DOJ-OGR-00021277.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 22-1426, Document ON 103 3536038, Page105 of 258
Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 103 of 348
everything, but I really do not think that Mr. Epstein is going to engage in serious negotiations
until he sees the Indictment and shows up in mag [federal magistrate judge] court.” She suggested
charging Epstein on a federal conspiracy charge, and if he refused to plead to that offense,
superseding with additional charges and going to trial. She complained that after seven weeks of
negotiations, “we are just spinning our wheels.” Her proposed email to Lefkowitz detailed all of
the objectionable provisions in his draft, and concluded, “If you or your client insists on these,
there can be no plea agreement.”
H. Acosta Edits the Federal Plea Agreement, and Villafaiia Sends a Final Version
to the Defense
The next day, Thursday, September 20, 2007, Villafafia emailed Assistant State Attorney
Belohlavek and informed her:
Our deadline is Monday evening for a signed agreement and
arraignment in the federal system. At this time, things don’t look
promising anyway, but I will keep you posted. In their latest draft,
they changed what they agreed to plead to in the state from
solicitation of minors for prostitution (a registrable offense) to
forcing adults into prostitution (a non-registrable offense). We will
not budge on this issue, so it is looking unlikely that we will reach a
mutually acceptable agreement. If that changes, I will let you know.
Acosta sent Lourie “[s]ome thoughts” about the USAO version of the proposed “hybrid”
federal plea agreement he had received from Lourie the evening before, commenting that “it seems
very straightforward” and “we are not changing our standard charging language” for the
defense. '°° Noting that the draft was prepared for his signature, Acosta told Lourie that he did not
typically sign plea agreements and “this should not be the first,” adding that the USAO “should
only go forward if the trial team supports and signs this agreement.” ?! Lourie forwarded the email
to Villafafia with a transmittal message simply reading, “I think Alex’s changes are all good ones.
Please try to incorporate his suggestions, change the signature block to your name and send as
final to Jay.” Lourie also noted to Acosta and Villafafia that he believed the defense would want
to go back to the initial offer of a state plea with a non-prosecution agreement. When Villafafia
sent the revised plea agreement to Lefkowitz later that afternoon, she advised him that if the
defense wanted to return to the original offer of a state plea only, the draft NPA she had sent to
him on September 17, 2007, would control.
20 The USAO had standard federal plea agreement language, from which this “hybrid” plea agreement had
substantially diverged.
V1 The standard procedure was for documents such as plea agreements to be signed by an AUSA under the
name of the U.S. Attorney. In his OPR interview, Acosta further explained that wanted to give “the trial team” an
opportunity to voice any objections because “if it’s something they don’t feel comfortable with we . . . shouldn’t go
forward with it.”
77
DOJ-OGR-00021277
Extracted Information
Phone Numbers
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00021277.jpg |
| File Size | 855.5 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.3% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 3,185 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 20:09:46.655100 |