The US Supreme Court has declined to hear convicted sex trafficker of girls Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her 2021 conviction.
An order list released on Monday by the high court revealed that it would let stand a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Fox News reported.
Maxwell, the 63-year-old former girlfriend of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking minors and conspiracy and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
She was moved from a maximum security prison in Florida to a work camp in Texas earlier this summer, just days after she spoke for two days with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, telling him she never knew of President Donald J. Trump doing anything “inappropriate” during his multiple visits with Epstein, including to his private island.
Since her conviction, Maxwell has sought both to have her conviction tossed and, more recently, to get a pardon from the president.
Her most recent appeal included contending that a so-called “sweetheart” deal struck between Epstein and then US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta — later Trump’s Labor Secretary during his first term in office — in 2007 should have immunized her from prosecution.
That deal called for Epstein to plead guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and register as a sex offender in Florida. The deal included a clause that protected any co-conspirators from prosecution, but he appeals court ruled that the clause only applied in Florida, not in New York, where Maxwell was charged and convicted.
Epstein himself was later charged with harsher federal crimes relating to sex abuse of minors but died in jail awaiting trial in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, told Fox that they would “continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done.”
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[Featured image: Ghislaine Maxwell/US Department of Justice]
