This prosecutor tried to put Epstein away for decades. Powerful men maneuvered to stop her By Kevin G. Hall and Ben Wieder
Updated November 20, 2020 12:15 PM
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“After all the hell they put me through, I don’t feel like celebrating 18 months,” Villafaña wrote to one colleague about Epstein’s sentence, which became a #metoo symbol of how rich and powerful sex offenders can evade justice. “He should be spending 18 years in jail.”
In the end, Epstein served only 13 months, not 18 — and not in the jail but in the cushier confines of the Palm Beach County stockade. He was afforded his own wing to protect the Palm Beach multimillionaire from extortion. And thanks in part to a decision by Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw that Epstein need not register as a sex offender until after he had served his time, Epstein, a man accused of sexual abuse by dozens of girls, was able to qualify for work release. He would be whisked away from the stockade by a chauffeur — for 12 hours a day, six days a week — guarded by Bradshaw’s deputies, working paid off-duty shifts
The deal was largely forgotten in November 2018 when the Miami Herald published Perversion of Justice, an investigative project dissecting the so-called federal “non-prosecution agreement” (NPA). In the series’ aftermath, Epstein was arrested by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. Weeks later, he was found hanging by the neck in his New York City cell while awaiting trial, a death that was called a suicide. The U.S. attorney who had explicitly blessed the original deal, Alexander Acosta, resigned his post as President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor.
Villafaña, who remained on the job with the U.S. attorney, left last year to join the Department of Health and Human Services.
Alexander Acosta
The OPR investigation was a chance for Villafaña to have her say after years of silence amid reports that she was the line prosecutor on a case that many considered a gross injustice.
The full report, 350 pages long, finds no official misconduct by the Justice Department or then-U.S. Attorney Acosta, but merely myriad examples of poor judgment, both in the way Acosta allowed the case to be disposed of and the way victims were misled to believe it was still under serious investigation. And it describes how the determined efforts of Villafaña were thwarted by an all-star cast of prominent defense lawyers, the county sheriff who granted Epstein work release, and, in Villafaña’s view, her own less-than-supportive superiors, Acosta among them
“Ms. Villafaña believes the injustice in this case is a direct result of implicit biases based on gender and socioeconomic status — biases that allowed Mr. Epstein’s defense team unparalleled access to the decision-makers at the Justice Department, while the victims, Ms. Villafaña, and the FBI agents working the case were silenced,” said a statement to the Miami Herald from Ty Kelly, Villafaña’s lawyer during the Justice Department review. \While Villafaña had vivid memories of nearly everything that occurred, Acosta told OPR he had no recollection of an Oct. 12, 2007, breakfast meeting he held with one of Epstein’s top lawyers at the West Palm Beach Marriott. Perversion of Justice called it a pivotal moment during which a controversial non-prosecution agreement was consummated. The OPR review stated it “did not find evidence establishing” that this was the case and noted that a draft of the federal NPA — which would include not only Epstein, but his assistants and any other unnamed individuals implicated — had already been signed by Epstein. But discussions of a critical addendum to that draft took place at the meeting. Afterward, Jay Lefkowitz sent Acosta a note thanking him “for the commitment you made to me during our October 12 meeting in which you promised genuine finality with regard to this matter … .”
Although it was her case, Villafaña wasn’t present for the breakfast meeting.
Nearly all those who put Villafaña through “hell” as she sought to bring an abuser of young girls to justice shared a singular characteristic. They were men, a dynamic that takes on added meaning in the wake of the overdue arrests of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein and the advent of the #metoo movement, which zeroed in on gender and power inequities.
The report, in dismissing any actual misconduct, says U.S. attorneys have broad discretion, absent “corruption or other impermissible considerations” to prosecute or not.
The report says that Villafaña learned of Epstein’s abuses from an FBI case agent who told of a Palm Beach detective who was concerned that the state attorney’s office was trying to minimize or bury the abuses because of Epstein’s local prominence. On July 14, 2006, she met in person with Acosta and Jeffrey Sloman, who at the time was head of the criminal division but soon afterward became Acosta’s top deputy, to inform them about the case. She said she was not discouraged from proceeding. (Sloman and Acosta both told OPR they had no recollection of the meeting.)
“I remember specifically saying to them that I expected the case would be time- and resource-intensive and I did not want to invest the time and the FBI’s resources if the Office would just back down to pressure at the end,” Villafaña told OPR.
Later in July 2006, after a state grand jury indicted Epstein on minor charges, Villafaña felt the detective’s concerns about a whitewash were validated and she pressed ahead with her investigation.
In the fall of 2006 and throughout early 2007, Epstein’s lawyers, by now aware of the federal investigation, pressed for a meeting with prosecutors. Villafaña responded that she first wanted the Epstein team to provide more documents pertinent to the investigation. One of her specific concerns was that when local authorities conducted a search of Epstein’s palatial estate on the Palm Beach waterfront, where he allegedly had underage girls massage him and engage in sex acts, computer drives and other equipment connected to omnipresent surveillance cameras were missing and it appeared as if he had been tipped off to the raid in advance.
It was said that Epstein liked to retain photos and videos of his victims and his home was bristling with cameras.
Rather than provide the documents and other evidence, Epstein’s team went over Villafaña’s head. A meeting was scheduled. Villafaña was in the room. The Epstein attorneys brought along a 25-page letter attacking the credibility of Epstein’s young accusers as liars and drug users.
On May 1, 2007, Villafaña drafted an 82-page prosecution memo directed to Acosta, Sloman and his successor at the criminal division, Matthew Menchel, supporting a proposed 60-count indictment. Weeks later the Justice Department division that combats child exploitation reviewed her materials, offered to work with her and called the memo “exhaustive” and “well done.”
Acosta would tell OPR investigators he could not recall ever reading the document, and that he relied on others for such things. In a statement last week, he said the OPR report “vindicates” the decisions he and underlings took.
The OPR report describes how Villafaña became angry in July of that year when Menchel explained to her in an email that he had proposed to Epstein lawyer Lilly Sanchez, one of the few women involved in the case, that the federal prosecution Villafaña was working on be resolved with a plea deal in the parallel state case. Villafaña felt it was an end-run around her.
“[I]t is inappropriate for you to enter into plea negotiations without consulting with me or the investigative agencies, and it is more inappropriate to make a plea offer that you know is completely unacceptable to the FBI, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], the victims and me,” she wrote.
Villafaña, who worked in West Palm Beach, sought a meeting with the Miami-based Acosta and Sloman.
As the OPR report went on to state: “Menchel’s reply began with a rebuke.”
“Both the tone and substance of your email are totally inappropriate,” he wrote.
He went on: “If the U.S. Attorney [Acosta] or the First Assistant [Sloman] desire to meet with you, they will let you know. Nor will I direct Epstein’s lawyers to communicate only with you,” wrote Menchel. “If you want to work major cases in the district you must understand and accept the fact that there is a chain of command — something you disregard with great regularity.”
He would add: “As you well knew, you were never given authorization by anyone to seek an indictment in this case.”
Years later, Villafaña would tell OPR investigators the email was “meant to intimidate” and that she felt “put in [her] place.”
In her interview with the internal investigators, Villafaña explained her view that Epstein’s legal team was out to steamroll the U.S. attorney’s office.
Villafaña said Acosta “was influenced by the stature of Epstein’s attorneys.” The high-priced legal team included Lefkowitz, who had been a top lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration, celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz, and former Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, who famously investigated President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The team also had multiple former members of the U.S. attorney’s office — including Lilly Sanchez, whom Menchel had briefly dated and whom he was now acknowledged to be negotiating with — and multiple attorneys with the giant law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which previously employed Acosta. (Later, Kirkland & Ellis talked to Acosta about returning to the firm, the report states, leading him to recuse from Epstein matters.)
“I think that the ability of Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr and Jay Lefkowitz to convince Alex Acosta that I didn’t know what I was talking [about] also, all came into play,” Villafaña told Justice investigators.
Drone video shows just how close Jeffrey Epstein’s private island of Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands was to the neighboring island, which he subsequently acquired. By Emily Michot Noted Kelly,
Villafaña’s lawyer: “The report shows that the entire process authorized by the U.S. Attorney’s office management gave undue weight and credence to the arguments of Epstein’s defense team, who made slanderous and unsupported statements about the victims’ credibility, pushed to disregard facts showing Epstein’s abuse of girls as young as 14, and made the outrageous and unprecedented assertion that there was no federal interest in the actions of a man flying interstate to engage in sexual activity with children.”
Two weeks after submitting her prosecution memorandum, on May 14, 2007, Villafaña wanted to take the next step. In an email, she told Menchel that Epstein was flying to New Jersey from the Virgin Islands and she asked whether she could file charges the next day.
In his email response, Menchel tapped the brakes. “This is obviously a very significant case and [A]lex wants to take his time making sure he is comfortable before proceeding.” (The OPR report notes Menchel’s previous relationship with Sanchez and that he neglected to tell that to Acosta of the potential conflict.)
As to why the urgency, Villafaña would tell the OPR investigators: “because child sex offenders don’t stop until they are behind bars.”
Acosta would never proceed with a prosecution, deciding instead to use the non-prosecution agreement as a vehicle to send the case back to the state attorney with a predetermined outcome: a guilty plea to minor charges. Acosta would explain that he feared he might lose if the case went to trial, leaving Epstein unpunished. The plea guaranteed that Epstein would spend some time incarcerated and that he would have to register with the state as a sex offender, both of which Acosta considered important.
Initially, the plan called for Epstein to serve a two-year term, a provision on which Villafaña — who believed Epstein deserved “dozens” of years — was “not consulted,” she told OPR investigators. Twenty-four months was then whittled down to 20 months and then to 18 months. The OPR report says the evidence it collected “doesn’t clearly show why” these reductions were implemented.
After Epstein’s formal guilty plea on June 30, 2008, the 18 months quickly became 13.
On Oct. 10, 2008, the Palm Beach sheriff placed Epstein on work release so he could spend his days at something called the “Florida Science Foundation.” As a practical matter, that meant he could hang out at the office of another of his lawyers, Jack Goldberger, which doubled as the nominal headquarters of the Florida Science Foundation, something Epstein created.
The U.S. attorney’s office wasn’t informed of the work release arrangement. In mid-November 2008, Villafaña learned Epstein was on the loose 12 hours a day. Stunned, Villafaña wrote to Roy Black, still another member of Epstein’s legal team, calling work release a “material breach” of the NPA. Black forwarded his response to Villafana’s superior, Sloman, complaining that Villafaña “is very concerned about anything that Epstein does.”
Around then, the report shows, she fired off an angry memo to Acosta and Sloman. “Can I indict him now?” she asked.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article247251804.html#storylink=cpy
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In addition to private island and mansions in New York and Palm Beach, Epstein owned New Mexico ranch He purchased the secluded ranch from New Mexico’s then-Governor Bruce King in 1993 Accuser Virginia Roberts says she was brought to the ranch as an underage teen and sexually abused Another accuser says her 15-year-old sister was flown to the ranch and molested Epstein was reportedly interested in turning the ranch into human breeding farm to ‘seed the human race’ Tried to insinuate himself into New Mexico’s scientific circles that are legacy of Manhattan Project
By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 10:02 EDT, 17 August 2019 Updated: 11:46 EDT, 1 November 2020
FBI investigators are probing potentially vile crimes at Jeffrey Epstein’s remote Zorro Ranch in New Mexico
The seemingly idyllic ranch in the shrub-dotted hills 23 miles south of Santa Fe has gone under the radar following raids on Epstein’s private Caribbean island and mansions in Manhattan and Palm Beach, but may have played a key role in the depraved pedophile’s crimes.
Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts has said she was taken to the ranch as an underage sex slave, sharing photos of herself on the property taken when she was about 17.
As well, Epstein revealed to scientists and close friends that he ‘hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women’ at the vast New Mexico New York Times .
Zorro Ranch, one of the properties of Jeffrey Epstein, is seen in an aerial view near Stanley, New Mexico
A view from inside the compound of secluded Zorro Ranch is seen in this photo obtained by DailyMail.com
Jeffrey Epstein revealed to scientists and close friends that he ‘hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women’ at the vast New Mexico ranch On February 22, 1993, Epstein’s shell company the Zorro Trust completed a purchase of lands owned by members of the King family, a powerful New Mexico agricultural and political dynasty that included then-Governor Bruce King.
Jeffrey Epstein revealed to scientists and close friends that he ‘hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women’ at the vast New Mexico ranch
Zorro’s deal included rights to the Kings’ leases on public lands, a total of 1,159 acres rented for $872.22 a year. The entire ranch, including privately held land, totaled nearly 8,000 acres.
According to county records, Epstein began constructing a stable, detached garages, and homes in 1994, and began building his mansion in 1999. Including porches and patios, the mansion came to 57,420 square feet.
Epstein also inquired about building a private airstrip on the leased public land – but when he was informed state officials would need to inspect the land, he quickly withdrew the permit request and built the airstrip on the privately held portion of the ranch.
The ranch is surrounded on nearly all sides by land owned by the powerful King family, insulating it from prying eyes. Fashion designer Tom Ford, whose name is in Epstein’s ‘little black book’, also maintains a massive 20,000-acre ranch not far to the north.
Soon after Epstein’s mansion was complete, nearby residents began to notice ‘caravans of glamorous women’ arriving when Epstein was in town, Santa Fe photographer Gene Peach told the New Republic .
Peach said that locals always knew when ‘the Epstein crowd is at the ranch, because the mansion lights drown out the stars’.
Virginia Roberts said she was taken to the ranch as an underage sex slave, sharing these photos of herself on the 8,000-acre New Mexico property taken when she was about 17
A map shows the location of Zorro Ranch, a remote New Mexico property nearly surrounded by private land
In addition to Virginia Roberts, Epstein accuser Maria Farmer said he and his then-assistant Ghislaine Maxwell abused her underage sister on Zorro Ranch.
‘During the summer of 1996, Epstein and Maxwell flew my younger sister to their ranch in New Mexico,’ Farmer, now 49, wrote in an affidavit.
‘She was only 15 at the time and they directed her take off all of her clothes and get on a massage table. Maxwell and Epstein then touched her inappropriately on the massage table. It was not until later in the summer when I called my sister in Thailand where she was studying that I learned what had happened to her at Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.’
‘To my knowledge, I was the first person to report Maxwell and Epstein to the FBI. It took a significant amount of bravery because I knew how powerful and influential both were.’
There are a number of reasons Epstein may have selected New Mexico as the location for his ranch.
For one, the state’s age of consent is 17, which allowed him to be dropped from New Mexico’s sex offender registry after just one month following his 2008 guilty plea to one count of procuring a 17-year-old girl for prostitution.
Neighbors say ‘caravans of glamorous women’ would arrive at the ranch through these double gates off Highway 41
Among photos obtained by DailyMail.com, there’s a shot of the wooden cowboy-style ranch entrance which has a metal Z
The state Attorney General’s office announced its investigators have interviewed possible victims of Epstein who visited Zorro Ranch (above) and is renewing a push for new laws to require sex traffickers to register as sex offenders in the state
New Mexico also has a strong scientific community, a legacy of the Manhattan Project, which Epstein reportedly insinuated himself into in pursuit of his bizarre goals.
Those goals included plans to have his head and penis cryogenically frozen upon his death, according to the Times.
Epstein donated more than a quarter of a million dollars into the Santa Fe Institute, a think tank for theoretical researchers, and befriended co-founder and quark-theory pioneer Murray Gell-Mann.
Gell-Mann in 2011 told Vanity Fair that “there are always pretty ladies around” when he dined at Zorro Ranch.
The scientific genius died in late May at the age of 89. The Santa Fe Institute has said that Epstein exaggerated his involvement with the think-tank, and was merely an occasional donor.
Zorro Ranch, one of the properties of Jeffrey Epstein, is seen in an aerial view near Stanley, New Mexico
According to county records, Epstein began constructing a stable, detached garages, and homes in 1994, and began building his mansion in 1999. Including porches and patios, the mansion came to 57,420 square feet
Accuser Virginia Roberts is seen riding a horse on Epstein’s Zorro Ranch when she was aged about 17
Authorities in New Mexico are now cooperating with the federal probe into Epstein’s potential co-conspirators.
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard last month delivered lease documents to state prosecutors who have interviewed possible victims of Epstein who visited his ranch south of Santa Fe.
Now the state attorney general’s office has said it is delivering up any evidence to the Southern District of New York, which is continuing the investigation into possible co-conspirators following Epstein’s death at age 66.
Zorro Trust remains the legal owner of the New Mexico property. Epstein stated in a court document filed just weeks before his death that his estate was worth approximately $550 million.
The estate will likely pass to Epstein’s younger brother Marc, the only surviving member of his immediate family.
Epstein’s executor and heirs will undoubtedly face a wave of lawsuits from women who claim they were assaulted and in some cases raped by Epstein for years when they were underage.
1999 – Virginia Roberts Giuffre is allegedly recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell to became Epstein’s ‘sex slave,’ at 17. She also claimed that he forced her to have sex with his friend Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth.
2002 – Trump tells New York Magazine that his friend Epstein ‘likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’
2005 – A 14-year-old girl tells police that Epstein molested her at his Palm Beach mansion.
May 2006 – Epstein and two of his associates are charged with multiple counts of unlawful sex acts with a minor. State attorney of the time Barry Krischer, referred the case to a grand jury who heard from just two of the 12 girls law enforcement had gathered as potential witnesses. They returned just one single count of soliciting prostitution.
July 2006 – The case is referred to the FBI by the Florida Palm Beach police who were unhappy with how the case was handled.
2007 – Epstein’s lawyers meet with Miami’s top federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta, who would later become the Secretary of Labor in the Trump administration. They secretly negotiate the ‘deal of a lifetime’.
June 2008 – After pleading guilty to two prostitution charges, the millionaire was sentenced to 18 months in a low-security prison in exchange for prosecutors ending their investigation into his sex acts with minors and give him immunity from future prosecution related to those charges. In reality, Epstein was able to work from his office six days a week while supposedly incarcerated at the jail.
July 2008 – Accusers learned of the deal for the first time.
July 2009 – Epstein is released from jail five months early.
July 2018 – The Miami Herald publishes investigative journalist Julie K. Brown’s exposé on Epstein’s long history of alleged sexual abuse and news of the ‘deal of a lifetime’ after Acosta was made Labor Secretary.
February 2019 – The justice department opens an internal review into Epstein’s plea deal.
July 7, 2019 – Epstein is arrested after his private jet lands at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport from Paris. At the same time, federal agents break into his Manhattan townhouse where they uncovered hundreds of photographs of naked minors.
July 8, 2019 – Epstein is charged with sex trafficking charges which detail how he created a network of underage girls in Florida and New York, paying girls as young as 14 to provide ‘massages and sex acts.’ The charges carry a sentence of up to 45 years in prison.
July 11, 2019 – More than a dozen women, not previously known to law enforcement, came forward to accuse him of sex abuse.
July 24 – Epstein was found unconscious in his cell after an apparent suicide attempt. He was moved to suicide watch at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
August 9, 2019 – More than 2,000 documents are unsealed which reveal the lurid allegations against Epstein in detail.
August 10, 2019 – Epstein is found dead in his cell.
RESTORED 2/18/23; RESTORED 5/31/23 All I can say is there is no justice in this world! The insane are running the asylum. Corruption is EVERYWHERE. You cannot trust the police department, the justice system, ANY POLITICIANS, the IRS, the coroner, and certainly ANY OF THE INTELLIGENCE BUREAUS. That is only the tip of the ice … Click Here to Read More
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“Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s mysterious company TerraMar , which closed down permanently just six days after Epstein’s arrest, appears to tie much of it together. “The TerraMar Project was non-profit company that Ghislaine Maxwell started in 2012. Jeffrey Epstein and various other high power financiers funded the venture.
EXCLUSIVE: How sloppy federal prosecutors who agreed to Jeffrey Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal were played so well by the pedophile’s lawyers they didn’t even realize they were giving immunity to Ghislaine Maxwell, new report claims
An explosive new report reveals that the prosecutors from Florida thought they were only giving legal protection to four female Epstein associates They later admitted that it ‘never dawned’ on them the immunity clause was also designed to protect alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell Epstein’s lawyers persuaded them to use language so loose it could also apply to the British socialite, who allegedly procured girls as young as 14 for him An attorney working for Epstein had a prior relationship with one of the prosecutors and told him to ‘do us a solid (favor)’ to let Epstein off easy in 2007 The stunning blunder features in a report by the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility It reveals in unprecedented detail the errors that led to Epstein serving just 15 months in jail in 2007 despite the FBI identifying dozens of potential victims
Federal prosecutors who agreed to Jeffrey Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal were played so well by the pedophile’s lawyers they didn’t even realize they were giving immunity to Ghislaine Maxwell.
An explosive new report reveals that the prosecutors from the Southern District of Florida (SDFL) thought they were only giving legal protection to four female Epstein associates.
They later admitted that it ‘never dawned’ on them the immunity clause was also designed to protect Maxwell, who is accused of being Epstein’s chief recruiter.
Epstein’s lawyers persuaded them to use language so loose it could also apply to the British socialite, who is due to stand trial next year for allegedly procuring girls as young as 14 for him.
The stunning blunder features in a report by the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) which has not been released in full but DailyMail.com has seen a copy.
It reveals in unprecedented detail the errors that led to Epstein serving just 15 months in jail in 2007 despite the FBI identifying dozens of potential victims.
Among the other revelations is that the SDFL failed to obtain Epstein’s computers and surveillance tapes from inside his houses even though they could have proved he was in possession of child pornography.
The prosecutor in charge of the case thought that the material ‘would have put this case completely to bed’ and given them evidence to put Epstein away for years.
An attorney working for Epstein had a prior relationship with one of the prosecutors and told him to ‘do us a solid (favor)’ and get his boss to suggest giving Epstein just two years in jail, the report says.
A senior prosecutor was so cozy with Epstein lawyer Jay Lefkowitz he told him he ‘enjoyed’ working with him and that ‘Mr Epstein was fortunate to have such excellent representation’.
The OPR report was commissioned by Attorney General William Barr in early 2019 after the Miami Herald’s devastating investigation into Epstein’s plea deal, called Perversion of Justice.
Journalists began their inquiries after the US Attorney who signed off on Epstein’s agreement, Alex Acosta, was appointed by Donald Trump as his Labor Secretary meaning he would be in charge of US government policy on human trafficking.
The series of stories helped lead to Epstein’s arrest in August last year and he hanged himself in prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges – Acosta was forced to resign.
The OPR report was designed to look into whether or not any of the prosecutors engaged in corruption or professional misconduct.
The report concludes that did not happen, partly because the bar was that prosecutors ‘intentionally or recklessly violated a clear and unambiguous standard’.
However over 350 pages it digs up profound and disturbing questions about the handling of the case.
The most troubling is the handling of the immunity clause in the non prosecution agreement (NPA), the deal Epstein signed to make federal charges disappear.
Instead he would plead guilty in state court to two felony prostitution charges, be sentenced to 18 months in jail and register as a sex offender.
Under the immunity clause, which was suggested by Epstein’s lawyers who haggled repeatedly over the language, four women were also given protection from prosecution.
They were Sarah Kellen, who was allegedly one of his main recruiters, Nadia Marcinkova, an alleged sex slave, Adriana Ross, one of his associates, and Lesley Groff, who is said to have been his New York based assistant.
All the women have subsequently denied any wrongdoing and some have said they are victims.
The final language of the immunity clause was: ‘The United States agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to (the four women)’.
The wording was loose enough that it applied to Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend who his victims have claimed ran his sex trafficking operation – she has denied the allegations against her.
Yet Jeffrey Sloman, the First Assistant US Attorney in the SDFL, told the OPR that it ‘never occurred to him that the reference to potential co-conspirators was directed toward any of the high-profile individuals who were at the time or subsequently linked’.
Ann Marie Villafaña, the Assistant US Attorney who was in charge of the case, said that apart from the four named women they had not much evidence on ‘any other potential co-conspirators’.
She said: ‘So, we wouldn’t be prosecuting anybody else, so why not include it?….I just didn’t think that there was anybody that it would cover’.
She conceded to OPR that she ‘did not catch the fact that it could be read as broadly as people have since read it’.
Villafaña said that at the time she told a colleague: ‘I don’t think it hurts us’.
Villafaña told the OPR that Epstein’s lawyers told her that he wanted to ‘make sure that he’s the only one who takes the blame for what happened’.
Villafaña and her colleagues believed Epstein’s conduct was his own ‘dirty little secret’ and appear to have missed the fact that Maxwell was his alleged top lieutenant.
Her reasoning is clouded by the fact that she admits the FBI were ‘aware of Epstein’s longtime relationship with a close female friend who was a well-known socialite’, which appears to mean Maxwell.
Villafaña said they ‘didn’t have any specific evidence against her’ but they had already spoken to one victim who ‘implicated’ her but the conduct was not in Florida.
Villafaña told OPR: ‘(We) considered Epstein to be the top of the food chain, and we wouldn’t have been interested in prosecuting anyone else’.
The report says: ‘She did not consider the possibility that Epstein might be trying to protect other, unnamed individuals, and no one, including the FBI case agents, raised that concern’.
Solman agreed and in retrospect ‘understood the non-prosecution provision was designed to protect Epstein’s four assistants, and it ‘never dawned’ on him that it was intended to shield anyone else’, the report said.
The horrible irony of this is that not only did Maxwell slip through the net, but she could use the very same NPA for her defense in her upcoming trial.
Before Epstein killed himself his lawyers argued that the deal with the SDFL was part of a ‘global’ agreement with the US government and that he couldn’t be prosecuted twice.
Maxwell may well do the same.
Among the other details in the report is the extraordinary revelation that the prosecution failed to obtain the computers removed from Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion prior to them being raided by the Palm Beach Police Department.
Mysteriously all the computers including those with records of surveillance cameras had been removed by the time officers arrived.
The report says that Villafaña knew who had possession of the computer equipment and the tapes – it does not say who.
They could have provided additional victims and given ‘powerful visual evidence’ of a ‘large number of girls’ Epstein victimized’, the report says.
Villafaña made repeated efforts to get the computers from Epstein’s lawyers but they blocked her and her superiors did not pursue this.
The report says that this evidence was ‘relevant and potentially critical’ and says that it could have led to evidence of Epstein transmitting child pornography images across state lines, a serious federal crime.
Villafaña told the OPR: ‘(If) the evidence had been what we suspected it was…(it) would have put this case completely to bed. It also would have completely defeated all of these arguments about interstate nexus’.
In its most withering section, the report says: ‘It was clear Epstein did not want the contents of his computers disclosed. Nothing in the available record reveals that the USAO (prosecution) benefited from abandoning pursuit of this evidence when they did.
‘Instead, the USAO agreed to postpone and ultimately to abandon its efforts to obtain evidence that could have significantly changed Acosta’s decision to resolve the federal investigation with a state guilty plea or led to additional significant federal charges.
‘By agreeing to postpone the litigation, the USAO gave away leverage that might have caused the defense to come to an agreement much earlier and on terms more favorable to the government.
‘The USAO ultimately agreed to a term in the (plea deal) that permanently ended the government’s ability to obtain possible evidence of significant crimes and did so with apparently little serious consideration of the potential cost’,
The issue with the computers was not the only instance where Villafaña felt blocked by her male superiors.
The report paints her as one of the few voices within the department calling for Epstien to be arrested as soon as possible.
She told OPR that she was in a hurry to lock up Epstein ‘because child sex offenders don’t stop until they’re behind bars’.
But she butted heads with Matthew Menchel, the chief of the criminal division for SDFL.
In a blunt email to her, he said: ‘If you want to work major cases in the district you must understand and accept the fact that there is a chain of command – something you disregard with great regularity’.
When Epstein signed the plea deal, one of Villafaña’s colleagues told her: ‘This case only resolved with the filthy rich bad guy going to jail because of your dedication and determination’.
She said: ‘After all the hell they put me through, I don’t feel like celebrating 18 months. He should be spending 18 years in jail’.
While Villafaña maintained a combative stance with Epstein’s attorneys when she could, some of her male colleagues were far cosier with them.
Andrew Lourie, deputy chief of the criminal division at the time, appeared to get on well with Lefkowitz, one of Epstein’s ‘dream team’ of lawyers which also included Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, who wrote the impeachment investigation of Bill Clinton.
When Lefkowitz emailed Lourie to ask for his help to stop details about their negotiations being leaked, he told him: ‘I have enjoyed working with you on this matter’.
Lourie replied: ‘I enjoyed it as well. Mr Epstein was fortunate to have such excellent representation’.
That was not the only such connection between the prosecution and the defense and Epstein’s lawyer Lilly Ann Sanchez briefly had a relationship with Menchel in 2003 when they both worked at the SDFL.
The report says that in 2018 Villafaña claimed that the idea of Epstein serving a two year jail sentence was done as a favor to Sanchez.
She wrote in an email: ‘Months (or possibly years) later, I asked former First Assistant Jeff Sloman where the two-year figure came from. He said that Lily [sic] Ann Sanchez asked Mr. Menchel to ‘do her a solid’ and convince Mr. Acosta to offer two years’.
Sloman told OPR that he could not recall making such a remark.
Menchel said he couldn’t recall how the two year figure came about and said his prior relationship with Sanchez played no part in his decision making.
Despite turning up fresh evidence about the investigation the OPR was still unable to explain why Acosta decided on such a lenient sentence for Epstein.
The report says he appeared to be trying to find a middle ground between what Epstein would have got if the case was handled by federal prosecutors from the start, potentially decades in jail, and what he would be getting in state court, which amounted to a slap on the wrists.
In a scathing passage, the report says that Acosta’s reasoning was ‘untethered to any articulable, reasonable basis’.
As a result he drew up a plea deal that was ‘too difficult to administer, leaving Epstein free to manipulate the conditions of his sentence to his own advantage’.
Article ends with a “TIMELINE OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S LEGAL TROUBLES” which I’ve not copied in, so please see the main link above for this.
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