Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madame Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorneys claim she is in a similar position as Bill Cosby, and her sex trafficking case should be dropped.
Her lawyers argue that Maxwell, 59, accused of recruiting underage girls for Epstein from the mid-1990s until 2004, was covered under a non-prosecution agreement when she was charged.
Cosby, 83, was convicted in 2018 of indecent assault for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He was freed on Wednesday when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled his rights were violated by prosecutors who promised not to charge him.
Cosby testified in a civil trial with Constand that he drugged women he wanted to have sex with. Prosecutors used the testimony from the civil case against him in his criminal trial. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled they could not do that.
Maxwell’s lawyers claim she is covered under a 2007 non-prosecution deal Epstein struck with federal prosecutors in Florida. But, Judge Alison Nathan ruled in April that the agreement did not cover any co-conspirators or apply to prosecutors in Manhattan, according to the New York Post.
“As in Cosby, the government is trying to renege on its agreement and prosecute Ms. Maxwell over 25 years later for the exact same offenses for which she was granted immunity,” the attorneys wrote. “This is not consistent with principles of fundamental fairness.”
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty and has been in federal custody since her arrest. Her trial is scheduled to begin in Manhattan in November.
