Ghislaine Maxwell's family appeals to Trump amid battle over Epstein files
Maxwell, 63, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, several years after he died in jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. She is currently being held in federal prison in Florida and has filed a petition with the Supreme Court to vacate her 2021 conviction.
"Her legal team continues to fight her case in the Courts and will file its reply in short order to the Government's opposition in the US Supreme Court," Maxwell's siblings said in a Tuesday statement released on a website dedicated to her case.
The family's statement in defense of Maxwell also comes amid a recent politically charged fight over the release of documents in Epstein's case.
Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in the statement that he would be "surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal," referring to a 2007 agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida.
"He's the ultimate dealmaker — and I'm sure he'd agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it," Markus added. "With all the talk about who's being prosecuted and who isn't, it's especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the US government made and broke."
The family, who said they "profoundly concur" with Markus' statement, added that Maxwell's legal team might file a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, which — if granted — would allow Maxwell to appear before a judge to determine if their detention is lawful.
The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment.
Maxwell, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, petitioned the Supreme Court in April to scrap her conviction. Her legal team argued that Epstein's non-prosecution and plea agreement with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in 2008 protected Maxwell from future prosecution.
"Despite the existence of a non-prosecution agreement promising in plain language that the United States would not prosecute any co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, the United States in fact prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell as a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein," her attorneys wrote in the petition.
Lower courts have rejected Maxwell's attorneys' arguments, and on Monday, the Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court to follow suit.
The DOJ argued that the non-prosecution agreement in Florida does not protect Maxwell or other co-conspirators from being prosecuted in other jurisdictions around the country. Maxwell was prosecuted on different charges by federal officials in Manhattan.
"The NPA's coconspirators clause, which 'also agrees' to forgo certain prosecution of coconspirators, cannot reasonably be construed as reflecting some 'global' scope broader than the Florida-based state and federal charges that Epstein resolved for himself," the brief states. "It would be extremely strange if the NPA left Epstein himself open to federal prosecution in another district — as eventually occurred — while protecting his coconspirators from prosecution anywhere."
The Florida agreement was in a different jurisdiction and pertained to charges other than those Epstein ultimately faced in New York.
As Maxwell continues to fight to appeal her New York conviction, a contentious battle is brewing within the Republican party over whether the Trump administration should release further information on its case against Epstein.
The case against Epstein ended after he was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019. A medical examiner's office ruled Epstein's death a suicide.
But for years, the nature of Epstein's death, the billionaire's high-profile contacts, and the graphic details of his alleged crimes have fueled conspiracy theories and demands that the government release all it knows about the case. Trump himself helped fuel these theories in the past, saying during his most recent presidential campaign that he would have 'no problem' looking into an Epstein client list.
The Department of Justice, however, said last week it would not release any additional files related to the case against Epstein, referred to as the "Epstein files."
In a two-page memo, Attorney General Pam Bondi disputed the existence of a "client list" of powerful individuals who participated in Epstein's crimes. The memo said that there was no "credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals."
The development prompted outrage among some Republican lawmakers and prominent right-wing media figures, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. Part of the outrage stems from Bondi's past comments that she had a "client list" related to Epstein sitting on her desk.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson on Tuesday that Bondi should come forward and explain why she declined to do so.
Republicans have also been calling for Maxwell to appear and testify before Congress, which the speaker suggested he was in favor of.
"I'm for transparency," Johnson said. "It's a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide."
After years of promising to release the files, President Donald Trump has recently pushed back against Republican criticism and sought to downplay the significance of the documents.
On Wednesday, Trump called the fanfare around the documents a "scam" and "bulls***." (The president previously knew Epstein, but later had a falling out with the disgraced financier. No evidence has surfaced to suggest Trump was involved in Epstein's criminal activity.)
"I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax," Trump on his social media site, Truth Social.
"Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!" he added.
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