An article summarized by the Associated Press:
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s effort to overturn her 2021 sex trafficking conviction, dismissing her claims as based on “speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.” Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that Maxwell’s habeas petition, which argued that new evidence showed her conviction was a “complete miscarriage of justice,” was “demonstrably meritless” and did not raise any facts that could change the outcome of her trial.
Maxwell, a longtime associate and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, argued that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence and presented false testimony to the jury. She claimed these alleged constitutional violations justified overturning her conviction and releasing her from her 20-year prison sentence. Habeas petitions are often used as a final legal avenue after appeals have been exhausted, but the judge found Maxwell’s arguments failed to meet that standard.
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and died in jail that year, with his death ruled a suicide. Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and convicted in 2021 for helping recruit and abuse underage girls as part of Epstein’s trafficking operation. She remains in federal custody and was moved earlier this year from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas after being interviewed by senior Justice Department officials.
