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Case 22-1426, Document 77, 06/29/2023, 3536038, Page43 of 258 Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 41 of 348 told OPR that Epstein’s local counsel brought attorney Alan Dershowitz to see Krischer and the Assistant State Attorney, but Dershowitz was “overly aggressive” and threatened, “We’re going to destroy your witnesses; don’t go to court because we’re going to destroy those girls.” According to Krischer, Dershowitz so “tainted the waters” that Epstein also hired local attorney Jack Goldberger, with whom Krischer had “a working relationship.” Because the husband of the Assistant State Attorney was Goldberger’s law partner, Belohlavek recused the Assistant State Attorney to remove “even the appearance of any kind of conflict” of interest, and Belohlavek took over the case. Goldberger, together with Gerald Lefcourt, a nationally known New York criminal defense attorney also representing Epstein, then directed their efforts at Belohlavek and Krischer to dissuade the office from prosecuting Epstein, largely by attacking the credibility of the victim witnesses. Meanwhile, the State Attorney’s Office took the unusual step of preparing to present the case to a grand jury. Krischer told OPR that under state law as it existed until changed in 2016, his office prosecuted minors as young as 14 for prostitution.!° The possibility that Epstein’s victims themselves could have been prosecuted caused “great consternation within the office,” and according to Krischer, resulted in the decision to put the case before the grand jury.'! Belohlavek told OPR that her office took the allegations against Epstein “seriously, because .. . it was an organized scheme to involve young girls by offering them money. And I wouldn’t say that we... thought they were prostitutes . . . [but] I think there was solicitation.” However, she said, although Epstein’s “behavior was reprehensible, .. . I’m limited by . . . the state statutes as to what I can charge.” Krischer told OPR, “There were so many issues involving the victim-witnesses that to my mind, in consultation with my [prosecutors], the only way to achieve, to my mind, real justice was to present the case to the grand jury and not to direct-file” criminal charges against Epstein. C. Florida State Procedure for Bringing Criminal Charges Federal criminal procedure requires that a felony charge—that is, any charge punishable by imprisonment for one year or more—be brought by a grand jury unless waived by a defendant. Under Florida law, however, a grand jury is required to bring criminal charges only in a death penalty case.'? For all other cases, a State Attorney has concurrent authority to file criminal charges by means of a document called an “information” or to seek a grand jury indictment. Although Florida criminal cases are routinely charged by information, state grand juries are often utilized in sensitive or high-profile cases, such as those involving allegations of wrongdoing by public officials.!* Florida grand jury proceedings are subject to strict secrecy rules that, among Ao Belohlavek told OPR that prostitution was a misdemeanor charge, and she did not handle misdemeanors. u Because the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into the State Attorney’s Office’s handling of the Epstein case was pending at the time OPR interviewed Krischer, he declined to further explain to OPR his office’s prosecutive decisions. Q U.S. Const. amend. V; Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(a), (b). The sole exception under the rule is felony criminal contempt, which need not be charged by indictment. Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(a)(1). i Fla. Const. Art. I, § 15(a). \4 The Florida Bar, The Grand Jury, Reporters Handbook — The Grand Jury, available at https:/Awww floridabar. org/news/resources/rpt-hbk/rpt-hbk-13/. 15 DOJ-OGR-00021215