Supreme Court Rejects Maxwell Appeal; Conviction Stands

On Oct. 6 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal, leaving intact her 2021 federal conviction and 20-year sentence for sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell had argued that Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement in Florida barred prosecution of his “potential co-conspirators,” but lower courts rejected that claim and the justices denied review without comment. Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said the defense remains “deeply disappointed” and will pursue other avenues, though legal commentators say further appeals face steep hurdles and that clemency or commutation may be the remaining paths to early release. The order came on the Supreme Court’s first day of the term amid scrutiny of the Trump administration for withholding Epstein investigative files and urging the court not to intervene. Maxwell was transferred from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Texas after a sealed interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche; Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.