File 023047

Images

Text

14 The Virgin Islands Daily News TERN' ERSION OF JUSTICE Wednesday, February 27, 2019
How a future Trump Cabinet member
gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime
By JULIE K. 610 WN
MIAMI — On a muggy October morning in
2007, Miami, top federal prosecutor. Alexan-
der Acosta, had a breakfast a,intmeri with a
former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay
Lethowitz.
It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-
year-okl prosecutox a rising Republican star who
had grwd in somml White House posts before
being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President
George W. Bush.
Instead of meeting at the pros.utor's Mithni
headquarters, the two mai — both with profes-
sional roots in the prestigious Washington law
finn of Kirldand . Ellis — convened at the
Marrien in WeSt Palm Beach, about 70 miles
away. For Lethowia, a U.S. special envoy to
North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting
was critical.
His clic, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey
Epstein. 54, wis accused of assembling a lazie.
cuhlthe nenvork of underage gids — with the
help of young female r.nriters — to coerce into
having sac acts behind the walls of his opulert
waterfiont massion as often as three times a day,
the Town of Palm Beach police found.
The eccentric hedge find manager, whose
hien. included former Presi.nt Bill Clinton,
Donald Trumpaaidprince.Andr, was al, m
=, trs all ipca%negs na iTsr =
Manhattan, New Mexico and the Virgin law..
FBI and court merards show.
Facing a 53-page federal indictment. Epgein
could have ended up in federal prison for the leg
of his life.
But on the morning oft. breakthst
ing, a deal was struuck eicti;:ealid=lea
Ogesnst=,thaertine' ntrtheeraiumber of people
imnIved.
Not only would Epgein sent just 13 months
in dse county jail, but the deal — .11. a non-
prosecut ion agreement — ...ally shut down
an aligning FI31 probe into cs.ther t.re were
more victims and other powerful pegic win
took part in Epstein's sex crimes, accordng to
a Miami Henid examination of thousands of
emails, court documeris and FBI records.
The pact required Epstein to plead guilty to
two prostitudon charges in stale court.
Niacin and four of he accomplices named in
the agreement re.. immunity from all faleral
criminal charges. But even more unusual. the
deal included waning .t granted immunity to
"any potential co-coisspinicas" w. were also
imals. in Epstein, CrirneS.
These ac.mplices or participants were not
idol.. in thc agreement, leaving it open to
interpretation 101061 11 possibly referred to other
influential people who were having sex with
underage girls at Epgein, serious homes or on
his plane.
As part of . arrangement, Acosta agreed
despite a fe.ral law to t. contrary, that deal
would . Imp! from the viethns. As a r.ult. t.
rt=invmednb=ge=9ed01ue7tiirer
Fa ix,. by a8ACa PRE.
njaSgOl'::irag?EaRI-rnbenrt ttantleart httet l'avriat'y Otielltr:01 rr'Itigrittriretf'r44"Eliaahteelined, a
sexual abuser of girls. 9
Jeffrey preyed 00 91116 who were in
a bad way, girls who were basically
homeless. He went 01101 9146 who
he thought no one would listen to
and he was right.
any chance that &girls —or anyone else —
mit L:lirtivietinryccorhotdar.,d`,a2;., by
unlimited fun. and represented by a poswthouse
legal team. was able to manipulate the crninal
justice system. and how his accusers. trau-
matized by their pasts. belkve they were betrayed
by 1111 1610 prosecutors who pledged to rrotect
them.
doWt thi. anyone has been told the Utah
;bp's tliC  olal es,Y= teas:, 0011 01101
190
ruined fife and a lot of girls' lives. People
11011 11 know w.t he did and why he wasn't
Pr'Nocevt.ele'rde:ITI7ornat=sne;rctaly o f
labor, Acosta, 49, overse. a niassivc federal
0
a06
oniTvhs7iM1
dde0
660109911 of 00 161611110
Acosta aid not refpond to numerous requests
— COurtneyWild
who was 14 when she rnet Epstein
'97 t rail': :MI gr: eg r
tiations and the role that Acosta would play in
arranging the deal, which scuakd the federal
probe into a possible international sex trafficking
operation. Among other dings Acorta
Epstein, lawyers unusual frecdonts in diemting
the temss of the non-prosecution agreement
'T. damage that
happened in this case is un-
conscionable,- said Bmdlcy
Edwards, a formcr gate
prosecutor who represents
sane of Epstein, victims
"How in the world, do you,
. U.S. attorney, engage in
a negotiation with a criminal
.fendant, basically allowing
that criminal defendant to
write up the agreement?'
Ettls
As a resuh, neither the victims— nor even the
jatIltedTy wse°11111=sh*e wd befinVi20E1
0011
2005, %%hen underage sa activities were first
uncovered by police. Police referred the case to
ho Ih0tftV; ines.Viaglea rt nnhe" thb7arn=
the Palm Beach State Attorney, Office.
Not 'he said, she said'
ACTZ=rc: tis"'
50-something 'shes' and
one 'he. — and the 'shes'
all basically told the same
gory, said retired Palm
Beach Police Chief Michael
Reiter, win SupaviSed
It=ban a d.thle later,
at a time when Olympic
gymnasts and Hollywood
actress. have become a catalyst for a cultural
reckoning about sexual abuse, Epstein, victims
have all but been forgo..
T. women — now in t.ir late 20s and early
30s — are still fighting for an el us. justice that
ewn the passage of time has not made right.
Lila ether victims of sexual abusc, they be-
lieve they've been silenced by a criminal _Make
system that stubbornly fails to hold Epstein and
ot.r me,althy and powerful mcn
"Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad
way, gids who were tnsically homel.s. He went
atler girls who he thought no me would listen to
and he vms right,' said Counney Wild w. was
14 w.n she met Epstein.
Oser the pag year, the Miani Herald oc-
amined a d.ade, worth °foam documents,
lawsuits, witness depositions and newly released
FBI documents. Key people inwlved in .
investigation — most of whom haw never
,oken before — weir also interview. The
Herald also obtained new records, inducing the
full unredacted copy oft. Palm Beach pike
inv.tigation and witness stitcmcnts that had
been kept un.r
The Herald learned that, as , of t. plea
deal, Epstein prosided what the government
calkd "valuable consideration" for unspecified
information he supplied to federal investigators.
Whik the documents obtained by the Herald
don't detail what the infonnation was. Epstein,
te:Cserigh:g=o7lathp:e=g in
the 2008 global fmancial crisis.
Reco. shay that Epstein was a key fed-
eralwimeas in the criminal_prose,tsion,of two
rl Tnnutc.e171 enttirrnc kvierVe 7tirstSftlreld' )200 t1,
who were accused of corporate securiti. fraud.
Epstein was one of the largest investors in the
hedge fiind managed by the executives, who ,scre
later acquitted. It is not known what role, if,
the case played in Epacin, plea negotiaticns.
lbc Herald also identified about 80 women
%al lyTurby"aestnc in from 200 to 2096. About
nksted or otherwise sem.
Michael Reiter
See PERVERSION, page 16