Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Epstein Files Unsealed: Epstein's Lawyers Blast Acosta's Office In A Letter To DOJ Brass (Part 2)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up
- 0:06Speaker 1: where we left off with a letter from Epstein's legal
- 0:09Speaker 1: team slamming the DOJ Number six, the SDFL did not
- 0:15Speaker 1: defer to the state Redacted's letter, the SDFL indicated a
- 0:20Speaker 1: willingness to defer to the state the length of incarceration.
- 0:24Speaker 1: The truth the SDFL neither deferred to the state nor
- 0:27Speaker 1: even discussed with the state the length of mister Epstein's incarceration,
- 0:31Speaker 1: and a letter to the Defense Criminal Division Chief redacted
- 0:35Speaker 1: rejected the sentence contemplated by the state's plea agreement, writing
- 0:39Speaker 1: that the federal interest will not be vindicated in the
- 0:41Speaker 1: absence of a two year term of state imprisonment see
- 0:45Speaker 1: Tab forty, August third, two thousand and seven email from redacted.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Of course, this position is contrary to section nine two
- 0:54Speaker 1: three to one D of the US Attorney's Manual, indicating
- 0:57Speaker 1: that the result of the state prosecution is presumed boomed
- 1:00Speaker 1: that have vindicated the federal interest. It is understandable, therefore,
- 1:05Speaker 1: that mister adacted might want to retreat from it now. Indeed,
- 1:08Speaker 1: the final deferred prosecution agreement restricts the state court judge
- 1:12Speaker 1: from exercising any of his rightful discretion, and to specifically
- 1:16Speaker 1: prohibit the judge from offering probation, community control, or any
- 1:21Speaker 1: other alternative in lieu of incarceration. Seven suggestion of additional
- 1:26Speaker 1: state plea Mister Redacted's letter the parties considered, as suggested
- 1:31Speaker 1: by the defense, a plea to state charges encompassing Epstein's conduct.
- 1:36Speaker 1: See tab Ie May nineteenth, two thousand and eight. Letter
- 1:38Speaker 1: from redacted, page two. The truth it was the government
- 1:43Speaker 1: and not the defense, that suggested a plea to state
- 1:45Speaker 1: charges to resolve the federal investigation. Rected proposed declining prosecution
- 1:51Speaker 1: in favor of the state. Although mister Epstein in the
- 1:53Speaker 1: State Attorney's office had already reached the plea agreement in
- 1:56Speaker 1: August of two thousand and seven, Mister redacted and aa
- 2:00Speaker 1: USA redacted warned that they intended to prosecute Epstein federally
- 2:04Speaker 1: unless his counsel ie, not the U. S. Attorney's Office,
- 2:07Speaker 1: sought more stringent conditions to the state's proposed plea agreement.
- 2:12Speaker 1: These stringent conditions included, among other things, the two year
- 2:16Speaker 1: prison term demanded by mister adacted and the charge requiring
- 2:20Speaker 1: him to register as a sex offender Number eight. All
- 2:24Speaker 1: identified victims will be put in the same position as
- 2:28Speaker 1: if Epstein had been tried mister Adacted's letter. The agreement
- 2:31Speaker 1: provides for a method of compensation for the victims such
- 2:34Speaker 1: that they would be placed in the same position as
- 2:37Speaker 1: if Epstein had been convicted of one of the enumerated
- 2:40Speaker 1: offenses set forth in Title eighteen US Code, Section twenty
- 2:44Speaker 1: two to fifty five. The truth Mister Adacted continues to
- 2:50Speaker 1: mischaracterize the highly irregular provision of the deferred prosecution Agreement.
- 2:55Speaker 1: The SDFL did not merely attempt to preserve the compensation
- 2:58Speaker 1: rights of those it identified as victims. It attempted to
- 3:02Speaker 1: create compensation rights for those it identified without imposing on
- 3:06Speaker 1: them the burden of providing or proving that they were
- 3:09Speaker 1: in fact victims. Under section twenty two to fifty five.
- 3:14Speaker 1: In the defertive prosecution Agreement, the SDFL required mister Epstein
- 3:18Speaker 1: to waive the right to contest liability under US Code eighteen,
- 3:21Speaker 1: section twenty two to fifty five as to a list
- 3:25Speaker 1: of individuals that the SDFL would not disclose to mister
- 3:28Speaker 1: Epstein until after he was sentenced and to pay for
- 3:32Speaker 1: an attorney to secure compensation under section twenty two to
- 3:35Speaker 1: fifty five for those undisclosed individuals, or if they decided
- 3:39Speaker 1: to assue mister Epstein. Section twenty two to fifty five
- 3:42Speaker 1: ordinarily provides individuals with a right to recover minimum guaranteed
- 3:46Speaker 1: damages of one hundred and fifty thousand without having to
- 3:50Speaker 1: prove actual damages only if one they were victims of
- 3:54Speaker 1: an enumerated federal offense, including offenses under US Code eighteen,
- 3:58Speaker 1: section twenty four to twenty two and twenty four to
- 4:01Speaker 1: twenty three to two, there were miners at the time
- 4:04Speaker 1: of the offense, and most importantly, three they were personally
- 4:07Speaker 1: injured as a result of the offense. The defense is
- 4:11Speaker 1: confirmed examples of women who testified that they were not
- 4:14Speaker 1: victims of mister Epstein and suffered no personal injury. These
- 4:18Speaker 1: women were nevertheless on the list of victims identified by
- 4:21Speaker 1: the government. In fact, when confronted with testimony of a
- 4:25Speaker 1: woman who denied both being a victim and incurring personal injury,
- 4:29Speaker 1: mister adacted actually acknowledged such testimony to justify inclusion of
- 4:33Speaker 1: that woman on the government's list. However, mister redacted then
- 4:37Speaker 1: challenged her own witnesses credibility. For this reason, it is
- 4:41Speaker 1: false to state that these identified individuals are in the
- 4:45Speaker 1: same position that they would have been had Epstein been
- 4:48Speaker 1: convicted at trial. Had there been a trial, mister Epstein
- 4:51Speaker 1: would have had the right to confront these individuals through
- 4:54Speaker 1: cross examination. Any individual that did not establish that she
- 4:58Speaker 1: was a minor victim of cons duct that satisfied each
- 5:01Speaker 1: element of an enumerated statute under section twenty two to
- 5:04Speaker 1: fifty five, or that she suffered personal injury would not
- 5:08Speaker 1: qualify for any treatment under section twenty two to fifty five. However,
- 5:13Speaker 1: under the deferred Prosecution Agreement, as an identified individual on
- 5:17Speaker 1: the government's list, the same individual would nevertheless be entitled
- 5:21Speaker 1: to engage an attorney paid for by mister Epstein, to
- 5:24Speaker 1: recover one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of damages from
- 5:28Speaker 1: mister Epstein under section twenty two to fifty five, without
- 5:32Speaker 1: ever alleging any injury. In fact, the defense was told
- 5:36Speaker 1: that the only question mister Epstein would be permitted to
- 5:38Speaker 1: ask before paying the girls is have you ever met
- 5:41Speaker 1: mister Epstein. Thus, the deferred prosecution Agreement places identified individuals
- 5:46Speaker 1: in a far better position than they would be if
- 5:49Speaker 1: mister Epstein were convicted at Trial nine. Assignment of right
- 5:54Speaker 1: to select legal representation mister Redacted's letter. Prior to any
- 5:58Speaker 1: issues arising concerning the implementation of the twenty to twenty
- 6:02Speaker 1: five provision, the SDFL unilaterally agreed to assign its responsibility
- 6:08Speaker 1: to select the attorney representative for the alleged victims to
- 6:11Speaker 1: an independent third party. The truth that such an assignment
- 6:15Speaker 1: was sdfl's unilateral decision is false. Before the SDFL decided
- 6:20Speaker 1: to assign selection of the attorney representative to an independent
- 6:23Speaker 1: third party, Ausa Redacted had already proposed an attorney representative.
- 6:29Speaker 1: She had proposed the local products liability lawyer Umberto Oqurees
- 6:34Speaker 1: and claimed that he had been recommended by a good
- 6:36Speaker 1: friend in the Appellate division. Misredacted's account was misleading, as
- 6:41Speaker 1: it omitted that this good friend was her living boyfriend
- 6:44Speaker 1: and that mister Okeriz was his former law school roommate.
- 6:48Speaker 1: When we discovered this independently, we objected. Only then did
- 6:52Speaker 1: the SDFL propose assigning the selection process to an independent
- 6:56Speaker 1: special master and agreed to amend the deferred prosecution agreement. Thus,
- 7:01Speaker 1: while it may be true that the SDFL assigned its
- 7:04Speaker 1: selection responsibly to avoid the appearance of favoritism, it did
- 7:08Speaker 1: not do it unilatterly, but rather only after Epstein uncovered
- 7:12Speaker 1: the office misleading disclosure and apparent conflict of interest. Ten
- 7:18Speaker 1: timetable for moving forward mister Adacted's letter on February twenty eighth,
- 7:22Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, I sent you an email setting
- 7:25Speaker 1: forth a timetable for moving forward in the event that
- 7:28Speaker 1: CEOs disagreed with your position, and that time is now
- 7:32Speaker 1: The truth mister adacted provides only part of the history
- 7:36Speaker 1: of the case. In order to justify his improper actions,
- 7:39Speaker 1: he had stated he would close the investigation if CEOs
- 7:43Speaker 1: told him to. However, CEOs, at our first contact said
- 7:47Speaker 1: that under no circumstances did they see that as their role.
- 7:51Speaker 1: They said they would only advise on an abuse of
- 7:54Speaker 1: discretion standard, making the outcome a foregone conclusion. Furthermore, in
- 7:59Speaker 1: response to the February twenty fifth email, which attempted to
- 8:02Speaker 1: establish a schedule to limit the entire review process, the
- 8:05Speaker 1: defense has repeatedly suggested that the misconduct was intertwined with
- 8:10Speaker 1: the investigation and would therefore seek higher review mister left
- 8:14Speaker 1: Quit's email mister Acosta directly on February twenty ninth, two
- 8:18Speaker 1: thousand and eight. Mister Redacted responded to mister left Quit's
- 8:21Speaker 1: email to mister Acosta, stating that mister Redacted was acting
- 8:25Speaker 1: out of frustration, but please be assured that it has not,
- 8:29Speaker 1: and never has been this office intent to interfere or
- 8:32Speaker 1: restrict the review process for either mister Epstein or CEOs.
- 8:37Speaker 1: I leave it to you and CEOs to figure out
- 8:40Speaker 1: how best to proceed and will await the results of
- 8:43Speaker 1: that process. As stated above, CEOs determined that it would
- 8:47Speaker 1: not review any of the Defense's objections, and as to
- 8:51Speaker 1: the remainder of those objections, its review would be limited,
- 8:55Speaker 1: contrary to mister Acosta's assurances, which left the need supplemented
- 9:00Speaker 1: by the defense subsequent request for a more thorough review
- 9:03Speaker 1: of critical issues by others at the Department of Justice.
- 9:07Speaker 1: Mister adacted reimposition of the all bit modestly extended timetable
- 9:12Speaker 1: was an obvious attempt in violation of his February twenty
- 9:15Speaker 1: ninth agreement to thwart the request made by the Defense
- 9:19Speaker 1: to the Deputy Attorney General to complete the review process
- 9:22Speaker 1: that mister Acosta had promised number eleven delay mister Adacted's letter,
- 9:28Speaker 1: in a section entitled delay, Mister adacted states that the
- 9:32Speaker 1: SDFL again agreed to accommodate Epstein's request to appear in
- 9:36Speaker 1: state court for plea and sentencing on January fourth, two
- 9:39Speaker 1: thousand and eight. The truth. Curiously, mister adacted fails to
- 9:44Speaker 1: mention correspondence from the us attorney, stating that delay of
- 9:47Speaker 1: that date would be inevitable as the defense's raise serious
- 9:50Speaker 1: questions about the propriety of the prosecution. Strikingly, in that
- 9:55Speaker 1: same section, mister adacted claims that the agreement did not
- 9:59Speaker 1: contemplate a state baggared plea deal and sentencing, despite quoting
- 10:03Speaker 1: three sentences earlier from the agreement staggered requirement that Epstein
- 10:07Speaker 1: plead and be sentenced by October twenty six and begin
- 10:11Speaker 1: serving that sentence no later than January fourth, two thousand
- 10:14Speaker 1: and eight. We are, like most attorneys, seeking department review
- 10:19Speaker 1: without access to the USAO prosecution summaries or other submissions
- 10:24Speaker 1: to the Department. Given the substantial issues that have been
- 10:27Speaker 1: raised in this and other submissions, we request that you
- 10:30Speaker 1: conduct a denovo review that goes beneath the face of
- 10:33Speaker 1: any conclusions being advocated by the USAO. Instead, we seek
- 10:38Speaker 1: a review that is based on the transcripts of witness
- 10:41Speaker 1: testimony themselves, so that the reviewer can make an independent
- 10:45Speaker 1: decision not adversely affected by conclusions that over and over
- 10:49Speaker 1: have proven witness by witness allegation by allegation to be
- 10:53Speaker 1: inaccurate and unwarranted and not an appropriate basis for the
- 10:58Speaker 1: exercise of federal prosecutorial authority. And this letter was not
- 11:04Speaker 1: signed by anybody, but it was sent by Kirk lan
- 11:07Speaker 1: Ellis and Jay Lefkowitz. So, as you can see, the
- 11:11Speaker 1: battle for Jeffrey Epstein's plead deal was so contentious that
- 11:16Speaker 1: it's not even funny. And I think that people have
- 11:19Speaker 1: only begun to peel back the layers of just how
- 11:23Speaker 1: nefarious the whole entire thing was. So we're going to
- 11:26Speaker 1: continue looking at these unsealed letters, especially when it comes
- 11:31Speaker 1: to this back and forth between the Department of Justice
- 11:34Speaker 1: and Epstein's legal team, because I think that gives us
- 11:37Speaker 1: quite a window into what was going on in real time,
- 11:40Speaker 1: and it also provides a lot of context for a
- 11:42Speaker 1: lot of the issues that we've talked about. But we
- 11:45Speaker 1: didn't have all the information, but now all those ducks
- 11:48Speaker 1: are getting put in a row, and I think it's
- 11:51Speaker 1: rather obvious that the fix has been in from the
- 11:54Speaker 1: very beginning. All of the information that goes with this
- 11:58Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box