Disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell to appeal sex trafficking conviction

28 February 2023, 18:28 | Updated: 1 March 2023, 01:03

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly set to lodge an appeal against her sex trafficking conviction, claiming victims who testified against her at trial had “faded, distorted and motivated memories”.

Maxwell was handed a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of five counts of trafficking and abusing young girls over decades with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a New York federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The billionaire financier's death was later ruled a suicide by hanging.

According to the news agency, Maxwell will file the appeal with the federal court in New York on Tuesday.

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Maxwell’s lawyers are expected to say: “The government prosecuted Ms Maxwell as a proxy for Jeffrey Epstein.

“It did so to satisfy public outrage over an unpopular non-prosecution agreement and the death of the person responsible for the crimes.

“In its zeal to pin the blame for its own incompetence and for Epstein’s crimes on Ms Maxwell, the government breached its promise not to prosecute Ms Maxwell, charged her with time-barred offenses, resurrected and recast decades-old allegations for conduct previously ascribed to Epstein and other named assistants, and joined forces with plaintiffs’ attorneys, whose interests were financial, to develop new allegations out of faded, distorted, and motivated memories.”

Her attorneys will reportedly outline several issues she will point to as grounds for appeal, including that prison conditions left her “unable to meaningfully assist” in her own defence.

Maxwell is also expected to claim that, by bringing the charges against her, the US government breached a “non-prosecution agreement”, claiming the agreement “immunised Maxwell for these offences”.

During her trial in December 2021, the court was told how Maxwell "preyed on vulnerable young girls, manipulated them, and served them up to be sexually abused" by Epstein.

But her attorneys will claim she didn't have a fair trial after it emerged that one of the jurors, known as Scotty David, failed to disclose his own experience of sexual abuse during jury selection.

It will also be argued that the court had refused to correct the jury’s “misunderstanding” of elements of the charges, which meant Maxwell was “convicted of crimes with which she was not charged”.

Maxwell, the daughter of late press baron Robert Maxwell, has been in prison since July 2020, despite multiple attempts from her defence counsel to get her released on bail.