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The Epstein Defense: How Jay Lefkowitz Tried to Influence Victims’ Legal Representation · The Epstein Chronicles

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. One of the biggest failures when it comes
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to Jeffrey Epstein and the investigation or so called investigation
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into his crimes is the fact that he ended up
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getting that non prosecution agreement, and not only that he
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received the agreement, but how Epstein's legal team seemed to
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have led the dance. They were the ones that were
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setting the ground, setting the rules, and dictating to the
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prosecution where things were going to go. And for Team Epstein,
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the whole entire goal was to make sure that this
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was not a federal case, because if this was tried
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as a federal case, Jeffrey Epstein would have won away
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for a very long time. They would have been able
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to control the blast radius, they would have been able
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to control the witnesses, or the process that would have
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been set into motion. That's why they were so adamant
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about getting it kicked back down to state because they
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knew that that process would be a lot easier for
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them to manipulate the justice system and get Jeffrey Epstein
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favorable terms such as going home every day sleeping in
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the stockade instead of the regular jail and having a
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bunch of other privileges that the rest of us couldn't
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even dream of. And look, we all knew that the
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fix was in, but now we have the documentation, the emails,
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and the information that backs it all up. And what
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we're left with is a catastrophic failure by the DOJ,
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by the State of Florida, and by everybody involved. So
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today we have an article from Bloomberg Law and the
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headline Epstein's lawyer sought to vet influence victim's attorneys. This
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article was authored by Alexia Fernandez Campbell, Tatiana Monet, and
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Diana Dombrowski. Jeffrey Epstein's defense team, in an effort led
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by Jay Lefkowitz from Kirkland and Ellis, pressured officials at
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the Justice Department about the legal representation of Epstein's victims.
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According to files released in January, look, Lefkowitz was leading
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the dance, and all these clowns over at Maine Justice, Mukaesi,
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Fuliep and the rest of them were all maneuvering to
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get themselves a position when they left public office. And
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they're all friendly with the people over at Kirkland and
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Ellis and how many people from Justice ended up working
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at Kirkland Ellis. Well, I'll tell you a whole lot
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of them. Just go ahead and take a look at
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the roster of lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis. Experts say
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the defense team's conduct amidst the negotiations for the disgraced
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financiers two thousand and seven plea deal was an unusual
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use of influence. Yeah, no shit, it was. The pressure
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that they were applying to everybody at Maine Justice, to
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everybody involved, was absurd and it should have never occurred.
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And it's one of the main reasons, in a whole
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line of reasons why the end should be done away with.
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Left Kuwitz, along with other lawyers representing Epstein, pressed the
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victim's lawyer to take out of court settlements and to
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wave their right to sue Epstein under a federal law.
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The emails and letters show left Kuwitz recently announced that
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he plans to retire from the firm this spring. I'm
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sure it's all just a coincidence with all this coming out,
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But if you've been paying attention, I've been telling you
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about left Kowitz for years, and that's because he played
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a gigantic role in Jeffrey Epstein getting off. And look,
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it's one thing to do it the way that Didty's
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lawyers did, and it's a whole last other thing when
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you do it the way that Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers did.
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Didty's lawyers, well, they actually handled business inside of that courtroom,
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and they did a great job on cross examination and
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caused some reasonable doubt in the mind of the jurors.
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But that's not what happened with Epstein and his lawyers, right.
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Everything was outside of the courtroom, back room dealing, deals
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on the golf course, calling Maine justice, pressuring people, and
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yet yes, threatening people as well. So it's one thing
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to be a hard charging prosecutor, right or a great
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defense attorney that's willing to toe the line. It's a
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whole ass other thing entirely when you're engaging in shit that,
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in my opinion, at the very least, should get you disbarred.
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Lefkowitz joined Epstein's defense team in two thousand and seven.
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At the time, they were negotiating the plea deal with
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federal prosecutors in South Florida to ward off a sixty
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count indictment related to the sex trafficking of miners. Investigators
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had identified thirty four victims who said Epstein's actually abused
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them or traffick them to other people. Epstein's lawyers and
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the Department of Justice attorneys have been highly criticized for
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the agreement for years. Well, they should be imagine cutting
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a deal like this with a dude like Epstein and
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thinking there's not going to be any blowback. The documents
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detail left Quitz push prosecutors to let him vet and
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influence the government selection of an independent lawyer to represent
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Epstein's victims, inserting language into the deal that limited what
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the lawyer could do while Epstein would foot the bill.
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When Alex Acosta, the US Attorney for the Southern District
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of Florida, rejected the proposal, left Quitz indicated he would
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escalate the issue in Washington. Of course, main Justice made
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this call. It was never alex Acosta. Bro is a
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middleman like you would not believe. He's like the general
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manager at a taco bell, who can, you know, give
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you a couple free drinks or something like that if
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something screws up. But that's about how far his power goes.
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You have to call corporate if you want to get
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things moving right, same thing goes for the Justice Department. Well,
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you think some middle manager is making a decision such
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as this in one of the biggest bureaucracies on earth.
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Come on now. Kirkland lawyers would then complain to DOJ
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leaders in the nation's capital left. Quitz had worked as
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senior adviser to then President George W. Bush, and while
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working at Kirkland, was serving as Bush's Human rights envoy
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to North Korea, while at the same time defending Jeffrey
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Epstein with his colleagues still at Justice Department. How does
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that sound fair? And how does that sound reasonable? And
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how can anyone be confident that a real investigation took
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place when it's rather obvious that the fix was in.
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If I were to put myself in Epstein's shoes, paying
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for them and threatening to withhold the money seems to
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be a way of controlling the entire situation, said Shay Rhoades,
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director and co founder of the Villanova Law Institute to
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address Commercial Sexual Exploitation, which educates both criminal defense attorneys
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and prosecutors on survivors' rights and sex trafficking laws. It
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doesn't matter who's paying the lawyer's bill. The lawyer still
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works for the client, not the person who's paying the bills. Well,
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in a perfect world, but then you insert the Epstein
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lawyers here, and it's a whole ass different story, isn't it.
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Epstein eventually pleaded guilty to stay charges of procuring a
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minor for prostitution in two thousand and eight and served
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a year in prison. If you want to call it that,
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the document shed new light on the approach that Epstein's
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legal defense team used to protect the powerful hedge fund
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mogul for years. None of this is new, maybe new
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to people that were asleep at the wheel, but for
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those of us who have been following along, this is
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exactly what went down. And I think that it's pretty
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interesting that more people are now turning their attention to
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main justice. And for whatever reason, that's always been a
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key part of this story that people like to leave out.
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Their job was to protect his criminal liability in that case,
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and not to rig the civil litigation system against the victor.
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Scott Cummings, a legal ethics professor at UCLA School of Law,
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claimed that's not something that you should do. The tactics
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appear to have worked left. Kuwitz succeeded in pressuring prosecutors
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to change the language in the plea bargain, giving Epstein
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the right to approve or reject the independent lawyer picked
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by the government to represent the victims left. Kowitz avoided
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the government's appointment of protective guardianship for the underage girls
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and scrap wording that required the attorney's firm to have
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experience handling multiple trials at once. The fix was in,
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and I'm going to keep hammering this point home until
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the people in power pay attention. Left. Kuwitz, Acosta, and
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Kirkland and Ellis did not respond to request for comment
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from Bloomberg Law. It's ultimately on the prosecution for allowing
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the concessions, Cummings said, BINGO one hundred percent. As scummy
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as I think that Epstein's lawyers are, they're gonna walk
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the line. They're gonna do what they have to do.
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It's up to the prosecution to tell them to get stuffed.
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In no way, shape or form should Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers
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be leading the dance. But that's what's been going on
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from the very beginning. Their obligation is to protect the
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integrity of the process and to make sure that the
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victims would have some say, not just give in to
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Kirkland's lawyer, as he said. Victims rights lawyer Carrie Goldberg
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described the defense team's maneuvers as extraordinary and absurd. We
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do see these kinds of negotiations with very high net
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worth people accused of crimes, who hire these super fancy
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lawyers who make the government bend to their will, Goldberg said,
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But she said, this isn't normal. What's extraordinary about this
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situation is just the amount of control that Epstein's lawyers
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are asserting over everybody in the process, the DOJ, as
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well as the guardian for the victims, Kolberg says. And
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it's been a big problem, and I'm very happy that
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Bloomberg Bloomberg Law is writing this article because people need
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to understand what happened here, and if we want to
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address the situation in full, we have to start by
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getting rid of that NPA. But to do that, we
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have to come to terms with the fact that the
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whole entire thing was rigged. Their effort to distance the
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women Epstein abused as girls from Pathways to sue Epstein
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began in the fall of two thousand and seven, Lefkowitz
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requested the US Attorney's Office remove language from the draft
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non prosecution deal that would require the government to appoint
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a guardian and lydium to represent up to forty identified
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victims who could pursue monetary damages from Epstein under federal law.
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He repeatedly questioned the need for a guardian in emails
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to Marie Villafauna, the assistant US attorney handling the federal
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Epstein investigation. Left Kuwitz build a reputation representing high profile clients,
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including major health care and pharmaceutical companies throughout his three
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decade plus tenure at Kirkland. Whereas online profile boasts about
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Kirkland being a feared litigation firm, Well, they most certainly are.
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And when you're dealing with a big time firm like
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this with a bunch of X prosecutors, that's what you're
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going to get. You're going to get a firm that
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is not scared to litigate, and that's why people hire them. Look, folks,
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you have different kinds of attorneys, right you know, your
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run of the mill ambulance chase an attorney. You have
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other attorneys that want to plea out of everything, and
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then you have trial attorneys, attorneys that live to fight
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the battle inside of the courtroom. And Kirkland Ellis is
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filled with those kinds of lawyers, and that was on
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full display when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and the
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case down in Florida. You may want to consider simply
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appointing a representative, Lefkowitz wrote to her in September of
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two thousand and seven. We could agree to someone you
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considered it appropriate. I'm just not sure the guardian is
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the right procedural vehicle. Later that day, when Epstein signed
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the non prosecution agreement, the section outlining legal representation had changed.
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They would be represented not by a guardian at LIDIUM,
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but by an attorney picked by the US Attorney's Office
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and approved by Epstein. The agreement also stated that the
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Palm Beach financier would pay that attorney's fees. John Browning,
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a retired Texas Appella justice and legal ethics professor at
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Faulkner University Thomas good Jones School of Law, described Epstein
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paying for his victims legal representation and having say over
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who that was as highly unusual. It's one thing to
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pay a victims compensation fund or be ordered to pay restitution.
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But such arrangement is beyond pal he said. And look,
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I'm certainly not a trained lawyer, but that's something I
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brought up too. How's that not a conflict of interest?
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The guy paying the bills is also the guy that's
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being charged and being you know, sued for X amount
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of dollars. But sure, let's bring a guy that he's
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paying in to represent the people suing them. Please tell
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me how that makes sense. Well, the truth is, you
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can't tell me how it makes sense, because it doesn't.
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And the whole idea was to steamroll a bunch of
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poor people into accepting whatever the government was serving up.
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Over the next few weeks, left Quwitz screened and scrutinized
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lawyers Villafana proposed, while floating names he preferred, according to
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the emails, When prosecutors decided to appoint an independent party,
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which they called a Special Master, to pick the victims,
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Tourney instead, left Quitz pushed to place limits on who
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the Special Mass could choose, questioning proposed language requiring the
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lawyer work for a firm large enough to handle multiple
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trials at once. According to the emails, that seems directly
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at odds with the purpose of the agreement, which is
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to facilitate out of court settlements. Left Kuwitz wrote to
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Jeffrey Sloman, the first assistant US Attorney in South Florida.
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Slowman responded a few days later, saying he would remove
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the requirement to satisfy your concern. Slowman and Villa Fauna
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did not respond to requests for comment, and they're not
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going to. None of these scoundrels who were involved or
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going to respond because they all know how bad they
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look and there is no explanation, no defense for what
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occurred here. After the Special Master had picked attorneys Robert Bob,
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Joseph Berg and one of his partners, left Kowitz raised
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concerns in a letter over vetting them more thoroughly. Slowman
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pointed out that the defense team had seemed comfortable with
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the selection and that Alan Dershowitz, another of Epstein's lawyers,
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said he went to law school with Josephsburg. He also
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pointed out that Josephsberg and his partner have stellar reputations
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based on their legal acumen and ethics. Well get an
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endorsement from Dershowitz not exactly a top endorsement. In my opinion,
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it's hard for me to imagine how much more vetting
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needs to be done. Sloman wrote to left Kowitz, Tomorrow
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will make one full week since you were formally notified
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of the selection. I must insist that the vetting process
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come to an end. At the same time, left Kowitz
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was fighting to enforce the deal's privacy clause, which was
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added by Epstein's team, and keep the victims and their
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attorneys in the dark about the existence of the deal
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and its associated charges against Epstein CVR violation right off
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the bat. Neither federal agents nor anyone from your office
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should contact the identified individuals to inform them of the
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resolution of the case, including appointment of the attorney representative,
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and the settlement process. Leftwitz said to Acosta in October
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of two thousand and seven email Not only would that
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violate the confidentiality of the agreement, but mister Epstein would
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also have no control over what is communicated to the
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identified individuals at this most critical stage. The fix was in. Oh, look,
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only one girl came forward, and she was seventeen, and
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she was about to be eighteen. You dumb, fucking morons.
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You got to be an absolute idiot to pitch that narrative.
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Goldberg says the move by Leftkwitz and the defense prevented
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the victims from putting more pressure on the government to
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act on Epstein's criminal matter. When you have this kind
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of cooperation between the government and criminal attorneys conspiring against
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the victims, that's unusual and exceptional, Goldberg said. And the
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part that's the most frustrating for me is that the
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DOJ could end this deal tomorrow. They could go to court,
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rip the deal up and say Epstein did not comply
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with the deal, so the deal is now null and void.
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And then from there that means everybody else that was
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protected by that deal they're open to prosecution now. But
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of course Pam Bondi and crash out Patel, they won't
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do that, will they. They got better things to do.
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Have you looked at the dow Left Kowitz eventually agreed
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to Joseph Berg's selection, but still disagreed on the scope
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of compensation available to victims under the Federal Civil Remedy
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for Personal Injuries, the law which grants victims of sexual
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abuse and exploitation damages. We hope to address these issues
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with Assistant Attorney General Fisher in Washington Leftkowitz wrote in
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a letter Fastuo Acosta in December of two thousand and seven,
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referring to Alice Fisher than the head of DOJ's Criminal Division.
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The letter was also signed by Kirkland lawyer Kenneth Starr,
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the former Independent Council whose investigation led to former President
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Bill Clinton's impeachment. Jeffrey Epstein's rising star, good Old ken Starr.
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Wasn't he also in charge over at Baylor when they
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had their issues with sexual assault? Oh that's right, he was, huh,
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good Old ken Starr, mister morality himself. Weeks before that
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December two thousand and seven, facts to Acosta, Star had
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requested a meeting with Fisher, accusing South Florida prosecutors of
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improperly compelling Epstein to pay civil damages under federal law
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for a plea on state charges. Fisher later told investigators
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she didn't remember reading the letter, and the Justice Department
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report said that Fisher did not grant the requested meeting.
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Sure she didn't, maybe not officially, but backdoored channeled probably. Now. Look,
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I certainly don't have the proof to back that up,
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but I'm going on what's logical? Right? Do we really
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think that these people only had meetings that were on
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the books. By the end of two thousand and seven,
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correspondence about the victim's representation between the Justice Department left
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Kuwitz had grown contentious. Your attacks on me and on
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the victims established why I wanted to find someone whom
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I could trust with safeguarding the victim's best interest in
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the face of intense pressure from an unlimited number of
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highly skilled and well paid attorneys and assist in US
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Attorney and Accosta's office, wrote to left Kuwitz in December
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of that year. Once Josephsbergs got to work and began
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evaluating the claims of his new clients, he had also
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clashed with left Kuwitz, who sent in an email that
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Joseph Berg couldn't sue Epstein on their behalf. Left Kowitz
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threatened to stop paying Joseph berg fees if he didn't
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focus on getting the victims to settle for fifty thousand dollars.
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This is a mafia run operation. Basically, who does left
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Quitz think he is? Tom Hagen? Dealing with the band leader? Like, Buddy,
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what do you think you're doing here? Joseph Berg fumed
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and accused Epstein a breach in the plea deal. Perhaps
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your client thought that he could victimize and intimidate countless
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underage girls, that he would then agree to provide minimal
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compensation to them for the damage he inflicted upon them,
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and that I would simply let them come in and
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sign the paperwork for the absolute minimum recovery. Joseph Berg
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email left Kuwitz. In response, he added that he was
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not a clerk, just there to document a settlement and
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get the minimum payout without fully evaluating their claims. Settling
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their cases in a vacuum would amount to malpractice, he wrote,
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no doubt about it, and thankfully Joseph Berg pushed back,
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imagine being a trained attorney, you know, an attorney of
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note who has pride, and then just playing ball with
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those comebacks for some kind of financial gain. And the
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truth is there's a lot of lawyers out there that
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would have no problem doing it. Left Kowitz denied breaching
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the agreement and reiterated his view that Joseph Berg's work
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far exceeded the scope of the plea deal. Cummings of
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UCLA said the defense lawyer can't exert influence just because
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their client is paying and they can't help their client
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interfere with the independent judgment of the victim's lawyer. In
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May of two thousand and nine, Joseph Berg sued Epstein
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on behalf of Virginia Roberts, who claimed that she was
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sectually abused by Epstein and traffick to prominent men including
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Andrew mount Batten Winsall, the former Prince Andrew. By June,
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Epstein stopped paying Joseph Berg's fees. He would eventually take
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Epstein to court for breaching the plea deal, and they
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reached the settlement for an undisclosed amount settlement. This settlement
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that everybody gets a settlement, and that's how people like
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Epstein continue to get away with their bullshit. They just
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pay people off time and time again. And the sad
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truth is that's how our system is set up. The
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whole entire idea is so that the men of always
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can continue to pray on the children of Never, and
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if they happen to get caught or outed, well, what's
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the next move. I'll pay a settlement. And this is
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the story, time and time again, they get to pay
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their way out of trouble. Nobody goes to prison, and
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they just move on to the next victim. And the
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sad truth is, for people like this, the next victim
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is never far away. All right, folks, that's gonna do
22:25
it for this one. All the information that goes with
22:27
this episode can be found in the description box.