(New York) The lawyer for imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to overturn her sex trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence, saying the non-prosecution agreement of Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 with a US attorney in Florida should have prevented him from being prosecuted.
Attorney Diana Fabi Samson’s argument was repeatedly challenged by a judge on the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals before the three-judge panel reserved its decision.
Maxwell’s lawyers are challenging his December 2021 conviction on several grounds, but the oral arguments had only one goal: determining whether the deal Epstein struck in Florida to prevent federal action against him there also protected Ghislaine Maxwell at New York. Me Samson said yes. A prosecutor said no.
Maxwell, 62, is serving her sentence in a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, where yoga, Pilates and movies are offered.
Epstein’s lawyers made a similar argument about protecting his non-prosecution agreement in Florida following his July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges in Manhattan. But the legal issue became moot in his case after he killed himself a month later in federal prison while awaiting trial.
Maxwell was arrested a year later and convicted at trial after several women sexually abused by Epstein recounted how she played a crucial role from 1994 to 2004 in recruiting and grooming teenage girls for her former boyfriend to abuse.
Maxwell was romantically involved with Epstein, but later became his employee at his five residences, including a mansion in Manhattan, a private island in the Virgin Islands and a large estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Me Samson insisted that a provision in Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement that protected potential co-conspirators should have prevented prosecutors from charging him 13 years later.
Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier repeatedly appeared to question arguments from Maxwell’s lawyer that “all U.S. attorneys have absolute authority to engage other districts” when entering into agreements with the accused. He noted that the Florida agreement identified several people, besides Epstein, who should have been protected under the agreement, but that Maxwell was not among them.
He said he reviewed the Justice Department’s manual on non-prosecution agreements and concluded that they “suggest the opposite” of Ms.’s plea.e Samson. Judge Lohier concluded that the decisions of each U.S. attorney’s office could not force other offices to comply.
Me Samson countered that the manual was only advisory and “a shield for the government to back out of deals with defendants.”
She added that “denying the viability of this deal strikes a dagger at the heart of trust between the government and its citizens regarding plea deals.”
Arguing for the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Rohrbach responded to a question from Judge Lohier by saying he was not aware of any agreement reached by any federal prosecutor’s office requiring all other U.S. attorneys to agree to conform.