New York, 18 December (H.S.):
Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite convicted in 2021 as Jeffrey Epstein's chief accomplice in a sex trafficking conspiracy, filed a pro se habeas petition on Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, imploring judges to vacate or amend her 20-year sentence.
Asserting substantial new evidence unearthed from civil suits, probes, and documents, Maxwell contends no impartial jury could have sustained her conviction, spotlighting a juror's concealed history of childhood sexual abuse that allegedly tainted deliberations. This eleventh-hour maneuver precedes a December 19 Justice Department deadline—mandated by President Donald Trump's Epstein Files Transparency Act—to disgorge investigative troves on Epstein, who perished by suicide in 2019.
Litany of Prior Reversals and Fresh Allegations
Maxwell's crusade follows rebuffs from appellate courts and a U.S. Supreme Court denial in October, where prior juror bias claims—centered on Juror 50—were dismissed as inadvertent rather than malicious. She now amplifies these with purported revelations impugning trial fairness, insisting cumulative flaws demand redress amid unsealed grand jury transcripts from New York and Florida probes.
Incarcerated since her June 2022 sentencing at FCI Tallahassee, Maxwell transferred to Texas' minimum-security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in August post-interrogation by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Epstein entanglements.
Federal judges recently greenlit Epstein-Maxwell grand jury materials' release, fulfilling congressional mandates for transparency despite victim privacy carve-outs . Maxwell's self-represented 50-page salvo arrives as Epstein estate photos surface depicting Trump alongside figures like Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton—images devoid of impropriety allegations.
The Southern District of New York has yet to respond, leaving her fate suspended against a backdrop of resurgent scrutiny on elite networks.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
