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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 293-1 Filed 05/25/21 Page 98 of 349
for them to be deported.”!!* As to whether the foreign nationals would be removable by virtue of
having committed crimes, Villafafia told OPR she did not consider her role as seeking removal
apart from actual prosecution.
Villafafia concluded her email to Lefkowitz by expressing disappointment that they were
not “closer to resolving this than it appears that we are,” and offering to meet the next day to work
on the agreement:
Can I suggest that tomorrow we either meet live or via
teleconference, either with your client or having him within a quick
phone call, to hash out these items? I was hoping to work only a
half day tomorrow to save my voice for Tuesday’s hearing . . . , if
necessary, but maybe we can set a time to meet. If you want to meet
“off campus” somewhere, that is fine. I will make sure that I have
all the necessary decision makers present or “on call,” as well.'!°
Villafafia told OPR that she offered to meet Lefkowitz away from the USAO because conducting
negotiations via email was inefficient, and Villafafia wanted “to have a meeting where we sat down
and just finalized things. And what I meant by off campus is, sometimes people feel better if you
go to a neutral location” for a face-to-face meeting.
On the morning of Monday, September 17, 2007, the USAO supervisor who was taking
over Lourie’s duties as manager of the West Palm Beach office asked Villafafia for an update on
the plea negotiations, and she forwarded to him the email she had sent to Lefkowitz the previous
afternoon. Villafafia told the manager, “As you can see... there are a number of things in their
last draft that were unacceptable. All of the loopholes that I sewed up they tried to open.”
Shortly thereafter, Villafafia alerted the new manager, Acosta, and Lourie that she had just
spoken with Lefkowitz, who advised that Epstein was leaning towards a plea to state charges under
a non-prosecution agreement, and she would be forwarding to Lefkowitz “our last version of the
Non-Prosecution Agreement.” Acosta asked that Villafafia “make sure they know it[’]s only a
draft” and reminded her that “[t]he form and language may need polishing.” Villafafia responded,
“Absolutely. There were a lot of problems with their last attempt. They tried to re-open all the
loopholes that I had sewn shut.” Villafafia sent to Lefkowitz the draft NPA that she had provided
to Lefcourt on September 11, 2007, noting that it was the “last version” and would “avoid [him]
having to reinvent the wheel.” She also updated the FBI case agents on the status of negotiations,
noting that she had told her “chain of command . . . that we are still on for the [September] 25th
[to bring charges] . . . , no matter what.”
After receiving the draft NPA, Lefkowitz asked Villafafia to provide for his review a factual
proffer for a federal obstruction of justice charge, and, with respect to the NPA option, asked, “[I]f
ts According to the case agents, the West Palm Beach FBI office had an ICE agent working with them at the
beginning of the federal investigation, and the ICE agent normally would have looked into the immigration status of
any foreign national, but neither case agent recalled any immigration issue regarding any of the Epstein employees.
Ms Lefkowitz was based in New York City but traveled to Miami in connection with the case.
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Extracted Information
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00004395.jpg |
| File Size | 1035.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.3% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 3,431 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:47:40.580461 |