Supreme Court Declines Maxwell Appeal, Conviction Stands

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal on Oct. 6, leaving her 2021 conviction and 20-year sentence for sex‑trafficking connected to Jeffrey Epstein intact. Maxwell argued that Epstein’s 2007 nonprosecution agreement — including a co‑conspirator clause — barred her prosecution, but the Justice Department and lower courts said the deal applied only to the Southern District of Florida. The federal Bureau of Prisons lists her release date as July 17, 2037; prosecutors oppose early release, so clemency or a pardon from President Donald Trump is widely seen as her only likely route to freedom. The decision avoids a politically sensitive legal question amid scrutiny of the Trump administration’s handling of Epstein‑related records and leaves unresolved circuit splits over co‑conspirator clauses in nonprosecution agreements. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell this summer, a meeting noted in reporting on the case.