A federal decide in New York on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s problem to her conviction, discovering her claims “meritless” or “frivolous.”
Maxwell was attempting to vacate her conviction and 20-year jail sentence.
Maxwell was convicted of 5 felony counts, all arising from her participation with Jeffrey Epstein, within the sexual abuse of younger ladies over the course of a decade. A federal appeals courtroom upheld her conviction and the U.S. Supreme Courtroom declined to take up her petition.
In courtroom filings, Maxwell argued paperwork launched within the Epstein recordsdata supported her claims of constitutional violations, however U.S. District Choose Paul Engelmayer mentioned her claims had been “all meritless and all or nearly all are frivolous.”
“And the purported ‘new’ proof to which Maxwell factors, principally supplies launched beneath the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act, is essentially irrelevant to the fees in opposition to Maxwell and doesn’t assist her claims of error,” the decide wrote. “Quite the opposite, to the extent it’s related, removed from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the authorized rulings Maxwell challenges.”
Associates of Maxwell didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the decide’s ruling.
In his 67-page ruling, Engelmayer rejected every of what he known as the “10 principal claims” Maxwell raised in what he known as her “prolonged and meandering” professional se petition and supplemental filings containing “equally discursive addenda.” Engelmayer denied her petition with out the evidentiary listening to Maxwell sought.
A doc that was included within the U.S. Division of Justice launch of the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata, photographed Feb. 10, 2026, reveals a photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2019.
Jon Elswick/AP
Maxwell had argued — in an amended petition filed in April — that paperwork launched beneath the Epstein Recordsdata Transparency Act had uncovered constitutional and authorized violations that rendered her 2021 conviction “invalid, unsafe, and infirm.” She cited DOJ paperwork from the Epstein recordsdata that she contended provided new assist to her arguments that the federal government withheld related proof, that witnesses testified falsely, and that attorneys for Epstein’s victims acted as de facto prosecutors in her felony case.
Maxwell’s petition “falls very removed from the mark,” Engelmayer wrote, describing her claims as “demonstrably meritless” and “primarily based on hypothesis, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.”
The decide additionally rebuked Maxwell’s rivalry that federal prosecutors selectively focused her as an alternative choice to Epstein, after he died by suicide whereas in federal custody in 2019.
“Because the trial confirmed, the case in opposition to Maxwell was primarily based on ample admissible proof establishing her understanding participation in enabling a infamous youngster intercourse abuser to hold out traditionally heinous crimes,” Engelmayer wrote. “Removed from being discriminatory or unjust, this was the epitome of a virtuous prosecution. The Authorities and the jury justly held Maxwell accountable for gravely severe federal offenses.”
In her courtroom filings, Maxwell had requested Choose Engelmayer — ought to he determine to reject her petition — to certify her case for an attraction to a better courtroom.
However in his ruling Tuesday, Engelmayer wrote that Maxwell had not “made a considerable displaying of a denial of a constitutional proper, and appellate evaluation is due to this fact not warranted.”
“Any attraction from this order wouldn’t be taken in good religion,” Engelmayer wrote, figuring out that Maxwell wouldn’t be granted indigent standing — often called “in forma pauperis” — to pursue the attraction with out the standard courtroom prices.
If her habeas claims fail, Maxwell’s remaining choices would possible be restricted to a request to President Donald Trump for a pardon or clemency.