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Daily Business Review: Jeffrey Epstein's attorneys fight to keep plea discussions private Page 3 of 3 Black also denied there was any effort to pressure the U.S. attorney's office to back off Epstein. "It is absurd to say that the target of a federal criminal] investigation could put undo pressure on the United States, the government, the Department of Justice, the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI,” Black said. Weinberg, who challenged a Justice Department policy of seizing e-mail through secret subpoenas to Internet service providers, also said to his knowledge no private investigator was hired. Lefkowitz, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in New York who drafted President George W. Bush's policy on stem cell research, did not return a phone call for comment by deadline. Black and Weinberg said they still represent Epstein. Fodder For Litigation The motion to intervene does not claim the letters are attorney-client privilege and makes a point of saying Epstein reserves his right to intervene individually. Weinberg said turning the confidential correspondence over to the Jane Does would violate the federal rules of evidence and cast a chill over the criminal defense bar, which would rightly be concerned that anything they tell the government could boomerang into civil litigation against clients. "Neither party expected or believed these letters would later become a source of information that would be used for any other purpose," Weinberg said. "We believe the issue raised before Judge Marra has importance beyond just the litigation between the government and the Jane Does." Bradley J. Edwards, a partner with Farmer Jaffe Weissing Edwards Fistos & Lehrman in Fort Lauderdale, represents the Jane Does. He didn't want to get into his planned response to the motion to intervene but said Acosta's letter will not affect the case. Edwards agreed with Acosta that the Palm Beach state attorney's office faltered on the Epstein case. A call to the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office spokeswoman was not returned by deadline. "There has never been a stronger case for the state to prosecute, and the case should have been prosecuted by the state," Edwards said. "The state totally dropped the ball, but once the feds took the case over, they too unfortunately dropped the ball." Edwards refutes Acosta's position that the U.S. attorney's office was hampered by the lack of a clear "interstate nexus" required for federal prosecution. Evidence indicates Epstein flew on his private plane out of state with the intent to engage in sex with minors and used his telephone, a means of interstate commerce, to set up his rendezvous with underage girls, Edwards said. Edwards contends the U.S. attorney's office caved. "They identified a bunch of victims of sexual abuse and decided to align themselves with a bad guy and keep the victims in the dark about the secretive nonprosecution agreement they were giving to Epstein," he said. http://www. dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleFriendlyDBR.jsp?id=1202490901297 4/21/2011 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012706