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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 226 of 348 [A]s Chief of the Criminal Division of the USAO, I did not consider it to be within my purview to ensure that appropriate victim notifications occurred in every matter investigated or brought by the Office. I also recall that the USAO employed one or more victim- witness coordinators to work with line prosecutors to ensure that appropriate victim notifications occurred in every matter investigated or brought by the Office. C. USAO and FBI Letters Are Hand Delivered The FBI case agent told OPR that the FBI made its notifications “at the time that we met [with] the girls.” The case agent recalled that she hand delivered the USAO letters and FBI letters to some victims following in-person interviews, and in the instances when she did not provide a victim with a letter, she provided an FBI pamphlet containing CVRA rights information similar to that set forth in the FBI letters.78° The co-case agent also recalled that he may have delivered “a few” letters to victims. The FBI Victim Specialist told OPR that she mailed some FBI letters to victims and she provided some FBI letters to the case agent for hand delivery. Nevertheless, the case agent told OPR that she “did not sit there and go through every right” with the victims. She stated, however, “[I]n the beginning whether it was through [the FBI Victim Specialist] giving the letter, me giving a letter, the pamphlet, I believed that the girls knew that they were victims and had rights, and they had a resource, [the FBI Victim Specialist], that they could call for that.” The FBI case agent further explained that once the case agents connected the FBI Victim Specialist with each victim, the Victim Specialist handled the victims’ “rights and resources.” VI. AUGUST 2006 —- SEPTEMBER 2007: FBI AND USAO CONTACTS WITH VICTIMS BEFORE THE NPA IS SIGNED Early in the investigation, Villafafia informed her supervisors that, up to that point, “everyone whom the agents have spoken with so far has been willing to tell her story. Getting them to tell their stories in front of a jury at trial may be much harder.” Between August 2006 and September 24, 2007, when the NPA was signed, the FBI case agents interviewed 22 victims. On a few occasions, Villafafia met with victims together with the FBI. Villafafia’s May 1, 2007 draft indictment included substantive crimes against multiple victims, and Villafafia described the circumstances of each of their encounters with Epstein in her prosecution memorandum. There is some evidence indicating that during interviews, some of the victims expressed to the FBI case agents and Villafafia concerns about participating in a federal trial of Epstein, and those discussions touched upon, in broad terms, the victims’ views regarding the desired outcome of the investigation. Before the USAO entered into the NPA, however, no one from the 280 The case agent told OPR, “I remember giving letters to the girls when we would talk to them at .. . the conclusion, or . . . if I didn’t have the file on me[,] I had pamphlets in my car, or I made sure [the victims had contact information for the FBI’s Victim Specialist].” 200 DOJ-OGR-00003402