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The former girlfriend and convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her appeal of her 2021 sex trafficking conviction.
On Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team submitted a filing asking the Supreme Court to hear her appeal, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
In the brief, Maxwell’s attorneys argue the federal government “has an obligation to honor” a 2007 non-prosecution agreement made by Epstein that they say should also shield Maxwell from criminal charges.
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Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein smile in this undated photograph. This photo was one of many unearthed during Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial in the Southern District of New York, where she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for working with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. (U.S. Department of Justice/Mega)
“Even more remarkably, the government advances an interpretation of its non-prosecution agreement that flips its plain meaning on its head,” the brief said. “Promising ‘not to prosecute’ somehow meant preserving the right to prosecute. That is not contract interpretation; it is alchemy.”
Federal prosecutors have previously taken the stance that the agreement made by Epstein was only valid in Florida, with Maxwell’s charges being brought in New York and therefore disqualifying her from benefiting from the deal.
However, Maxwell’s defense team asserted in the brief that the terms agreed upon did not include a restriction based on location.
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Jeffrey Epstein was facing federal sex trafficking charges stemming from years of abuse of minors. (Rick Friedman/Corbis)
“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,” the brief said.
Federal prosecutors have argued Maxwell could not use the conditions outlined in the agreement because she was not a named party within it – a stance that her legal team deems incorrect.
“The government also suggests that Petitioner is not entitled to enforce the NPA because she was not a party to it and was not named in it,” the brief said. “But as the court below recognized and as hornbook contract law dictates, Maxwell has standing to enforce the agreement as a third party beneficiary.”
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Ghislaine Maxwell jogs around the track at FCI Tallahassee, Tallahassee, Florida, Thursday, July 10, 2025. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
The move is the first step in asking the Supreme Court to take up Maxwell’s appeal in her longstanding bid to have her conviction overturned.
“No one is above the law — not even the Southern District of New York,” David Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, said in a statement. “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. 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. We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted.”
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The DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in federal prison after she was found guilty of working alongside Epstein to sexually abuse and exploit young girls.