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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 223 Filed 04/20/21 Page 16 of 23
consider extrinsic evidence of the parties’ intent.’ To the extent that the Court finds that
extrinsic evidence is relevant, however, the government’s argument demonstrates precisely why
the Court should permit discovery in this action. While the government ludicrously faults Ms.
Maxwell for failing to produce “documentary evidence” of the parties’ intent and the scope of
the SDFL investigation (Opp. 10), Ms. Maxwell, as a nonparty to the NPA, has no access to such
evidence without discovery. Any evidence of the parties’ intent would be in the possession of
the government and Epstein’s counsel, and at this stage, Ms. Maxwell can only scour the few
clues available to the public—such as a privilege log filed in a related civil lawsuit—for crumbs
of information about the negotiation and investigation.
The government’s response to those crumbs illustrates why any consideration of extrinsic
evidence—which, as noted above, is unnecessary given the unambiguous text of the NPA—
should be preceded by discovery. In her opening memorandum, Ms. Maxwell cited to three
pages from the above-referenced privilege log in a civil lawsuit filed by one of Epstein’s victims,
all of which contain entries reflecting the USAO-SDFL’s consultation with the United States
Attorney’s Office for this District, travel by USAO-SDFL attorneys to New York, or interviews
and/or subpoenas of New York-based witnesses. Mem. at 11 (citing Privilege Log, Doe v.
United States, Case No. 9:08-CV-80736 (S.D. Fla.), Dkt. No. 212-1 (filed July 19, 2013)
(“SDFL Privilege Log”), at 4, 5, 7). In response, the government has focused on only one of
those three entries and produced the documents referenced in the privilege log. See Opp. 10.
’ The government’s argument that a United States Attorney lacks the “authority” to bind other districts (Opp. 13-
14)—and that the government can simply walk away from a plea agreement in which a United States Attorney has
not received the approvals prescribed by internal Justice Department guidelines—is unavailing. The government
cites no case in which a court has invalidated a plea agreement on this basis, and its argument is contradicted not
only by the Third, Fourth, and Eighth circuits—in which the default rule is that plea agreements bind other
districts—but also by the Second Circuit’s statement that a United States Attorney may bind other districts in a plea
agreement if there is an affirmative appearance to that effect. United States v. Gebbie, 294 F.3d 540, 547-49 (3d
Cir. 2002); United States v. Van Thornout, 100 F.3d 590, 594 (8th Cir. 1996); United States v. Harvey, 791 F.2d
294, 303 (4th Cir. 1986); Annabi, 771 F.2d at 672.
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00003889.jpg |
| File Size | 836.2 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.4% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,760 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:41:57.695209 |