(Bloomberg) – Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell, a famous British social worker, said they asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her belief in sex trafficking in 2021 and believed she reached an agreement with the government in another case because her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell argued in a petition provided by lawyers that she was subject to the terms of the 2007 non-litigation agreement Epstein reached with a U.S. attorney in Florida. Prosecutors agreed not to file criminal charges against Epstein or “any potential accomplice” in exchange for his guilty plea in state charges he asked minors to engage in prostitution.
Maxwell will serve 20 years in a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida. During a jury trial in New York, witnesses testified that Maxwell lured and embellished the financier who was abused by Epstein (the shameful financier who died in prison, awaiting trial on sexual trafficking charges – sometimes participating in the attack.
A copy of Maxwell’s petition was provided by her attorney David Markus, who said it was filed Thursday. The document is not immediately visible on the Supreme Court’s website. It usually takes several days for the Supreme Court clerk’s office to formally prove a new appeal.
Last year, the federal appeals court in Manhattan rejected Maxwell’s argument that she was covered by Epstein’s Florida Exchange. Marcus said the High Court should review the case because the federal appeals court had disagreements on how the non-approval agreement should apply to co-conspirators. Maxwell was not charged in the Florida case, but she was considered a potential accomplice in the criminal investigation.
Maxwell’s motion for dismissal will be approved in at least four other tours, Maxwell’s motion for dismissal will be approved, Maxwell wrote in the petition, given the differences in how the circuit court interprets the enforceability of the non-litigation agreement, Maxwell’s motion for dismissal will be approved,” Max wrote in the petition.
Nick Biase, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, declined to comment.
A 2020 Justice Department investigation concluded that then-U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta used “bad judgment” in ratifying a generous plea agreement with Epstein but did not commit “professional misconduct.”
In that Florida case, Epstein was accused of sexually abused dozens of girls. He signed a non-concern agreement with Acosta’s office that avoided federal charges, while he admitted state charges. He served for 13 months in a release program.
Maxwell was arrested in 2020, when Epstein committed suicide for one year while facing a separate sex case by a federal prosecutor in New York. She was convicted in 2021 on five charges of recruiting and modifying a minor girl because Epstein was abused between 1994 and 2004.
ABC News first reported the appeal.
– Assistance with Greg Stohr.
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