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The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her 2021 conviction and 20-year prison sentence for aiding Jeffrey Epstein in the sexual exploitation of underage girls, leaving her punishment intact and closing one of the final legal chapters in the decades-long Epstein saga.
Maxwell, 63, had asked the high court to review lower court rulings rejecting her argument that a 2007 nonprosecution agreement (NPA) between Epstein and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami also shielded her from federal prosecution. The justices denied her petition without comment.
The case had drawn renewed attention this summer as the Trump administration faced growing pressure to release more records tied to Epstein’s activities and the Justice Department’s handling of his earlier plea deal. Senior DOJ officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, met privately with Maxwell in Tallahassee in July to discuss her ties to Epstein, according to federal officials familiar with the matter.
The Supreme Court’s rejection means Maxwell’s conviction will stand unless she receives a presidential pardon — a prospect viewed as unlikely given the political and legal sensitivities surrounding the case.
At the heart of Maxwell’s appeal was the 2007 nonprosecution agreement negotiated by then–U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, which allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges in exchange for pleading guilty to two state prostitution counts. The deal included an unusual “co-conspirator clause” stating that prosecutors would not bring charges against certain unnamed associates of Epstein if he fulfilled the terms of the agreement.
Maxwell argued that the clause applied to her and should have barred her prosecution in New York. But lower courts disagreed, finding that the deal applied only to the Southern District of Florida and did not bind federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
The Justice Department, in its brief urging the high court to deny review, emphasized that internal DOJ policy at the time prohibited local U.S. attorney’s offices from entering into nationwide immunity agreements without explicit written approval from the department’s Criminal Division — an approval that, records show, was never sought or granted in Epstein’s case.
“There is no indication here that anyone involved in negotiating Epstein’s NPA obtained the necessary approval for binding other USAOs or thought it was necessary,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the government’s filing.
Maxwell’s conviction followed a high-profile trial in 2021, during which four women testified that she groomed and facilitated their sexual abuse by Epstein when they were teenagers. She has maintained her innocence and argued that she was scapegoated for Epstein’s crimes after his 2019 death in federal custody, officially ruled a suicide.
Following her conviction, Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to a minimum-security facility in Texas, where she continues to serve her 20-year sentence.
Epstein’s death, Acosta’s resignation as labor secretary under President Trump, and the release of long-sealed court records have continued to fuel public interest in the case — including calls for transparency over who may have been protected under the controversial 2007 deal.
With Monday’s decision, the Supreme Court effectively closes Maxwell’s last judicial avenue for relief, cementing her role as the only person to face a federal prison sentence in the Epstein trafficking scandal.
