Why Epstein got deal
Perv secretly aided feds vs. hedge duo
Multimillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein secretly served as a “key federal witness” against two hedge-fund managers around the time he cut the sweetheart deal that let him avoid federal child sex-trafficking charges, according to a new report Wednesday.
A yearlong investigation by the Miami Herald turned up records that show Epstein (inset) — one of the fund’s largest investors — cooperated in the prosecution of the executives at the now-defunct Bear Stearns financial firm and received “valuable consideration” for providing investigators with unspecified information.
E-mails also show then-Miami US Attorney Alexander Acosta — now President Trump’s secretary of labor — and the lead prosecutor in the case agreeing to help Epstein’s high-powered defense lawyers try to contain the scandal sparked by his 2006 arrest in Palm Beach, according to the Herald.
“On an ‘avoid the press’ note . . . I can file the charge in district court in Miami which will hope- fully cut the press coverage significantly. Do you want to check that out?” Assistant US Attorney Marie Villafana wrote in September 2007 to defense lawyer Jay Lefkowitz, a former colleague of Acosta’s at the Kirkland & Ellis law firm.
The followingg month, Acosta met with Lefkowitzowitz in West Palm Beach too negotiate terms of Epstein’sein’s nonprosecution agreement,agreement, according to thee Herald.
Once the pact was struck, Epsteinn — who’s hosted former President Bill Clinton, British Prince Andrew rew and others at his own private Caaribbean Island d — pleaded guilty to two felony prostitution charges in state court and served 13 months in jail. One count involved soliciting sex from a minor. The deal came even though the feds identified 36 underage girls who accused Epstein of sexually assaulting themthe after he hired them to givgive him massages in his Palm BBeach mansion betweentween 202001 and 2005, the Herald said. None were notified ahead of Epstein’s guilty pleplea, and some have filed suit under the federal Crime VVictims’ Rights Act to nullinullify his non-prosecutiocution agreement so he can face federal ccharges. One of the “Jane Doe” plaintiffs re- vealed herself to the Herald as Courtney Wild, 41.
“As soon as that deal was signed, they silenced my voice and the voices of all of Jeffrey Epstein’s other victims,’’ Wild said. “This case is about justice, not just for us, but for other victims who aren’t Olympic stars or Hollywood stars.’’
Another accuser, Virginia Roberts, last year settled a federal defamation suit against Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late British newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, whom Roberts claimed recruited her to be a teenage “sex slave” for Epstein.
In addition to the deal he struck with the feds, Epstein got lenient treatment from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., whose office argued in vain to keep Epstein — who lives in Saint Thomas, but owns a mansion at 9 E. 71st St. — from getting labeled a high-risk, “Level 3” sex offender.
Acosta defended Epstein’s deal during his Senate confirmation hearing in March 2017, calling the decision not to file federal charges “broadly held” in his office at the time..