A federal judge this week struck down a bid by Ghislaine Maxwell, the co-conspirator of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence.
In a 67-page ruling made public Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer slammed Maxwell’s petition to vacate her conviction and sentence as “demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.”
Maxwell argued that many documents released by the Department of Justice earlier this year under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November 2025, supported that her due process rights were violated. She made other claims of juror misconduct, inaccurate evidence and selective prosecution by the Justice Department, which she claimed targeted her as a scapegoat.
Engelmayer, a New York-based Obama appointee, called Maxwell’s claims “all meritless and all or almost all are frivolous.”
“On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges,” he said of her claims.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for conspiring to lure underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, and sentenced to 20 years the year after. The former socialite has since sought different avenues to vacate her conviction and sentencing, petitioning for the Supreme Court to take up her appeal and seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump. None have succeeded.
Maxwell was transferred to a less restrictive, minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas in 2025, days after sitting down with now-Attorney General Todd Blanche for an interview as the Trump administration faced backlash over its handling of the Epstein files.
Under pressure from both parties in Congress, the administration released millions of documents, videos and images tied to the disgraced financier and his inner circle.
Engelmayer rejected Maxwell’s request for an evidentiary hearing, saying that “there is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial.”
