US Supreme Court rejects Ghislaine Maxwell appeal in Epstein sex trafficking case

The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her conviction for helping the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, steering clear of a case that continues to hound President Donald Trump and his administration.

The justices turned away an appeal by Epstein’s former girlfriend who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 on charges including sex trafficking of a minor. By doing so, the justices let stand a lower court’s decision upholding Maxwell’s conviction. The justices did not explain their reasoning in turning away her appeal.

Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein.Credit: AP

Maxwell’s lawyers contend that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York.

“We’re, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s case. But this fight isn’t over. Serious legal and factual issues remain, and we will continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done,” David Oscar Markus, a lawyer for Maxwell, said.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and convicted the following year after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004.

Trump and his future wife Melania with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida in 2000.Credit: Getty Images

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The Republican president and his administration have been trying to tamp down a political furor that erupted after the Justice Department’s decision not to release files from its investigation of Epstein - despite earlier pledges to do so - infuriated some of Trump’s most loyal followers.

In July, Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, met with Maxwell as Trump sought to quell criticism in relation to his government’s failure to publish all of the documentation it holds on Epstein.

Maxwell told Blanche that she was not aware of any “client list” belonging to Epstein and never saw Trump behave inappropriately. A week after the interview, Maxwell was moved from a low-security prison facility in Florida to a less-restrictive prison camp in Texas.

The Justice Department concluded in July that after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data, there was “no incriminating client list” nor was there any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people.

Reuters

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