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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 227 of 348 government informed any victim about the potential for resolving the federal investigation through a state plea. A. The Case Agents and Villafafia Solicit Some Victims’ Opinions about Resolving the Federal Investigation Villafafia told OPR that when she and the case agents met with victims, “we would ask them how they wanted the case to be resolved.”7*! And most of them wanted the case to be resolved via a plea. Some of them wanted him not to be prosecuted at all. Most of them did not want to have to come to court and testify. They were very worried about their privacy rights. Some of them wanted him to go to jail. But... [s]ome of them talked about bad experiences with the State Attorney’s Office. And so, I felt like sending them back to the State Attorney’s Office was not something that they would have supported. Villafafia told OPR that she also recalled that some victims “expressed . . . concern about their safety,” and were worried that Epstein would find out about their participation in the investigation. In her 2017 declaration submitted in the CVRA litigation, Villafafia stated that the two CVRA petitioners “never communicated [their] desires to me or the FBI case agents and my role was to evaluate the entire situation, consider the input received from all of the victims, and allow the Office to exercise its prosecutorial discretion accordingly.”** She also noted that some victims “fear[ed] having their involvement with Epstein revealed and the negative impact it would have on their relationships with family members, boyfriends, and others.” In the FBI case agent’s 2017 declaration filed in the CVRA litigation, she stated, “During interviews conducted from 2006 to 2008, no victims expressed a strong opinion that Epstein be prosecuted.” She further described the concerns of some of the victims: Throughout the investigation, we interviewed many [of Epstein’s] victims .... A majority of the victims expressed concern about the possible disclosure of their identities to the public. A number of the victims raised concerns about having to testify and/or their parents finding out about their involvement with Mr. Epstein. Additionally, ae Villafafia created for OPR a chart listing victims identified in the state and federal investigations, with notations indicating several with whom Villafafia recalled discussing their opinions about resolving the case. The chart, however, does not indicate what the victims said, and Villafafia told OPR that the information contained in the chart was based on her memory of her interactions with each victim. OPR was unable to determine the details or extent of any such discussions occurring before September 24, 2007, because Villafafia did not have contemporaneous notes of the interviews, and the FBI reports and corresponding notes of the interviews did not contain information about the victims’ desired outcomes. The victims who provided information to OPR did not recall discussing potential resolution of the federal investigation with anyone from the government. 282 In the declaration, Villafafia stated, “Jane Doe 2 specifically told me that she did not want Epstein prosecuted.” 201 DOJ-OGR-00003403