The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her conviction for helping the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, steering clear of a case that continues to hound President Donald Trump and his administration.
Judges turned down the appeal by Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein's former girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York on charges including sex trafficking of a minor.
In doing so, the justices let stand a lower court's decision upholding Maxwell's conviction. They did not explain their reasoning in rejecting the appeal.
Maxwell's lawyers contend her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York.
"We are, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's case," said lawyer David Oscar Markus. "But this fight isn't over. Serious legal and factual issues remain and we will continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done."
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and convicted the following year after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
Mr Trump and his administration have been trying to quell a political furore that erupted after the Justice Department's decision not to release files from its investigation of Epstein – despite earlier pledges to do so – infuriated some of Trump's most loyal followers.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The case has long been the subject of conspiracy theories, considering his rich and powerful friends and the circumstances of his death. Mr Trump was friendly with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, and their interactions faced renewed scrutiny this year.
