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Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 142 Filed 02/04/21 Page 8 of 38 Epstein’s equal—if not his superior—and baselessly caricatured as a villain of near-mythical proportions. Only at this time did the government, according to its own account, decide to launch an investigation of Ms. Maxwell and prosecute her on allegations that it had previously, repeatedly (and properly, since any charges would have been baseless) determined did not merit charges. In short, the government’s response to the media frenzy was not to adhere to its earlier objective analysis and consideration of the facts, but to feed the frenzy and substitute Ms. Maxwell for Epstein. Thus, the government announced its arrest and indictment of Ms. Maxwell on July 2, 2020, the exact anniversary of Epstein’s indictment. At an extraordinary press conference, the United States Attorney for this District described Ms. Maxwell’s prosecution as the “prequel” to the Epstein indictment; thereafter, the then-Attorney General, in rare public comments on bail proceedings in an individual case, expressed his delight that “we were able to get Miss Maxwell.” But in trying “to get” Ms. Maxwell, the government compromised its standards, cut corners, and exceeded its authority under the law. This is shown in the present motion and others we are filing today, and includes the following: * The government has pressed forward with this case even though the NPA expressly provides that “the United States .. . will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.” Rather than argue, as it has time and again, that such agreements should be construed as drafted, the government does the opposite here, retreating from the very agreement that its own agents negotiated and agreed to with the approval of senior levels of Main Justice. * The government has concocted a federal Mann Act case against Ms. Maxwell by alleging that, on some unspecified occasion during a four-year period between 1994 and 1997, and in an unspecified manner, she somehow transported and caused a single individual to travel across state lines for purposes of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with Epstein. Those charges, in turn, require the government to allege a violation of New York law relating to sexual activity. Here, the government has relied upon an alleged class B misdemeanor that, if the state statute of limitations had DOJ-OGR-00002580