Maxwell says Epstein file release invalidates her sex trafficking conviction

Ghislaine Maxwell filed a motion asking a federal judge to vacate her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction, arguing that newly unsealed Epstein files expose constitutional and legal violations that make the verdict “invalid, unsafe and infirm.” The filing, which had been sealed since April, was made public Wednesday as Maxwell, 64, continues to seek either a reduced sentence or full vacatur while serving a 20-year term at a federal prison camp in Texas.

Maxwell says the Justice Department material released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act changed the evidentiary picture of her case. In the petition, she argues that the files expanded the record beyond what the trial judge and appellate courts had reviewed, and she claims the government withheld relevant evidence, witnesses testified falsely, and lawyers for Epstein’s victims functioned as de facto prosecutors. She also wrote that “No reasonable juror would have convicted her” if the new documents had been available for cross-examination and impeachment at trial.

Maxwell’s direct appeal was already rejected by the Second Circuit in 2024, and the Supreme Court declined to hear her case on Oct. 6, 2025. Her latest filing is a collateral attack under 28 U.S.C. 2255, which means she must persuade the court that the newly disclosed records are not just more Epstein material, but evidence that reveals a specific constitutional flaw serious enough to undermine the conviction itself.

Prosecutors dismissed the motion in a nearly 100-page rebuttal filed May 19 and unsealed with Maxwell’s petition. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz said Maxwell’s claims were “speculative, factually erroneous and procedurally barred,” and urged the court to reject her request for an evidentiary hearing.