On Wednesday, Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking, petitioned a judge to annul her conviction, citing “significant new evidence” that her legal team argues demonstrates violations of her constitutional rights.
According to the filing, crucial information was allegedly suppressed during the British socialite’s 2021 trial, and misleading testimony was given, leading to what her lawyers describe as a “complete miscarriage of justice,” as covered by the Associated Press.
Maxwell, who was a former companion and long-time confidante of convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Earlier reports from CrimeOnline noted her transfer to a more comfortable “prison camp” in Texas after she participated in interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blance, during which she stated she never witnessed President Donald J. Trump engage in any inappropriate behavior while visiting Epstein’s private island.
In October, the US Supreme Court chose not to review Maxwell’s appeal.
The recent filing claims that since her trial ended, “substantial new evidence” has surfaced from related civil cases, government disclosures, investigative findings, and documents revealing constitutional breaches that compromised the trial’s integrity. It asserts, “Given the complete evidentiary record, no reasonable juror would have convicted her.”
Anticipation builds as records from her case and Epstein’s are set to be made public on Friday, a move mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump in November after extended resistance to their release.
It’s not clear if the department will stop release of any of Maxwell’s records in light of her new filing. The law allows the department the hold some records back, and legal proceedings are among the reasons that could come into play. Her attorney, David Markus, wrote that she “does not take a position” on unsealing documents from her case, but doing so “would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial” if her new filing succeeds.
Epstein was arrested in new sex trafficking charges in 2019 and was found dead in his cell a month later. His death was ruled a suicide.
