News - Supreme Court declines to take up Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal in her sex-trafficking case, effectively ending the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein's last bid to challenge her 2021 conviction. In an order list released Monday, the high court said it would not hear her case this term, leaving in place a denial by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Maxwell, 63, was convicted by a jury in New York on five counts related to sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In her appeal, Maxwell argued that her conviction should be overturned for several reasons, including that Epstein’s 2007 federal plea deal immunized her and that the statute of limitations had run. Maxwell has been serving her sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, but was transferred to an all-women, minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas, days after meeting with DOJ Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The DOJ has denied extending Maxwell any preferential treatment. This is a developing story; check back for updates.