Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal bid rejected by US Supreme Court

GHISLAINE Maxwell's final bid for freedom has been crushed after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal against her criminal conviction for sex trafficking.

- By Christopher Bucktin

The decision ends the former socialite's attempts to overturn her 20-year prison sentence for grooming and trafficking girls for the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Her only hope of early release now rests on a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.

The court rejected her petition during their "long conference" a private meeting held before the new court term, where officials decide which cases to add to their workload. Federal prosecutors had fiercely opposed Maxwell's appeal, which centred on the argument that her 2021 conviction violated an earlier agreement Epstein had struck in Florida in 2008. Under the deal, Epstein had agreed to plead guilty to lesser state charges.