Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, has formally requested that the U.S. Supreme Court review her 2021 conviction related to sex trafficking offenses.
According to documents filed earlier this week, Maxwell’s attorneys argue that her conviction should be overturned based on a 2007 non-prosecution agreement (NPA) made between Epstein and federal prosecutors in Florida. Her legal team claims the agreement also extended protections to alleged co-conspirators—such as Maxwell—and should have shielded her from later prosecution.
“Promising ‘not to prosecute’ somehow meant preserving the right to prosecute. That is not contract interpretation; it is alchemy,” her lawyers wrote in their petition to the court.
Federal prosecutors have previously maintained that the NPA applied only within Florida and to Epstein directly—not to unnamed or later-identified associates. Maxwell was prosecuted in New York, and officials argued that the Florida-based agreement had no legal bearing on her case.
Maxwell’s legal team disputes that interpretation, arguing that the 2007 agreement did not include any geographic limitations and should be enforceable by third-party beneficiaries, regardless of whether they were named at the time.
“It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida. It is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time,” the petition claims. “This should be the end of the discussion.”
Government attorneys have countered that Maxwell was neither a named party to the agreement nor eligible to enforce its terms. Maxwell’s lawyers argue that this is a misapplication of contract law, noting that she qualifies as a third-party beneficiary under legal precedent.
The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will take up the case. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of multiple charges, including sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to entice underage girls into illegal sexual activity.
Her case remains one of the most high-profile federal prosecutions linked to the broader Epstein scandal, which has involved years of legal scrutiny and ongoing public interest.