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

The 60-year-old was found guilty of luring young girls to massage rooms for 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.

Despite apologising to her victims during her sentencing hearing, court documents show Maxwell has now paid $505 (£420) to appeal against both her conviction and sentence.

During the three-week trial she was described as “dangerous”, and jurors were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein’s various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Maxwell’s lawyers had indicated they would be appealing against the conviction after it emerged one of the jurors in her trial had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused.

Her counsel previously said juror Scotty David’s actions “demonstrated a lack of reliability and an appetite for publicity” when the socialite applied for a retrial.

Judge Alison Nathan dismissed this.

And in submissions before her sentencing hearing, Maxwell’s lawyers said she should face no more than four to five years in prison.

But the judge said she “repeatedly, and over the course of many years participated in a horrific scheme to traffic young girls, some the age of 14”.

Read more:
Pictures show how Maxwell and Epstein were partners in crime

Judge Nathan added: “The defendant’s conduct… was heinous and predatory.

“Ms Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable and played a pivotal role in facilitating sexual abuse.”

Maxwell has been in prison since July 2020, despite numerous attempts to have her released on bail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.