The Supreme Court has officially rejected the appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, meaning she will continue to serve her 20-year prison sentence. The justices declined to take up the case on the very first day of their new term, shutting down her last-ditch legal effort to overturn her conviction.
This is a pretty huge deal, as Maxwell’s lawyers were really leaning on a highly technical argument. They contended that Maxwell should never have been tried or convicted in the first place because of a 2007 non-prosecution agreement (NPA). This agreement was originally struck between federal prosecutors in Miami and Epstein’s legal team, and her side argued it also protected his “potential co-conspirators” (like Maxwell) from federal charges anywhere in the country.
