Ghislaine Maxwell has pressed ahead with an appeal to the US Supreme Court, seeking to overturn her conviction on the grounds that she was unlawfully prosecuted for sex trafficking minors with Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, the former partner of Epstein, petitioned the court on Monday to reverse her 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking in 2021 following her recent meeting with the US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Her case, Maxwell's lawyers wrote, "is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did."
In addition to her Supreme Court petition, Maxwell's lawyers had a message for US President Donald Trump.
"We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognise how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein's crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted," lawyer David Markus said in a statement.Â
The petition has stirred controversy surrounding the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case, coming after two days of meetings between Maxwell and Blanche, the second-in-command at the Department of Justice.
In her appeal, Maxwell asks the Supreme Court to compel the court of the Southern District of New York, where she was tried, to honour the agreement that Epstein made when he was sentenced in the Southern District of Florida.
Markus argued the government "cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York."
"President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal, and surely he would agree that when the US gives its word, it must stand by it," the judge commented.
Epstein's plea agreement with prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida included a provision protecting potential co-conspirators from criminal charges.
The DoJ says the prosecution against Maxwell didn't run afoul of that deal because it only applied to prosecutions in the Southern District of Florida.
Trump told reporters during his visit to Scotland that he's "allowed" to pardon Maxwell, but "it would be inappropriate to talk about it."
The Supreme Court could decide in late September whether to consider Maxwell's appeal.
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