The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan scheduled oral arguments in the appeal of Ghislaine Maxwell—sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend accused of grooming young girls—for March, nearly two years after the appeal was first filed, Reuters reported.
Ghislaine Maxwell is appealing her conviction and sentencing tied to her role in grooming young ... [+]
A three-judge panel in the appeals court will hear oral arguments in Maxwell’s appeal on March 12, according to a Wednesday court docket.
Maxwell was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking and other crimes in late 2021 for her role in grooming and recruiting girls to be abused by Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, five years of probation and a $750,000 fine.
She appealed the conviction in July 2022, arguing in court documents the conviction should be reversed in part because one of the jurors was a victim of sexual abuse but didn’t disclose that information, because “the court erred” in her sentencing and because she was prosecuted “to satisfy public outrage” after Epstein’s death.
Maxwell is being held at a low-security prison in Florida and will be eligible for release in 2037, Reuters reported.
In Maxwell’s trial, at least four victims testified against her and claimed she facilitated and occasionally participated in Epstein’s abuse of young girls. Prosecutors said Epstein and Maxwell were “partners in crime” who groomed and abused girls as young as 14, though Maxwell’s attorneys maintained she was being treated as a “scapegoat” for Epstein. Maxwell’s trial played out after Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019—before he could face his own trial. The young girls who testified against Maxwell alleged she arranged travel for them to be with Epstein, asked them to massage Epstein and asked them to find other girls to bring into the operation, CBS reported.
In recent weeks, several batches of previously redacted documents in Epstein’s and Maxwell’s cases were released to the public—including a number of depositions from a 2015 lawsuit against Maxwell from one of their victims, Virginia Giuffre. The documents, many of which were transcripts of depositions, revealed more than was previously known about how Epstein and Maxwell treated the young women and what went on in the operation. The documents also unsealed a number of high-profile names tied to Epstein, including Michael Jackson, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and several billionaires. All have denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.