HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023047.jpg

14 The Virgin Islands Daily News PERVERSION OF JUSTICE How a future Trump Cabinet member Wednesday, February 27 2019 gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime By JULIE K. BROWN Miami Herald MIAMI — On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami's top federal prosecutor, Alexan- der Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz, It was an unusual mecting for the then-38- year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S, attomey in Miami by President George W. Bush. Instead of meeting at the prosecutor's Miami headquarters, the two men — both with profes- sional roots in the prestigious Washington law finn of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles Asa result, neither the victims — nor even the judge — would know how many girls Epstein allegedly sexually abused between 2001 and 2005, when his underage sex activities were first uncovered by police. Police referred the case to the FBI a year later, when they began to suspect that their investigation was being undermined by the Palm Beach State Attomey’s Office. Not ‘he said, she said’ “This was not a *he said), she said’ situation. This was $0-something ‘shes’ and one ‘he’ — and the ‘shes’ all basically told the same story,” said retired Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, who supervised the away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S, special envoy to police probe. North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting More than a decade later, Michael Reiter was critical. at atime when Olympic His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cultlike network of underage girls — with the help of young female recnuiters —to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found. The eecentric hedge fund manager, whose friends included former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was also gymnasts and Hollywood actresses have become a catalyst fora cultural reckoning about sexual abuse, Epstein’s victims have all but been forgotten, The women — now in their late 20s and early 30s — are still fighting for an elusive justice that even the passage of time has not made right. Like other victims of sexual abuse, they be- lieve they've been silenced by a cnminal justice system that stubbomly fails to hold Epstein and suspected of trafficking minor girls, often from overseas, for sex parties at his other homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands, other wealthy and powerful men accountable. “Jefirey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless. He went Fie photo by ABACA PRESS U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, when he was a federal prosecutor in Miami, helped negotiate an agreement that greatly reduced the severity of the conviction of Jeffrey Epstein, a FBI and court records show. Facing a 53-page federal indictment, Epstein could have ended up in federal prison for the rest of his life, But on the morning of the breakfast meet- ing, a deal was struck — an extraordinary plea agreement that would conceal the full extent of Epstein’ crimes and the number of people involved. Not only would Epstein serve just 13 months in the county jail, but the deal — called a non- prosecution agreement — essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes, according to a Miami Herald examination of thousands of emails, court documents and FBI records. The pact required Epstein to plead guilty to two prostitution charges in state court. Epstein and four of his accomplices named in the agreement received immunity from all federal criminal charges. But even more unusual, the deal included wording that granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators” who were also involved iin Epstein'’s crimes, These accomplices or participants were not identified inthe agreement, leaving it open to interpretation whether it possibly referred to other influential people who were having sex with underage girls at Epstein’s various homes oron his plane. As partof the arrangement, Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims, As a result, the non-prosecution agreement was sealed until after it was approved by the judge, thereby averting sexual abuser of girls. any chance that the girls — or anyone else — might show up in court and try to derail it. This is the story of how Epstein, bolstered by unlimited funds and represented by a powerhouse legal team, was able to manipulate the criminal justice system, and how his accusers, still trau- matized by their pasts, believe they were betrayed by the very prosecutors who pledged to protect them. “1 don’t think anyone has been told the truth about what Jeffrey Epstein did,” said one of Epstein’s victims, Michelle Licata, now 30. “He ruined my life and a lot of girls’ lives, People need to know what he did and why he wasn't prosecuted so it never happens again.” Now President Donald Trump's secretary of labor, Acosta, 49, oversees a massive federal agency that provides oversight of the country’s labor laws, including human trafficking. Acosta didnot respond to numerous requests 66 Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless. He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right. — Courtney Wild, who was 14 when she met Epstein for an interview or answer queries through email. But court records reveal details of the nego- tiations and the role that Acosta would play in arranging the deal, which scuttled the federal probe into a possible international sex trafficking operation. Among other things, Acosta allowed Epstein'’s lawyers unusual freedoms in dictating the terms of the non-prosecution agreement. “The damage that happened in this case is un- conscionable,” said Bradley Edwards, a former state prosecutor who represents some of Epstein’s victims, “How in the world, do you, the U.S. attorney, engage in anegotiation with a cnminal defendant, basically allowing that criminal defendant to write up the agreement?” Bradley Edwards after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right,” said Courtney Wild, who was 14 when she met Epstein. Over the past year, the Miami Herald ex- amined a decade's worth of court documents, lawsuits, witness depositions and newly released FBI documents. Key people involved in the investigation — most of whom have never spoken before — were also interviewed. The Herald also obtained new reconds, including the full unredacted copy of the Palm Beach police investigation and witness statements that had been kept under seal, The Herald leamed that, as part of the plea deal, Epstein provided what the government called “valuable consideration” for unspecified information he supplied to federal investigators, While the documents obtained by the Herald don't detail what the information was, Epstein’s sex. crime case happened just as the country’s subprime mortgage market collapsed, ushering in the 2008 global financial crisis. Records show that Epstein was a key fed- eral witness in the criminal prosecution of two prominent executives with Bear Stearns, the global investment brokerage that failed in 2008, who were accused of corporate secunties fraud. Epstein was one of the largest investors in the hedge fund managed by the executives, who were later acquitted. It is not known what role, if any, the case played in Epstem’s plea negotiations. The Herald also identified about 80 women who say they were molested or otherwise sexu- ally abused by Epstein from 2001 to 2006. About See PERVERSION, page 16 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023047