A federal appeals court has upheld Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for trafficking and ruled that she will remain in a Florida prison to serve her 20-year sentence. Manhattan’s 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed an appeal filed by her attorneys in March. Maxwell’s lawyers sought a ruling on whether her case violated a prior non-prosecution agreement, as well as alleged juror misconduct and an inappropriately long sentence.
Ms. Maxwell argued that a juror had not disclosed that he was sexually abused as a child and that the court handed down an excessively long sentence to “satisfy public outrage.” The judge, however, declared the sentence “procedurally reasonable.” The non-prosecution deal was also dismissed because it referred only to specified South Florida attorneys and did not apply across the board. Finally, the court rejected the notion that a juror with a history of sexual abuse meant the trial was unfair.
The 62-year-old British socialite was convicted in December 2021 of helping financier Jeffrey Epstein to procure girls for sexual abuse. She was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2022, by which time Epstein had died by suicide in a Manhattan jail. The billionaire met his death while awaiting trial on trafficking charges, having previously been convicted of related offenses in Florida.
The scandal surrounding the disgraced financier shone a light on some of his associates, causing them significant difficulties. For instance, the UK’s Prince Andrew became mired in a media storm after he was forced to deny abusing some of the young women Epstein had trafficked. The fallout for Prince Andrew was severe. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, withdrew some of his Royal titles, and he is now considered a disgraced pariah in his home country. Prince Andrew, also known as the Duke of York, is the younger brother of the UK’s current Monarch, King Charles III.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorneys expressed their disappointment at the recent appeals court ruling, saying they “vehemently” disagreed with the decision. “We are cautiously optimistic that Ghislaine will get the justice she deserves from the Supreme Court of the United States,” a statement read.
