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LINKEDIN http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami- dade/articleS342709.html Page | of 3 Salacious new chapter in Florida billionaire’s sex scandal | The Miami Herald 1/2/15 6:11 PM In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting prostitution with a minor and served 13 months ofan 18-month sentence. After his conviction, Epstein’s story grew even more bizarre, with anonymous women accusing him in federal court of conspiring with Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late British D mediabaron Robert Maxwell, to operate an international underage sex ring. Edwards, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer, and Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who now teaches law at the University of Utah, filed a Jane Doe lawsuit against the U.S. government in July 2008, alleging that Epstein had committed crimes againsttheir clients, including sex trafficking of children by fraud. Thecase, which has been pending for morethan six years before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra, initially involved two women, identified as Jane Doe#1 and Jane Doe#2, who said they were sexually abused by Epstein and trafficked as minors. On Dec. 30, 2014, Edwards asked to have two newaccusers added to the case — identified as Jane Doe #3 and Jane Doe#4. Jane Doe#3 alleges inthe court filing that Maxwell and Epstein kept her as a “sex slave” from 1999 through20002, when she escaped toan unspecified foreign country. Epstein forced Jane Doe#3, who was thena minor, to have sex with politically connected and wealthy people, the court filing alleges. “Epstein’s purpose in ‘lending’ Jane Doe [along with otheryoung girls] to such powerful people [was] to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political and financial gain, as well as to obtain blackmail information,” the filing alleges. Jane Doe#3 identifies one of the men she was forced to have sex with as Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professorandhigh- profile criminaldefense lawyer. “Dershowitz was an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators,” the filing alleges. Dershowitz denied the claims, describing them as part ofan extortion plot. He called the filing “the sleaziest legal document I have ever seen.” “They manipulated a young, suggestible woman who was interested in money,” Dershowitz said. Dershowitz said he intends to file complaints against Edwards and Cassell. “This is a disbarrable offense, and they willbe disbarred,” Dershowitz said. “They willrue the day they ever made this false charge againstme.” Knowingly making defamatory statements in courtrecords can be grounds for disbarment. Jack Thompson, a Miami lawyer who campaigned against violent video games and the HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_028922