Saturday, 19 April 2025

Ghislaine Maxwell Appeals To Supreme Court, Claims Protection From Non-Prosecution Agreement

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Ghislaine Maxwell has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming she had protection from a non-prosecution agreement made with Jeffrey Epstein.

A federal appeals court rejected her argument that Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement barred her prosecution in New York.

“She was convicted on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021,” ABC News noted.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

“Despite the existence of a non-prosecution agreement promising in plain language that the United States would not prosecute any co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, the United States in fact prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell as a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein,” her attorneys wrote, according to ABC News.

WATCH:

ABC News reports:

Maxwell said the US Supreme Court should resolve differences of opinion among federal appeals court as to whether a non-prosecution arranged in one district can be enforced in another.

“A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way,” defense attorney David Markus wrote.

Four women testified at trial they had been abused as minors at Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands and said Maxwell, the daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, had talked them into giving Epstein massages that turned sexual. They testified they were lured with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.

Per NewsNation:

The agreement in question refers to a 2007 plea deal Epstein made with federal prosecutors in Florida. As part of the arrangement, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute any of Epstein’s co-conspirators.

A federal appeals court in New York heard a similar argument from Maxwell’s attorneys last year but upheld her conviction.

The appeals court ruled that the 2007 deal applied only to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida and didn’t apply to prosecutors in New York, where Maxwell was tried.

Now, Maxwell’s attorneys want the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

“The default rule should be that a promise made on behalf of the United States binds the entire United States unless it says so affirmatively,” defense attorney David Markus wrote.

Markus added: “A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way.”


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