RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, the longtime Southern District of New York jurist appointed by President Barack Obama , on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell ’s sweeping bid to overturn her sex‑trafficking conviction, dismissing her claims of withheld evidence and constitutional violations as “speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.”
In a sharply worded ruling, Engelmayer said Maxwell’s habeas petition—her last‑resort attempt to undo the 20‑year sentence she received in 2021—was “demonstrably meritless” and failed to identify any factual dispute capable of altering the outcome of her trial.
Maxwell had argued that “substantial new evidence” would have exonerated her had it been presented to jurors, and that the cumulative effect of alleged misconduct amounted to a “complete miscarriage of justice.” Engelmayer rejected each assertion, writing that “there is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial.”
The ruling leaves Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein ’s former girlfriend and longtime associate, with virtually no remaining legal avenues after exhausting her appeals. She was convicted in December 2021, a year after her arrest, and later interviewed by senior Justice Department officials before being moved from a Florida federal prison to a Texas camp.
A request for comment was sent to her attorney, David Markus.
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