EFTA00724033.pdf

Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 1 of 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JANE DOE, CASE NO. 08-CV-80893-CIV-MARRA/JOHNSON Plaintiff, Vs. JEFFREY EPSTEIN, et al. Defendant. Related Cases: 08-80119, 08-80232, 08-80380, 08-80381, 08-80994, 08-80811, 08-80893, 09-80469, 09-80591, 09-80656, 09-80802, 09-81092 PLAINTIFF JANE DOE'S MOTION FOR COURT ORDER RELEASING FBI RECORDS REGARDING JEFFREY EPSTEIN Plaintiff, Jane Doe, seeks a court order releasing FBI records about Jeffrey Epstein. Under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b)(11), this Court is authorized to release these material. The FBI has advised Jane Doe that it will release the materials if this Court enters an appropriate order. Jane Doe seeks such an order. A brief bit of background may be in order. As the Court is well aware, Jane Doe has filed a civil damage action against Jeffrey Epstein for sexual abuse he inflicted upon her when she was child. To prove her case. Jane Doe has been attempting to undertake discovery from Epstein, only to be rebuffed at almost every turn by Epstein's invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. See, e.g., No. EFTA00724033 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 2 of 7 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARRA/JOHNSON 9:08-CV-80893, Motion to Compel Answers to Plaintiffs First Request for Production, Dkt. #97 (listing discovery requests blocked by Fifth Amendment invocations). Because Epstein has been unwilling to answer questions, Jane Doe has been forced to search for other means of discovery. She understands, on information and belief, that the FBI gathered significant information about Epstein during the course of its criminal investigation of him for sexually abusing children. She seeks that information to help support her case against him. Accordingly, she has sent the attached subpoena to the FBI (Exhibit A). Jane Doe understands that some of the information that the FBI has gathered might contain the names of other young girls whom Epstein sexually abused and who are relevant witnesses to Jane Doe's case. Jane Doe has no wish to make the names of these potential witnesses public and will instead not disseminate those names to anyone outside of the undersigned's law office. For purposes of this specific motion only, Jane Doe identifies two persons as immediate employees (or co-conspirators as labeled in the Non-Prosecution agreement) of Epstein: . Both of these individuals have been directly and significantly involved in assisting Epstein abuse minor girls and therefore any related investigation into these individuals should also be made available. See Case No. 9:08-CV-80893, Civil RICO Case Statement, Dkt. #14, Attachment 1 (recounting involvement in the scheme). Because Jane Doe's request is narrowly circumscribed, it is clear that her interests in disclosure outweigh whatever limited privacy interests Jeffrey Epstein might 2 EFTA00724034 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 3 of 7 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARFtA/JOHNSON have. Jane Doe needs the information to help prove her claims against Epstein. On the other hand, Epstein has no legitimate privacy interests in the records. The records simply chronicle the FBI's criminal investigation of Epstein for sexually abusing minor girls. Epstein has, in fact, entered a guilty plea to a related sex crime in a state criminal case. To further protect Epstein's privacy, Jane Doe has no objection to the materials being provided to counsel under a protective order, barring disclosure to any person other than attorneys and support staff working directly on the case. A proposed order to that effect is attached. CONCLUSION The Court should order release of FBI information about its criminal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein to Jane Doe and order a protective order limiting further disclosure of the materials. DATED: March 10, 2010 Respectfully Submitted, s/ Bradley J. Edwards Bradley J. Edwards FARMER, JAFFE, WEISSING, Telephone Facsimile Florida B r No.: 42075 E-mail: and 3 P.L. EFTA00724035 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 4 of 7 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARRAMOHNSON Paul G. Cassell Pro Hac Vice Telephone: Facsimile: E-Mail: CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on March 10, 2010, I electronically filed the foregoing document with the Clerk of the Court using CM/ECF. I also certify that the foregoing document is being served this day on all parties on the attached Service List in the manner specified, either via transmission of Notices of Electronic Filing generated by CM/ECF or in some other authorized manner for those parties who are not authorized to receive electronically filed Notices of Electronic Filing. s/ Bradley J. Edwards Bradley J. Edwards SERVICE LIST Jane Doe v. Jeffrey Epstein United States District Court, Southern District of Florida Jack Alan oldber er E q. il ober....) E . Isidro Manual Garcia Jack Patrick Hill Katherine Warthen Ezell Michael James Pike 4 EFTA00724036 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 5 of 7 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARRA/JOHNSON Paul G. Cassell Richard Horace Willits Robert C. Josefsber Adam D. Horowitz Stuart S. Mermelstein 5 EFTA00724037 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 6 of 7 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARRA/JOHNSON EXHIBIT A EFTA00724038 Case 9:O8-cv-8O119-KAM Document 486 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 7 of 7 AO SSA (Rev. DI:09)Subpoena to Nati& at a Dcposition er to Aoduuc Dorm-Kitts at a Civil ACI11011 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the Southern District of Florida Jane Doe Prang v. Jeffrey Epstein Defendani Civil Action No. 08-80893CW-MARRNJOHNSO (If the action is pending in another &Witt gate whom; SUBPOENA TO TESTIFY AT A DEPOSITION OR TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS IN A CIVIL ACTION To: Records Custodian, Fedeal Bureau Investigators, CIO Kim Coulter, 1.6320 Northwest 2nd Avenue, North Miami Beach, FL 33169 Testimony; YOU ARE COMMANDED to appear at the time, date, and place set forth below to testify at a deposition to he taken in this civil action. If you are an organization that is not a party in this case, you must designate one or more officers, directors, or managing agents, or designate other persons who consent to testify on your behalf about the following matters, or those set forth in an attachment: --Tbato-and Time: 11/09/2009 1:00 em The deposition will be recorded by this method: Recorded Production; You, or your representatives, must also bring with you to the deposition the following documents. electronically stored information, or objects. and permit their inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material: Provide any and al evidence involving the Jeffrey Epstein investigation obtained by the FBI or taken from the Palm Beach Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office to include all videos. compact discs, DVD's, photographs, documentary evidence and any other evidence that the FBI seized from the Palm Beach P.D.or in any way relating to any investigation of Jeffrey Epstein The provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(c), relating to your protection as a person subject t9a-subpoena, and Rule 45 (d) and (e), relating to your duty to respond to this subpoena and the potential coats of not doing so, are attached. Date: OC IS' ?al CLERK' OP COURT Slmanere of or Dewy Clerk OR _ Arolowy's rignwore The name, address, e-mail, and telephone nwnber of the attorney representing intone rerporty) Jane Doe -S:11.24 it tiAlh ...... , who issues or re uests this sub ena, arc: n osenfeldt A er, EFTA00724039 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 1 of 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JANE DOE, Plaintiff, Vs. JEFFREY EPSTEIN, et al. Defendant. CASE NO. 08-CV-80893-CIV-MARRA/JOHNSON Related Cases: 08-80119, 08-80232, 08-80380, 08-80381, 08-80994, 08-80811, 08-80893, 09-80469, 09-80591, 09-80656, 09-80802, 09-81092 PRIVACY ACT COURT ORDER This Order is entered for the purpose of protecting the right of privacy of those individuals, including Jeffrey Epstein whose names appear in records described in the attached Subpoena to Produce Documents in a Civil Action. An agency is prohibited from disclosing records or information contained in records protected under the Privacy Act unless such disclosure falls within one of the exception set forth at U.S.C. Section 522a(b). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Section 522a(b)(11), disclosure is allowed if made "pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction." To invoke this exception to the Privacy Act, the Court must make a determination that the need for disclosure of information outweighs the privacy interests of the subject of the disclosure. Perry v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company 734 F.2d 1441, 1447 (11th Cir. 1984), cert. denied 469 U.S. 1108 (1985); Tootle v. Seaboard EFTA00724040 Case 9:08-cv-80119-KAM Document 486-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 03/10/2010 Page 2 of 2 CASE NO: 08-CV-80119-MARRA/JOHNSON Coast Line R&R, 468 So. 2d 237, 239 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1984). In this case, the Court finds that the records described are relevant to the issues raised in the above captioned case that the need of the party requesting the records outweighs the potential harm to the subjects of the disclosure. This Order permits the disclosure in the course of this action of the records described in the attached subpoena issued on October 14, 2009 and served on the Federal Bureau of Investigation October 16, 2009. The materials are provided to counsel for Jane Doe and shall not be disclosed to any person other than attorneys and support staff working directly on the case. DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, this day of 2010 KENNETH A. MARRA United States District Judge Copies furnished to: All counsel of record 2 EFTA00724041