threatened to kill her, claiming that an additional 20 years’ incarceration would be worth the money she’d receive for murdering Ms. Maxwell.

‘On information and belief, one of the female inmates in Ms. Maxwell’s housing unit told at least three other inmates that she had been offered money to murder Ms.Maxwell and that she planned to strangle her in her sleep. 

‘The inmate who made the threat has been moved to the SHU (special housing unit), presumably to protect Ms. Maxwell. This incident reflects the brutal reality that there are numerous prison inmates who would not hesitate to kill Ms.Maxwell – whether for money, fame, or simple ‘street cred.»

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Her sentencing was delayed while the court resolved questions over whether a juror unfairly influenced the jury by failing to disclose his history of sexual abuse.

A judge subsequently found he did not.

The filing states: ‘In sentencing Ms.Maxwell, the Court cannot be influenced by this inexorable drumbeat of public condemnation calling for her to be locked away for good. 

‘The Court cannot heal the wounds caused by Epstein by heaping on Ms. Maxwell’s shoulders the pain of every one of his victims, the outrage of society, the public scorn of the community, and then driving her out of the community forever. 

‘While that may assuage the public and give the perception that ‘justice was done,’ that is not justice.That is scapegoating. Ms. Maxwell must be sentenced on the record before the Court and not these external pressures’

Arguing that Maxwell was treated far more harshly than any other suspect held in custody ahead of their trial, the filing claims her ‘life has been ruined.

It continues: ‘Ms.Maxwell cannot and should not bear all the punishment for which Epstein should have been held responsible. 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 death, her life has been threatened and death threats continue while she is incarcerated. It would be a travesty of justice for her to face a sentence that would have been appropriate for Epstein. 

In seeking to explain Maxwell’s background, her lawyers blamed her conduct on her late father, the disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell who died in mysterious circumstances after falling off his yacht in 1991.

The filing detailed a letter sent to the court from Maxwell’s brother Philip and sister Anne.It said abuse she’d suffered at the hands of their father had ultimately left her ‘vulnerable’ and open to manipulation from her pedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. 

‘Her relationship with Epstein began at a moment of extreme vulnerability.Ghislaine’s life after the tragic death of our father. He (our father) was a powerful and dominant figure,’ the letter said. 

‘And as elder siblings we witnessed our father taking Ghislaine under his wing whereby she became over dependent on his approval and vulnerable to his frequent rapid mood swings, huge rages and rejections. 

‘This led her to becoming very vulnerable to abusive and powerful men who would be able to take advantage of her innate good nature.’

The document stated that he would subject his children to verbal abuse every Sunday.

Robert Maxwell ‘would explode, threaten, and rant at the children until they were reduced to pulp.Mr. Maxwell was relentless, with children ending up in tears, punishments being doled out, and the whole family in utter distress’, the filing claims.

The document states: ‘Mr.

Maxwell employed corporal punishment on his children. Ghislaine vividly recalls a time when, at age 13, she tacked a poster of a pony on the newly painted wall of her bedroom. Rather than mar the paint with tape, she carefully hammered a thin tack to mount the poster.

This outraged her father, who took the hammer and banged on Ghislaine’s dominant hand, leaving it severely bruised and painful for weeks to come’.

The filing claims that the sentence of 51-63 months would be appropriate as Maxwell has never been accused of any sex offenses—or any crimes, for that matter—in the almost 20-year period since the conduct at issue in this case ended.

It states: ‘There is absolutely no evidence that Ms.Maxwell is attracted to minors or has the sort of uncontrollable impulses that would compel her to re-offend. According to the trial record, it was Epstein who had such proclivities, whereas Ms. Maxwell’s role was to facilitate Epstein’s sexual abuse.

‘Indeed, after she moved on from Epstein in the early 2000s, Ms.Maxwell was involved in two long-term relationships with men who had young children and was actively involved in their lives without even the slightest hint of impropriety. Most importantly, the government concedes that Ms. Maxwell is not a danger to the community. 

‘The government never made that assertion in connection with Ms.Maxwell’s numerous bail applications and there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a claim. Put simply, Ms. Maxwell is not ‘dangerous’ and there is no risk that Ms. Maxwell will ever ‘repeat’ the offense.’