Judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell bid to overturn sex trafficking conviction

A US judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction. The ruling shuts down her habeas challenge, finding no claim that could alter the jury's verdict.

In Short

• Judge Engelmayer called Maxwell's new evidence claims speculative and outright false
• The court found no disputed fact capable of changing trial outcome
• Maxwell alleged withheld information and false testimony tainted the jury

A US federal judge on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's claim that her sex trafficking conviction was a "complete miscarriage of justice", ruling that her bid to overturn the verdict and secure her release from a 20-year prison sentence had no merit.

In a written order, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said Maxwell's habeas petition, which argued that there was "substantial new evidence", was based on "speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods". He said there was nothing she had raised that could unsettle the outcome of her 2021 trial.

Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend and longtime associate, had filed the petition in December, saying information that would have led to her acquittal had been withheld and that false testimony had been presented to the jury. She argued that the cumulative effect of the alleged constitutional violations had resulted in a "complete miscarriage of justice".

Rejecting the petition, Engelmayer said it was "demonstrably meritless". "Maxwell's petition falls very far from the mark," he said. "There is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial."

A request for comment was sent to Maxwell's lawyers on Tuesday.

Such petitions are often filed as a last resort after appeals have been exhausted, to challenge what a convict says is unlawful confinement.

Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. He was ordered to remain in custody until trial, but was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail in August 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell, a British socialite, was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She was interviewed by the Justice Department's second-in-command in July 2025 and was soon after moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas.

The ruling means Maxwell's attempt to have her conviction set aside through the habeas petition has failed, with the judge holding that the claims she raised do not affect the jury's verdict in her sex trafficking case.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends