EFTA00798576.pdf

The Miami Herald's series on the Epstein case is riddled with factual errors and represents the very worst example of irresponsible and unethical reporting I have witnessed in my professional career: • Jeffrey Epstein was not a hedge fund manager. Contrary to the Herald's report, Epstein was never a hedge fund manager. This is a basic error which even the most superficial research would have revealed. • The Herald reported that Epstein was an informant for the government. Epstein most definitely was not. Investigating for FoxBusiness, Charlie Gasparino was able to confirm this error easily. On March 19, 2019 he reported that "Epstein did not provide any meaningful cooperation to obtain his relatively light sentence in the hedge fund case or likely any case tied to the financial crisis, according to numerous people with direct knowledge of the matter." Among the "numerous" sources that Gasparino interviewed for his report was one of the former assistant U.S. attorneys on the Bear Stearns hedge fund case, who advised: "Bottom line, I have no knowledge of Epstein cooperating in any way in the Bear Stearns case" "There was no reason to use him." The Herald makes no mention of interviewing any of the attorneys who prosecuted the Bear Stearns case before publishing false reports that Epstein was an informant in that case? • The Miami Herald's reporting betrays obvious bias with its sensationalized portrayal of the women involved in the Epstein case as tortured victims. In complete disregard of their ethical responsibilities as journalists, the Herald ignored critical elements of the story necessary for balanced and accurate reporting. • The Herald failed to report that every single woman identified as a "victim" in the Epstein case voluntarily came to Epstein's home knowing she was going to be paid substantially and every single one was paid. • As confirmed over and again by their statements to police and the FBI, none of the women who came to Epstein's home were coerced or threatened. • No alcohol or drugs were offered to them and several of them confirmed in their statements to police, federal investigators or in their sworn depositions that Epstein has never used and does not approve of alcohol or drugs. • As repeatedly confirmed in the police report and by their sworn testimony, many of the women brought their own friends to Epstein. When they did so, both the women who brought their friends and their friends were each paid as well. • Consistently, the women who were under the age of 18 admitted to police that they told Epstein that they were 18 years old because they were told if they were not, Epstein would not allow them in his home. EFTA00798576 • Not only did the women lie to Epstein about their ages, but, based on the Herald's grossly exaggerated reports, they lied to the Herald as well. [In one case, a woman said she was older than she really was and in other the woman portrayed herself as much younger than she actually was when she interacted with Epstein][I am not sure what this refers to. Jeffrey, please elaborate]. The relevant ages of the women interviewed by the Miami Herald could easily have been confirmed by comparison of personal identification documents with allegations in the police reports or in the civil cases they filed. There has never been any evidence provided to support the exaggerated age claims published by the Herald. • original sworn statements to the FBI establish that her later conflicting allegations against Epstein were motivated by the financial windfall she hoped to receive in her civil suit against Epstein. refused to speak with the FBI during the federal investigation unless and until she was granted complete immunity. Once she was given immunity and could freely discuss Epstein's conduct and her involvement with Epstein without fear of incriminating herself, continued to speak of Epstein in glowing terms. A complete copy of the transcript of sworn recorded statements to the FBI is are available at [Provide Link] • In her sworn recorded statements to the FBI, was adamant that she never had any type of sexual relations with JE: Q: Did he at any point kiss you, touch you, show any kind of affection towards you? Never, never ... So he never pulled you closer to him in any sexual way? I wish. No, no, never, ever, ever, no, never. Jeffrey is an awesome man. • told the FBI that she always carried fake identification on her and lied to JE that she was 18. Like others in this case, she also testified that the woman who brought her to JE's home told "make sure that you're 18 because Jeffrey does not want any underage girls." • also accepted money to bring her friends to JE's home, and under the protection of complete immunity told the FBI that: None of my girls ever had a problem and they'd call me. They'd beg me, you know, for us to go to Jeffrey's house because they love Jeffrey. Jeffrey is a respectful man. He really is. I mean, and he all thought we were of age always. This is what's so sad about it. • When asked by the FBI whether she had anything more to say about Epstein and the case, replied: EFTA00798577  I hope Jeffrey, nothing happens to Jeffrey because he's an awesome man and it really would be a shame. It's a shame that he has to go through this because he's an awesome guy and he didn't do nothing wrong, nothing. • In its investigation of witness allegations in the Epstein case, the Herald failed to report that before they ever even met Epstein, many of the witnesses worked in strip clubs and accepted money from other men on Palm Beach Island and West Palm Beach where they worked at local massage parlors. • A review of the Palm Beach police reports and other pleadings and evidence in the Epstein case reveal that most of the women interviewed by investigators were in their mid-twenties, rather than the ages of 13 and 14 irresponsibly reported by the Herald. There were some witnesses as old as 62 years of age, but that never made its way into the Herald's series. • In its reports, the Herald features a meeting between Epstein's former lawyer Jay Lefkowitz and former U.S. Attorney and now Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta at a hotel outside of the US Attorney's Office. It uses this meeting to imply that something inappropriate transpired between them resulting in a sweetheart deal between Epstein and the U.S. Attorney, even though in that same article the meeting was reported to take place after Epstein's agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office had already been signed. The report should have emphasized that fact to eliminate the possibility of any improper innuendo. [dki to verify the Herald story to confirm if it was in same article or subsequent article] • The Herald included in its articles reports that was Epstein's sex slave, who he purchased from her parents when she was 12. is not from , and Epstein certainly did not purchase from her parents at any age. met Epstein when she was already in the United States and was at least 18 years old. parents can and will testify that the reports about her, her parents and Epstein are absolutely false. • The Herald features allegations made by ) regarding sexual relations she claims to have had with a list politicians, academics and business leaders, but she fabricated that list from the people she found on a guest list. [JEFFREY, NOT SURE OF THE GUEST LIST YOU ARE REFERRING TO CAN YOU ELABORATE?] • Lanna Belohlavec, lead prosecutor for the State attorney in the Epstein case, and a 13-year veteran of the Palm Beach County Sex Crimes Unit, personally interviewed many of the witnesses in this case, and she found that this was a case of local prostitution, nothing more and nothing less. At the time that the Epstein case was under investigation, there was no minimum age of a purported sex worker that would disqualify an offense as a prostitution offense. EFTA00798578 • There is not one shred of evidence that establishes that Epstein provided women to other men, except for the unproven allegations o which have been categorically denied by both by me [AD] and the Royal Family and conclusively proven by me to be malicious falsehood. allegations have become more and more detailed and sensationalized at each time an opportunity to financially profit from her increasingly salacious allegations presented itself. She received payment in a syndication deal for the photographs published of her and Prince Andrew and she has been marketing a book deal regarding her allegations against Epstein, the prospects of which were only enhanced by featuring her in the Herald's series. • There is not a shred of evidence in either the State investigation or the federal investigation that any parties were held at any of Epstein's homes. He does not host parties, though he has from time to time sponsored academic conferences and did host a passover dinner at one time. • Reports of video cameras in Epstein's home are easily discredited. The only video camera installed in Mr. Epstein's home was installed in the common area of his Palm Beach home by the Palm Beach Police. The camera was installed in order to catch a thief who had been stealing from the home. The thief turned out to be the houseman, Juan Alessi, who was terminated from this position because of this theft and whose subsequent deposition you quote. This can be verified with the Palm Beach Police. Reporting any allegations made by Mr. Alessi without also reporting his obvious bias against Epstein and the reasons for it is yet another example of irresponsible journalism. • The other houseman of Mr. Epstein whose allegations must be equally suspect is Alfredo Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez went to jail for stealing a phone book and trying to profit from the civil cases against Epstein by attempting to sell that phone book to the Plaintiffs lawyers as the "holy grail" in those cases. EFTA00798579