The Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reject an appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell, former sex associate Jeffrey Epstein, who currently meets a 20 -year prison sentence for conspiracy and help Epstein in his sexual abuse of minor girls.
Maxwell, 63, had urged the court at the beginning of this year to review his case, arguing that an unusual conspirator clause in the EPStein non -precision agreement in 2007 with federal prosecutors in Florida extended his subsequent prosecution in New York. A district court and a Federal Court of Appeals previously rejected that argument, and the Department of Justice today urged the Superior Court to do the same.
“That statement is incorrect, and the petitioner does not show that he succeeds in any Court of Appeals,” the United States Attorney D. John Sauer wrote.
In the center of Maxwell’s request for Scotus’s review, there is his statement that the language of the Non-Prosecution of Epstein (NPA) specifically limited its protection to the southern district of Florida, while the language of the co-conspirator clause should have been read to prohibit its prosecution in any Federal District.
The conspirator clause declared that if “Epstein successfully fulfills all the terms and conditions of this agreement, the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal position against the possible co-conspirators of Epstein, including, among others,” four of Epstein’s attendees. Maxwell was not among the four appointed women.
“Despite the existence of a non-precision agreement that promises in simple language that the United States would not process any co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, the United States of fact processed Ghislaine Maxwell as co-conspirador of Jeffrey Epstein,” their lawyers wrote in their request to Scotus in April.
However, the Department of Justice argues in its response that the United States Prosecutor’s Office in Florida, then directed by R. Alexander Acosta, did not intend to unite other federal districts and had no authority to do so without the approval of those districts or the criminal division of the DOJ.
“And there is no indications that anyone involved in the negotiation of the Epstein NPA obtained the necessary approval to link others USAO or thought it was necessary,” says the brief of the Department of Justice.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend the Grisogono sponsors the Wall Street 2005 concert series that benefits Wall Street Rising, with a performance by Rod Stewart in Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Joe Schildhororn/Patrick McMullan through Getty Images)
Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan through Getty Image
The Department of Justice also maintains that, even if the conspirators clause could be read to apply throughout the country as Maxwell states, there is no evidence that the parties that negotiated the NPA intended the clause of the conspirators to benefit Maxwell, who the Government describes as “to the maximum, an incidental beneficiary of third parties of the agreement.”
“The government was not even aware of [Maxwell’s] Papel in Epstein’s scheme at that time, “Sauer wrote, and urged the judges to deny Maxwell’s request from Certioari.
In a statement on Monday, a Maxwell lawyer hinted at the controversy around the Trump administration decision not to publish more records related to Epstein’s investigations.
“I would be surprised if President Trump knew that his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break an agreement. He is the best merchant, and I am sure that he would agree that when the United States gives his word, he should keep it. With all the talk about who is being prosecuted and who is not, especially unfair that Ghislainaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise that the government made Broke, “David Oscar Markus wrote.
Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer who has represented hundreds of alleged victims of Epstein, including one of the key witnesses of the trial against Maxwell, told ABC News in a statement that Maxwell should stay after bars.
“After more than two decades of recruitment and abuse of girls trapped in the sexual traffic company of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell has tried again to escape the responsibility when trying to hide behind the non -presentation agreement. Maxwell does not deserve any protection, and must continue in prison for the horrible crimes he committed,” McCawley wrote, a Boie management partner.
Maxwell, who declared himself innocent of all criminal charges against him, was convicted of a jury in 2021 for five of six positions, including conspiracy, sexual traffic of a minor and the transport of a minor with the intention of participating in criminal sexual activities.
The prosecutors alleged that Maxwell played a “key role” in a sexual trafficking scheme of several states in which he supposedly “became friends” and then “attracted and prepared several minor girls to participate in sexual acts with Epstein” and was also sometimes “present and involved” in abuse.
“A unanimous jury has found Ghislaine Maxwell guilty of one of the worst imaginable crimes, facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children,” said the then American lawyer Damian Williams in a statement after the verdict.
