By M10News Legal Affairs Desk|28 July 2025
Ghislaine Maxwell has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking, arguing that a controversial 2007 plea deal granted to Jeffrey Epstein should shield her from prosecution.
The formal appeal, filed Monday by Maxwell’s attorneys David Oscar Markus and Mona Markus, contends that the federal government violated the terms of an earlier non-prosecution agreement made with Epstein — one that, according to the defence, extended immunity to his alleged co-conspirators, including Maxwell herself.
“Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea agreements, the government tries to distract by reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct,” the Markuses wrote in their petition. “But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”
Maxwell, 63, is currently serving a 20-year federal sentence after a jury found her guilty in 2021 of grooming and trafficking underage girls for Epstein’s abuse.
She has consistently denied wrongdoing and is now taking her appeal to the highest court in the United States after previous challenges were rejected by lower courts.
At the centre of her appeal is the controversial 2007 deal made between Epstein and federal prosecutors in South Florida, which allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges by pleading guilty to two state-level prostitution-related offences.
That agreement, which led to Epstein serving 13 months in county jail with work-release privileges, contained a clause stating that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami would “not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.” Four individuals were named in the document, but Maxwell was not one of them.
However, the agreement also extended blanket immunity to “any potential co-conspirators,” a provision the Markuses argue is legally binding and should have protected their client from prosecution in New York.
“This promise is unqualified,” they wrote. “It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida, it is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time… and it contains no other caveat or exception. This should be the end of the discussion.”
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, who led Maxwell’s case, have countered that the deal struck by then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta did not have the authority to bind other federal jurisdictions, including New York.
Maxwell’s efforts to invoke the 2007 deal have so far failed. Both her trial judge and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her claims, ruling that the non-prosecution agreement did not apply to her.
“No one is above the law—not even the Southern District of New York,” Maxwell’s legal team said in a statement accompanying Monday’s filing. “Our government made a deal, and it must honor it. The United States cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York.”
In an unusual appeal to political sensibilities, the Markuses invoked former President Donald Trump’s business ethos, stating, “President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal—and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it.”
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will take up the case.
Meanwhile, interest in the Epstein saga rmains intense. Just last week, Maxwell reportedly participated in two days of interviews with Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, discussing her role in Epstein’s network and what she knew.
The meeting came days after the Department of Justice and the FBI issued a memo reaffirming that Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. The memo also concluded that contrary to public speculation, no evidence was found of a so-called “client list” of influential men involved in sex acts with underage girls.
The possibility of Maxwell being granted clemency has also drawn attention. On Monday, former President Trump dismissed questions about whether he might consider a pardon, stating that no formal request had been submitted on Maxwell’s behalf.
Separately, a federal judge in South Florida last week denied a request from the Biden administration to unseal grand jury records related to the 2007 plea deal — a move legal analysts say could have provided new insights into how the controversial agreement was negotiated.
Maxwell’s legal battle continues to captivate the public more than two years after her conviction. Her Supreme Court petition is the latest chapter in a case that has exposed the failures of the U.S. justice system in handling high-profile sex crimes, while reopening questions about who knew what, and when, in Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit.
Editing by M10News Legal Desk | Contact: legaldesk@m10news.com
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