Ghislaine Maxwell should have “never been prosecuted” due to a “weird” legal deal brokered by Jeffrey Epstein before he died, her lawyers have said.

Lawyers for Maxwell, 62, are appealing her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking offences at an appeals court in the southern district of New York.

Diana Fabi Samson, defending her, told the court on Tuesday that a 2007 plea agreement between Maxwell’s ex-boyfriend Epstein and authorities in Florida meant none of his co-consipirators could ever be prosecuted.

It is the latest in a series of appeals launched by Maxwell’s legal team.

Lawyers acting for the US government argued in court there was “no affirmative intent” that would “bind” any other districts outside Florida.

Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier repeatedly appeared to find fault with Ms Fabi Samson’s argument and said he would give a written ruling at a later date.

Maxwell was found guilty of recruiting young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein between 1994 and 2004. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell while awaiting trial in August 2019. It was later ruled a suicide.

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The 62-year-old is serving her sentence at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, although her conviction was handed down in New York.

Ms Fabi Samson told the appeals court on Tuesday: “In the end Ms Maxwell was prosecuted for crimes that she, as a third party beneficiary to the plea agreement in Florida, should not have been prosecuted.”

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Describing the circumstances behind the 2007 deal, she added: “The prosecutors that were questioned had no recollection of what they were thinking when they agreed and actually edited this co-conspirator clause.

“One thing they did say though, was that Mr Epstein’s counsel informed them that he wanted this co-conspirator clause so that no one else would take the blame for what he did.

“They also said they had no interest in anyone else, no interest in prosecuting anyone else.”

She added authorities involved at the time said it was a “weird agreement… weird, unusual, very unusual”.

US government lawyers have previously said Maxwell’s appeal arguments “fell far short of establishing that sentencing judge Alison Nathan abused her discretion” in her decision not to overturn the jury’s verdict.

They have also said her sentence was not unfair and her claims to the contrary are “so cursory and undeveloped” that they should be dismissed.

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