On the last day permitted by the justices, Ghislaine Maxwell filed a 159-page petition Friday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction, arguing that per the terms of a non-prosecution agreement the government made with her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, she should never have been prosecuted.

The 63-year old Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of five counts of sex trafficking and grooming minors for Epstein’s abuse — crimes for which she was sentenced 20 years imprisonment. Epstein himself died in jail before he could face trial.

Following Maxwell’s conviction, she unsuccessfully appealed, having argued that a 2007 plea deal between Epstein and the federal government made in the Southern District of Florida protected her — even though she was not a party to the deal and her prosecution was taking place in the Southern District of New York. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that it was “well established” law that a plea agreement “binds only the office of the United States Attorney for the district in which the plea is entered unless it affirmatively appears that the agreement contemplates a broader restriction,” and that no such indication was present in Maxwell’s case.

Maxwell initially had until Feb. 23 to file an appeal with the nation’s highest court, but a few weeks before the filing was due, the deadline was extended by Justice Sonia Sotomayor until April 10, after Maxwell said she had hired a new lawyer just one day earlier.

In Maxwell’s petition, her attorney called the case “the perfect vehicle” to resolve a split among the circuits over whether, in disputes like Maxwell’s, “United States” refers to the federal government broadly, or prosecutors in a specific jurisdiction more narrowly. It goes on to argue that a promise made in a plea agreement by one set of federal prosecutors should be binding on prosecutors from a different jurisdiction.

“A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way,” it said in the brief.

Maxwell is a British former socialite who is the daughter of British media proprietor and fraudster Robert Maxwell.

Throughout Maxwell’s prosecution, information surfaced relating to connections between Maxwell, Epstein, and President Donald Trump, including testimony from one of Maxwell’s victims that Epstein introduced her to Trump at Mar-a-Lago when she was just 14 years old. The conservative-leaning Court — which includes three justices appointed by Trump — will now have the chance to decide whether Maxwell’s case is one in which they wish to become involved.

“This is an important issue and we are hopeful that the Supreme Court takes the case,” said Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, in an email to Law&Crime Friday. “Ghislaine never should have been charged as the federal government gave her immunity. To say that it only applies in one jurisdiction and not another makes no sense as a matter of law or common sense.”

You can read the full filing here.

Now that Sean “Diddy” Combs has persuaded a federal judge that “a gag order is appropriate,” in the words of the defense, the high-profile RICO and sex trafficking defendant’s lawyers and federal prosecutors are fighting over just how far an order should go and to whom it can and should apply.

In recent days, Combs asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to put a stop to “extrajudicial statements from prospective witnesses and their lawyers” and to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial amid an avalanche of civil lawsuits that Combs claims are “opportunistic.” At the same time, the defense has claimed that “unauthorized and prejudicial leaks of grand jury information” have taken place.

For instance, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asserted two weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was “most likely” the “source” that handed CNN a 2016 video of him abusing his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles.

While prosecutors swiftly disputed the claim, the defense went so far as to speculate that the “leak” to CNN was timed for May 17 former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in Manhattan was on pause for that day as he attended son Barron Trump’s high school graduation — making it “a slow news day” and a “perfect time” for the abuse video to come out and “mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations.”

Defense attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday moved to dismiss a civil racketeering (RICO) lawsuit filed against him and other high-profile defendants by one of his former sound engineers.

In February, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr. sued Combs for sex trafficking, drug distribution, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Also named in the lawsuit is Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, actor Cuba Gooding Jr., an unnamed “Rapper,” and an unnamed “R&B Singer.”

Since then, an amended complaint was filed in March and a second amended complaint was filed in April — in order to correct various deficiencies and abide by mandatory pleading standards.

Now, Combs’ lawyers say Jones anticipates filing yet another iteration of his lawsuit — and are imploring the judge overseeing the case to shut things down by dismissing the complaint entirely.