Carbonatix Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Carbonatix

A U.S. judge rejected Ghislaine ​Maxwell's bid to throw out her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually ‌abuse teenage girls.

In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan said Maxwell's claims were all meritless, and all or almost all were frivolous.

He said most were based on arguments Maxwell previously lost or failed to make in challenging her December 2021 conviction, while much of the ​supposedly "new" evidence disclosed this year through the Epstein Files Transparency Act was irrelevant.

"On the contrary, to the extent it ​is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings ⁠Maxwell challenges," Engelmayer wrote in a 67-page decision.

Engelmayer also called Maxwell's claim that prosecutors illegally withheld some evidence "conclusory, cynical, and wrong."

Maxwell represented ​herself. Engelmayer said an appeal "would not be taken in good faith," and the court would not pay her filing fees if ​she declared herself unable to afford it.

Jurors convicted Maxwell on five charges for recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004, in a trial before a different judge.

PROSECUTORS CALLED MAXWELL'S CLAIMS BASELESS, LATE

Maxwell had been seeking a writ of habeas corpus declaring her punishment unlawful.

Her petition ​represented the broadest effort by the former British socialite and Epstein girlfriend to overturn her conviction, the most significant successful prosecution ​to emerge from the Epstein scandal.

An earlier appeal by Maxwell focused on Epstein's non-prosecution agreement, which led to his 2008 guilty plea on a ‌Florida ⁠state prostitution charge. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that appeal last October.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Maxwell, declined to comment. Prosecutors argued that Maxwell's latest claims were baseless, filed too late, or failed to show her trial was unfair.

MAXWELL CALLED VICTIMS' LAWYERS 'DE FACTO PROSECUTORS'

In her latest challenge, Maxwell said many documents disclosed this year under the Epstein files law showed ​that lawyers representing Epstein's accusers served ​as "De Facto Prosecutors and agents ⁠of the government."

She also said prosecutors did no real investigating of their own, citing among other things their failure to interview Leslie Wexner, the retail billionaire behind Victoria's Secret who hired Epstein ​to manage his personal finances.

Wexner, 88, told Congress in February he severed ties with Epstein in ​2007 and did ⁠not know about Epstein's crimes.

Maxwell also objected to alleged gaps in witness testimony, and alleged government suppression of potentially exculpatory grand jury testimony by a Palm Beach, Florida police detective about a green massage table at Epstein's villa there.

Epstein died at age 66 in a Manhattan ⁠jail cell ​in August 2019, five weeks after being arrested on sex trafficking charges. ​New York City's medical examiner called the death a suicide.

Maxwell is housed at a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas. She is eligible for release in ​July 2037, when she will be 75.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.