Ghislaine Maxwell Tells Supreme Court Epstein Deal Shielded Her

Former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell says the Trump administration is attempting to distract Supreme Court justices in an effort to convince them not to take up an appeal of her federal sex trafficking conviction.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in procuring minors for Epstein, said in a Monday brief that the Justice Department misstates the scope of a 2007 non-prosecution agreement that the disgraced financier struck with federal prosecutors in Miami that she argues should’ve barred her own prosecution years later in New York.

“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 said of the the July 14 DOJ filing. “But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”

The briefs follow Maxwell’s appeal in April, months before the Epstein saga reignited over the Trump administration’s handling of its investigation of him.

Maxwell last week met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as President Donald Trump and his allies struggled to appease critics, many from within his own base of support. They say the administration has withheld details about Epstein’s conduct over many years.

The meeting between Maxwell and Blanche came after Trump sought Epstein’s grand jury transcripts and efforts by congressional Democrats and some Republicans to release the files publicly.

It’s unclear how or if recent developments will affect Maxwell’s appeal. The case is likely to be considered by the justices on Sept. 29.

Poor Judgment

A Manhattan jury convicted Maxwell, 63, in 2021 of facilitating Epstein’s sexual abuse of women and minors.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the conviction. For about 10 years starting in 1994, “Maxwell groomed numerous young women to engage in sexual activity with Epstein by building friendships with these young women, gradually normalizing discussions of sexual topics and sexual abuse,” the Second Circuit said.

Maxwell told the justices in her brief that Epstein’s deal with the Justice Department barred her later conviction. In return for Epstein’s guilty plea to two Florida state charges, the DOJ agreed not to bring federal charges against Epstein or his co-conspirators.

Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and soliciting minors to engage in prostitution, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The deal to forego federal prosecution has been widely criticized. The Justice Department said in 2020 that then-US Attorney for the South District of Florida Alex Acosta used “poor judgment” in handling the case.

Acosta resigned as labor secretary in the first Trump administration shortly after Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges related to sex trafficking. Epstein’s death in jail while awaiting trial in New York was ruled a suicide.

Atypical Promise

Even though the Epstein deal wasn’t made with Maxwell, she says it barred federal charges against her.

The Second Circuit, however, said the agreement only precluded prosecution in the Southern District of Florida, not in New York.

Acknowledging that non prosecution agreements can sometimes bind the entire Justice Department, the Second Circuit said there’s nothing in it “that affirmatively shows that the NPA was intended to bind multiple districts.”

Although nationwide agreements are the “rare exception,” the one related to Epstein’s co-conspirators is “an unusually broad” one, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Maxwell.

Nothing “in the law permits the United States to break its promises simply because the promise is an atypical one,” it said.

The DOJ, in urging the justices to turn away Maxwell’s appeal, said the “case-specific interpretation of a particular NPA” doesn’t warrant the court’s time.

That’s especially so “because the scope of a plea or similar agreement is under the control of the parties to the agreement,” the Justice Department said.

The case is Maxwell v. United States, U.S., No. 24-1073.