Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Mark Filip’s Role: The Missing Link in the Epstein Cover-Up (Part 1)

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Mark Filip’s Role: The Missing Link in the Epstein Cover-Up (Part 1) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. So there's a lot of people out there
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: that are under the impression that alex Acosta was the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: one who made the decision to enter into the NPA
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: with Jeffrey Epstein. But the truth is it wasn't him.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And today I'm going to provide some receipts that show
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you the conversation between Kenneth Starr, one of Jeffrey Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis, and of course the same
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Ken Starr that was in charge of the Bill Clinton probe,
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  Speaker 1: to Mark Philippe, who was the Assistant Attorney General at
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the time the deal was finalized. And I've told you
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: from the very beginning that this is the man that
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: was responsible for it, and unlike the hucksters and the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: grifters and the snake oil salesman out there, here's the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: receipt May nineteenth, two thousand and eight from Kenneth Starr
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  Speaker 1: to Mark Phillip. I like to call him Mark Philippe
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: because that makes him sound like a bigger douche, but
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: we'll call him his real name, Mark Phillip. Dear Judge
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Philip in his confirmation hearings last fall, Judge Mukhesy, who
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: is the Attorney General at the time, by the way,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: lifted up the finest traditions of the Department of Justice
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and assuring the United States Senate and the American people
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of his solemn intent to ensure fairness and integrity in
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  Speaker 1: the administration of Justice. Your own confirmation hearings echoed that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Bedrock determination to assure that the Department conducted itself with
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: honor and integrity, especially in the enforcement of federal criminal law.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: We come to you in the spirit and respectfully ask
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you to review of the federal involvement in a quintessentially
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: state matter involving our client, Jeffrey Epstein. While we are
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: well aware of the rare instances in which a review
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: of this sort is justified, we are confident that the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: circumstances at issue weren't such an examination. Based on our
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: collective experiences as well as those of other former senior
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Justice Department officials whose advice we have sought, we have
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: never before seen a case more of appropriate for oversight
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and review. Thus, while neither of us has previously made
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: such a request, we do so now in the recognition
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: that both the Department's reputation as well as the due
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: process rights of our client are at issue. Recently, the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Criminal Division concluded a very limited review of this matter
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: at the request of US Attorney Alex Acosta. Critically, however,
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  Speaker 1: this review deliberately excluded many important aspects of the case.
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  Speaker 1: Just this past Friday, on May sixteenth, two thousand and eight,
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  Speaker 1: we received a letter from the head of CEOs informing
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: US that CEOs had conducted a review of the case.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: By its own admission, the CEO's review was limited, both
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: factually and legally. Part of the self imposed limitation was
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: CEO's abstention from addressing our allegations of professional misconduct by
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: federal prosecutors, even though such misconduct was, as we contend
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: it is, inextricably intertwined with the credibility of the accusations
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: being made against mister Epstein by the UNI United States
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Office in Miami. Moreover, CEOs did not assess the terms
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: of the deferred prosecution agreement now in effect, nor did
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: CEOs review the federal prosecutors in appropriate efforts to implement
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: those terms. We detail this point below. By a way
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: of background, we were informed by mister Acosta that at
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: his request, CEOs would be conducting a review to determine
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: whether a federal prosecution was both appropriate and, in his words, fairer.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: That is not what occurred. Instead, CEOs has now acknowledged
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: that we had raised many compelling arguments against the USAO
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: suggested novel application of federal law in this matter. Even so,
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  Speaker 1: CEOs concluded in minimalist fashion that we do not see
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  Speaker 1: anything that says to us categorically that a federal case
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  Speaker 1: should not be brought and that the US Attorney would
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  Speaker 1: not be abusing as prosecutorial discretion should he authorize federal
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: prosecution of mister Epstein, thus delegating back to mister Acosta
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  Speaker 1: the decision of whether federal prosecution will warranted. Rather than
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: assessing whether prosecution would be appropriate, CEOs, using a low
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: baseline for its evaluation, determined only that it would not
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: be impossible to prove certain allegations made against mister Epstein.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: The CEO's review failed to address the significant problems involving
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  Speaker 1: the appearance of impermissible selectivity that would necessarily result from
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  Speaker 1: a federal prosecution of mister Epstein. We respect CEO's conclusion
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: that its authority to review misconduct issues was precluded by
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: criminal division practice. We further respect CEO's view that it
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: understood its mission as significantly limited. Specifically, the contemplated objective
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  Speaker 1: was to determine whether the USAO would be abusing its
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: discretion by bringing a federal prosecution, rather than making its
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: own the Novo recommendations on the appropriate reach of federal law. However,
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  Speaker 1: we respectfully submit that a full review of all the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: facts is urgently needed at senior levels of the Justice Department.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: In an effort to inform you of the nature of
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the federal investigation against mister Epstein, we summarize the facts
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  Speaker 1: and circumstances of the matter below. The two base level
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  Speaker 1: concerns we hold that are one, federal prosecution of this
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  Speaker 1: matter is not warranted based on the purely local conduct
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  Speaker 1: and the unprecedented application of federal statutes to facts such
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: as these, And two, the actions of federal authorities are
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: both highly questionable and give rise to an appearance of
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  Speaker 1: substantial impropriety. The issues that we have raised, but which
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: have not yet been addressed or resolved by the Department
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: are more than isolated allegations of professional mistakes or misconduct.
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  Speaker 1: These issues instead affect the appearance and administration of criminal
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  Speaker 1: justice with profound consequence beyond the resolution in the matter
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  Speaker 1: at hand. In a precedent shattering investigation of Jeffrey Epstein
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  Speaker 1: that raises important policy questions and serious issues as to
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  Speaker 1: the fair and honorable enforcement of federal law, the USAO
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  Speaker 1: and Miami is considering extending federal law beyond the bounds
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: of precedent and reason. Federal prosecutors stretched the underlying facts
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  Speaker 1: and ways that raise fundamental questions of basic professionalism. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: most troubling, the USAO in Miami, as a condition of
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  Speaker 1: deferring prosecution, required a commingling of substantative federal criminal law
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  Speaker 1: with proposed civil remedy engineered in a way that appears
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  Speaker 1: intended to profit particular lawyers in private practice in southern
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  Speaker 1: Florida with personal relationships to some of the prosecutors involved.
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  Speaker 1: Federal prosecutors then leaked highly sensitive information about the case
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  Speaker 1: to a New York Times reporter. The immediate result of
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: this confluence of extraordinary circumstances is an onslaught of civil lawsuits,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: all save one brought by the first assistants, former boutique
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: law firm in Miami. The facts in this case all
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: revolver around the classic state crime of solicitation of prostitution.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: The State Attorney's Office in Palm Beach County had conducted
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a diligent invstigation, convened a grand jury that returned an indictment,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and made a final determination about how to proceed. That's
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  Speaker 1: where in our federal Republic this matter should rest. Mister
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Epstein faces a felony conviction in state court by virtue
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of his conduct, and the only reason the state has
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: not resolved the matter is that federal prosecutors in Miami
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: have continued to insist that we mister Epstein's council approach
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  Speaker 1: and demand from the State Attorney's office a harsher charge
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and a more severe punishment than that office believes are
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: appropriate under the circumstances. Yet, despite the usao's refusal to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: allow the state to resolve the matter on the terms
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: the state is determined or appropriate, the USAO has not
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: made any attempt to coordinate its effort with the state.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the USAO mandated that any federal agreement would
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  Speaker 1: be conditioned on mister Epstein persuading the state to seek
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  Speaker 1: a criminal punishment unlike that imposed on other defendants within
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  Speaker 1: the jurisdiction of the state Attorney for a similar conduct.
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  Speaker 1: From the inception of the usao's involvement in the case,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: which at the end of the day, is a case
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: about solicitation a prostitution within the confines of Palm Beach County,
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  Speaker 1: we have asked ourselves why the Department of Justice is involved. Regrettably,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: we're unable to suggest any appropriate basis for the Department's involvement.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Mister Epstein has no criminal history whatsoever. Also, mister Epstein
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: has never been the subject of general media interest until
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a few years ago, after it was widely perceived by
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: the public that he was a close friend of former
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: President Bill Clinton. The conduct that issue is simply not
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: within the purview of federal jurisdiction and lies outside the
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  Speaker 1: heartland of the three federal statutes that have been identified
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  Speaker 1: by prosecutors. These statutes are intended to target crimes of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: truly national and international scope. Specifically, fifteen ninety one was
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: enacted to combat human trafficking. Section twenty four to twenty
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  Speaker 1: two is aimed at sexual predation of minors through the Internet,
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  Speaker 1: and Section twenty four to twenty three with sex tourism.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: The nature of these crimes results in multi jurisdictional problems
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that state and local authorities cannot effectively confront on their own. However,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: mister Epstein's conduct was purely local in nature and thus
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: does not implicate federal involvement. After researching every reported case
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  Speaker 1: brought under US Code eighteen, section fifteen ninety one, twenty
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  Speaker 1: four to twenty two B, and twenty four to twenty
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  Speaker 1: three B, we found that not a single case involves
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  Speaker 1: facts or a scenario similar to the situation at hand.
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  Speaker 1: Our review of each precedent reflects that there have been
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  Speaker 1: no reported prosecutions under section fifteen ninety one of a
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  Speaker 1: john whose conduct with a minor lacked force, coercion, or fraud,
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  Speaker 1: and who was not profiting from commercial sexual trafficking. There
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  Speaker 1: have likewise been no case under section twenty four to
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  Speaker 1: twenty two B a crime of communication where there was
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  Speaker 1: no use of the Internet, and where the content of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: phone communication did not contain any inducing or enticing of
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  Speaker 1: a minor to have a legal sexual activity as expressly
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: required by the language of the statute. Furthermore, the government's
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: contention that the routine habit can fill the factual and
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: legal void created by the lack of evidence that such
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: communication ever occurred. Sets this case apart from every reported
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  Speaker 1: case brought under Section twenty four to twenty two B. Lastly,
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  Speaker 1: there are no reported cases the violation of Section twenty
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  Speaker 1: four to twenty three B of a person whose dominant
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: purpose in traveling was merely to go to his own home.
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  Speaker 1: All right, folk, who're going to wrap up episode one
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: right here, and in the next episode, we're going to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: pick up where we left off. All of the information
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: description box.