Ghislaine Maxwell vows to take her case all the way to the Supreme Court if she loses bid to appeal sex trafficking conviction

Ghislaine Maxwell will take her case to the Supreme Court if she loses her appeal of her 2021 sex trafficking conviction that led to a 20-year sentence, her lawyers said today.

Attorney Arthur Aidala said that Maxwell would fight on because her case could 'put a stake in the heart of the trust' between citizens and their government if she loses.

Aidala said that the US government agreed not to prosecute Maxwell as part of a deal with  pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 and it couldn't just 'rip it up.'

Maxwell's legal team said it was 'cautiously optimistic' after the hearing before a three-judge panel in New York, who reserved their decision.

Lawyers for the disgraced British socialite are seeking to overturn her conviction for sex trafficking for luring girls as young as 14 to Epstein.

She is serving 20 years in jail at a prison in Tallahassee, Florida, with a release date of 2037, should her appeal fail.

An appeal hearing was held today in New York for British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who listened on the phone during the 20-minute hearing 

Maxwell's lawyers said she will take her case all the way to the Supreme Court if she loses her appeal

Maxwell's close relationship with Epstein was well-documented in public over the years, yet she still denies having knowledge of the dead financier's crimes

Aidala was appearing at the Second Circuit appeal court in New York in the same courthouse where Maxwell was put on trial.

Maxwell, 62, listened in on a phone line to the 20-minute hearing.

Speaking afterwards, Aidala said that Epstein's plea deal in 2008, under which he served just 15 months in jail for soliciting underage girls for prosecution, gave immunity for Maxwell under a provision related to co-conspirators.

Maxwell's lawyer Arthur Aidala said he was 'cautiously optimistic' after the hearing before a three-judge panel, who reserved their decision 

Aidala said that the deal with Florida prosecutors referred to the 'United States' which he said referred to prosecutors in the entire country.

That made it unfair when Maxwell was brought to trial by prosecutors in New York in 2020, after Epstein hanged himself while awaiting his own trial.

'You can't rip up an agreement between the government and its citizens', Aidala said.

Aidala said that Maxwell was 'very optimistic' that her appeal would win and he called her a 'very intelligent' woman who was helping with the case.

If they lose the appeal they would go to the Supreme Court because 'it's not just about Ghislaine, it's about the whole system' Aidala said.

'It puts a stake in the heart of the trust that goes between (the government) and the citizens of this country'

In court, Diana Fabi Samson, another of Maxwell's lawyers, said that the US government made a 'promise' to Maxwell with Epstein's plea agreement.

She called Epstein's plea deal 'weird' and 'very unusual' and said that if the prosecution did not it would put a 'dagger in the heart of the trust between the government and its citizens.'

Judge Raymond Lohier challenged Fabi Samson that a Department of Justice manual said that non prosecution agreements should be the 'opposite' of what she was suggesting, meaning Maxwell could have been prosecuted.

Fabi Samson replied that the agreement was 'not a shield to allow the government to get out of its promises'.

Maxwell, who procured minors for sex offender and one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, is serving 20 years in jail at a prison in Tallahassee with a release date of 2037

Despite the appalling nature of her crimes, Maxwell and Epstein's social circle included Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other wealthy businessmen

She also raised the idea that Epstein, who gave his associates millions of dollars in payments, may have selflessly wanted to avoid others being sent to jail.

Epstein asked for immunity for his associates so 'no-one else would take the blame for what he did', Fabi Samson said. 

After the hearing she said that she felt 'cautiously optimistic' Maxwell would win.

Sigrid McCawley, the lawyer for Annie Farmer, one of the Epstein victims who testified against Maxwell, said: 'It took far too many years for the Epstein survivors to get some small piece of deserved justice with Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction and prison sentencing.

'Nothing in Maxwell’s appellate argument changes the fact that she does not get a free pass and her conviction should be upheld. Survivors deserve nothing less'.

Maxwell's conviction marked an astonishing fall from grace for the daughter of the late and disgraced British media tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Born into extreme privilege, Maxwell began dating Epstein in the early 1990s after her father's mysterious death on his yacht in the Canary Islands upended her world.

During her trial prosecutors described how she acted as the boss of Epstein's Florida mansion where she would ensure a constant supply of teenage girls were available for 'massages'.

Despite the appalling nature of her crimes, Maxwell and Epstein socialized in rarefied circles and were friends with Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other wealthy businessmen.

Early reports revealed how the disgraced British socialite struggled to cope with her new life behind bars, refusing to eat and complaining bitterly to prison authorities that her clothes didn't fit

Since arriving at FCI Tallahassee, Maxwell has reportedly begun teaching an etiquette class and has been doing regular Pilates and yoga sessions 

During Maxwell's trial she was detained in the grim Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

She complained bitterly about her treatment and said she lost weight, her hair began falling out and that guards woke her up every 20 minutes shining a light into her cell.

Since arriving at FCI Tallahassee, Maxwell has reportedly begun teaching an etiquette class and has been doing regular Pilates and yoga sessions.

A keen runner, she has been seen running round the outdoors track at the prison as she tries to keep fit.

Maxwell, who is known as prisoner 02879-509, has also been using the four languages she knows to help other inmates understand their legal documents.

Among those she has reportedly grown close to are Narcy Novack, a 'sadistic' woman serving life for orchestrating the murders of her millionaire husband and his mother.

Epstein was due to go on trial before Maxwell but killed himself in custody in August 2019 before his case could be heard.