By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court has rejected British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s request to revisit its decision upholding her conviction for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
In an order on Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan denied Maxwell’s request that all its active judges review her case, known as en banc review.
A three-judge panel on Sept. 17 rejected several arguments to set aside her 2021 conviction.
Maxwell, 62, plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is not required to hear her case. She is serving a 20-year sentence at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, and is eligible for release in July 2037.
Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Maxwell, said in an email he was disappointed with Monday’s order, and “cautiously optimistic” the Supreme Court would take up her appeal.
Maxwell was convicted on five charges for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein, her former boyfriend, to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
In upholding her conviction, the appeals court cited the trial judge’s finding that Maxwell played a pivotal role in facilitating abuse that caused “significant and lasting harm.”
It also rejected Maxwell’s claim that Epstein’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in southern Florida, leading to a 2008 guilty plea on state prostitution charges, shielded her from being prosecuted in New York.
In seeking en banc review, Maxwell’s lawyers urged the 2nd Circuit to overrule a 1985 ruling that plea agreements bound only U.S. attorneys in districts where they are entered, unless it appeared that broader restrictions were contemplated.
The lawyers said the ruling conflicted with rulings by other federal appeals courts, and “stands in tension” with two Supreme Court decisions concerning plea and immunity agreements.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
