Ghislaine Maxwell will plea for prison release, new court filing says
Source: USA Today
Updated Dec. 3, 2025, 10:53 pm. ET
Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate and convicted accomplice of the late disgraced financier and accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, intends to file a petition asking a judge to release her from prison. In a court filing to US District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer on Wednesday, Dec. 3, Maxwell's attorneys did not provide specific details on what legal grounds she would argue in her habeas corpus petition seeking her prison release.
The court filing also states that Maxwell plans to file her petition pro se, meaning she would represent herself and pursue her early release without the help of a lawyer. The filing is in response to the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from Maxwell's case.
Maxwell's petition also comes almost two months after the US Supreme Court rejected the appeal of her conviction and sentence. She was convicted in a New York federal court in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maxwell is the only associate of Epstein to face prison time. Epstein died in custody while awaiting trial in 2019.
She is currently in a minimum-security womens prison in Texas after being transferred from a federal prison in Florida. The move came shortly after she was interviewed about Epstein by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former defense attorney.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/03/ghislaine-maxwell-seeks-prison-release-new-court-filing/87594761007/
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.815.0.pdf
FakeNoose
(39,758 posts)I believe she does, unless she gave up ownership when fleeing the long arm of the law. Anyway my point is that she could easily leave the country if she gets out of prison. She could take refuge with family members in Britain and elsewhere, if not to her own property. I'm sure Chump would like to see her leave quickly and quietly.
bluestarone
(20,931 posts)Pardon her?
SergeStorms
(19,850 posts)slightlv
(7,176 posts)She doesn't have to hire a lawyer, just start hinting to trump she *really* wants that pardon to get out of mail scott free to "get on with her life."
BlueSpot
(1,233 posts)But he'll tell Roberts to make it happen when it makes its way up to the Supreme Court.
He's on shaky enough ground with the Epstein business. Pardoning Maxwell is a bridge too far, IMO.
LPBBEAR
(613 posts)on how long it will be before a unfortunate (cough cough) "accident" befalls her? Or a sudden depression overwhelms her and impels her to commit "suicide"?
Ray Bruns
(5,871 posts)
ChicagoTeamster
(297 posts)2naSalit
(99,334 posts)I wouldn't want to be within many miles of either of them.
chowder66
(11,674 posts)Bayard
(28,127 posts)He's already in enough trouble over the Epstein files.
This woman should never see the light of day again for the girls lives she helped ruin, and pushing some to commit suicide. She's a monster. A kindred soul with trump.
RedWhiteBlueIsRacist
(1,627 posts)Jersey Devil
(10,709 posts)She has had lawyers every step of the way and her lawyers wrote the letter to the court advising she would be filing a habeas petition pro se. Usually people who file pro se do so because they have no money for a lawyer or perhaps their lawyer thinks there are no grounds for the actions the client wants them to take.
Is it because she is going to say something in the habeas petition that will have more impact than if her lawyer says it for her? I await her petition to see what is really going on here.