Today, the United States Supreme Court denied Ghislaine Maxwell’s petition for certiorari. Maxwell v. United States, No. 24-1073 (U.S. Oct. 6, 2025) (cert. denied). Maxwell presented this question for review: under Santobello v. New York and common principles of contract interpretation, does a promise on behalf of the ‘United States’ or the ‘Government’ that is made by a United States Attorney in one district bind federal prosecutors in other districts? Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted by jury of sex trafficking a teenage girl, among other charges, in the Southern District of New York.
Maxwell’s cert petition contended the Southern District of New York unlawfully disregarded a 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida that implicated some of her crimes. That agreement protected Epstein from some future charges in that district and his “potential co-conspirators.” The disputed language stated, “if Epstein successfully fulfills all the terms and conditions of this agreement, the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.” Because the agreement used the term “the United States,” Maxwell argued it binds all U.S. Attorney Offices.
In her underlying appeal, the Second Circuit rejected her argument, holding that a non-prosecution agreement is binding only in the region that made the deal unless the agreement explicitly describes a broader scope in this opinion. Maxwell’s cert petition highlighted the circuit split about on “whether promises in a plea agreement in one district on behalf of the ‘United States’ or the ‘Government’ binds the Government in other districts.” The cert petition cited previous rulings from U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th Circuits, which hold that, absent an “express limitation,” plea agreements that make a promise on behalf of “the United States” or “the government” bind the federal government as a whole. It also cited a 7th Circuit ruling that supported the 2nd Circuit decision below.
Certiorari stage briefings is available on the Supreme Court’s docket.
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