Jeffrey Pagliuca

Background

Jeffrey Pagliuca is a partner at Haddon Morgan and Foreman in Denver, Colorado. The firm was founded by criminal defense legend Edward Haddon and has a national reputation for Sixth Amendment advocacy and high-profile federal criminal defense work. Pagliuca has practiced criminal defense at the federal level for decades and has built a reputation for methodical preparation and constitutional precision in federal criminal proceedings.

Pagliuca has represented clients in complex matters including white-collar crime, government misconduct, and civil rights cases. His practice is centered in Colorado but extends to significant federal matters nationwide. His selection as Maxwell’s counsel reflected a preference for experienced federal defense attorneys with strong appellate credentials, which would matter given the near-certainty of an eventual appeal.

Connection to Epstein

Pagliuca and his firm partner Laura Menninger jointly represented Ghislaine Maxwell through the most consequential phase of her case: her trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York in November-December 2021, and the subsequent sentencing and appeal.

At trial, Pagliuca shared defense duties with Menninger. He participated in substantive legal arguments before Judge Alison Nathan, including arguments about witness credibility, the admissibility of evidence, and the scope of the government’s case. The defense team’s overall strategy — challenging the reliability of aging memories and the effect of civil litigation on testimony — required sustained argumentation across weeks of proceedings.

Following Maxwell’s conviction on five counts, Pagliuca led the drafting and filing of her federal appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal raises multiple grounds including: the juror who disclosed prior sexual abuse experience during deliberations without having disclosed it during voir dire; the appropriate standard for evaluating that juror’s possible bias; and other evidentiary and constitutional arguments.

Aftermath

The Maxwell appeal has been fully briefed and argued before the Second Circuit as of 2025. The court’s ruling has not been issued as of this writing. A successful appeal would result in either a new trial or a dismissal on specific counts; the prosecution has opposed the appeal vigorously.

Pagliuca has continued his practice at Haddon Morgan and Foreman during and after the Maxwell proceedings. He has not given media interviews about the Maxwell representation. His work on the appeal represents the continuation of the defense function in an adversarial system that includes the right to challenge convictions through established legal processes.