Maxwell Loses Bid to Overturn Epstein Conviction

A US court has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

In a decision made public on Tuesday, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer said the 64-year-old Maxwell’s claims were all without merit and that all or almost all were frivolous. Representing herself, Maxwell asked the court to rule that her imprisonment was unlawful and overturn her conviction and sentence.

Her challenge relied heavily on documents disclosed this year under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Engelmayer said much of the supposedly new evidence was irrelevant, while most of Maxwell’s other claims were based on arguments she had previously lost or failed to raise when challenging her December 2021 conviction.

The judge said that where the newly disclosed evidence was relevant, it tended to incriminate Maxwell or reinforce the legal rulings she was challenging rather than exonerate her. Prosecutors had argued that her claims were baseless, filed too late or failed to show that her trial was unfair.

(Reuters, max)