Ghislaine Maxwell’s Appeal Denied: Judge Upholds Conviction & 20-Year Sentence
Overview of the Court’s Decision and Case Background
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to throw out her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan said Maxwell's claims were all meritless, and all or almost all were frivolous.
He said most were based on arguments Maxwell previously lost or failed to make in challenging her December 2021 conviction, while much of the supposedly "new" evidence disclosed this year through the Epstein Files Transparency Act was irrelevant.
Judge Engelmayer’s Rationale
"On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges," Engelmayer wrote in a 67-page decision.
Engelmayer also called Maxwell's claim that prosecutors illegally withheld some evidence "conclusory, cynical, and wrong."
Maxwell’s Legal Representation and Appeal Prospects
Maxwell represented herself. Engelmayer said an appeal "would not be taken in good faith," and the court would not pay her filing fees if she declared herself unable to afford it.
Details of Maxwell’s Conviction
Jurors convicted Maxwell on five charges for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004, in a trial before a different judge.
Prosecutors’ Response to Maxwell’s Claims
Prosecutors Called Maxwell's Claims Baseless, Late
Maxwell had been seeking a writ of habeas corpus declaring her punishment unlawful.
Her petition represented the broadest effort by the former British socialite and Epstein girlfriend to overturn her conviction, the most significant successful prosecution to emerge from the Epstein scandal.
An earlier appeal by Maxwell focused on Epstein's non-prosecution agreement, which led to his 2008 guilty plea on a Florida state prostitution charge. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that appeal last October.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Maxwell, declined to comment. Prosecutors argued that Maxwell's latest claims were baseless, filed too late, or failed to show her trial was unfair.
Maxwell’s Allegations Against Victims’ Lawyers
Maxwell Called Victims' Lawyers 'De Facto Prosecutors'
In her latest challenge, Maxwell said many documents disclosed this year under the Epstein files law showed that lawyers representing Epstein's accusers served as "De Facto Prosecutors and agents of the government."
She also said prosecutors did no real investigating of their own, citing among other things their failure to interview Leslie Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria's Secret who hired Epstein to manage his personal finances.
Wexner, 88, told Congress in February he severed ties with Epstein in 2007 and did not know about Epstein's crimes.
Maxwell also objected to alleged gaps in witness testimony, and alleged government suppression of potentially exculpatory grand jury testimony by a Palm Beach, Florida police detective about a green massage table at Epstein's villa there.
Epstein’s Death and Maxwell’s Imprisonment
Epstein died at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, five weeks after being arrested on sex trafficking charges. New York City's medical examiner called the death a suicide.
Maxwell is housed at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas. She is eligible for release in July 2037, when she will be 75.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter and Deepa Babington)
