Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction, claiming she was unfairly prosecuted.
In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Manhattan for sex trafficking and related crimes. However, her legal team filed a request with the Supreme Court on Monday, arguing that Epstein’s earlier plea deal should have shielded her from prosecution.
The filing comes just days after Maxwell met with Justice Department officials, sparking speculation that she might cooperate with the government. Some believe she could reveal new details about Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and the wealthy individuals involved. It remains unclear whether she will cooperate or what she might receive in return.
Maxwell’s legal team claims that Epstein’s 2007 plea deal with federal prosecutors in Florida should have prevented her prosecution. That agreement stated that if Epstein complied with its terms, the government would not charge “any potential co-conspirators,” including but not limited to four named individuals. While Maxwell wasn’t one of those four, her lawyers argue she was still covered by the deal.
They are now asking the Supreme Court to review the case, insisting that the Florida plea agreement should have applied in New York, where Maxwell was tried. The Justice Department, however, has maintained that the deal only applied to Florida’s federal district, not New York’s.
Most federal cases in the U.S. are resolved through plea deals. The prosecutor who negotiated Epstein’s 2007 agreement, Alexander Acosta, later became Labor Secretary under Trump but resigned in 2019 amid backlash following Epstein’s arrest.
Recently, the Justice Department has faced criticism from both Democrats and Trump supporters after releasing a memo stating it found no evidence to charge “third parties” in the Epstein case. The memo also denied the existence of an incriminating “client list.”
Trump himself has come under renewed scrutiny due to his past ties to Epstein. In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wrote a crude birthday note to Epstein in 2003. Trump denied the note’s authenticity and sued the Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for $10 billion in defamation. Last week, the paper was barred from covering Trump’s upcoming trip to Scotland as part of the press pool.
On Monday, Trump asked a Florida federal court to quickly depose Murdoch in the defamation case. His legal filing claims Trump told Murdoch the note was “fake” before the article was published and that Murdoch promised to “take care of it.” A judge ordered Murdoch to respond by August 4.
This week, the Wall Street Journal also reported that Trump’s name appeared multiple times in Epstein-related documents reviewed by the Justice Department.
