Ghislaine Maxwell, the close associate and convicted accomplice of the late disgraced financier and accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, intends to file a petition asking a judge to release her from prison.

In a court filing to US District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer on Wednesday, Dec. 3, Maxwell's attorneys did not provide specific details on what legal grounds she would argue in her habeas corpus petition seeking her prison release.

The court filing also states that Maxwell plans to file her petition “pro se,” meaning she would represent herself and pursue her early release without the help of a lawyer. The filing is in response to the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from Maxwell's case.

Maxwell's petition also comes almost two months after the US Supreme Court rejected the appeal of her conviction and sentence. She was convicted in a New York federal court in 2021 on five counts related to sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maxwell is the only associate of Epstein to face prison time. Epstein died in custody while awaiting trial in 2019.

She is currently in a minimum-security women’s prison in Texas after being transferred from a federal prison in Florida. The move came shortly after she was interviewed about Epstein by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former defense attorney.

The new court filing warned that releasing documents related to Maxwell’s case may "contain untested and unproven allegations." The one-page document added that the release of grand jury materials also "would create undue prejudice so severe that it would foreclose the possibility of a fair retrial," if Maxwell's petition for release is successful.

The court filing also came on the same day that House Democrats on the Oversight Committee released never-before-seen photos and videos from a private Caribbean island that Epstein once owned. The Justice Department has until Dec. 19 to release more records from its files, under a law Congress passed in November.

The House Oversight Committee did not immediately return USA TODAY's request for comment about Maxwell's court filing.

Controversy still surrounds the Epstein files

Continuous controversy over Epstein's criminal case files have tormented Trump. Epstein and Maxwell were friends of Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s.

During his 2024 campaign for president, Trump supported releasing the Epstein files. But Trump's Justice Department released a memo in July stating that no further disclosure of the documents was necessary after teasing a "truckload" of Epstein files in March. It sparked unusual dissension within the Republican Party and a movement to force a vote on the "Epstein Files Transparency Act.”

While Trump constantly called the issue a hoax, he surprisingly reversed course and supported releasing the files as the bill swiftly passed through the House, the Senate, and was signed by Trump on Nov. 19.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ghislaine Maxwell will plea for prison release, new court filing says

Reporting by Terry Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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