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Ghislaine Maxwell has officially filed a petition in federal court seeking to overturn her 2021 sex trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence.

Getting into it: Filed in the Southern District of New York, the petition represents Maxwell’s latest and most aggressive legal attempt to overturn her conviction after exhausting all traditional appeals, including a rejected bid to the US Supreme Court. Submitted pro se (without an attorney), the 50-page habeas corpus petition argues that “substantial new evidence” has emerged, rendering her trial constitutionally flawed and fundamentally unfair. Maxwell argues that juror misconduct, suppression of exculpatory evidence, presentation of false testimony, and improper coordination between federal prosecutors and attorneys for alleged victims collectively violated her due process rights and resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

The petition lays out nine legal grounds for vacating her conviction, including the claim that a key juror failed to disclose a personal history with sexual abuse during jury selection, potentially biasing the trial. Maxwell also alleges that the government withheld critical evidence (such as prior grand jury testimony from law enforcement officers), which would have allowed her defense to challenge the prosecution’s narrative more effectively.

To support these claims, Maxwell cites over 140 exhibits, including sworn depositions, documents from civil litigation involving Epstein’s estate, internal records from the FBI, and media reports that emerged after her conviction.

The case will now be reviewed by a federal judge in Manhattan. As of now, the Department of Justice has not issued a public response to Maxwell’s latest filing.