Judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's effort to overturn sex-trafficking conviction

A federal judge has denied Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her 2021 conviction on sex-trafficking charges and her subsequent 20-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a 67-page decision on Tuesday, rejecting Maxwell's petition for relief.

In his ruling, Judge Engelmayer stated that Maxwell failed to demonstrate a substantial violation of her constitutional rights. He characterized her claims as "meritless" and "frivolous." The judge noted that most of her arguments were procedurally barred, either because she had already raised and lost them on direct appeal or because she chose not to raise them during her appeal.

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The vast majority are procedurally barred, either because Maxwell made and lost the same arguments on direct appeal, or because she could have made such arguments on appeal but elected not to do so.

The judge also addressed new evidence Maxwell presented, including recently released documents from the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Engelmayer found that this new evidence actually "incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges." He described her petition as "lengthy and rambling."

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incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges.

Maxwell's petition, filed last December, sought to vacate her conviction. She rehashed evidence from the government's case, pointed to alleged prosecutorial issues, and highlighted a piece of evidence she claimed was exculpatory but withheld from her trial. She also raised the 2007 nonprosecution agreement between federal prosecutors and Epstein, arguing it should have barred her prosecution. However, Maxwell had previously lost an attempt to overturn her conviction when the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal last fall.

Maxwell was found guilty of five of six counts in December 2021, related to her role in facilitating and participating in Epstein's abuse of underage girls over a decade. She is currently serving her sentence at a minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

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lengthy and rambling.