Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Maria Farmer Sues the Federal Government Over Its Handling of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (11/4/26)

Transcript

Maria Farmer Sues the Federal Government Over Its Handling of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (11/4/26) · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  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 begin taking
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a look at the lawsuit filed by Maria Farmer against
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the United States of America. Maria Farmer, plaintiff. United States
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of America, defendant. Case number 125-CV-017-09. Now, this is the complaint.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that got things rolling against the government. And the feds
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: are trying to roll this lawsuit into the other one.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Preliminary Statement For nearly a quarter century, Jeffrey Epstein, the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: infamous sex trafficker and abuser of minors and young women,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: along with his co-conspirators, was able to engage in a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: wide-ranging sex trafficking venture because the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: United States Department of Justice, and U.S. Attorney's Office failed
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: to listen and or to protect his sex-trafficked, sexually abused,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and sexually exploited victims. In 1996, plaintiff Maria Farmer reported
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to the FBI that she had been sexually assaulted by
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime partner and leading co-conspirator.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: What's more, Maria warned the FBI that Epstein and others
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: had committed multiple serious sex crimes, including hands-on sexual abuse
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and trafficking against girls and vulnerable young women. including against
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: one of her minor sisters. Maria also alerted the FBI
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that Epstein had stolen nude and partially nude images of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: her two minor sisters and had transported those images across
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: state lines. Maria also notified the FBI that Epstein and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: others were engaging in possession, production, and distribution of sexually
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: lascivious or exploitative images of children that could well constitute C.P.,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: another sex crime against children. Despite the seriousness of Maria's allegations,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the likelihood that criminal conduct was continuing, the requirements of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: federal regulation and mandatory express policy to investigate or conduct
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a serious prelim inquiry regarding such allegations, and if indicated,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: refer such allegations of CP and child sex abuse crimes,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the FBI in violation of its mandatory obligations under regulation
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and DOJ policies, chose to do absolutely nothing. In fact,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the FBI agent taking Maria's call hung up on her,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and no one at the FBI attempted to follow up
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: with her or pursue her valid and serious allegations, most
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: of which continued for many years, if not decades, with
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: wide-ranging tragic consequences. As a result, Epstein and others working
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: with him were able to threaten bodily harm to Maria
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: and her family for decades, forcing her to relocate many
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: times and even change her name. In the meantime, Epstein
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: exponentially multiplied his sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of girls
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and young women. The United States government failed to pursue
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Epstein for decades. From 2005 to mid-2008, the United States
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, faced with
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: mounting evidence of Epstein's child sex abuse, sex trafficking, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: NCP crimes, failed to comply with federal regulations and the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: USAO's manual explicit mandate to promptly notify the DOJ's Civil
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Rights Division of all sex trafficking investigations. To coordinate such
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: investigations with the Civil Rights Division to defer staffing decisions
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: on such investigations to the Civil Rights Division and to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: keep the Civil Rights Division informed, the USAO SDFL also
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: failed to promptly notify the DOJ child exploitation, and obscenity section,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: violating another specific USAO manual requirement. Federal authorities also ignored
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: reports that Epstein paid victims to keep them quiet and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: threatened to break their legs or kill them if they
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: notified or cooperated with law enforcement. In addition, in violation
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of various federal law, federal law enforcement denigrated victims, calling
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: them child prostitutes, and failed to provide notices of criminal
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: process or offer them victim services, or protections. Instead, the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: USAO SDFL gave Epstein a sweetheart deal of a lifetime,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: non-prosecution agreement, even though the USAO manual only authorized such
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: agreements for cooperating witnesses, which Epstein was not. The USAO
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: SDFL also granted blanket immunity to Epstein and all of
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: his known and unknown co-conspirators from all federal crimes, contrary
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: to federal statute and the USAO's manual requirement of cooperation,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and prohibition against transactional immunity. Then, after allowing Epstein to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: enter into a sweeping NPA, which violated numerous established policies, practices,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: and procedures, federal authorities failed to enforce even the agreement's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: minimal terms, allowing Epstein 1 to plead guilty to soliciting
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: one minor when the agreement required him to plead guilty
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: to soliciting multiple minors, 2 to flout the sex offender
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: registration requirement, 3 to obtain work release for 12 hours
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a day when the agreement required or was supposed to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: require Epstein to be imprisoned for 24 hours a day,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and four, to serve his prison term in the cushy
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: minimum security Palm Beach County Jail when Epstein was supposed
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: to be incarcerated in Palm Beach County Sheriff's Main Detention Center,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: along with most other inmates. Moreover, federal law enforcement kept
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the NPA secret. It misled victims, sending them letters falsely
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: claiming that the FBI was continuing to investigate Epstein's crimes
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: in violation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: This allowed Epstein to continue to sex traffic and sexually
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: exploit girls and young women for years. Had the USAO
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: SDFL followed applicable non-discretionary mandates requiring coordination, if not deference,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: to specifically designated and experienced personnel experienced with child sex trafficking, NCP,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and sought uniform application of federal law and policy, the USAO, SDFL,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and FBI would not have been able to minimize, disregard,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and cover up Epstein's crimes as they repeatedly did for decades. Initially,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: in an effort to get to the bottom of what
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: had happened without engaging in litigation, Maria filed a FOIA
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: request with the FBI, seeking at a minimum documents reflecting
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: any communication between the FBI and Maria in 1996 and 2006.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: When this request was rejected, Maria tried again. On or
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: about January 2, 2025, the FBI advised her, her FOIA
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: request was on the complex request small processing track, with
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: an estimated date of completion of November 2027. Meanwhile, by
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: letter dated May 2, 2023, Maria, through counsel, urged the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: United States to investigate its conduct regarding Maria's report to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the FBI on and law enforcement's handling of Epstein. By
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: letter dated May 11, 2023, the Inspector General acknowledged that
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Maria's allegations were concerning, thanked counsel for giving us the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: opportunity to review your client's concerns, but said that they
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: were very busy at the time with other matters. Then,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: some 18 months after her May 2, 2023 letter, DOJ
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: by letter dated December 2, 2024 stated that Though an
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: internal affairs investigation was not initiated, IAS mandated action and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: had taken to address the concern raised in your complaint.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: DOJ then unilaterally decreed that the IAS IPU considers your
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: complaint addressed. The DOJ, FBI, and USAO failed to treat
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Maria and other victims' allegations with the seriousness and urgency
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: that the victim complaints and government policies required. failing to
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: curtail or even mitigate Epstein's long-running, ongoing threat. To date,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: federal authorities have refused or ignored Maria's request to commence
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: an investigation of these serious, unresolved allegations. They have also
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: flatly denied Maria's efforts to address the issues outside of litigation.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: In doing so, defendant left Maria with no choice but
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to commence this lawsuit. Had the United States paid attention
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to Maria in 1996 and 2006... and innumerable other victims
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: over the years, and complied with their mandatory duties rather
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: than succumb to the dictates of a well-connected billionaire sex
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: trafficker and his high-powered legal team, countless young women and
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: girls would have been spared more than a quarter century
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of unchecked sexual abuse and exploitation. Jurisdiction and Venue The
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to U.S. Code 28,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Section 1331. This action arises under the federal tort claim
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: 28 U.S. Code Section 2671 through 2680. The court is
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: vested with jurisdiction pursuant to U.S. Code 28 Section 1346B.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Jurisdiction is appropriate in this court because a federal question
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: is presented under the Federal Tort Claims Act. If the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: United States were a private individual based on the facts
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: alleged herein, it would be liable to Maria under applicable
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: state law. On November 10, 2022, July 20, 2023, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: on October 26, 2023, as required by CFR 2814.2, Maria
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Farmer submitted a standard Form 95 alerting the FBI and
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: DOJ of a potential claim. At no time did the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: FBI or any other government entity reach out to Maria.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to investigate or seek to understand or resolve her claims
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: or otherwise in any way substantively respond to her claim.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: All conditions precedent to Maria's filing this action have been satisfied. Specifically,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Maria served proper notice on defendant and more than six
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: months elapsed with no resolution from defendant. This court also
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: has supplemental jurisdiction of any state claim pursuant to U.S.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Code 28 Section 1367A, because all claims alleged herein are
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: part of a uniform pattern in practice and form part
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of the same case or controversy. Venue is proper in
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: pursuant to U.S. Code 28 Section 1391B1, because defendant resides
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: in this district and there are several connections between the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: defendant and the district, such as in the district apparent
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: knowledge of Maria's 1996 complaint, location of the Civil Rights Division,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and location of child exploitation and obscenity section. This action
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: is timely file pursuant to the FTCA and discovery rule.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: To date information regarding defendant's culpability, the predicate for plaintiff's
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: timely claim against defendant has only partially been revealed to
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the public. Such revelations occurred only years after defendants' willful concealment, obfuscation,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and refusal to investigate their own misconduct. Plaintiff became aware
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: of the nature and extent of defendants' negligence or injuries
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and the cause of these injuries after the case against
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: JPMorgan Chase and company was litigated, recent congressional reports and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: documents were made public, and publication of other recent media
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: announcements and discoveries. All right, folks, we're going to wrap
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: up episode one right here. And in the next episode,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: dealing with the topic we're going to pick up where
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: we left off. All the information that goes with this
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.