- Ghislaine Maxwell is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her 2022 sex trafficking conviction. She argues Jeffrey Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement protected her.
- An appeals court rejected the claim, stating the agreement only applied to Florida, while Maxwell was prosecuted in New York.
- Her petition, which the Supreme Court is expected to rule on before its summer break, asks if such agreements can apply across districts.
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The former socialite who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls appealed her case to the Supreme Court, arguing she was protected by Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement (NPA) between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Southern District of Florida.
Epstein strikes a 2007 plea agreement
In September 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution and solicitation of minors to engage in prostitution in exchange for 18 months behind bars in Florida.
According to court documents, the NPA states, “The United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.”
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Appellate Court rejection
An appeals court rejected Maxwell’s argument, ruling that the NPA does not—and cannot—bind multiple districts. Maxwell was prosecuted in New York, and Epstein’s agreement was between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Southern District of Florida.
While the appeals court rejected Maxwell’s argument, she’s now asking the high court to consider overturning her conviction. Maxwell wants the justices to decide if a non-prosecution agreement for one district can be enforced in another.
“A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way,” Maxwell’s attorney David Markus writes in the petition.
Maxwell’s conviction and the testimony that led to it
Maxwell was arrested in 2020, one year after Epstein died in prison while awaiting trial.
Four women testified against her at trial, claiming when they were minors, they had been groomed by Maxwell and abused by Epstein. The victims said Maxwell convinced them to give Epstein massages at his residence and at his Virgin Islands property. They say it resulted in Epstein sexually abusing them.
Supreme Court review expected soon
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Maxwell’s case before the summer break.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says Epstein abused up to 250 underage girls in Florida, New York and the Virgin Islands, and several flight logs related to the late financier’s plane have been released. However, no one other than Maxwell has been prosecuted for the sex trafficking of minors in connection with the case.
