Ghislaine Maxwell Makes Desperate Final Move to Overturn Sex Trafficking Conviction as Her Lawyers Try for Presidential Pardon

International Business Times

28-07-2025

British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell filed an appeal with the Supreme Court Monday, seeking to overturn her 2021 federal conviction for sex trafficking. Maxwell's lawyers argue that she is covered by the 2007 plea deal Epstein made with South Florida prosecutors, which included a provision not to charge his associates.
The appeal was filed shortly after the DoJ under President Trump announced earlier this month that it opposed the Supreme Court reviewing the case. "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," Maxwell's legal team wrote in their petition.
Maxwell's Last-Ditch Effort
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"But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did," wrote the husband-and-wife duo, David and Mona Markus. Maxwell met on Thursday and Friday with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to respond to questions related to the highly contentious case that has caused deep divisions within the MAGA movement.
Speaking outside the courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida last week, attorney David Oscar Markus said that his client fully cooperated and answered all of Blanche's questions.
Ghislaine Maxwell, ex-girlfriend of Jeffery Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges on June 2. Instagram
He also appeared to be positioning her for a potential presidential pardon.
In 2007, Epstein reached a plea deal that allowed him to plead guilty in Florida to charges of soliciting prostitution and procuring minors for prostitution, resulting in just 13 months of jail time.
As part of the deal, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami agreed "not to institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein."
Jeffrey Epstein Twitter/Jeffrey Epstein
The deal names four people, none of whom was Maxwell. However, the Markuses maintain that the agreement also protects their client, claiming the phrase "any potential co-conspirators" grants her immunity as well.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to quash the appeal by filing a statement opposing Supreme Court review of the case.
Despite that, Maxwell's legal team is moving ahead with an official petition for the nation's highest court to hear the case.
Fate Hangs in Balance
The 21-page brief from Bondi's Department of Justice dismisses Maxwell's claim that Epstein's original non-prosecution agreement (NPA) granted her immunity. The letter argues that it is "incorrect" to assume the deal applied to the entire U.S. government, including the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Maxwell in 2021.
Ghislaine Maxwell with Epstein Twitter
Alongside the Supreme Court appeal, Maxwell's legal team is also pursuing a potential presidential pardon.
Last week, Maxwell sat for over nine hours of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Her attorney, David Markus, said she discussed around "100 different people" connected to Epstein's child sex trafficking network during the meetings.
"They asked about every possible thing you could imagine – everything," he said.
Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein US District Attorney's Office
The attorney also argued that Maxwell has been made the "scapegoat" in the Epstein scandal and claimed she has been "unjustly treated" over the past five years. Markus said that, while no official pardon request has been submitted to the White House yet, they aren't ruling out the possibility, adding that "things are moving very quickly."
"The president said earlier he has the power to do so, we hope he exercises that power in the right way," he said of a potential commutation.
When questioned on Friday morning, Trump did not rule out the option of granting a pardon to Maxwell. "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about," he said.