Ghislaine Maxwell asks court to set aside her conviction which may complicate the pending release of the Epstein files
Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison for her role in abusing minor girls with Epstein
Ghislaine Maxwell, a former girlfriend and longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has asked a federal court in New York to set aside her sex trafficking conviction.
Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison for her role in a decade-long scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls with Epstein.
The new habeas petition claims “substantial new evidence has emerged” that shows Maxwell did not receive a fair trial.
“In the light of the full evidentiary record, no reasonable juror would have convicted her,” the petition read.
The Independent has reached out to a lawyer for Maxwell for comment.
Maxwell has already exhausted all her typical appeal options and the new petition is a long-shot. In October, the Supreme Court decided not to review whether prosecutors fairly brought a case against her.
This latest attempt by Maxwell for relief from the court comes as a deadline looms for the Department of Justice to release files related to Epstein.
The DOJ was compelled to release the information after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November, despite initially strongly opposing the measure.
Federal prosecutors have until Friday to release documents, including records related to the Florida investigation into Epstein —which resulted in a 2008 deal, in which the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor — as well the Manhattan investigations into Epstein and Maxwell.
Included in these records should be grand jury documents that federal judges in New York and Florida have agreed to unseal.
Federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors in 2019 and weeks later he died by suicide in his jail cell.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. During her trial, survivors testified that Maxwell had groomed them, taken their passports and abused them.
The disgrace British socialite claimed in her new habeas petition that information that would have resulted in her exoneration at trial was withheld and false testimony was presented to the jury.
Maxwell’s attorneys wrote in a court filing earlier this month: “Releasing the grand jury materials from her case, which contain untested and unproven allegations, would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial” if she was granted a retrial.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act does allow the DOJ to withhold documents that could jeopardize an active federal investigation.
After news broke of Maxwell’s habeas petition, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, wrote on X, “Reminder that the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday and every political development that you see between now until then should be viewed with that in mind.”
Maxwell is currently being housed in a Texas minimum security prison known as Camp Bryan. She was transferred from a prison in Tallahassee, Florida, after meeting with the Justice Department earlier this year.
She is supposedly getting preferential treatment at Camp Bryan, including customized hand-delivered meals and a service dog in training to play with, according to Democrat Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee.
Also on Wednesday, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that he will be leaving his position next month after reportedly clashing with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
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