NewzA federal judge on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's effort to toss out her 2021 conviction on sex-trafficking charges and 20-year prison sentence. NEW YORK (AP) — Claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell that her sex trafficking conviction was a “complete miscarriage of justice” were rejected Tuesday by a federal judge who said her assertions were based on “speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.”Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in a written ruling that Maxwell’s habeas petition seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence on the grounds that there was “substantial new evidence” was “demonstrably meritless.”“Maxwell’s petition falls very far from the mark,” Engelmayer said.
“There is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial.”Maxwell maintained in a habeas petition last December that information that would have resulted in her exoneration at her 2021 trial was withheld and false testimony was presented to the jury.She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice.”A request for comment was sent to lawyers for Maxwell on Tuesday.Habeas petitions are often filed as a last resort and to protect against unlawful confinement after appeals are exhausted, as happened after Maxwell’s conviction and sentencing.Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. Ordered detained until trial, he was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail in August 2019 and the death was ruled a suicide.Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command in July 2025 and was soon afterward moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.
A US judge said Maxwell’s bid to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence on the grounds that there was “substantial new evidence” was “demonstrably meritless”. Claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell that her sex trafficking conviction was a “complete miscarriage of justice” were rejected. A federal judge in New York on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's challenge to her conviction, finding her claims "meritless" or "frivolous."
NEW YORK (AP) — Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and be freed from prison was rejected by a federal judge Tuesday who said the claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate that new evidence had emerged were “demonstrably meritless.” Maxwell filed a habeas petition last December seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence, claiming exonerating information was withheld and false testimony presented at her trial, resulting in a “complete miscarriage of justice.” Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected her arguments, saying in his written ruling they “all or almost all are frivolous” and that she had presented nothing that could upend the outcome of her trial. “Nearly all its claims are procedurally barred; the overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence adduced at trial conclusively established her guilt; and her petition’s claims are demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods,” Engelmayer wrote.
A request for comment was sent to lawyers who represented Maxwell in the past. Habeas petitions are often filed as a last resort and to protect against unlawful confinement after appeals are exhausted, as happened after Maxwell’s conviction and sentencing. Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She was moved from a Florida prison to a prison camp in Texas last year, shortly after she was interviewed by the Justice Department’s then second-in-command, Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney and now U.S. The judge noted that many of Maxwell’s claims of “new evidence” stem from documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
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