Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn her sex trafficking conviction.
“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,” the filing says. “But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”
“The government’s argument, across the board, is essentially an appeal to what it wishes the agreement had said, rather than what it actually says,” the court documents add. “Of course, if wishful thinking were the standard, the whole [non-prosecution agreement] would have been thrown out long ago.”
“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 attorney, David Oscar Markus, 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. We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted.”
The appeal follows Maxwell’s meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Maxwell similarly appealed to the Supreme Court in April, arguing that the United States violated its non-prosecution agreement. “Only because the United States did so in the Second Circuit and not elsewhere, her motion to dismiss the indictment was denied, her trial proceeded, and she is now serving a 20-year sentence,” the petition read.
