Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn conviction rejected

A US judge has dismissed Ghislaine Maxwell's attempt to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for her role in aiding Jeffrey Epstein in sexually abusing teenage girls. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer, sitting in Manhattan, stated that Maxwell's claims were without merit and either frivolous or filed too late. The 64-year-old, who represented herself, had challenged her December 2021 conviction and sentence in federal court, seeking a writ of habeas corpus declaring her punishment unlawful.

Prosecutors contended that Maxwell's recent claims were baseless or submitted after the deadline. Maxwell argued that many documents disclosed earlier this year through the Epstein Files Transparency Act revealed that her due process rights were violated, as lawyers representing Epstein's accusers served as "De Facto Prosecutors" and government agents. However, the judge dismissed this "new" evidence as largely irrelevant to Maxwell's case.