Disgraced British socialite, Ghislaine Maxwell will launch her appeal to overturn her 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking by claiming one of the jurors who convicted her broke the law by calling his psychiatrist during the trial.
The 20,000-word appeal must be filed before the US Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit in New York before the deadline on Tuesday.
The Mail On Sunday reported that the appeal filed by Maxwell’s ‘pitbull’ lawyer Arthur Aidala, who represented disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, will focus on whether Juror 50 violated the judge’s orders not to discuss the case.
Her appeal is expected now that her divorce papers are thought to have been filed with a US judge, which will give her access to some of her huge fortune, The Sun reported.
While on the run she transferred her money and property portfolio to her husband Scott Borgerson.
Juror 50, who identified himself as Scotty David, also failed to disclose he had been a victim of sexual abuse, a fact he later said helped him ‘influence’ other jurors during deliberations.
However, after their marriage broke down, Mr Borgerson refused to pay for her legal bills.
It is believed she will receive £25million from her divorce settlement, which she is expected to use to appeal her conviction.
Speaking about the appeal, a source told the Mail On Sunday: ‘The juror admitted he called his psychiatrist during deliberations because he was so upset. This is in clear violation of the judge’s order not to discuss the case with anyone.
‘It doesn’t matter that he was calling a medical professional. He clearly broke the rules and violated the jurors’ oath which gives strong grounds for appeal.’
Maxwell’s lawyers have identified at least two other jurors who also failed to disclose that they had been victims of sexual assault.
‘Her lawyers will argue that Ms. Maxwell was not tried by 12 fair and impartial jurors,’ the source added.
The British socialite was convicted in December 2021 on five counts related to her role as paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged ‘madam’.
The disgraced financier killed himself in jail in 2019 while being held on child sex charges.
