Ghislaine Maxwell has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in the hope of overturning her conviction in the case involving the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell argues that she was unlawfully prosecuted for sex trafficking minors alongside Epstein. She was convicted of sexually abusing and grooming underage girls and young women over for years with her on-and-off boyfriend Epstein and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021.

Just last week, she met over the course of two days with a senior Justice Department official and former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump who is tasked with reviewing the Epstein case.

Trump and his administration have faced criticism from both sides of the political aisle over the last few weeks after they backtracked on promises to release all files in connection with Epstein.

Activists within the MAGA movement believe that Maxwell could be a vital source of new information regarding allegations that are part of conspiracy theories involving Epstein, such as his being the head of an elite pedophile ring.

open image in gallery

Maxwell’s appeal is connected to a controversial plea agreement from 2007 that Epstein negotiated with the Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The U.S. “agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to” four other suspects, the plea agreement stated.

While Maxwell wasn’t listed, her attorneys argue that she didn’t have to be, Axios noted. Her lawyers, husband and wife Mona and David Oscar Markus, say that she doesn’t have to be included on the list to be protected since it states the protection is “not limited to” the four suspects.

Markus similarly claims that the words in the agreement, which promise immunity from “the United States,” mean that Maxwell cannot be prosecuted anywhere in the U.S.

Mona Markus wrote in the petition that “The government’s argument, across the board, is essentially an appeal to what it wishes the agreement had said, rather than what it actually says.”

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has argued that then-Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta didn’t have the authority over other districts when striking the deal. Maxwell was tried and convicted in the Southern District of New York.

Federal appeals courts have come down on different sides of the issue of whether a plea deal negotiated by one U.S. Attorney’s Office applies to the full Department of Justice.

While the department noted that split in its brief, it urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal.

“The government was not even aware of [Maxwell’s] role in Epstein’s scheme at that time,” said the department, adding that Maxwell is “at most, an incidental third-party beneficiary of the agreement.”

Epstein’s 2007 plea deal was rare and has prompted waves of conspiracy theories and criticism regarding how those with connections can evade the full force of the law. He 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.

Acosta, who was appointed as Trump’s labor secretary during his first term, resigned amid the scrutiny of the deal at the time in 2019 following Epstein’s arrest.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility criticised Acosta in a 2020 internal report, saying that he had exercised “poor judgment” when striking the non-prosecution agreement.

Maxwell is appealing to the Supreme Court as well as to Trump. The president said on Friday that he hasn’t considered a pardon for the former British socialite, but also hasn’t ruled it out.

Also on Friday, David Markus told reporters that Maxwell “was asked maybe about 100 different people” during two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former Trump personal lawyer. Maxwell answered “every single question,” said Markus.

open image in gallery

“We haven’t spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet,” he added. “The president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way.”

In July 2020, Maxwell was arrested and charged by the federal government with enticement of minors and the sex trafficking of underage girls, having acted as Epstein’s recruiter. Considered a flight risk, she was denied bail.

The judge noted that her finances were unclear, she was skilled at living in hiding, and that France doesn’t extradite its citizens. Maxwell is a French, British, and American citizen.

Convicted on five out of six counts, including sex trafficking a minor, she’s serving a 20-year sentence. She also faced a second criminal trial on two charges of lying under oath regarding Epstein abusing minors.