Ghislaine Maxwell is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her 2022 sex trafficking conviction, claiming she was wrongfully prosecuted despite a non-prosecution agreement Jeffrey Epstein reached with the federal government nearly two decades ago. The appeal comes as congressional pressure mounts on the Justice Department to release additional records related to Epstein’s network and alleged co-conspirators.

In a new brief filed Monday, Maxwell’s attorneys argue that federal prosecutors violated a binding deal Epstein struck with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Florida in 2007. That agreement, they claim, extended protection to unnamed co-conspirators — including Maxwell — and should have shielded her from criminal charges.

“This case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did,” the filing states, casting Maxwell as a legal scapegoat for Epstein’s decades-long abuse of underage girls.

Maxwell’s legal team is asking the high court to take up the case after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld her conviction, rejecting the idea that a Florida-based agreement could bind prosecutors in another state. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in a years-long conspiracy with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.

The government’s response, submitted earlier this month, rejected Maxwell’s argument outright, stating that she was not a party to the 2007 deal and that “only Epstein and the Florida USAO were parties.” DOJ lawyers also emphasized that the New York charges were pursued by a different office, unbound by Florida’s arrangements.

Despite this, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus issued a pointed appeal to both the Supreme Court and former President Donald Trump, whose administration oversaw her prosecution.

“President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal – and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it,” Markus said, calling Maxwell’s case a matter of “profound injustice.”

Trump, for his part, recently told reporters he had never been approached about pardoning Maxwell but claimed he declined an invitation to visit Epstein’s private island — a frequent site of alleged abuse — while noting many in Palm Beach were also invited.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will take up the appeal, but Maxwell’s high-profile plea arrives amid renewed scrutiny of Epstein-related prosecutions. Last week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly met with Maxwell for nine hours in Florida. Sources familiar with the meeting say she initiated the discussion and received limited immunity for statements made during the session. Those talks were not mentioned in her Supreme Court filing.

Meanwhile, bipartisan efforts in Congress are gaining momentum to force the release of long-secret Epstein documents, including financial records and unredacted witness lists. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie are each sponsoring bills that would compel the DOJ to disclose what it knows about Epstein’s associates and alleged co-conspirators.

“It’s hard to believe that she and Epstein committed these crimes alone,” Khanna said on ABC’s This Week. Massie echoed the sentiment, emphasizing the need to “follow the money” and questioning whether Maxwell’s cooperation might be tied to a bid for clemency.

Though Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leadership have shown little enthusiasm for putting either bill on the House floor, Khanna and Massie have floated using a discharge petition — a rarely used procedural move — to bypass leadership and force a vote. That would require support from all House Democrats and a sizable number of Republicans. The earliest the petition could be filed is September, when the House returns from recess.

Maxwell’s legal appeal and the push for transparency arrive in tandem with ongoing public frustration over what many see as selective accountability in the Epstein case. While Maxwell has been imprisoned and Epstein is dead, few high-profile figures alleged to be involved in the abuse ring have faced public consequences.

Critics have also drawn comparisons between Maxwell’s prosecution and the federal government’s handling of other elite-related scandals. Some observers, for instance, have questioned why Maxwell is now seeking relief from the Supreme Court while the U.S. quietly accepted a Boeing 747-8 luxury jet from the Qatari government during the Trump administration — a gift reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

As legal maneuvering continues, the Supreme Court’s decision on whether to hear Maxwell’s appeal will serve as a pivotal moment in a case that has never fully faded from public consciousness. What remains to be seen is whether the court — or Congress — will finally force into daylight the full scope of who was involved in one of the most notorious abuse networks in American history.