EFTA01146896.pdf

Sex offender drops lawsuit • ByJane Musgrave Billionaire ad- Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Jeffrey Ep- to stein sued y. WEST PALM BEACH — Bil- a convicted lionaire sex offenderJef- Ponzl frey Epstein has dropped schemer se a his lawsuit against convict- and a law- re- ed Fort Lauderdale Ponzi yer. ;ut schemer Scott Rothstein he and one of the disbarred who represents Edwards. 'ion lawyer's former associates. Epstein dropped the is a Since Rothstein is serv- claims against Edwards / col• ing a 50-year sentence for on Thursday, a day before bilking investors out of Scarola was going to ask a epub- $1.2 billion, the focus of judge to throw out the suit. who Epstein's lawsuit has long "He filed these baseless, into been attorney Bradley Ed- scurrilous clainis for the sized wards. purpose of trying to extort ggest The Fort Lauderdale Mr. Edwards into abandon- for lawyer, who worked at ing the lawsuits on behalf nth/ Rothstein's now-defunct of Mr. Epstein's young vic- firm, became Epstein's tims," Scarola said. nemesis when he filed civ- Attorney Tonja Haddad il suits on behalf of five Coleman, who represents 1 women who claimed Ep- Epstein, didn't return a stein sexually exploited phone call for comment. them at his Palm Beach Scarola said the legal mansion when some were battle isn't over. Edwards as young as 1.4. will pursue claims against While Epstein ultimate- Epstein for malicious pros- y ly settled the suits, along with roughly two dozen more tiled by other wom- en, he claimed Edwards ecution and abuse of pro- cess. He is seeking punitive damages that could run in- to the millions. trumped up the allegations As part of a contro- to perpetuate Rothstein's versial non-prosecution fraud. agreement, federal prose- ident As part of his scheme, cutors in 2008 agreed not Rothstein would falsely tell :ed potential to file charges against Ep- investors that he stein after dozens of wom- had reached large settle. en complained he had rd is ments in various lawsuits lured them to his man- tor to and they could share in the sion for sex. In exchange, nesti- riches. he pleaded guilty in state ng ac- In the 2009 lawsuit, Ep- court to two prostitution- stein said Rothstein falsely related charges. 28, claimed he had gotten the He served 13 months is on billionaire financial man- of an 18-month sentence. side- ager to agree to settle the He also agreed to pay for band. women's lawsuits for as an attorney to represent • roke, much as $200 million. more than 30 women who 200 Despite three years of claimed he paid them for trying, Epstein never pro- sex when they were mi- m her duced any evidence to nors. shore up his allegations, said attorney Jack Scarola, tED8/17 .0•••riew Mae OW 6- 9•• TM Post WINK to pros. 'F" Not available• SR IC1108/16 Thursday Fantasy S 1-2-12-19-29 EFTA01146896