Home / Crime and Justice / Supreme Court Upholds Ghislaine Maxwell's 20-Year Sentence for Sex Abuse Scheme
Supreme Court Upholds Ghislaine Maxwell's 20-Year Sentence for Sex Abuse Scheme
6 Oct
Summary
- Supreme Court declines to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal
- Maxwell was convicted in 2022 for grooming and sexually abusing underage girls with Epstein
- Maxwell argued she should have been shielded from prosecution under Epstein's plea deal
In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This decision upholds Maxwell's 20-year federal prison sentence, which she received in 2022 for her role in a years-long scheme to groom and sexually abuse underage girls.
Maxwell had argued that she should have been shielded from prosecution under a non-prosecution agreement that Epstein had secured as part of his own plea deal with federal authorities in Florida. However, the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled against Maxwell, finding that the agreement made with prosecutors in Florida did not bind the authorities in New York, where Maxwell was later charged.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, Maxwell's lawyer expressed disappointment but vowed to continue pursuing "every avenue available to ensure that justice is done." The Justice Department, which has been defending the charges and conviction at the Supreme Court, met with Maxwell this past summer, during which she reportedly stated that she never witnessed anything untoward in Donald Trump's friendship with Epstein and never heard of any allegations that he acted inappropriately.
