The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, brushing aside an argument from Ghislaine Maxwell that she should have been shielded from prosecution under a plea agreement that Epstein struck with federal authorities.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022 for carrying out a years-long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. In her appeal at the Supreme Court, filed in April, Maxwell argues she should have been covered by a non-prosecution agreement Epstein secured as part of his agreement to plead guilty in Florida.
She was later charged by prosecutors in New York.
“We’re, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s case,” Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said. “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.”
The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Maxwell, finding that the agreement made with prosecutors in Florida did not bind the authorities in New York.
Maxwell’s attorney has argued that appeals courts have taken different approaches to the issue of whether a non-prosecution agreement with the United States is nationally binding.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges and was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 but died by suicide in prison a month later.
The Trump administration has been defending the charges and conviction at the Supreme Court, even as the Justice Department met with Maxwell this summer. Maxwell told the department that she never witnessed anything untoward in Donald Trump’s friendship with Epstein and never heard of any allegations that he acted inappropriately.
Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp shortly after the interview with the deputy attorney general was completed.
Maxwell “was not a party to the relevant agreement,” the Justice Department told the Supreme Court in a brief filed over the summer. “Only Epstein and the Florida USAO were parties.”
Some Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump have called for more transparency in the Epstein case. Early last month, the House Oversight Committee released tens of thousands of pages of records from the Epstein case, including a note bearing Trump’s namethat was part of a collection of letters gifted to the late convicted sex offender for his 50th birthday. The president has repeatedly denied writing that letter.
By CNN
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