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New York Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Ghislaine Maxwell rejects DOJ bid to unseal grand jury transcripts as she pursues ‘legal options': ‘Jeffrey Epstein is dead'
If she can't have them, no one can. Ghislaine Maxwell, the notorious sex trafficker linked to Jeffrey Epstein, on Tuesday opposed the Justice Department's bid to unseal grand jury transcripts from her case, after trying and failing to view the records herself. 'Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,' her lawyers wrote in a Manhattan federal court filing. 'Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.' 3 Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's convicted accomplice, wants grand jury transcripts in her case kept secret. US District Court for the Southe The disgraced British socialite — who is serving a 20-year prison sentence — is lobbying the US Supreme Court to review her December 2021 conviction on numerous sex crimes for grooming young girls for abuse by her on-and-off lover Epstein. 'Given that she is actively litigating her case and does not know what is in the grand jury record, she has no choice but to respectfully oppose the government's motion to unseal it,' Maxwell's attorney David Oscar Markus wrote. Maxwell's push to keep the transcripts hidden comes weeks after a federal judge denied her attempt to see them as pursues her appeal. US District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer noted in his ruling that 'black-letter law,' or fundamental legal principle, dictates that defendants cannot review grand jury transcripts, which are by definition secret. 3 The DOJ admitted in a court filing that the Maxwell grand jury testimony will likely not include any revelations. US District Court for the Southe DOJ officials have cited the 'public interest' in urging Engelmayer and a separate judge to unseal transcripts of testimony from an FBI agent and NYPD detective heard by grand juries in Epstein's case in 2019, and in Maxwell's case in 2020 and 2021. But the feds admitted in a 12:04 a.m. court filing early Tuesday that 'much of the information' included in the Maxwell testimony was already made public during her headline-grabbing trial. The Epstein grand jury testimony may yield more new details as he never made it to trial after dying in federal custody, in what was ruled a suicide. 3 Maxwell was Epstein's former lover who groomed young girls for the sick financier to abuse, trial testimony revealed. US District Court for the Southe But the testimony the government is seeking in both cases represents a tiny fraction of the 300 gigabytes of files it says it has about Epstein but has declined to release — sparking an uproar among many of President Trump's supporters. An attorney for Epstein victim Maria Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial, wrote a letter to the court late Tuesday urging the judge to unseal both grand jury transcripts. 'Unsealing the grand jury transcripts will illuminate the scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's abuse, provide additional insight into those who enabled his abuse, and bring light to how these crimes were investigated and prosecuted,' lawyer Sigrid McCawley wrote. Lawyers for Epstein's estate separately wrote to the court Tuesday that they take 'no position' on the government's move to unseal grand jury transcripts in his case. Maxwell, 63, meanwhile was moved to a cushy Texas prison known as a 'Club Fed' last week, days after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer. DOJ officials have not explained why the convicted sex trafficker was transferred to a lockup typically reserved for convicts spending far less time behind bars.
New York Post
28-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Ghislaine Maxwell makes long-shot Supreme Court bid to overturn sex trafficking conviction
Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell formally appealed to the Supreme Court Monday to toss out her 2021 federal sex trafficking conviction, arguing that their client is covered by a controversial 2007 plea agreement Epstein reached with South Florida prosecutors. '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 husband-and-wife legal team, David Oscar and Mona Markus, wrote in their petition. 'But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.' The much-criticized deal allowed Epstein — who died in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges — to plead guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. The agreement — under which Epstein was incarcerated for just 13 months, much of that time on work release — stipulated that the Miami US Attorney's Office 'not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein,' and named four individuals, none of whom were Maxwell. The deal also immunized 'any potential co-conspirators,' which the Markuses say covers their client. 4 Ghislaine Maxwell's petition to the Supreme Court is her last recourse outside of a pardon. The Metropolitan Detention Center 4 Jeffrey Epstein's former attorney has publicly said that Ghislaine Maxwell 'knows everything.' US District Court for the Southe 'This promise is unqualified,' they wrote. 'It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida, it is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time, it does not depend on what any particular government attorney may have had in his or her head about who might be a co-conspirator, and it contains no other caveat or exception. 'This should be the end of the discussion.' Maxwell was sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years in prison after being convicted six months earlier of sex trafficking a minor and conspiracy. 4 The Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions each year, but usually only takes about 60 to 90 of them a term. REUTERS Justice Department officials have contended that then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta lacked the power to commit other federal districts to the terms of the 2007 agreement. Maxwell's previous efforts to overturn her conviction fell flat with a trial judge and the New York-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected her legal team's arguments. 'No one is above the law—not even the Southern District of New York. Our government made a deal, and it must honor it. The United States cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York,' Maxwell's attorneys said in a statement. 'President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal—and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it.' Last week, Maxwell sat for two days of interviews about the Epstein case with Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. 4 Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of various sex crimes in 2021. csuarez The Epstein case made worldwide headlines again after the DOJ and FBI issued a memo July 6 concluding that the 66-year-old killed himself in lockup and did not have a 'client list' of powerful acquaintances who engaged in illicit sex with girls as young as 14 — contrary to widespread speculation. Trump has brushed aside questions about whether he will grant Maxwell clemency in exchange for her testimony, saying Monday that no one has formally requested a pardon on the British-born socialite's behalf. Last week, a South Florida federal judge shot down an administration request to release grand jury testimony in the investigation that preceded the Epstein plea deal.
