Supreme Court rejects appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, effectively ending her latest attempt to overturn her conviction.

On the opening day of their new term, the justices declined to review Maxwell’s case — a move that avoids reigniting public attention on the high-profile sex trafficking scandal that has continued to shadow the legacy of President Donald Trump’s administration, which faced criticism for withholding key investigative records related to Epstein.

Maxwell’s attorneys argued she never should have faced prosecution or conviction for allegedly helping Epstein recruit and groom teenage girls for sexual abuse. Now 62, she is serving a 20-year sentence and was recently transferred from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas after being interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

As usual, the Supreme Court offered no explanation for declining to take up the appeal.

Trump’s Justice Department had previously urged the court not to intervene.

In their filings, Maxwell’s defense team contended that a 2007 non-prosecution agreement reached between Epstein’s lawyers and federal prosecutors in Miami shielded not only Epstein but also his “potential co-conspirators” from facing federal charges nationwide.

However, prosecutors in Manhattan moved forward with her case, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the legality of that prosecution. A jury ultimately found Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking and related crimes, based on testimony from four women who said they were sexually exploited as teenagers in the 1990s and early 2000s at Epstein’s properties.

The Bureau of Prisons has not commented on why Maxwell was transferred, though her lawyer David Oscar Markus, who also led her Supreme Court appeal, insists she is “innocent and never should have been tried, much less convicted.”

During her interview with Deputy Attorney General Blanche at a Florida courthouse, Maxwell received limited immunity — allowing her to speak freely except in cases of perjury. According to records released in August, she denied ever witnessing sexually inappropriate behavior involving Trump, part of an apparent effort by officials to further distance the former president from Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, accused of abusing dozens of underage girls. He died by suicide in jail a month later, before his case could go to trial.