Federal judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘miscarriage of justice’ claim and bid for prison release

Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) 2026-08-25T13:34:43Z New York (AP) — Claims by Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell that her sex trafficking conviction was a “complete miscarriage of justice” were rejected Tuesday by a federal judge who said her assertions were based on “speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.” Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in a written ruling that Maxwell’s habeas petition seeking to set aside her conviction and free her from a 20-year prison sentence on the grounds that there was “substantial new evidence” was “demonstrably meritless.” “Maxwell’s petition falls very far from the mark,” Engelmayer said. “There is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial.” Maxwell maintained in a habeas petition last December that information that would have resulted in her exoneration at her 2021 trial was withheld and false testimony was presented to the jury. She said the cumulative effect of the constitutional violations resulted in a “complete miscarriage of justice.” A request for comment was sent to lawyers for Maxwell on Tuesday. Habeas petitions are often filed as a last resort and to protect against unlawful confinement after appeals are exhausted, as happened after Maxwell’s conviction and sentencing. Epstein, a millionaire financier, was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. Ordered detained until trial, he was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail in August 2019 and the death was ruled a suicide . Maxwell, a British socialite , was arrested a year later and was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021. She was interviewed by the Justice Department’s second-in-command in July 2025 and was soon afterward moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. MICHAEL R. SISAK Sisak is an Associated Press reporter covering law enforcement, courts and prisons. He is based in New York. twitter mailto