The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking and abuse of minors.

Maxwell had argued she was protected from prosecution under a non-prosecution agreement Epstein reached with prosecutors in Florida in 2008. The Court rejected her claim, upholding a lower ruling that the agreement did not apply to the separate New York case in which she was convicted.

Maxwell’s lawyer said the defense will continue pursuing other legal avenues. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

US President Donald Trump, when asked about the decision, said he would: “take a look” at a possible pardon for Maxwell but offered no commitment.