Judge rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s attempt to overturn conviction

(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Tuesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s challenge to her conviction, finding her claims “meritless” or “frivolous.”

Maxwell was trying to vacate her conviction and 20-year prison sentence.

Maxwell was convicted of five felony counts, all arising from her participation with Jeffrey Epstein, in the sexual abuse of young girls over the course of a decade. A federal appeals court upheld her conviction and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up her petition.

In court filings, Maxwell argued documents released in the Epstein files supported her claims of constitutional violations, but Judge Paul Engelmayer called her claims “all meritless and all or almost all are frivolous.”

“And the purported ‘new’ evidence to which Maxwell points, principally materials released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is largely irrelevant to the charges against Maxwell and does not support her claims of error,” the judge continued. “On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges.”

Maxwell’s attorneys declined to comment.