Amid Epstein furor, Ghislaine Maxwell seeks relief from US Supreme Court

(Reuters) - Even as an uproar over files relating to Jeffrey Epstein engulfs United States President Donald Trump and Congress, the US Supreme Court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by an associate of the late financier and convicted sex offender to overturn her criminal conviction.

The justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up an appeal by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

Maxwell’s lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York. Her lawyers have a Monday deadline for filing their final written brief in their appeal to the court.

Some legal experts see merit in Maxwell’s claim, noting that it touches on an unsettled matter of US law that has divided some of the nation’s regional federal appeals courts, known as circuit courts.

Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said there is a chance that the Supreme Court takes up the case and noted the disagreement among appeals courts. Such a split among circuit courts can be a factor when the nation’s top judicial body considers whether or not to hear a case.

“The question of whether a plea agreement from one US Attorney’s Office binds other federal prosecution as a whole is a serious issue that has split the circuits,” Epner said.

While uncommon, “there have been several cases presenting the issue over the years”, he added.

Trump’s Justice Department appeared to acknowledge the circuit split in a brief filed to the justices this month, but urged them to reject the appeal.

Any disparity among lower court rulings “is of limited importance”, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the brief, “because the scope of a plea or similar agreement is under the control of the parties to the agreement”.

If the Supreme Court opts to grant Maxwell’s appeal, it would hear arguments during its new term that begins in October, with a ruling then expected by the end of next June.

Mounting pressure

Trump and his administration have been facing mounting pressure from his supporters to release additional information about the Justice Department’s investigation into Epstein, who hanged himself in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, an autopsy concluded, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, met with Maxwell in Florida on Thursday in what her lawyer called “a very productive day”.

The administration reversed course this month on its pledge to release more documents about Epstein, prompting fury among some of Trump’s most loyal followers. The Epstein case has long been the subject of conspiracy theories, considering his rich and powerful friends and the circumstances of his death.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term in office.

Whether the court would want to take on such a case that represents a political landmine is an open question. The justices hear relatively few cases — about 70 out of more than 4,000 appeals filed at the court each year — and have broad discretion to choose which ones will be on their docket. At least four of the justices must agree in order for the court to take up a case.