Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers say victims’ claims died with him

Jeffrey Epstein can’t speak from the grave concerning a lawsuit by his sexual abuse victims, attorneys argued Thursday.

Epstein’s lawyers had argued that victims’ claims were moot after his death. They added that claims against possible “co-conspirators” also are improper.

But victims’ lawyers hit back Thursday.

“Jeffrey Epstein is dead — and his attorneys cannot attempt to speak clairvoyantly for him,” said Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell. “Accordingly, the brief filed by Epstein’s lawyers is improper and should be immediately stricken.”

The lawyers in South Florida are fighting over the next step in an 11-year-old civil case, which challenged Epstein’s controversial deal to avoid prosecution on federal charges as a violation of a crime victims’ rights law.

After reading the argument from Epstein’s counsel in Miami and Boston, Edwards and Paul asked U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to disallow it.

“Because Epstein is dead, no such response by him could even be possible — let alone proper,” the lawyers wrote.

Lawyers for the government have yet to file a response in the case, since Epstein, 66, died in an apparent suicide while in federal custody in New York, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking counts.

In March, Marra ruled that Epstein’s “non-prosecution agreement” with the federal government violated the victims’ rights law. The judge found the victims were “deliberately” not told about Epstein’s deal, which resulted in his pleading guilty in 2008 to two state prostitution charges.

That meant Epstein likely avoided a lengthy prison sentence for abusing dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion, usually involving massages that became forced sex acts, court records show.

The judge’s ruling prompted the issue about what should be done to remedy the situation now.

Before Epstein’s death, prosecutors acknowledged their office “should have communicated its resolution of the federal criminal investigation of Epstein to his victims more effectively and in a more transparent manner.”

But they contended the deal could not be ripped up all these years later, and the only possible solution was to allow forums where the victims could tell their stories.

Edwards and Cassell, who had hoped Epstein would face new federal charges in South Florida, argued this week that it’s only right that prosecutors here get the court’s permission to bring charges against the “criminals” who aided Epstein.

“It would be unfair to the victims if Epstein not only managed to cheat justice through his death, but also left behind some kind of legal issue preventing the victims from obtaining the … remedy to which they are plainly entitled,” the lawyers said.

Attorneys representing numerous victims have also vowed to sue Epstein’s vast estate, as well as press for prosecutors in New York to go after Epstein’s associates.