The legal troubles and embarrassment for Jeffrey E. Epstein, a billionaire with a weakness for women (and young girls), may not be over. As a matter of fact, federal prosecutors in Florida may have reason to feel uncomfortable also.
U.S. Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida ruled on Monday that federal prosecutors were wrong in asserting that they had no obligation to notify Epstein’s victims before reaching a secret deal that spared the Brooklyn-bred financier serious federal prison time.
“Marra ordered that discovery in the case proceed, which means that the victims — and the public — may get access to previously secret correspondence between Epstein’s attorneys and the government,” Michele Dargan wrote in The Palm Beach Daily News.
Those who have been following the Epstein case may recall that lawyers for two of Epstein’s alleged victims asserted last March that the Miami U.S. Attorney’s office violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by entering into a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein without notifying them, as Main Justice reported at the time. Monday’s ruling was a victory for lawyers for two young girls who have been trying to get the secret deal overturned.
The agreement meant that Epstein served just over a year in state prison from 2008 to 2009 for soliciting an under-age girl for prostitution and had to register as a sex offender. But the deal apparently spared him a much longer sentence in a federal prison. (Just to complicate things, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alexander Acosta, accused Epstein’s defense team of trying to dig up dirt on federal prosecutors to discredit them, as Main Justice reported. Epstein’s lawyers denied the accusations.)
More than 30 under-age girls have been mentioned in the secret agreement. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami declined comment on grounds that “the matter is in litigation,” The Palm Beach Daily News said. (The present U.S. Attorney in Miami is Wifredo A. Ferrer, who was sworn in on April 22, 2010.)
