Judge: Prosecutors broke law in deal with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Ruling says team led by now-U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta violated the victims' rights by not informing them of the plea agreement.
“Epstein worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others.’’ Epstein was released in 2009, and in the decade since has been slapped with numerous lawsuits from his accusers.
The cushy deal had him register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to victims identified by the FBI. The plea deal, called a non-prosecution agreement, helped Epstein settle all potential federal criminal liability from his sex-trafficking activities prior to 2007 by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge.
The labor secretary went in front of television cameras yesterday to defend his handling of a 2008 plea agreement. At the time, Acosta was the U.S. attorney in Florida. Multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein was accused of sex trafficking, and Acosta says he was about to escape accountability, so his office stepped in.
One communication discussed an apparent promise made between Acosta and Epstein's attorney Jay Lefkowitz.
Lawyer Jeffrey Herman, who also represented women alleging they were abused by Epstein, called Marra's ruling a "step in the right direction."
A Department of Labor spokesperson released a statement following the judge's ruling.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra, in a 33-page ruling, said prosecutors violated the victims' rights by not informing them of the deal and instead sending a letter counseling them to have "patience."
Sen. Ben Sasse, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary's oversight subcommittee , called for the Justice Department to "reopen its non-prosecution agreement so that Epstein and anyone else who abused these children are held accountable."
Sarah Fitzpatrick is an investigative producer for NBC News. She previously worked for CBS News and "60 Minutes."
A lawyer for Epstein did not immediately return requests for comment.
The deal was under the Trump administration's Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, who was the US Attorney in South Florida at the time. The renewed spotlight on Epstein's crimes caused a firestorm of backlash for Acosta, who resigned in disgrace recently. But what was this so-called sweetheart deal that Epstein was allowed to cut back in 2008 ...
Epstein is charged with having operated a sex trafficking ring in which he sexually abused dozens of underage girls. (Getty Images) Court documents show that Epstein's Palm Beach, Florida mansion was where at least 40 underage girls were brought for what turned into sexual encounters.
The cushy deal had him register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to victims identified by the FBI. The plea deal, called a non-prosecution agreement, helped Epstein settle all potential federal criminal liability from his sex-trafficking activities prior to 2007 by pleading guilty to a state prostitution charge.
Prosecutors had identified 36 victims of Epstein, most of whom had no knowledge of the plea deal and had no opportunity to give inputs in the case. It had appeared a little out of character for Acosta, who was known to push for longer sentences. However, it was a meeting with Epstein's lawyer attorney Jay Lefkowitz that allegedly smoothened the deal. According to an investigation by Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown, the two former colleagues, who had their career roots in Washington-based Kirkland & Ellis, had met at the Mariott Hotel, West Palm Beach while the negotiations were still underway for Epstein's convenient plea.
Ever since the globe-trotting, wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein's arrest last week, there's one aspect of the horrifying case that has been spoken about more than anything else - the plea deal that Epstein initially received, that almost let him get away scot-free.
Brown, the two former colleagues, who had their career roots in Washington-based Kirkland & Ellis, had met at the Mariott Hotel, West Palm Beach while the negotiations were still underway for Epstein's convenient plea.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who is one of Epstein's accusers as well claimed that Dershowitz had sex with her, while she was underage all those years ago. He has vehemently denied the claims. Dershowitz was previously on the legal defense team of O.J Simpson as well as Harvey Weinstein.
Acosta, who was an assistant US attorney at the time, acted illegally in 2008 when he failed to tell Epstein’s underage victims that his office was preparing to offer the wealthy pervert a non-prosecution agreement, Florida federal court judge Kenneth Marra wrote in his Thursday opinion.
Epstein was released in 2009, and in the decade since has been slapped with numerous lawsuits from his accusers.
The federal Crime Victim’s Rights Acts granted Epstein’s more than 30 victims the opportunity to discuss plea negotiations with prosecutors and appear at sentencing.
A lawyer for Epstein did not immediately return messages.
Acosta’s ‘poor judgment’ cost him. Signing off on the notorious 2007 Epstein deal came to haunt Alex Acosta, the U.S. Attorney after Jimenez. Following publication of a Miami Herald series about the Epstein case that threw renewed light on his NPA, then-Labor Secretary Acosta resigned in 2019. Jimenez said he agrees “completely” with ...
The sickly-sweet deal that lawyers for serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein worked out with South Florida federal prosecutors veered so far off the beaten path, it blazed a path of its own. Over the last 29 years, three non-prosecution agreements (NPAs), the kind of deal Epstein got, went to big companies in the Southern District of Florida, ...
The U .S. Crime Victims’ Rights Act says victims must be notified about and participate in negotiations between prosecutors and defendants. But prosecutors hid the Epstein NPA document for several months until he pleaded guilty, avoiding any objections to its lenient terms.
Jimenez said he agrees “completely” with a finding by DOJ regulators that “the NPA was a flawed mechanism for satisfying the federal interest that caused the government to open up the [Epstein] investigation in the first place.”. That finding appeared in a November 2020 report by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
Four 11th Circuit judges dissented. Those judges, all women, skewered the Epstein NPA and assailed the “dramatic increase” in all kinds of pre-indictment agreements over the last 15 years.
Ten years later the wealthy financier died in a Manhattan jail cell, an apparent suicide, while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking in New York.
Not including the Epstein affair, only three of the cases, or 1.6 percent, ended with NPAs. “They are rarer than hen’s teeth and hens have no teeth,”said criminal defense lawyer Joel Hirschhorn. During a 53-year career, he has yet to negotiate a single one.
U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. In those remarks, Acosta maintained that his office at the time was “trying to do the right thing for these victims.”.
The issue resurfaces when the politically connected Epstein, whose friends have included President Trump and former President Bill Clinton, is arrested on sex trafficking charges on July 6.
Epstein was required to register as a sex offender and ended up serving a custodial sentence of 13 months in jail, where he was allowed out during the day on work release. Even Acosta expressed frustration with the lax punishment Epstein received.
A Florida judge ruled in February 2019 that the team of Miami prosecutors led by Acosta broke the law when they hid the deal from the more than 30 underage victims who had allegedly been sexually abused by Epstein.
Leading Democratic presidential candidates, including Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have demanded that Acosta quit.
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta says he will resign amid controversy over the way he handled a sex crimes case against wealthy businessman Jeffrey Epstein a decade ago when Acosta was U.S. attorney for southern Florida. The issue resurfaces when the politically connected Epstein, whose friends have included President Trump and former President Bill ...