Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Maria Farmer Sues the Federal Government Over Its Handling of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 5) (11/4/26)

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Maria Farmer Sues the Federal Government Over Its Handling of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 5) (11/4/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up
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  Speaker 1: where we left off with the Maria Farmer lawsuit filed
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  Speaker 1: against the U.S. government. H. Epstein and Maxwell terrorize Maria
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  Speaker 1: after federal law enforcement does nothing. With nothing and no
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  Speaker 1: one to deter them, Epstein and Maxwell continue their reign
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  Speaker 1: of terror over Maria and her family. Terrified and alone,
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  Speaker 1: and well aware that the institution is that should have
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  Speaker 1: protected her, had failed. Maria fled New York City, and
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  Speaker 1: then the New York region to escape Epstein and Maxwell's
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  Speaker 1: ongoing abuse and threats. In the following years, Maria relocated repeatedly,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes even using a different name. Somehow, Epstein and Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: always found her, cautioning her that they knew her location
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  Speaker 1: while continuing to harass and frighten her. Epstein and Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: warned Maria that that she could never truly escape them,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how often she relocated or sought to hide.
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  Speaker 1: Epstein and Maxwell threatened Maria that if she ever opened
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  Speaker 1: her mouth about what she had seen and experienced, they
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  Speaker 1: would find out and hurt her and her sisters. In
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  Speaker 1: her about 2003, journalist Vicki Ward of Vanity Fair interviewed
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  Speaker 1: Maria about Epstein. Before the story was published, however, Epstein
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  Speaker 1: became aware of it and had Maria's statements removed. Soon after,
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  Speaker 1: he escalated threats against Maria. Epstein and Maxwell continued to harass, bully,
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  Speaker 1: and menace Maria. As a result of Epstein and Maxwell's
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  Speaker 1: misconduct and the FBI's failures, Maria's health and well-being deteriorated
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  Speaker 1: and spiraled downward. 1. The federal government gives Epstein special
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  Speaker 1: treatment by ignoring his suspicious banking transactions, failing to conduct
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  Speaker 1: proper background checks, and issuing numerous travel documents. without question.
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  Speaker 1: Starting in or about 2002, JPMorgan Chase reported Epstein's suspicious
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  Speaker 1: financial transactions to the U.S. Treasury on at least six occasions.
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  Speaker 1: Chase Bank submitted multiple cash transaction reports and other materials
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  Speaker 1: concerning Epstein. It's been alleged that Chase Bank handled 9
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  Speaker 1: million in transfers to girls and women, many with Eastern
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  Speaker 1: European names, and suspicious cash withdrawals from Epstein's accounts. According
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  Speaker 1: to one report, dividing the $ 9 million by a couple
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  Speaker 1: of hundred dollars, the typical amount Epstein was known to
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  Speaker 1: pay victims and recruiters resulted in over 20,000 unlawful sex
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  Speaker 1: acts facilitated by J.P. Morgan. Upon information and belief, defendant
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  Speaker 1: failed to respond to Chase Bank's reports and took no action.
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  Speaker 1: In 2002, the United States Secret Service, then part of
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  Speaker 1: the Department of Treasury, tasked with protecting the nation's leaders
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  Speaker 1: and safeguarding the country's infrastructure, cleared presidential travel on Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: private jet for Bill Clinton. Thus at or about the
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  Speaker 1: same time the Treasury Department received reports from Chase Bank
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  Speaker 1: about Epstein's suspicious banking transactions, the Treasury Department presumably did
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  Speaker 1: a deep background check on Epstein. That same year, Epstein
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  Speaker 1: was the subject of substantial media attention, For example, on
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  Speaker 1: October 28, 2002, New York Magazine published an expose entitled
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein, International Money Man of Mystery. Epstein was described
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  Speaker 1: as having cash to burn, a fleet of airplanes, and
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  Speaker 1: a keen eye for the ladies, and a life full
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  Speaker 1: of question marks, running a $ 1. 5 billion for wealthy clients
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  Speaker 1: with a closely held secret client list. Upon information and belief,
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  Speaker 1: in November of 2002, and on other occasions, defendant issued
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  Speaker 1: visas and at least one passport to young women to
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  Speaker 1: travel with Epstein on his private jet. In addition, Epstein
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly requested new or multiple passports, sometimes using different addresses.
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  Speaker 1: These activities presumably also required background checks. It was later
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  Speaker 1: determined that Epstein maintained an Austrian passport under a different
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  Speaker 1: name with an address in Saudi Arabia. Although Epstein repeatedly
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  Speaker 1: failed to report his international flights on his private jet,
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  Speaker 1: the United States Department of State did nothing to investigate
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  Speaker 1: or attempt to revoke his passports until in or about 2019. Belatedly,
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  Speaker 1: after Epstein died in 2019, Chase Bank notified the Treasury
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  Speaker 1: Department of more than $ 1 billion in transactions related to
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's human trafficking dating back 16 years. Transactions that could
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  Speaker 1: and should have been reviewed by the Treasury Department and
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  Speaker 1: bank regulators. Further, during the Chase Bank litigation, the Epstein
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  Speaker 1: estate revealed that the executors may have discovered CSAM on
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's private island. Yet it remains unclear whether the FBI
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  Speaker 1: or any law enforcement authority ever reviewed or investigated those materials.
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  Speaker 1: Defendants similarly ignored Epstein's significant compliance errors. in his later
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  Speaker 1: banking relationship with Deutsche Bank. J. The Palm Beach Police
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  Speaker 1: Department's investigation into Epstein, starting in approximately 2005, including the
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  Speaker 1: discovery of CSAM. Meanwhile, in March of 2005, a 14-year-old
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  Speaker 1: girl and her parents reported Epstein to the Palm Beach
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  Speaker 1: Police Department for sexual assault and solicitation. Approximately a dozen
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  Speaker 1: girls told PBPD that they were raped, or molested by Epstein,
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  Speaker 1: at his Palm Beach mansion. The girls told strikingly similar
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  Speaker 1: stories of what occurred and accurately described details regarding Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: Palm Beach home. Upon investigating, the PBPD discovered phone message
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  Speaker 1: books filled with girls' names, a high school transcript, references
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  Speaker 1: to a child's availability as only after school, and sex
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  Speaker 1: toys and objects. The PBPD also encountered several photographs of young,
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  Speaker 1: naked teenage girls in Epstein's home. When Epstein's home was searched,
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  Speaker 1: computer equipment was missing, with wires left dangling as if
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  Speaker 1: the hard disks and servers had been hurriedly removed. Ultimately,
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  Speaker 1: a Florida grand jury heard testimony about Epstein's sexual abuse
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  Speaker 1: of a 14- and 16-year-old girl. In 2006, frustrated by
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  Speaker 1: the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office mismanagement of the case,
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  Speaker 1: PBPD reported Epstein to the FBI. K. Substantial evidence of
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  Speaker 1: Epstein sex trafficking, child pornography, and other crimes. 1. Information
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  Speaker 1: obtained by the FBI as to child sex abuse and
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  Speaker 1: sex trafficking. In their Florida investigation, the FBI learned that
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  Speaker 1: Epstein recruited underage girls aged 14 to 17 to travel
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  Speaker 1: to his homes in Palm Beach and New Mexico, where
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  Speaker 1: he would sexually assault them. At least one survivor, who
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  Speaker 1: was 14 years old, told the FBI that she had
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  Speaker 1: been photographed nude. Epstein paid for attorneys to represent some
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  Speaker 1: of the victims. Upon information and belief, some of the
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  Speaker 1: victims reported to law enforcement that they were threatened and warned,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to die or I'm going to break your legs.
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  Speaker 1: Victims were also offered compensation for refusing to cooperate with authorities.
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  Speaker 1: The FBI did little or nothing to protect or assist
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  Speaker 1: these victims. The FBI investigation identified approximately 30 victims, including
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  Speaker 1: approximately 20 victims ages 14 to 17, who Epstein had
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  Speaker 1: sexually assaulted. Victims also informed the FBI that Epstein trafficked
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  Speaker 1: them to other locations. 2. Maria's second report to the
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  Speaker 1: FBI about child sex trafficking, child pornography, and other crimes.
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  Speaker 1: In 2006, as part of their investigation, FBI agents arrived
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  Speaker 1: unannounced at at Maria's home in North Carolina. The agents
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  Speaker 1: advised Maria that they knew she had previously complained to
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  Speaker 1: the FBI about Epstein, indicating that FBI headquarters was aware
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  Speaker 1: or may have been involved with her prior report. The
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  Speaker 1: agents met with Maria for several hours. The FBI agents
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  Speaker 1: specifically acknowledged Maria's 1996 report to the FBI about Epstein,
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  Speaker 1: affirming their awareness of Maria's earlier FBI complaint. The FBI
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  Speaker 1: agents told Maria that they needed her testimony for an
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  Speaker 1: investigation of Epstein in Florida. Maria was very reluctant to
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  Speaker 1: speak with the agents, particularly after the FBI had previously
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  Speaker 1: failed her, leaving her vulnerable and exposed to Epstein's threats. However,
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  Speaker 1: FBI agents pressed her to help them, representing that they
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  Speaker 1: would get them this time. With those representations from the FBI,
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  Speaker 1: Maria again told the FBI that Epstein and Maxwell were
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  Speaker 1: had sexually assaulted her, that they appeared to be engaged
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  Speaker 1: in widespread sexual abuse and trafficking of young women and children,
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  Speaker 1: that they were operating a pedophile ring, and that Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: would frequently go get girls for Epstein's sexual desires. Maria
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  Speaker 1: again told the FBI about her concerns that Epstein had
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  Speaker 1: sexually assaulted one of her minor sisters. Maria again told
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  Speaker 1: the FBI about Epstein's theft and transport across state lines
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  Speaker 1: of nude, and partially nude photographs of her two minor siblings.
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  Speaker 1: Maria again told the FBI about Epstein's child pornography-filled modeling book,
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  Speaker 1: which was kept in a locked safe at his New
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  Speaker 1: York City mansion. Maria again told the FBI about Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: extensive video recording devices and sophisticated computer system at his
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  Speaker 1: home in New York City. Maria again told the FBI
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  Speaker 1: that Epstein, Maxwell, and others had seriously continuously threatened her
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  Speaker 1: and her sisters. The FBI failed again to offer Maria
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  Speaker 1: as a crime victim any victim services or provide notification
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  Speaker 1: required by the VRRA and the CVRA. 3. The government's
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  Speaker 1: utter failure to obtain additional evidence of Epstein's apparent production, distribution,
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  Speaker 1: and possession of child pornography. Defendant received substantial evidence of
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's production, distribution, transportation, and possession of child pornography, some
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  Speaker 1: depicting his victims. Maria told the FBI that Epstein had
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  Speaker 1: boasted about the recording and computer devices in his home
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  Speaker 1: and had shown her the equipment. Maria reported that Epstein
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  Speaker 1: had stolen nude images of her minor sister and transported
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  Speaker 1: them across state lines. In addition, when police executed search
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  Speaker 1: warrants of Epstein's Florida home in 2005, they found dangling
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  Speaker 1: wires attached to monitors without any computers or hard drives.
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  Speaker 1: Files and images on the missing computer equipment could have
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  Speaker 1: identified other victims and countered any argument that Epstein was
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  Speaker 1: unaware that the girls were minors. Due to reports by
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  Speaker 1: Maria and others, defendant was well aware of Epstein's use
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  Speaker 1: of video recording devices and computers in connection with the
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  Speaker 1: ongoing sexual exploitation in his homes. According to a lengthy
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  Speaker 1: report prepared by the Department of Justice Office of Professional
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  Speaker 1: Responsibility entitled Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the
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  Speaker 1: Southern District of Florida's Resolution of its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal
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  Speaker 1: Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, and its interactions with victims during
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  Speaker 1: the investigation, November 2020. The FBI knew and had reasons
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  Speaker 1: to believe that Epstein used hidden cameras in his New
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  Speaker 1: York residence to record his sexual encounters, and one minor
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  Speaker 1: victim told agents that Epstein's assistant photographed her in the nude.
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  Speaker 1: Investigators had learned that Epstein used hidden cameras in New
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  Speaker 1: York residence to record his sexual encounters, and the USA
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  Speaker 1: believed he could have engaged in similar conduct in his
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  Speaker 1: Palm Beach home. The 2005 USAO manual established general prosecution
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  Speaker 1: policy and priorities, strongly encouraging the prosecution of all crimes
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  Speaker 1: involving the sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of children, and
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  Speaker 1: the distribution of CSAM. Even defendants' own OPR report acknowledged
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  Speaker 1: that Epstein's computers might have contained CSAM. Epstein's attorneys refused
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  Speaker 1: to turn over the hard drives, and the defendant made
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  Speaker 1: no serious effort to compel them to do so. The
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  Speaker 1: USAO failed to take definitive action to compel the turnover
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  Speaker 1: of Epstein's drives. Instead, the OPR reports determined that the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: attorney resolved the federal investigation before significant investigative steps were completed,
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  Speaker 1: and the investigation ended prematurely. Moreover, the OPR report noted
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  Speaker 1: that with his multi-state lifestyle, it was reasonable to assume
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  Speaker 1: there was possible interstate transmission of CSAM that could have
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  Speaker 1: changed the entire complexion of the case against Epstein. The USAO,
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  Speaker 1: like the FBI, ignored child pornography, and the other serious
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  Speaker 1: allegations by Maria and other victims, and in so doing,
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  Speaker 1: failed to stop or mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: Alright folks, we're going to wrap up right here, and
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  Speaker 1: in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to pick up where we left off. All the information
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  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
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  Speaker 1: description box.