“I’ve never heard of a deputy attorney general doing anything like this before,” said a former senior Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

the U.S. Supreme Court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by an associate of the late financier and convicted sex offender to overturn her criminal conviction.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, after a jury convicted her of sex trafficking in 2021.