The Supreme Court has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal, in which she claimed that she had been wrongly prosecuted. The court didn’t provide a reason for rejecting Maxwell’s appeal, as is their custom. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping traffic girls as young as 14 to her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued that a prior deal Jeffrey Epstein made with federal prosecutors in Florida should have protected her from being charged in New York. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, told the BBC that he is “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision but plans to continue pursuing legal options “to ensure that justice is done.”
Big Blow
The high court’s move sidesteps a politically sensitive case, which has drawn attention amid claims that President Donald Trump may be trying to cover up the so-called “Epstein files” that could implicate him.
In July, the Trump administration urged the court to stay out of the matter in a bid to stop the release of additional documents, after the Justice Department sought to unseal grand jury transcripts amid rising controversy.
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The British socialite was transferred from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after being interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The interview came amid heavy scrutiny of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who had previously promised to release the so-called “Epstein files.”
Maxwell’s lawyers argued that a 2007 non-prosecution deal between federal prosecutors in Miami and Epstein’s legal team also shielded his “potential co-conspirators” from being federally charged anywhere in the U.S.
Maxwell was ultimately prosecuted in Manhattan, where the federal appeals court upheld the case. A jury convicted her of sex trafficking a teenage girl, among other charges.
Her trial included harrowing testimonies from four women who recounted being sexually abused as teenagers, some as young as 14, during the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s residences.
Neither Maxwell’s lawyers nor the federal Bureau of Prisons have explained why she was transferred, though her attorney David Oscar Markus — who also led her Supreme Court appeal — insists she is “innocent and never should have been tried, much less convicted.”
No Explanation Needed
During her interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at a Florida courthouse, Maxwell was granted limited immunity, allowing her to speak freely without fear of prosecution, except if she made false statements.
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She repeatedly denied being a witness to any inappropriate sexual conduct involving Trump, according to records released in August, intended to distance the former president from Epstein.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls. Just a month later, he was found dead in a New York jail cell, in what investigators ruled a suicide.
The Epstein case continued to overshadow Trump’s administration after the FBI and Justice Department said in July that Epstein had died by suicide, despite widespread conspiracy theories suggesting otherwise.
Officials clarified that a supposed “client list” that Bondi had hinted was on her desk did not exist, and that no additional documents from the high-profile investigation were appropriate for release.
The announcement sparked outrage among conspiracy theorists and Trump supporters who had been expecting evidence of a government cover-up. Much of that expectation was fueled by comments from officials like FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who, before assuming their roles, had promoted on podcasts the idea that sensitive information about powerful figures was being withheld.
The Justice Department, however, said its review found that no further disclosures were justified.
