Attorneys representing Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Jeffrey Epstein associate found guilty of trafficking girls to him for sex, requested on Tuesday afternoon that her conviction be overturned and that she be released from prison.
A contentious 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and Alexander Acosta—at the time the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida—was the focal point of the discussions. Epstein admitted to requesting sex with a minor and was given a reduced sentence as a result of the agreement, despite the fact that authorities had determined he had sexually assaulted several girls.
The former British socialite’s attorneys contend that the contract’s provision on “potential co-conspirators” includes her and prevents federal prosecutors from pursuing a criminal case involving Epstein’s sexual assault anywhere in the country, not just in southern Florida.
Removing such a plea would strike “a dagger in the hearts of the trust between the government and its citizens regarding such plea agreements,” Maxwell’s attorney Diana Fabi Samson told the judges of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Maxwell did not personally show up for the court; she is incarcerated in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, serving her term.
In December 2021, a federal jury in Manhattan found her guilty of sex-trafficking charges, claiming that she both sexually assaulted four girls and prepared them for Epstein to rape. Judge Alison Nathan, who presided over Maxwell’s trial, gave her a 20-year jail term and a $750,000 fine. According to Nathan, Maxwell used her standing as a savvy adult woman as a tool to trick the girls into believing her, only to hand them over to her late partner and his powerful friends
