Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the Paul Engelmayer Ghislaine Maxwell decision on Tuesday, August 25, rejecting Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn her conviction and be freed from prison. She will remain behind bars after the ruling closed off her latest challenge to the sentence she received in 2022.
Engelmayer said Maxwell’s arguments were “frivolous” and “demonstrably meritless.” In his ruling, he wrote, “Nearly all its claims are procedurally barred; the overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence adduced at trial conclusively established her guilt; and her petition's claims are demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods.”
Maxwell habeas petition
Maxwell filed a habeas petition in December 2025, alleging she did not receive a fair trial. The filing sought to undo her conviction and reopen the question of whether she should stay in prison, but Engelmayer rejected that effort on procedural grounds and on the evidence he said was presented at trial.
He wrote that nearly all of her claims were procedurally barred. He also said the trial record was enough to establish her guilt, a finding that left no room for the petition’s central claim that the proceedings had been unfair.
Epstein Files Transparency Act
Many of Maxwell’s new-evidence claims stemmed from documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Engelmayer said that material was “largely irrelevant to the charges against” Maxwell, undercutting the argument that the releases changed the legal picture in her case.
That left the petition with speculation, distortions, and falsehoods, as the judge put it. For Maxwell, the practical result is simple: the conviction stands, the 240-month sentence remains in place, and her latest route to release has been rejected.
2022 sentence
Maxwell was sentenced to 240 months in prison in 2022 for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, according to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Damian Williams said at the time, “This sentence sends a strong message that no one is above the law and it is never too late for justice,” after the sentence was announced.
Tuesday’s ruling keeps that sentence intact and gives no new release path. Maxwell’s challenge ended with the same answer from the court: the evidence at trial supported the conviction, and the petition did not overcome it.
