The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction, leaving in place her 20-year prison sentence unless she is granted clemency.
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, expressed that his team was “deeply disappointed” but vowed to press ahead with available legal options.
By rejecting the appeal without comment, the Supreme Court lets stand the judgment of the lower courts that convicted Maxwell of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein between 1994 and 2004. Neither the justices nor court documents offered reasoning for the denial.
Because the appeal path has now been closed, Maxwell’s only remaining route to relief would be a presidential pardon. Speculation has circulated about a possible pardon from President Donald Trump, but the White House reiterated that no leniency is under discussion. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “We don’t comment on clemency requests,” and added that she had not heard of pardon talks.
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Family members of Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre welcomed the decision. They said they remain committed to ensuring Maxwell serves every day of her sentence and urged the Justice Department to re-evaluate her security classification. In a statement, they criticized Maxwell’s placement in a minimum-security facility, calling it inappropriate for someone convicted of trafficking minors.
Markus, the defense attorney, indicated relentless pursuit of justice, saying serious factual and legal issues persist. He has previously argued that her conviction should never have occurred.
Maxwell, a British socialite and longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually exploit teenage girls. Prosecutors held that she recruited and groomed girls, some as young as 14. Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The crux of Maxwell’s appeal was a 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida. Her legal team contended the agreement’s co-conspirator clause should have shielded her from prosecution in any district. Lower courts rejected the argument, finding that the agreement only bound the Southern District of Florida and did not immunize her from charges brought in New York.
Earlier this year, Maxwell was interviewed by federal agents as part of an inquiry into the wider sex-trafficking scheme to assess whether others may have been involved. Around that time, she was transferred from a low-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas. In her interview, she denied ever witnessing inappropriate conduct by Donald Trump.
The files associated with Epstein’s case—including grand jury testimony—have become politically sensitive. Calls for their release have surged, though the Justice Department has declined to make them public immediately.