Ghislaine Maxwell: Jeffrey Epstein associate's lawyers argue she should 'never had been prosecuted' due to 'weird' agreement

Convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell is appealing her conviction after her lawyers said she should have "never been prosecuted" due to a "weird" plea deal. Maxwell's lawyer, Diane Fabi Samson, told a New York court on Tuesday, March 12 that a previous plea deal made by her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 should have prevented the conviction of any of his associates.

She argued that Maxwell should have been covered by this agreement. Ms Fabi Samson labelled the plea deal "weird" and "unusual", but argued that it was still valid in Maxwell's case. She told the court: "In the end Ms Maxwell was prosecuted for crimes that she, as a third party beneficiary to the plea agreement in Florida, should not have been prosecuted." She added: "The prosecutors that were questioned had no recollection of what they were thinking when they agreed and actually edited this co-conspirator clause. One thing they did say though, was that Mr Epstein's counsel informed them that he wanted this co-conspirator clause so that no one else would take the blame for what he did. They also said they had no interest in anyone else, no interest in prosecuting anyone else."

Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking and other offenses following an investigation into the crimes of the former financier and convicted sex offender Epstein. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison following her trial in June 2022.

Prosecutors have slammed the argument as "cursory and undeveloped", adding that it has no weight on Maxwell's conviction. Circuit judge Raymond Lohier said that he would provide a written judgement at a later date, in which he will accept or dismiss the appeal.