Supreme Court declines Ghislaine Maxwell appeal
The Supreme Court has declined to take up the appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was contesting her prosecution and conviction on grounds that the government had violated a non-prosecution agreement made with Jeffrey Epstein before his death.
The Supreme Court did not explain its decision.
Maxwell -- the convicted co-conspirator of sex-offender Epstein -- was challenging her 2022 conviction on three counts and 20-year sentence on grounds that federal prosecutors violated an agreement made with Epstein before his death not to prosecute any alleged co-conspirators.
That 2007 agreement was forged in Florida; Maxwell was prosecuted in New York. The government insists the agreement only applied to the judicial district in which it was made -- not nationwide. Federal courts of appeals have divided over the question of scope of applicability.
Maxwell is currently serving her sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein's trafficking of underage girls, which involved a scheme to recruit young women and girls for massages of Epstein that turned sexual. Federal prosecutors in New York said Maxwell helped Epstein recruit, groom and ultimately abuse girls as young as 14.
Maxwell's attorney, David O. Markus said he was "disappointed" by the Supreme Court's decision.
"We’re, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s case," Markus said in a statement. "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."
Maxwell's siblings on Monday released a statement on their website, indicating Maxwell intends to keep fighting to overturn her conviction, despite her petition being turned away by the Supreme Court. The family said Maxwell intends to file a habeas petition soon in the Southern District of New York, where Maxwell was convicted in 2021.
Asked in the Oval Office on Monday whether he would consider clemency for Maxwell, President Donald Trump said he wasn't familiar with the court's ruling and wasn't aware that she had appealed her conviction and sentence.
"I'm going to have to take a look at it. I have to ask DOJ," Trump responded. "I didn't know they rejected it. I didn't know she was even asking for it, frankly."
Maxwell’s Supreme Court petition was limited to a singular issue -- her claim that Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami in 2007 -- which contained an unusual clause pertaining to alleged co-conspirators -- should have precluded her prosecution in New York more than a dozen years later.
Maxwell’s habeas petition, the family says, will focus on their claims of alleged constitutional violations in her prosecution and trial. Some of those claims were previously raised and rejected in Maxwell’s appeal to the Second Circuit.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and child sex trafficking. He died in custody a month later, while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
