Supreme Court Rejects Ghislaine Maxwell Appeal as Trump DOJ Continues Epstein Review
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday officially rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal to overturn her conviction related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, slamming the door on one of the British socialite’s final avenues for legal relief.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, had challenged one of her three federal convictions, claiming that Epstein’s controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement in Florida should have protected her from later prosecution in New York. The agreement, negotiated by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, included language shielding Epstein’s “potential co-conspirators” from federal charges — language Maxwell’s legal team claimed should apply to her.
But the Biden-era Justice Department urged the court to reject the claim, arguing the Florida deal lacked jurisdictional reach. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called Maxwell’s legal theory “incorrect” and noted that Acosta would have needed specific authorization from higher-ups to extend that immunity beyond Florida — something for which there is no evidence. The court declined to hear the case without comment.
Despite the setback, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus told NBC News the legal battle is far from over: “This fight isn’t over.”
The appeal was just one part of a broader campaign by Maxwell’s team to seek clemency or reduced sentencing. In a rare move, Maxwell recently agreed to be interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — a former Trump attorney — in an extensive July session about her knowledge of Epstein’s network and his connections to prominent public figures.
According to sources familiar with the meeting, Maxwell insisted that neither President Donald Trump nor former President Bill Clinton were involved in inappropriate behavior. “I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” Maxwell reportedly said of Trump. “The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
Her legal team has also made a direct appeal to President Trump himself, arguing that she’s being “scapegoated” for Epstein’s crimes and asking him to consider a pardon. Trump addressed the question during a July press briefing. “I’m allowed to give her a pardon,” Trump said, “but nobody’s approached me with it, nobody’s asked me about it. It’s something I have not thought about.”
One week after her DOJ interview, Maxwell was quietly transferred from a federal facility in Florida to a minimum-security prison in Texas, where she now resides.
The latest developments come as Trump’s Department of Justice continues to face scrutiny over the original Epstein deal and its aftermath — including potential follow-ups on Epstein’s associates and the federal handling of his case prior to his controversial 2019 death in custody.
While Maxwell’s legal avenues are narrowing, her high-level interview with the Trump DOJ and repeated claims of innocence suggest that her case — and the larger Epstein saga — is far from finished.