The British former socialite was this week found guilty of recruiting underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Ian Maxwell admitted: "Without doubt she made a terrible, terrible judgement about Jeffrey Epstein - but that is not a crime."

While defending his sister and saying she "must obviously profoundly regret that relationship", Mr Maxwell insisted he was not blaming the victims, or gaslighting them.

"Why would I do that... they clearly had a terrible experience," he said.

He added: "I accept that these accusers were victims of Jeffrey Epstein. What I do not accept is that they were victims of Ghislaine Maxwell."

Mr Maxwell said his sister has not made a deal with prosecutors following her conviction and described her guilty verdict as a "tremendous blow and disappointment".

While confirming his family's intent to appeal, he said: "The man who was not on trial and should have been on trial - but escaped the ability of the prosecution to put him on trial because they lost him on their watch, which everyone has conveniently forgotten about - could not be tried.

"And therefore they had to find someone who could be tried. They chose Ghislaine Maxwell. They were perfectly entitled to do that.

"But the position the defence has taken - and that I continue to take - is that she was scapegoated in a process that was flawed from the start and she was not given a fair trial and she has not had justice."