Federal judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘miscarriage of justice’ claims and bid for prison release

In a federal court ruling, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer dismissed Ghislaine Maxwell's assertion that her conviction for sex trafficking was a "complete miscarriage of justice." The judge deemed Maxwell's claims to be built on "speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods." Maxwell argued in her habeas petition that new evidence would have led to her exoneration at her 2021 trial, and that false testimony influenced the jury's decision.

However, Engelmayer stated that there was no fact Maxwell disputed that could have altered the trial's outcome. Maxwell's habeas petition was rejected as "demonstrably meritless." Maxwell was arrested a year after Epstein's death in 2019 and was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. She had been interviewed by the Justice Department in July 2025 and subsequently transferred to a prison in Texas.