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From: Cc: Bcc Subject: SDNY News Clips Tuesday, July 9, 2019 Date: Tue, 09 Jul 2019 21:12:37 +0000 Importance: Normal Attachments: 2019_7-9.pdf SDNY News Clips Tuesday, July 9, 2019 EFTA00076625 Contents Public Corruption Epstein Complex Frauds lure Terrorism & Narcotics Wise Honest Matters of Interest Trump Can't Block Twitter Followers US Appeals Court Rules Judicial Review of Claims of Government Misconduct in Parallel Investigations Barr Says Legal Path to Census Citizenship Question Exists but He Gives No Details Public Corruption Epstein Who Protected Jeffrey Epstein? New York Times By The Editorial Board 7/8/19 On Monday, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York unsealed a 14-page indictment against Jeffrey Epstein, charging the wealthy financier with operating and conspiring to operate a sex trafficking ring of girls out of his luxe homes on Manhattan's Upper East Side and in Palm Beach, Fla., "among other locations." Even in the relatively sterile language of the legal system, the accusations against Mr. Epstein are nauseating. From "at least in or about" 2002 through 2005, the defendant "sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls," some as young as 14 and many "particularly vulnerable to exploitation." The girls were "enticed and recruited" to visit Mr. Epstein's various homes "to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars." To "maintain and increase his supply of victims," he paid some of the girls "to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused," thus creating "a vast network of underage victims." If convicted, Mr. Epstein faces up to 45 years in prison. This seems a reasonable, if belated, punishment for the rampant abuse of girls of which Mr. Epstein stands credibly accused. But Mr. Epstein is not the only one for whom a reckoning is long overdue. The allegations in the New York indictment are a depressing echo of those that Mr. Epstein faced in Florida more than a decade ago, when his perversion first came to light. In 2008, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of Florida, at the time led by Alexander Acosta, who is now the nation's secretary of labor, helped arrange a plea deal for Mr. Epstein that bent justice beyond its breaking point. In exchange for pleading guilty to two state counts of soliciting prostitution from a minor, Mr. Epstein avoided a federal indictment that could have put him in prison for life. Instead, he served 13 months in a private wing of EFTA00076626 the Palm Beach county jail, where liberal work-release privileges allowed him to spend 12 hours a day, six days a week in his private office. Mr. Epstein paid restitution to some of his victims and was required to register as a sex offender — a designation that he later tried to have downgraded in New York to a less restrictive level. In addition to short-circuiting federal charges, the plea agreement killed an F.B.I. investigation and granted immunity to any "co-conspirators." As detailed last fall in a blockbuster series by Julie K. Brown of The Miami Herald, Mr. Acosta and his office worked unusually closely with Mr. Epstein's legal team on the deal. Both sides also labored to keep the agreement secret until it was finalized — including from Mr. Epstein's victims. This, a federal judge ruled in February, violated the rights of those victims, who have pushed for justice ever since. Not long after his release, Mr. Epstein returned to New York and reminded a local reporter that, legally, he was a sexual "offender," not a "predator." He joked, "It's the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel." At first glance, the Epstein saga looks like another example of how justice is not, in fact, blind — of how it tilts toward the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. Mr. Epstein, who has claimed to have made his fortune managing other rich people's money, was not just wealthy; he was politically and socially wired, hobnobbing with such boldfaced names as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. He donated tens of millions of dollars to institutions like Harvard University, which he never attended but where he financed construction of a campus building and formed strong connections to faculty members and administrators. He is also known for having amassed a quirky "collection" of scientists, in whom he liberally invested over the years. Upon closer examination, this case offers an even more warped picture of justice. Mr. Epstein retained a cadre of high-price, high-profile lawyers who went after prosecutors with everything they had — at least according to Mr. Acosta. In 2011, facing criticism over the plea agreement, Mr. Acosta complained about having endured "a yearlong assault" by Mr. Epstein's legal sharks. During his 2017 confirmation hearings to become labor secretary, Mr. Acosta claimed to have forged the best deal possible under the circumstances. That is hardly comforting. It betrays a system in which the rich and well-connected can bully public officials into quiescence — or into pursuing a deal so favorable to the accused that it runs afoul of the law. Neither should Mr. Acosta and his former team members be allowed to wave off the tough or awkward questions that are likely to arise going forward. Under pressure from Congress, the Justice Department has opened a review into the handling of the case, and last Wednesday a federal appeals court in New York ordered the unsealing of up to 2,000 pages of related documents. Already, distressing new details are surfacing in the case. Most notably, when Mr. Epstein's Manhattan residence was searched over the weekend, according to a court filing from prosecutors, law enforcement officials recovered "hundreds — and perhaps thousands — of sexually suggestive photographs of fully- or partially-nude females," some of which "appear to be of underage girls." In his request that Mr. Epstein be held without bail, the United States attorney for New York's Southern District, Geoffrey Berman, noted, "The defendant, a registered sex offender, is not reformed, he is not chastened, he is not repentant." Whatever new details emerge, whatever new participants may be implicated, whatever public officials are found to have failed in protecting Mr. Epstein's victims, the time for secrecy and excuses and sweetheart deals is over. Mr. Epstein's victims have waited long enough for answers, and they deserve justice. Attorney General Bill Barr will not recuse himself from Jeffrey Epstein child sex prosecution CNBC By Dan Mangan and Jim Forkin 7/9/19 Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from involvement in the new federal criminal prosecution of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. EFTA00076627 But Barr will recuse himself from an internal Justice Department probe of current Labor Secretary's Alex Acosta involvement in approving a controversial no-prosecution deal with the wealthy financier a decade ago, officials said Tuesday. Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from involvement in the new federal criminal prosecution of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, an official said Tuesday. But Barr will recuse himself from an internal Justice Department probe of current Labor Secretary's Alex Acosta involvement in approving a controversial no-prosecution deal with the wealthy financier a decade ago, an official said. Barr's announced decision to have oversight over the Epstein prosecution came after reports that he had recused himself from the case, which is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. And it came as a bevy of Democratic members of Congress and presidential candidates demanded that Acosta resign because of his role as then-U.S. Attorney in Miami in signing off on a deal to not prosecute Epstein in the mid-2000s. Epstein, 66, is accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls from 2002 to 2005 after they were brought to his luxurious residences on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and in Palm Beach, Fla. The former friend of President Donald Trump and ex-President Bill Clinton pleaded not guilty on Monday, and is being held without bail pending a detention hearing next week. Epstein was being eyed for the same alleged conduct in Florida that federal prosecutors have now charged him with in Manhattan. A Justice Department official on Tuesday said that Barr consulted with career ethics officials at the department, and concluded he did not have to recuse himself from the current prosecution in Manhattan. However, Barr was quoted Monday as saying he was recusing himself from the Epstein case. "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm I subsequently joined for a period of time," Barr told reporters on Monday. Barr joined that law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, in 2009. Kirkland & Ellis had represented Epstein in 2008, when he was being investigated in Florida. Barr's comment Monday seems to have referred — or does so now — to his continued recusal from the Justice Department's internal probe into the non-prosecution of Epstein as signed off by Acosta. "Due to his prior association with Kirkland and Ellis, the Attorney General has and will remain recused from any retrospective review of the resolution of the earlier [Southern District of Florida] matter," the Justice Department official told CNBC on Tuesday. Inside Epstein's $56 Million Mansion: Photos of Bill Clinton, Woody Allen and Saudi Crown Prince The New Times By Matthew Haag 7/8/19 The townhouse where the financier Jeffrey Epstein is accused of engaging in sex acts with underage girls is one of the largest private homes in Manhattan, a short walk from Central Park. The seven-story residence at 9 East 71st Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues, sprawls across 21,000 square feet and has five bathrooms, a two-story reception room and many bedrooms, including three three-room EFTA00076628 suites on the fourth floor. It also has a heated sidewalk in front to melt the snow during the winter months. On the second floor is a mural that Mr. Epstein had commissioned in recent years: a photorealistic prison scene that included barbed wire, corrections officers and a guard station, with Mr. Epstein portrayed in the middle. "He said, `That's me, and I had this painted because there is always the possibility that could be me again,'" said R. Couri Hay, a public relations specialist invited by Mr. Epstein to a meeting at his home and to view the mural three months ago. A person who visited the townhouse last year remembered Mr. Epstein doing work at the mansion while seated at a large dining table that fit 20 people, with multiple computer monitors and a phone alongside. Mr. Epstein answered calls while hosting visitors, according to that person and another visitor last year who saw similar behavior. Behind him was a table covered with framed photographs of celebrities and dignitaries, including a signed photograph of former President Bill Clinton. The visitors each said they were greeted by a tall woman who spoke with an Eastern European accent, who led guests up a marble staircase to a study on another floor. At the base of the stairwell, one of the visitors said, Mr. Epstein had placed a chess board with custom figurines, many dressed suggestively — each piece, he noted, was modeled after one of his staffers. He decorated the home with other oddities, like a life-size female doll hanging from a chandelier, and had arranged a small dining room to resemble a beach scene. A wall of the study was covered with photographs of famous people, including Woody Allen, and another that Mr. Epstein pointed out was of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Epstein, 66, is accused of engaging in sex acts with young girls from 2002 to 2005 during naked massage sessions and paying them hundreds of dollars in cash, according to an indictment unsealed on Monday. During the search of his townhouse on Saturday, investigators seized photographs of nude underage girls, federal prosecutors said. "The alleged behavior shocks the conscience," Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said on Monday. Prosecutors said they were moving to seize Mt Epstein's townhouse. Mr. Epstein, however, was not even supposed to become the owner of the opulent stone house on the Upper East Side. In 1989, Mr. Epstein's mentor, Leslie H. Wexner, the founder and chairman of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, bought the seven-story Beaux-Arts home for $13.2 million. At the time, it was the highest recorded sale price for a townhouse in Manhattan. Mr. Wexner then spent at least that much on artwork — including multiple works by Picasso — Art Deco furnishings, Russian antiques, rosewood tables and doors and a gut renovation of the home. Security devices, including a network of cameras, were installed. A cellar was divided into separate spaces, one for red wines and another for white. The renovation was featured on the cover of the December 1995 issue of Architectural Digest. The townhouse had been a longtime private school and Mr. Wexner spent years converting it into a lavish estate. Mr. Wexner, however, never moved in; he decided to stay in Columbus, Ohio, where L Brands has its headquarters. But another person did move in: Mr. Epstein. "Les never spent more than two months there," Mt Epstein told The New York Times in 1996. EFTA00076629 The home has a history of going unoccupied by its owner. Herbert N. Straus, an heir to the Macy's fortune, commissioned the 40-room mansion in the early 1930s and hired the prominent architect Horace Trumbauer to design it. But Mr. Straus died in 1933, leaving the property unfinished and unoccupied. The Straus family gave the residence to a hospital in 1944. In 1962, the private school, Birch Wathen School, bought it and converted it into a schoolhouse. The school, which was started in 1921 with an emphasis on the arts, relocated after Mr. Wexner bought the house. (It later merged with another private school to start the Birch Wathen Lenox School.) Mr. Epstein said in the 1996 interview that the mansion was now his, though the transaction has never appeared in New York City records online. In 2011, he transferred ownership of the property from a trust connected to Mr. Epstein and Mr. Wexner to Maple Inc., a United States Virgin Islands-based entity under Mr. Epstein's control, according to records. The transfer document, from Nine East 71st Street Corporation to Maple Inc., did not list a purchase price, indicating that it did not involve any exchange of money. A spokeswoman for Mr. Wexner said that he "severed ties" with Mr. Epstein about a decade ago. Erika Kellerhals, a lawyer in the Virgin Islands who handled the 2011 transfer for Mr. Epstein, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Mr. Epstein also owns a home in Palm Beach, Fla., a 7,500-acre ranch in New Mexico and an apartment in Paris. He also owns Little St. James Island, a private island in the Caribbean, and at least 15 cars. A spokesman for Mr. Clinton, whose photograph was on display in Mr. Epstein's mansion, said that the former president "made one brief visit" around 2002 to the New York home with a staff member and security officials. Mr. Clinton has not talked to Mr. Epstein in more than a decade and has not visited his properties in the Caribbean, Florida or New Mexico, the statement said. From the street, Mr. Epstein's Manhattan mansion has features that make it a commanding presence on the block: a 15-foot-tall oak front door (which the police pried open with a crowbar on Saturday during a search of the property), large arched windows on the ground floor and a balcony on the second floor. Mr. Epstein's initials are on a brass plaque near the front door. While Mr. Epstein has tried to maintain a private life, he did allow a reporter for Vanity Fair magazine to visit the mansion for a 2003 profile, "The Talented Mr. Epstein." The article describes a main hallway that was covered with rows of artificial eyeballs from England that had been made for wounded soldiers. The room connected to the hallway was a marble foyer adorned with a painting that resembled works by the French artist Jean Dubuffet. "The host coyly refuses to tell visitors who painted it," the reporter, Vicky Ward, wrote. The article was published around the same time that he started to recruit underage girls to the mansion, according to the indictment unsealed on Monday. The Mystery Around Jeffrey Epstein's Fortune and How He Made It Bloomberg By Tom Metcalf, Caleb Melby and Sophie Alexander 7/9/19 In a neighborhood of millionaires and billionaires, close to New York's famous Museum Mile, two initials discreetly adorn the entrance of one of the city's most opulent mansions: J.E. The letters stand for Jeffrey Epstein, the self-described "collector" of rich and powerful men, who has been accused of sexually assaulting girls inside the luxurious Manhattan home. EFTA00076630 On Monday, as federal prosecutors unsealed new charges claiming Epstein ran a sex-trafficking ring that lured dozens of young women to the house, its heavy wood doors bore crowbar marks — evidence of how authorities forced their way in over the sultry Fourth of July weekend. Prosecutors say they discovered hundreds, possibly thousands of suggestive photographs, including those of what appeared to be underage girls. The latest turn in the long, lurid saga ofJeff Epstein comes more than a decade after a secretive plea deal enabled him to avoid similar charges in Florida. Now, familiar questions are swirling again about his possible links to a Who's Who of prominent political and business figures. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample SIGN UP NOW For all his infamy, there are scant details of how he made his money. While he's frequently been called a billionaire, his net worth is hard to ascertain. He ran a money management firm catering to the ultra-rich, primarily for Victoria's Secret founder Les Wexner, but its assets were never made public and few on Wall Street have dealt with him as a financier or money manager. According to his lawyers more than a decade ago, he had a net worth in excess of nine figures. Today, so little is known about Epstein's current business or clients that the only things that can be valued with any certainty are his properties. The Manhattan mansion is estimated to be worth at least $77 million, according to a federal document submitted in advance of Epstein's bail hearing. He also has properties in New Mexico, Paris and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he has a private island, and a Palm Beach estate with an assessed value of more than $12 million. He shuttles between them by private jet and has at least 15 cars, including seven Chevrolet Suburbans, according to federal authorities. ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads Epstein's early career is better documented. Born in 1953 and raised in Brooklyn, Epstein dropped out of Cooper Union and NYU's Courant Institute. He landed a gig teaching calculus and physics at Manhattan's exclusive Dalton School between 1973 and 1975, according to a 2002 New York magazine profile, where his students included the son of Bear Steams Chairman Alan Greenberg. He joined Bear Stearns in 1976 as a lowly junior assistant to a floor trader. In a swift rise, trading options, he made partner four years later, with former Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Cayne praising his skills. He left in 1981 to set up J. Epstein & Co., but one bank executive said he remained close to Cayne and Greenberg and was a client until Bear Stearns' demise. Epstein's money management business had an exclusive focus: It would serve only billionaires. Epstein reportedly made all the investment calls. Since the 1990s, the company has been incorporated in the U.S. Virgin Islands and is now called Financial Trust Co. A person answering the phone at the Saint Thomas-based company hung up after a request for comment was made. The main client was Wexner, the founder of underwear maker L Brands. Epstein started managing his money in the 1980s and a 2003 Vanity Fair profile noted the pair had a close relationship, close enough for Epstein to acquire the Manhattan mansion from Wexner. It's unclear how much Epstein paid and when he actually took ownership. EFTA00076631 Wexner had purchased the property from the Birch Wathen School, a Manhattan prep school in 1989, according to city records. He sold it in 1998 to a Virgin Islands entity called NES LLC, according to a person familiar with the matter. Epstein is affiliated with NES, public records show. There are no New York property records documenting a transfer until 2011, when the company that Wexner used to purchase the townhouse transferred it to Epstein's Virgin Islands-based Maple Inc. for $0. Epstein signed for both sides of the transaction. "People have said it's like we have one brain between two of us: each has a side," Epstein said in the 2003 profile. Wexner, who has a $6.7 billion fortune on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, declined to comment. He cut ties with Epstein more than a decade ago as suspicions about Epstein swirled, with alleged victims saying Epstein used his employees to bring local teen girls to his Florida mansion for sex and paid them to recruit new victims. The girls were as young as 13-years-old. None of Epstein's other clients have been identified. But while his money management firm remains a black box, the same can't be said of Epstein himself. Even before the weekend, the non-prosecution deal he cut in 2008 has come under growing criticism in recent months, with critics calling for Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who was the lead prosecutor in the case, to resign since the Miami Herald revisited the case and the plea deal in a November report. Today, lurid details were splashed across the media as prosecutors detailed the alleged crimes that occurred at Epstein's homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, from 2002 to 2005 involving minors as young as 14 and accused Epstein of "creating a vast network of victims." Epstein paid victims hundreds of dollars in cash after sex acts, prosecutors said. They were initially recruited to give Epstein massages, which became increasingly sexual in nature. At least three of Epstein's employees were involved in recruiting and scheduling minors for sexual encounters with him, as well as other unspecified "associates," the U.S. said. One was based in New York, while two other assistants based at his mansion in Palm Beach were responsible for scheduling the encounters there and escorting victims to a room in the house, according to the indictment. Prosecutors are attempting to seize the Manhattan townhouse through forfeiture proceedings, on the grounds that his spacious property was used for the sex trafficking. The townhouse was built in 1932 for Herbert Straus, whose parents owned R.H. Macy & Co. and is said to be one of the largest in Manhattan. Epstein's future address could be far less comfortable. The charges he faces carry a maximum 45 year prison term. Jeffrey Epstein prosecutors aided by `excellent investigative journalism' Politico By Michael Calderone 7/8/19 Allegations that billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein sought and paid underage girls for sex were an open secret for more than a decade, but his legal battles seemed over after he reached a 2008 deal in Florida to serve a 13- month jail sentence and register as a sex offender. That changed Monday when federal prosecutors charged the former hedge fund manager with sex trafficking, and he might have the Miami Herald to thank for it. "We were assisted by some excellent investigative journalism," Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Monday at a news conference to announce the charges. EFTA00076632 The Herald's managing editor, Rick Hirsch, told POLITICO that his paper's November series, "Perversion of Justice," advanced the Epstein story by giving "victims a voice" and that the effects were being seen now. In the series, reporter Julie K. Brown got women to speak for the first time on the record about Epstein's alleged "cult-like network of underage girls." She also explored the role of Alex Acosta, who was the U.S. attorney in Miami in 2008 and is now the U.S. Labor secretary, in the deal with Epstein. "Julie tackled this project because she thought there were questions about whether justice was done, and it's really had an impact," Hirsch said. "That's what it's all about." Berman's comments at the news conference — which came in response to a question about whether prosecutors had obtained new information about Epstein, who pleaded not guilty — prompted a round of celebrations from journalists. But they also renewed questions about why the allegations against the financier, who has counted presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton as friends, were not deeply investigated much earlier. The case has drawn comparisons to that of filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged abuse of women was rumored for years before new revelations in The New York Times and The New Yorker led to criminal charges. Journalist Vicky Ward tweeted on Monday that a 2003 Vanity Fair profile she wrote about Epstein was "far from the whole story," claiming that the publication's editor at the time, Graydon Carter, cut out first-person accounts of Epstein's treatment of women from a mother and her two daughters. Ward made the same claim in 2015, prompting a Vanity Fair spokesperson to note that "Epstein denied the charges at the time" and that the claims "were unsubstantiated and no criminal investigation had been initiated." Vanity Fair declined to comment on Monday. Carter said in a statement on Monday that editors at the magazine viewed Ward's reporting as less bulletproof than her tweets indicated. "In the end, we didn't have confidence in Ward's reporting," said Carter, who left Vanity Fair in 2017. "We were not in the habit of running away from a fight. But she simply didn't have the goods." Some news organizations, notably the now-shuttered Gawker, did keep plugging away with Epstein stories, even as he receded from headlines at most outlets. Aminda Marques Gonzalez, the Herald's executive editor, said in a CNN interview that Brown's investigation of Epstein last year stemmed from reporting on women's prisons and human trafficking. "Jeffrey Epstein's name kept coming up again and again," Gonzalez said. While Brown's November story brought Epstein back into the spotlight, there wasn't immediate fallout. Brown told CNN she continued pursuing the story so that law enforcement and government officials wouldn't "forget that these women were out there. ... They want to tell their story, and they want justice." She posted on Twitter on Sunday, as reports emerged of the coming charges, that the "REAL HEROES" of her story were the women speaking out. Colleagues and competitors, meanwhile, have been lauding Brown's reporting and suggesting she win a Pulitzer Prize. Her 2018 reporting on Epstein was honored earlier this year with a Polk Award, one ofjournalism's highest honors, but she wasn't even a finalist for a Pulitzer. The Herald's reporting appeared to be a contender for the investigative reporting and local journalism prizes. USA Today's national investigations editor, Matt Doig, and The Denver Post's editor, Lee Ann Colacioppo, who led the groups that vetted stories in those categories, both told POLITICO that there were strong entries from other news organizations. "The fact that this piece from Miami wasn't a finalist just speaks to the incredible work being done at newspapers throughout the country — even under the tremendous stresses that newspapers are feeling," Colacioppo said. EFTA00076633 She said "there were no outside pressures" on that decision, despite an April letter from Alan Dershowitz, a former Epstein lawyer, urging the Pulitzer judges not to reward what he called Brown's "fake news." Doig said the Herald "should be commended for what it did," while noting that other standout entries "should also be rewarded." Hirsch, the Herald editor, said he respected the Pulitzer process during "a very strong year for journalism." And, he said, "I think what's happening in the last few days is a lot more important." Jeffrey Epstein Shouldn't Expect to Wriggle Free Again Daily Beast By Mimi Rocah 718/19 Justice has seemed elusive these past three years. One of the most discouraging themes has been the pattern of powerful white men who seem to get away with sexual misconduct and even criminal behavior toward women and young girls: Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Brett Kavanaugh, among them. Some days, it feels like the idea of "justice" is nonexistent when it comes to this type of powerful perpetrator and conduct. The case of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, thus far, is one of the most egregious examples. Epstein actually got caught: He was arrested and charged last decade by federal authorities for running a sex-trafficking operation in which minor girls experienced horrible sexual abuse and rape in Florida. But then Epstein was given a slap-on- the-wrist deal in 2008 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and some of his co- conspirators were shielded from prosecution. To make matters even worse, that deal seems to have been the product of some serious gamesmanship by a cabal of other powerful white men, including Alex Acosta, then- U.S. attorney and now secretary of labor. But, finally, it looks like justice will be served to Epstein in the form of new sex-trafficking charges filed by the formidable U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. Epstein has reportedly been arrested for trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005. And this time, Epstein shouldn't expect the ridiculous sweetheart deal he got the first time around. Charges of federal sex-trafficking (prior to 2006) carry up to 40 years in prison. Short of a cooperation agreement with the government—which in the SDNY famously means full cooperation against all possible other subjects and targets-Epstein will likely serve a very substantial prison sentence possibly a decade or more. "In my 16 years as a prosecutor, I am only aware of two instances in which someone convicted of a crime of this nature was offered a cooperation agreement." In addition, in my experience as a prosecutor involved in trafficking cases in the SDNY, that office is not in the practice of giving slap-on-the-wrist deals to sex offenders and will prosecute the case fairly but with appropriate zeal. The fact that the FBI also reportedly executed a search warrant at Epstein's New York residence suggests either that they had probable cause to believe there was more recent conduct that occurred there and/or that evidence from his past crimes was likely to be found there this many years later. That search could yield important new evidence. There are already many important questions about this prosecution. First, how could Epstein be prosecuted this many years later? Because since 2006, under federal law, there is no statute of limitations for child sexual exploitation cases of this type. So as long as Epstein's conduct was still chargeable under the prior statute of limitations in 2006, he can be prosecuted for those crimes today. Second, what should we make of reporting that Epstein's prosecution is being overseen by the Public Corruption Unit of the SDNY? Short answer: It's too soon to say. It could mean that a public official is being investigated or EFTA00076634 will be charged with Epstein. That could be a minor public figure or a major one. It could mean that SDNY is investigating misconduct in the plea that Epstein was given in 2008. Or it could mean none of those things. Third, could Epstein cooperate and implicate other powerful men who were involved in this sex trafficking, both Republicans and Democrats? Yes—but the SDNY will not cooperate with a child predator like Epstein easily (for good reason in my view). In my 16 years as a prosecutor, I am only aware of two instances in which someone convicted of a crime of this nature was offered a cooperation agreement. That means Epstein would have to have some very valuable and verifiable information to trade for a cooperation agreement. Fourth, could Attorney General Bill Barr run interference on this case? Yes. He is the head of the whole Justice Department, even the "Sovereign" district, as SDNY is sometimes playfully called. And while it pains me to say this, given Barr's conduct in the past acting more as a defense attorney for Trump than an overseer of justice, I am concerned that Barr might interfere if he thought that Epstein might implicate Trump, who was friends with Epstein. Barr did say in his confirmation hearings that he might recuse himself on overseeing matters with respect to Epstein because of his (Barr's) affiliation with a law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, which was part of the Florida plea debacle. Now would be a good time to know if Barr followed through on that. So, there are many open questions and twists and turns that this case will follow. But, for now, in a world in which justice has seemed so elusive, I think we should take a moment to applaud the fact that it appears justice is being served to Jeffrey Epstein and for the many young victims of his horrendous crimes. Correction: The sex-trafficking statute was amended in 2006 to include a mandatory minus of 10 or 15 years depending on the age of the victim. 'I was 14. I had braces': Jeffrey Epstein victims recall how pedophile forced them to perform sex ads ahead of his bail hearing, as prosecutors fight to keep billionaire flight risk behind bars Daily Mail By Chris Spargo 7/8/19 Two of the women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual assault during his previous criminal trial in Palm Beach, Florida back in 2008 are speaking out Two of the women who accused billionaire Jeffrey Epstein of molesting them when they were minors will be in attendance for his court appearance on Monday in Manhattan. was just 16 when she claims a young woman brought her to Epstein's Palm Beach estate and she was paid to give him a massage. 'He od, you're just so beautiful and sexy and gorgeous and it was making me feel really uncomfortable,' said in an interview with ABC News. Then he wanted me to rub his back, and he kept asking me to go lower and he was kind of talking to me. was even younger, revealing that she was still in middle school when Epstein allegedly forced her into performing sex acts. 'I was 14, I had braces on,' recalled Wild. 'Like, I remember standing in his kitchen ... and he also had a lot of girls there all the time' Wild and who were among the victims in the previous criminal case brought against Epstein, 66, in Florida bac in 008, said that they will both be in court on Monday for his arraignment and bail hearing. The two also expressed their hope that the registered sex offender stays behind bars. EFTA00076635 On June 30, 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to a single state charge of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, and ultimately served just 13 months of his 18-month sentence. That time was served not in a prison, but rather the Palm Beach Stockade, which is a local detention center. Epstein was also allowed to leave six days a week to go work out of his West Palm Beach office during his time behind bars. After his release he did have to register as a sex offender, but not in all states. That fight is over a non-prosecution agreement that Epstein signed in the case, which was overseen by President Trump's current Secretary of Labor, Alex Acosta. That agreement does no extend to the Southern District of New York. Lawyers with the Southern District of New York will likely argue that Epstein is a flight risk, and should remain behind bars. His defense team will fight that, though there is a chance they might acquiesce to home confinement for their client. That would put him back in the Upper East Side townhouse that authorities spent the weekend tearing through while gathering evidence in the case. 'The first moment finding out Jeffrey Epstein was put in jail was so relieving to me,' sai' 'I felt safer. I've waited for this one day just to happen and it's finally come.' The women in Florida are currently fighting so have Epstein retried in that case. That office's Public Corruption Unit investigated Epstein, who is facing up to 45 years behind bars if found guilty on both counts: sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. The charges against Epstein were filed following dozens of interviews with victims, who also spoke with the FBI and the NYPD, a law enforcement official told DailMail.com. Almost all of these women claim they were underage when they were asked to give Epstein massages at his Palm Beach or New York City homes, according to a law enforcement official. Some of the women also said that they were shuttled between the two properties on Epstein's jet, said that official. Those women claim that these massages would often lead to Epstein asking that they perform a rape act on him in exchange for money. That same official said that the incidents for which Epstein is now being charged all occurred between 1999 and 2005. The Public Corruption Unit is tasked with heading up the 'prosecution of corruption crimes committed by elected and appointed officials, government employees, and individuals and companies doing business with the city, state, and federal government.' Among the crimes it investigates are 'bribery, embezzlement, and frauds committed against local, state, and federal government agencies,' but no mention of sex trafficking. Epstein's first court appearance will come less than 48 hours after he was taken into custody by federal agents at Teterboro Airport. EFTA00076636 It all happened just before 5pm on Saturday, when Epstein reentered the country for the first time since June 16, when he took off from the same airport bound for Paris. Prior to that trip, Epstein had been crisscrossing the US as he moved between his properties in New York City, Palm Beach, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands. Epstein's arrest comes in the wake of a three-part expose in the Miami Herald detailing his settlements with victims and sweetheart plea deal. Around the same time he was being arrested, agents with the FBI were seen breaking down the door to his Upper East Side mansion to execute a search warrant in the case. DailyMail.com obtained exclusive photos which show the aftermath of that search, including Epstein's damaged and splintered door. The episode is likely to cause embarrassment to Prince Andrew, who was an associate of Epstein but has now severed ties. Groups of unidentified men were seen coming and going at the property until 2am on Sunday. A security guard from a nearby building told DailyMail.com that between 20 to 25 law enforcement officials showed up at Epstein's home at around 6:30pm on Saturday. Most of those were FBI agents, the security guard said. They were accompanied by several officers - both uniformed and plain-clothed - from the New York Police Department. The guard told DailyMail.com that it took them approximately 10 to 15 minutes before they could pry the door open. The front entrance appears to be outfitted with fingerprint and keypad technology for security purposes. The guard says that in the hours since the raid, more law enforcement personnel arrived at the home, where they are expected to work well into Sunday morning. The guard, who identified himself as Tom, said he would see Epstein there once or twice a month. He said that two weeks ago, he noticed someone on the street taking photographs of Epstein's residence. The US Attorney's Office and a spokesperson with the New York Police Department both declined to comment on Saturday. This news comes just days after a judge ordered the unsealing of nearly 2,000 pages of records related to a civil case that could reveal how he and his accused accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly trafficked underage girls The documents that will be unsealed are from a defamation case that was settled after Epstein entered a guilty plea guilty to a single charge of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution. Records in the defamation case contained descriptions of sexual abuse by Epstein along with new allegations of sexual abuse by 'numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders.' The appeals court found that the judge in the case did seal a number of documents without a justifiable reason when ordering the release. Epstein's lawyers will first get a chance to appeal, and after those legal proceedings play out the documents will start being prepared by the court for release. EFTA00076637 The plea deal Epstein agreed to back in 2008 saved him from having to register as a sex offender in 31 of 50 states. In a deal unknown to the victim or her lawyer, the minor Epstein admitted to soliciting for prostitution was not the 14-year-old girl who first reported the millionaire money manager, but rather another girl, 16, whose age was left blank on court documents. That victim's age means that Epstein did not have to register as a sex offender in states like New Mexico, where he owns a 7,600-acre property called Zorro Ranch, and allows him to be classified as a low risk offender in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which is currently his primary residence. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta violated the rights of Epstein's alleged victims when they neglected to notify them that they were no longer pursuing federal charges. That was another part of the deal, which in addition to allowing Epstein to have work release and live in a low- security facility also agreed to drop a federal probe into the millionaire moneyman. Now Acosta - who is the current Secretary of Labor and had been mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general - and others are again coming under fire for allegedly catering to the man who donated millions to the Clintons and hosted President Trump at his Manhattan townhouse while keeping his victims in the dark. 'They were cutting a plea deal. It wasn't a prosecution,' said attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented the 14- year-old girl who alerted police. 'They had a grab bag of 40 girls to choose from.' He then revealed that he and his client believed they had been the victim referenced in the plea deal. 'It's unbelievably upsetting,' said Kuvin. 'The rug has been swiped out from under the one girl who was brave enough to come forward and break this thing.' Questions about Epstein's deal started to surface after a series of lawsuits were filed by two of his alleged victims. The women, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, claim in court papers that they were unaware of the secret deal being made between the defense team and prosecutors back in 2007 that guaranteed federal charges would not be brought against Epstein, 63, which could have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for the millionaire. They filed their lawsuit a few months after Epstein received his lenient sentence in 2008, with their lawyers saying the U.S. Attorney's Office violated the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act by not speaking with Epstein's victims about the details of his plea agreement. The two victims who filed the suit were 13 and 14 at the time of the abuse. This filing contained more than 140 exhibits including emails between Epstein's defense team, the U.S. Attorney's office and former State Attorney Barry ICrischer, which lawyers believe clearly show that victims were being left in the dark. Jeffrey Epstein, a Billionaire Friend of Presidents Trump & Clinton, Arrested for Sex Trafficking Democracy Now 7/8/19 Billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexually assaulting underage girls for more than a decade, will appear in federal court today in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. He was arrested EFTA00076638 on Saturday for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation by luring underage girls as young as 14 years old to his mansion in Manhattan. Epstein was previously accused of molesting and trafficking dozens of underage girls in Florida, but he ended up serving just 13 months in county jail after the U.S. prosecutor in Florida, Alexander Acosta, cut what's been described as "one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history." The plea deal allowed Epstein to avoid a federal trial and possible life in prison, and effectively ended an FBI probe into the case. Acosta is now Donald Trump's labor secretary. Epstein has counted Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends. We speak with Vicky Ward, an investigative journalist who profiled Jeffrey Epstein for Vanity Fair in 2003 in a piece headlined "The Talented Mr. Epstein." The magazine's editor at the time, Graydon Carter, cut out the testimonies of two young women Epstein allegedly molested who had spoken to Ward on the record. Ward later wrote about the incident for The Daily Beast in an article headlined "I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003." Transcript This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I'm Amy Goodman. Billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexually assaulting underage girls for more than a decade, was arrested Saturday on sex trafficking charges. He was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. He'll appear in federal court today. The New York Times reports he's being accused of running a sex trafficking operation by luring underage girls-some as young as 14 years old—to his mansion in Manhattan. He was previously accused of molesting and trafficking dozens, and potentially hundreds, of underage girls in Florida. But Epstein ended up serving just 13 months in county jail after the U.S. prosecutor in Florida, Alexander Acosta, cut what's been described as "one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history." The plea deal allowed Epstein to avoid a federal trial and possible life in prison, and effectively ended an FBI probe into the case. Alex Acosta is now Donald Trump's labor secretary. Jeffrey Epstein has counted Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends. They've flown with him. Trump told New York magazine in 2002, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side," Trump said about his friend Jeffrey Epstein. Again, this was before all the charges were brought. In 2000, Trump was photographed with Epstein at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. To talk about what led up to Epstein's most recent arrest and what comes next, we're joined by Vicky Ward, an investigative journalist who profiled Jeffrey Epstein for Vanity Fair in 2003 in a piece headlined "The Talented Mr. Epstein." The magazine's editor at the time, Graydon Carter, cut out the testimonies of two young women Epstein allegedly molested, who had spoken to Ward on the record, one of them underage. Ward wrote about what happened with her Epstein reporting for The Daily Beast in an article headlined "I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003." Welcome back to Democracy Now! It's great to have you with us, Vicky. VICKY WARD: Thanks, Amy. AMY GOODMAN: So, for people who do not understand who this man is—he's referred to as billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein—who is he, and what do you believe he is being charged with right now? The indictment is about to be opened. VICKY WARD: So, I don't think he's a hedge fun