A US federal judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal to overturn her five felony convictions, ruling that her claims were "without merit" and "frivolous." In a 67-page opinion filed Tuesday, Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed Maxwell's post-conviction motion, which she submitted while representing herself.
Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein recruit and sexually abuse minors over more than a decade. She could be released in 2037. A jury convicted her on five felony counts in December 2021. The Second Circuit upheld the verdict in 2024, and the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal last October.
Her motion was filed under Section 2255, a federal statute allowing convicted defendants to challenge their sentences. Judge Engelmayer, who did not preside over the original 2021 trial, described the filing as "a lengthy and discursive petition."
Much of Maxwell's appeal relied on documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed by Congress in November 2025 with near-unanimous support. Maxwell argued the files proved constitutional violations at trial and sentencing. But Judge Engelmayer found the documents actually undermined her case. "To the extent they are relevant, far from exculpatory, they incriminate her or reinforce the soundness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges," he wrote.
The judge also pointed to contradictions in Maxwell's own testimony. Regarding the sentencing enhancement for her leadership role in Epstein's operation, her motion claimed she had "largely departed" his home by 2002. But in a July 2025 interview with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell described continuing to manage Epstein's properties and staff for years afterward.
On her claim of selective prosecution, the judge noted she did not name any other individuals involved in the abuse scheme and did not even acknowledge Epstein's wrongdoing. He called the case "a model of proper prosecution" and noted that any further appeal would not "be undertaken in good faith."
