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12 The Virgin Islands Daily News
PERVERSION OF JUSTICE
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Federal prosecutors admit backing down
Epstein's attorneys applied relentless pressure, they say
tliTaild"`""
In recent court filings, the government was
fore. to ans,Aer questions about its negotia-
tions, fin.ly admitting in 2013 that federal
prosecutors had back. down under relentless
pressure by Jeffrey Epstein, attomeys.
"The government admits that, at least in part
as a result of objections lodg. by Epstein, law-
yers to victim notifications, the [Unit. States
Attorney, Office] teev.uated its obligations
to provide notification to victims and Jane Doe
it 1 was thus not told that the
USAO had entered into a
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"
Francey Hakes, the
former feder. prosecutor
"I have never heard of a case
where feder. prosecutors
consult with a defense at-
Kenneth torney before they send out
Starr standard victim notification
letters. To negotiate what
the letters ,rnuld say and whether they Aould be
sent at all suggest that the victims' rights were
violated mukiple times."
Kenneth Staff, aggressive advocacy for
Epstein against allegations of improper sexual
behavior was in stark contr. to the path he
took investigating President Bill Clinton as
independent counsel for the Whitewater probe.
The Starr Report, the summary of his find-
ings in the Whitewater investigation, which
start. as a probe of a land deal gone sour and
veer. into an investigation of sexu. miscon-
duct, savag. the president for his involvement
with White House intern Monica Lewinslcy and
was the basis for impeachment
Starr himself Amid face criticism in 2016 -
he stepp. down as president of Baylor Univer-
sity amid .legations that he and other university
officials mishandled sexual assault allegations
brought by fem.e students against members of
the school, footb.I team.
The Miami Herald reach. out to Starr,
though cettifi. letter and through a spokesmail
for his current law finn, the Lanier Finn, but did
not receive a response for this story.
Palm Beach police detective Joseph Recarey,
one of the most highly decorat. officers on
the P.m Beach Police Department, call. the
Epstein case the most troubling of his 23-year
career.
"Some of the victims were - and still are -
afraid of Epstein:. he said as part of a series of
interviews with the Her.d earlier this year.
Privately, Michael Reiter and Recarey said
they held onto hope that Epstein would be
brought to trial someday, but they said that that
notion had fad..
"I always hop. that the plea would be
drown out and that these teenage girls, who
were labeled as prostitutes by prosecutors,
would get to fmally shed that label and see him
go to prison where he belongs:. Recarey said.
Recarey died in May after a brief illness. He
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was 50 wars oid.
Epstein's sentencing hearing
Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his
sentencing on June 30, 2008 at the Palm Beach
County Coutthouse dress. comfortably in a
blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers.
His attorney, Jack Goldberger, was at his side.
Jeffrey Epstein, ac-
cused of sexually
abusing dozens of un-
derage women, grins
for his mugshot on
Florida's sex offender
registry. He once
rsi)taeral,`,1-,I;:grgmer
At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the
55-year-old silver-haired financier - accus.
of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls
- was fingerprinted and handcuffed, just like
any other crimin. sentenced in Florida.
But inmate No. W35755 would not be
treated like other convicted sex offenders in the
state of Florida, which has some of the strictest
s "T:tflfeyietesr baerrentrifrvItZO movement
raised awareness about the kid-glove handling
of powerful men accus. of sexu. abuse,
Epstein, lenient sentence and his extraordi-
nary treatment while in custody are still the
source of consternation for the victims he was
accus. of molesting when they were minors.
Beginning as far back as 2001, Epstein lured
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masturbation, szczxl intercourse, court
an'tigifilsr- mostly fn. disadvantaged
families - were recruit. from middle schools
and high schools around P.m Beach County.
Epstein would pay the girls for massages and
offer them further money to bring him new
girls every time he was at his home in P.m
Beach, according to police reports.
The girls, now in their late 20s and early
30s, allege in a series of f.eral civil lawsuits
fil. during the last decade that Epstein sexu-
.ly abused hundreds of girls, not only in P.m
Beach, but at his homes in Manhattan, New
Mexico and on Litde St. James island in the
U.S. Virgin Islands
Special treatment in prison
In 2007, the .1 had prepared a 53-page
federal indictment charging Epstein with sex
crimes that could have put h. in f.er.
See PERVERSION, next page