Ghislaine Maxwell makes long-shot supreme court bid to overturn conviction
Ghislaine Maxwell has launched a supreme court bid to overturn her federal sex trafficking conviction as Donald Trump revealed he rejected an offer to visit Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.
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Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell have formally appealed to the Supreme Court Monday to toss out her 2021 federal sex trafficking conviction, arguing that their client is covered by a controversial 2007 plea agreement Epstein reached with South Florida prosecutors.
“Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea agreements, the government tries to distract by reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct,” Maxwell’s husband-and-wife legal team, David Oscar and Mona Markus, wrote in their petition.
“But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”
The much-criticized deal allowed Epstein — who died in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges — to plead guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors to engage in prostitution.
The agreement — under which Epstein was incarcerated for just 13 months, much of that time on work release — stipulated that the Miami US Attorney’s Office “not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein,” and named four individuals, none of whom were Maxwell.
The deal also immunized “any potential co-conspirators,” which the Markuses say covers their client.
“This promise is unqualified,” they wrote. “It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida, it is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time, it does not depend on what any particular government attorney may have had in his or her head about who might be a co-conspirator, and it contains no other caveat or exception.
“This should be the end of the discussion.”
Maxwell was sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years in prison after being convicted six months earlier of sex trafficking a minor and conspiracy.
Justice Department officials have contended that then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta lacked the power to commit other federal districts to the terms of the 2007 agreement.
Maxwell’s previous efforts to overturn her conviction fell flat with a trial judge and the New York-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected her legal team’s arguments.
“No one is above the law—not even the Southern District of New York. Our government made a deal, and it must honor it. The United States cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York,” Maxwell’s attorneys said in a statement.
“President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal—and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it.”
Trump has brushed aside questions about whether he will grant Maxwell clemency in exchange for her testimony, saying Monday that no one has formally requested a pardon on the British-born socialite’s behalf.
It comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson said it would be a “great service to the country” if late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, comes clean and discloses the information she has.
Johnson acknowledged he is unsure whether Maxwell can be trusted to tell the truth to the House Oversight Committee, which has subpoenaed her for testimony, and argued that she should still face more than 20 years behind bars.
Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press if Maxwell could be trusted, the speaker admitted, “It’s a good question”.
“I hope so,” Johnson said. “I hope that she would want to come clean. We certainly are interested in knowing everything that she knows.“She is convicted. She is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking, and so her character is in some question,” he said.
But if she wants to come clean now, that would be a great service to the country, and we’d like to know every single bit of information that she has.”
A rift among MAGA faithful and Mr Trump ripped open earlier this month when the Justice Department and FBI concluded that evidence indicated Epstein did not have an “incriminating client list” and that he had in fact killed himself in prison.
On Thursday and Friday, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — President Trump’s former defence lawyer — met with Maxwell in Florida for several hours of questioning.
Her lawyer has said she is still mulling whether to testify before the Oversight panel or invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.
Mr Trump has publicly claimed that he hasn’t thought about pardoning her but also stressed, “I am allowed to do it.”
Johnson suggested that he would not be in favour of Maxwell getting presidential clemency.
“If you’re asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least,” Johnson told the show. “Think of all these unspeakable crimes, and as you noted earlier, probably 1,000 victims.
“It’s hard to put into words how evil this was and that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it,” he said. “I think it is an unforgivable thing. So again, not my decision, but I have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would.”
Johnson dealt with the political reverberations over the MAGA rift on Epstein.
Amid the firestorm, Trump publicly lashed out against his base, and Democrats worked to put Johnson on the spot by attempting to force votes compelling the disclosure of the Epstein files.
Last Monday, Democrats on the House Rules Committee, a gatekeeper panel that determines the manner in which most pieces of legislation come up for a vote on the House floor, again attempted to put Republicans on the spot over the kerfuffle.
The GOP opted to recess the Rules Committee, which effectively froze up the House of Representatives. Johnson decided to send the House home a day early for the August recess as a result.
“What we did do this week is end the chaos in the Rules Committee because the Democrats are trying to use this in a shameless manner for political purposes,” Johnson said.
“Quite obviously, they hijacked the Rules Committee, and they tried to turn it into an Epstein hearing.
“That’s not what the Rules Committee is about.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post
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