Supreme Court rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of Epstein plea deal
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal challenging her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for trafficking underage girls in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell argued that Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida should have protected her from later charges brought in New York. However, the Court declined to review the case, leaving the lower court ruling in place, which held that the plea deal applied only to Epstein and the Southern district of florida prosecutors, not to Maxwell or other jurisdictions. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges but was later federally indicted for sex trafficking in 2019 and died in jail. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on multiple counts relating to sex trafficking and abuse of minors.The Department of Justice supported the conviction, stating Maxwell was not part of Epstein’s plea deal. Interest in the Epstein case continues, with the House Oversight Committee releasing thousands of related documents, and former Attorneys General merrick Garland and Eric Holder denying knowledge of Epstein files during their tenures. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has denied involvement or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Supreme Court rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of Epstein plea deal
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, leaving in place her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for trafficking underage girls in a scheme with the late financier.
Maxwell, 62, had asked the high court to review whether she was improperly prosecuted despite Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida. Her lawyers argued the agreement should have shielded her from charges brought by a separate U.S. attorney’s office in New York over a decade later.
“This case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did,” her attorneys wrote in a petition to the justices earlier this year.
The justices declined to take up the appeal without comment. A lower federal appeals court had previously rejected Maxwell’s claims, ruling the plea deal Epstein struck did not apply to her or bind prosecutors outside the Southern District of Florida. The order came as part of a broader list of petitions that the justices rejected as they began their new term at the high court.
Epstein pleaded guilty to state-level prostitution offenses in 2008 but was later charged with federal sex trafficking in 2019. He died by what authorities said was suicide in jail a month after his indictment. Maxwell was arrested the following year and convicted in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and abuse of minors.
The conviction has been defended by the Trump Justice Department, which told the Supreme Court in a summer filing that Maxwell “was not a party to the relevant agreement” and that “only Epstein and the Florida USAO were parties.”
Maxwell met with the Justice Department earlier this year as part of a sealed discussion with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. In that interview, she denied ever seeing anything improper between Epstein and Donald Trump before his presidency and said she never heard allegations of misconduct involving Trump.
Soon after the interview, she was quietly transferred to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas.
The Supreme Court’s denial comes amid renewed interest from Trump allies and lawmakers from both parties in seeking more transparency around the Epstein case. The House Oversight Committee last month released tens of thousands of pages of records tied to Epstein’s prosecution, including a handwritten note mentioning Trump among the names listed in a birthday letter collection for Epstein.
More recently, former Democratic Attorneys General Merrick Garland and Eric Holder told the committee they had no knowledge of files relating to the late convicted sex offender Epstein. The disgraced financier’s case was not handled during Holder’s term from 2009 to 2015, and Garland said he did “not recall” receiving any update about Epstein or Maxwell during his time under former President Joe Biden.
HOLDER AND GARLAND DENY KNOWLEDGE OF EPSTEIN FILES IN LETTER TO HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
Trump has repeatedly denied writing the birthday note or having knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
The Washington Examiner contacted an attorney for Maxwell.
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