Ghislaine Maxwell has been denied another attempt to get out of jail following the Bill Cosby case. Maxwell’s attorneys filed a new complaint arguing that, like Cosby, Maxwell had “non-prosecution agreements” that should have prevented her from being arrested. According to a report by The Daily Mail, U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan rejected this argument on Friday.
Maxwell hoped that the abrupt release of Cosby could work in her favor as she awaits her trial for allegedly aiding Jeffrey Epstein in a child sex trafficking operation. Cosby was released from prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found a decades-old non-prosecution agreement between him and witnesses who spoke at his trial. However, the NPA documents Maxwell’s attorneys presented to Nathan referred to Epstein, not Maxwell. The federal judge said that the documents aren’t “persuasive” enough to apply to Maxwell.
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“The [Cosby] case focused on whether prosecutors were required to honor a promise that the court found to be clear in the absence of a formal plea agreement,” Nathan wrote. “Even if this court agreed with the analysis in Cosby, that opinion sheds no light on the proper interpretation of the NPA in this case.”
“After considering the arguments in Maxwell’s renewed motion and letter of supplemental authority, the Court’s view remains unchanged from its April 16, 2021 Opinion & Order,” it continued. “Under Second Circuit precedent, the NPA does not bind the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It thus does not bar the charges in the superseding indictment.”
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to 8 charges related to the alleged Epstein trafficking operation. She has been in jail for over a year awaiting trial and has consistently pleaded to post bail. Prosecutors and judges continue to conclude that she is a flight risk. Her wealth, resources and far-flung social connections played into many of these decisions.
Maxwell could face up to an 80-year prison sentence if she is found guilty. Epstein himself was never tried because he died by alleged suicide in another New York City prison. Maxwell and her lawyers insist on her innocence, but there has been much speculation about who could be implicated if she were to make any confessions. Some allegations suggest that powerful people in business, politics and entertainment participated in these alleged crimes.
Maxwell’s trial has been rescheduled for November of 2021. The docu-series Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell is streaming now on Peacock.
