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on. claimed Epstein romise to reim- 3 of thousands of ailed investment A judge decided 1othing. amory. I would ver met Jeffrey thael Stroll, the ident of Williams xa Corp. “Suffice 1ing good to say racteristics most in is a penchant ked to Maxwell, gh-society party w York and Lon- iends are said to is. Sweden and a fun to be with,” _ New York maga- aven said that he 1en as much as I hem are on the doubt about it, ocial life.” s to Epstein was not.a fre- Inv Beach social is presence felt. de donations, he he Palm Beach - and $100,000 to he lived in luxu- srcedes sat in his a green Harley- raited at a hangar rmational Airport. chef and a small ready. From a msion, he could rouce mlervieweu uve auegeu victims and 17 witnesses. Their report shows some of the girls said they had been instructed to have sex with another woman in front of Epstein, and one said she had direct intercourse with In October, police searched the Palm Beach mansion. They discov- ered photos of naked, young-looking ' females, just as several of the girls had described in interviews. Hidden cameras were found in the garage area and inside a clock on Epstein’s desk, alongside a girl’s high school transcript. Two of Epstein’s former employees told investigators that young-looking girls showed up to perform massages two or three times a day when Epstein was in town. They said the girls were permit- ted many indulgences. A chef cooked for them. Workers gave them rides and handed out hun- dreds of dollars at a time. One employee told detectives he was told to send a dozen roses to one teenage girl after a high school drama performance. Others were given rental cars. One, according to police, received a $200 Christmas bonus. The cops moved to cement their case. But as they tried to tighten the noose, they encountered other forces at work. In Orlando they interviewed a possible victim who told them noth- ing inappropriate had happened between her and Epstein. They asked her whether she had spoken to anyone else. She said yes, a pri- vate investigator had asked her the - same questions. When they itiineenied one of Epstein’s former employees, he told them the same thing. He and a pri- vate eye had met at a restaurant days earlier to go over what the man would tell investigators. Detectives received complaints that private eyes were posing as police officers: When they told Epstein’s oe attorney, Guy-Frons- tin, he said the investigators worked for Roy Black,. the high-powered Miami lawyer who has defended the likes of Rush Limbaugh and William Kennedy Smith. While the private eyes were conducting a parallel investigation, Dershowitz, the Harvard law pro- fessor, traveled to West Palm Beach with information about the girls. From their own profiles on the pop- ular Web site MySpace.com, he obtained copies of their discussions about their use of alcohol and mari- juana. tracoastal Water- He took his research to a meet- Palm Beach sky- ing with prosecutors in early 2006, o be aman who wherehe soughtto cast doubt on the ; teens’ reliability. lary wealth’ tan The: private eyes had dug up 07/26/17 @ andrew_marra@pbpost.a. ~ VULUCIAIS disU Walltcu Ww Lidl &o INU son, the selfdescribed Heidi Fleiss, with lewd and lascivious acts. By then, the department was frustrated with the way the state attorney's office had handled the case. On the same day the warrants were requested, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiterwrote a letter to State Attorney Barry Krischer suggesting he disqualify himself from the case if he would not act. Two weeks later, Recarey was told that prosecutors had decided once again to take the case to the grand jury. It is not known hov many of the girls testified before he grand jury. But Epstein’s defenseteam said one girl who was subpoemed — the one who said she had sexial intercourse with Epstein — nevershowed up - The grand jury’s indictment was handed down in July. It was not the one the police department had wanted. Instead of being slapped with a charge of unla’ sexual activity with a minor, Epstein was charged with one count of felony solicitation of prostitution, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail early July 23 and released hours later. Epstein’s legal team “doesn’t dispute that he had girls over for massages,” Goldberger said. But he said their claims that they had sex- ual encounters with him lack credi- bility. “They are incapable of being believed,” he said. “They had crimi- nal records. They had accusations of theft made against them by their employers. There was evidence of drug use by some of them.” What remains for Epstein is yet to be seen. The Palm Beach Police Depart- ment has asked the FBI to investi- gate the case. It also has returned the $90,000 Epstein donated in 2004. In New York, candidates for governor and state attorney general have vowed to return a total of at least $60,000 in campaign contribu- tions from Epstein. Meanwhile, Epstein’s powerful friends have remained silent as tabloids. and Internet blogs feast on the public details of the police investigation. Goldberger maintains Epstein’s innocence but says the legal team has not ruled out a future plea deal. He insists Epstein will emerge in the end with his reputation untarnished. “He will recover from this,” he Staff writer Larry Kellar and siaff researchers Bridget Buex, Angelica Cortez, Amy Hanawaynd Melanie Mena contributed to ths tory. w Page 79 of 151 Public Records Request No.: 17-295 DOJ-OGR- 00032118