Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers ask judges to overturn her conviction, arguing Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal shields her

• Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers are arguing for her release in a federal appeals court.

• The appeal focuses on a nonprosecution agreement between Jeffrey Epstein and federal prosecutors.

• If the appeal is successful, Maxwell could be freed and face another trial.

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell — the former Jeffrey Epstein associate convicted of trafficking girls to him for sex — asked a federal appeals court Tuesday afternoon to overturn her conviction and set her free from prison, arguing that a deal Justice Department officials struck with Jeffrey Epstein should have shielded her from being prosecuted in the first place.

The arguments, held in an ornate Manhattan courtroom before a panel of three judges, hinged on a controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and Alexander Acosta, who then served as the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Through the agreement, Epstein was permitted to serve a light sentence after pleading guilty to soliciting sex from an underage girl — even though law enforcement officials had concluded that he sexually abused dozens of girls.

Maxwell's lawyers argue that the contract's blanket over "potential co-conspirators" extends to her, and restricts federal prosecutors across the entire United States — not just southern Florida — from bringing a criminal case related to Epstein's sexual abuse.

Ripping up such an agreement would embed "a dagger in the hearts of the trust between the government and its citizens regarding such plea agreements," Diana Fabi Samson, a lawyer for Maxwell, told the judges, of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.

A jury in Manhattan federal court found Maxwell guilty of sex-trafficking charges in December 2021, four days after her 60th birthday that Christmas. The jurors agreed with the prosecutors' allegations that she groomed four girls for Epstein to rape and, in some cases, sexually abused them herself.

Alison Nathan, the judge who oversaw Maxwell's trial, sentenced her to 20 years in prison and issued a $750,000 fine. In her sentencing remarks, Nathan said Maxwell weaponized her status as a sophisticated adult woman to deceive the girls into trusting her.

"She befriended and developed relationships of trust," Nathan said at the hearing. "She then manipulated the victims and normalized sexual abuse through her involvement, encouragement, and instruction."

Maxwell is serving her sentence in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, and did not appear at the hearing herself. She listened into the hearing remotely, Arthur Aidala, another of Maxwell's attorneys, told journalists after the hearing.

If the judges agree with her lawyers' arguments, Maxwell could be set free and — depending on the ruling — face another trial.

It could force the women who already testified about Epstein's sexual abuse to face testifying again, repeating their experiences to a jury they would hope believed them.

Aidala said the plain language of the contract — binding "the United States" — worked in Maxwell's favor.

He said he believed several Supreme Court Justices — including Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch — would agree with that reading. Different circuit courts understood the relevant precedents in different ways, making the case ripe for the high court to review the case, he said.

"Quite frankly, I hope they aren't scared away by the name of the defendant," Aidala said.

Epstein's nonprosecution agreement and a juror issue complicate the case

The appeal has moved slowly to a hearing. Maxwell retained the firm Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, well known in New York's legal scene for taking on challenging cases, including the appeal for the former film producer Harvey Weinstein's criminal conviction in Manhattan and the defense of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York from disbarment.

Her 113-page appeal brief was authored partly by John M. Leventhal, a former New York state appeals court judge.

Tuesday's hearings exclusively focused on the nonprosecution agreement between Epstein and the Justice Department.

Fabi Samson said Epstein had abided by its terms, but that federal prosecutors in Manhattan violated it by opening an investigation into Epstein in 2018, following a series of Miami Herald articles about the deal. The Herald's reporting led to the resignation of Alexander Acosta from then-President Donald Trump's cabinet, where he was serving as Labor Secretary at the time.

One of the judges, Raymond Lohier, appeared skeptical that Maxwell was covered by the agreement, much less federal prosecutors outside of the Southern District of Florida. But Fabi Samson argued that the Justice Department's own investigation into the Epstein deal, and its manual for plea agreements, suggested Acosta had "plenary authority."

"All US Attorneys have authority to bind other districts," she said.