Ghislaine Maxwell appeals against sex trafficking conviction

The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has officially appealed against her conviction and sentence in the United States for sex trafficking.

The 60-year-old was found guilty by a jury of luring young girls to massage rooms for the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the southern district of New York last month.

Court documents show Maxwell has paid $505 (£420) to appeal against both her conviction and sentence.

The court docket shows her appeal has now been sent to the US court of appeals.

The crimes of Epstein, whose associates once included Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, were first reported in 2005. He served prison time in Florida in 2008 on a state charge of procuring a minor for prostitution. After several lawsuits, he was arrested again in 2019 in a federal case in New York.

Epstein was found dead in his cell while awaiting similar charges to Maxwell in August 2019. Maxwell has been detained since she was arrested in July 2020.

In addition to sex trafficking, Maxwell was convicted of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three related counts of conspiracy.