Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / The Order Remanding Jeffrey Epstein To The Care Of The State (Part 1) (5/20/26)

Transcript

The Order Remanding Jeffrey Epstein To The Care Of The State (Part 1) (5/20/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to begin taking
• 0:06
  a look at Judge Berman's order and opinion denying Jeffrey
• 0:10
  Epstein's bell request. So let's dive in case number one
• 0:16
  nineteen DASH cr DASH zero zero four to nine zero
• 0:20
  DASH RMB United States of America Government against Jeffrey Epstein.
• 0:26
  Decision and order remanding defendant. Now would the judge remand
• 0:30
  a defendant that did nothing wrong? Would Judge Berman remand
• 0:34
  a defendant to the custody and care of the state
• 0:38
  if that person wasn't a danger to the community. I'll
• 0:41
  leave that up to you to decide. Background. This ruling
• 0:46
  follows the court's bell hearing held on July fifteenth, twenty nineteen.
• 0:50
  The issue before the court is whether the defendant should
• 0:53
  continue to be remanded pending trial or whether he should
• 0:56
  be granted release while the case proceeds. No matter the
• 1:00
  answer to this question, and no matter what has been
• 1:02
  said in court in analyzing the matter, this is a
• 1:05
  criminal case and the defendant, Jeffrey Epstein, is innocent of
• 1:09
  the federal charges alleged against him now and until such
• 1:13
  time if it comes that a jury or the court finds,
• 1:16
  after fair and thorough consideration of the facts in the law,
• 1:20
  that he's guilty. It should also be borne in mind
• 1:23
  that the court has not yet been presented with a
• 1:25
  motion to dismiss the indictment. This is a federal as
• 1:28
  opposed to a state case. We proceed under federal law
• 1:32
  and federal rules. The federal statute that applies here is
• 1:36
  US Code eighteen, section fifteen ninety one, which sets forth
• 1:40
  the crime of sex trafficking with which mister Epstein is charged.
• 1:44
  Mister Epstein is also charged with conspiring with others to
• 1:47
  commit sex trafficking under US Code eighteen, section three seventy one.
• 1:53
  Sure sounds like he was doing it alone. Huh, I
• 1:55
  guess the judge is lying to. With respect to the
• 1:58
  issue of roman versus release, US Code eighteen, section thirty
• 2:02
  one forty two applies. It sets forth a presumption in
• 2:06
  favor of remand an exception to the presumption in most
• 2:10
  cases which favors pre trial release. Section thirty one forty
• 2:14
  two states that if there is probable cause to believe
• 2:17
  that the person committed an offense involving a minor victim
• 2:20
  under section fifteen ninety one. Then it shall be presumed
• 2:24
  that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure
• 2:28
  the appearance of the person as required and the safety
• 2:32
  of the community. The indictment in this case was returned
• 2:36
  by a grand jury, thus establishing probable cause that the
• 2:39
  defendant committed the crimes of sex trafficking and sex trafficking
• 2:43
  conspiracy see United States vers. Contreras, Second Circuit, nineteen eighty five.
• 2:48
  An indictment returned by a duly constituted grand jury conclusively
• 2:52
  established the existence of probable cause for the purpose of
• 2:56
  triggering the rebuttal presumption set forth in thirty one to
• 2:59
  forty six two. In most federal cases, the rebuttable presumption
• 3:05
  that applies favors pre trial release, not remand there is
• 3:09
  another very important issue to be considered in the case.
• 3:12
  It has to do with victims of the crimes charged
• 3:15
  in the indictment. Victims refer to the minor girls who
• 3:18
  are alleged to have been sexually trafficked by the defendant.
• 3:21
  Under US Code Section thirty seven thirty one, victims are
• 3:25
  entitled to be heard in court, including on the question
• 3:28
  of whether the defendant is to be released or remanded
• 3:31
  victims have, among other things, been given the opportunity to
• 3:34
  testify at the bail hearing Council submissions. The government letter
• 3:39
  application dated July eighth, twenty nineteen, requests that the court
• 3:43
  remand mister Epstein. It argues that mister Epstein poses an
• 3:46
  acute danger to the community and grounded in past experience
• 3:50
  with this defendant, that if mister Epstein is allowed to
• 3:54
  remain out on bill, the defendant could attempt a pressure
• 3:57
  and intimidate witnesses and potential witnesses in this case, including
• 4:01
  victims and their families, and otherwise attempt to obstruct justice.
• 4:06
  The government also contends that in light of the strength
• 4:09
  of the government's evidence and the substantial incarceratory term the
• 4:13
  defendant would face upon conviction forty five years, there is
• 4:16
  an extraordinary risk of flight, particularly given the defendants exorbitant wealth,
• 4:21
  his ownership of and access to private planes capable of
• 4:25
  international travel, and a significant international ties. Wait a minute,
• 4:30
  I thought the government told us there is no substantial evidence.
• 4:33
  I thought they didn't have anything to share with us.
• 4:35
  That's weird. The government also provides the following background information
• 4:40
  in our about two thousand and five, the defendant was
• 4:42
  investigated by local police and in Pombeach, Florida, in connection
• 4:46
  with allegations that he committed similar sex offenses against minor girls.
• 4:51
  The investigation ultimately also involved federal authorities, namely the U. S.
• 4:56
  Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the
• 4:59
  FBI's my Office, and included interviews with victims based in
• 5:03
  the Pombeach area, including some of the alleged victims relevant
• 5:06
  to count one of the instant indictment. In the fall
• 5:10
  of two thousand and seven, the defendant entered into a
• 5:12
  non prosecution agreement with the Southern District of Florida in
• 5:16
  connection with the conduct that issue in that investigation, which
• 5:20
  the non prosecution agreement identified as including investigations into the
• 5:24
  defendant's abuse of minor girls in the Pombeach area. In
• 5:28
  June two thousand and eight, the defendant pled guilty in
• 5:31
  Florida State Court to one count of procuring a person
• 5:35
  under the age of eighteen for a prostitution, a felony,
• 5:38
  and one count de solicitation a prostitution, also a felony.
• 5:42
  As a result, the defendant was designated a sex offender
• 5:45
  with registration requirements under the National Sex Offender Registration and
• 5:50
  Notification Act. The Defense moved on July eleventh, twenty nineteen,
• 5:55
  for a pre trial release of mister Epstein, arguing that
• 5:58
  mister epstein stricken appliance with the various monitoring requirements associated
• 6:03
  with his sex offender registration actually decrease any danger that
• 6:07
  he might otherwise pose, and also that mister Epstein has
• 6:11
  never once attempted to flee. The United States Defense proposes
• 6:16
  that they describe as a stringent set of fourteen conditions
• 6:19
  that will effectively guarantee mister Epstein's appearance and debate any
• 6:23
  conceivable danger He's claimed to present. Id at one. The
• 6:28
  fourteen conditions do not include private security guards twenty four
• 6:31
  to seven. The fourteen conditions do include one home detention
• 6:35
  in mister Epstein's Manhattan residence, with permission to leave only
• 6:40
  for medical appointments as approved by pre trial services, including
• 6:44
  at the court's discretion. The installment of surveillance cameras at
• 6:48
  the front and rear entrances to ensure compliance as if
• 6:51
  those weren't there already, electronic monitoring with a global positioning system,
• 6:56
  an agreement not to seek or obtain any new pass
• 6:59
  past during the pendency of this matter, can sent a
• 7:03
  US extradition from any country and waiver of all rights
• 7:06
  against such extradition. A substantial unspecified personal recognissance bond in
• 7:13
  an amount set by the Court after reviewing additional information
• 7:17
  regarding mister Epstein's finances. The bond shall be secured by
• 7:22
  a mortgage on the Manhattan residence valued at roughly seventy
• 7:25
  seven million dollars. Mister Apstein's private jet can be pledged
• 7:29
  as further collateral. Mister Epstein's brother Mark will serve as
• 7:33
  a kochherty of the bond, which shall be further as
• 7:36
  secured by a mortgage on Mark's home in West pom Beach, Florida.
• 7:40
  Mister Apstein's friend David Mitchell, will also serve as a
• 7:44
  kosherty and pledge his investment interest into properties to secure
• 7:48
  the bond. Mister Apstein shall de register or otherwise ground
• 7:52
  as private jet. Mister Apstein shall demobilize ground and lord
• 7:57
  register all vehicles or any other means of transport to
• 8:00
  in the New York area, providing particularized information as to
• 8:04
  each vehicle's location. Mister Epstein will provide pre trial service
• 8:09
  and or the government random access to his residence. No
• 8:12
  person shall enter the residents other than mister Epstein and
• 8:16
  his attorneys without prior approval from pre Trial Services and
• 8:19
  or the Court. Mister Epstein will report daily by telephone
• 8:24
  to pre Trial Service or any other schedule the court
• 8:27
  deems appropriate. A trustee or trustees will be appointed to
• 8:32
  live in mister Epstein's residence, and a report any violation
• 8:36
  to pre Trial Services and or the Court any other
• 8:40
  condition the court deems necessary to reasonably assure mister Epstein's appearance.
• 8:45
  The defense also proposes as a fallback, round the clock
• 8:49
  privately funded security guards, which will virtually guarantee, not just
• 8:53
  reasonably assure mister Epstein's presence in the circumstances of this case.
• 8:58
  The bell package originally was not accompanied by a financial
• 9:02
  statement reflecting mister Epstein's finances. However, on July twelfth, twenty nineteen,
• 9:07
  the defense filed a one page document which included five
• 9:11
  groups assets owned by mister Epstein, totaling five hundred and
• 9:15
  fifty nine million, one hundred and twenty thousand, nine hundred
• 9:18
  and fifty four dollars. The government responded to the defense
• 9:22
  motion on July twelfth, twenty nineteen, arguing, among other things,
• 9:27
  that mister Epstein has a history of obstruction and manipulation
• 9:31
  of witnesses, including as recently as within the past year,
• 9:35
  when media reports about his conduct in Florida re emerged.
• 9:39
  The government filing was made against a backdrop of significant
• 9:42
  and rapidly expanding evidence, serious charges, and the prospects of
• 9:47
  a lengthy prison sentence. It contends that the defendants proposed
• 9:51
  conditions of release are woefully inadequate. The court also received
• 9:55
  a letter from the government dated July sixteenth, twenty nineteen,
• 9:59
  providing a, among other things, details about allegedly suspicious payments
• 10:03
  made by the defendant in twenty eighteen upon Beach, Florida
• 10:08
  police report mister Epstein's expired Austrian passport in another name,
• 10:13
  but with mister Epstein's photo, and a pile of cash
• 10:15
  and diamonds found in mister Epstein's safe, for example. The
• 10:19
  government says records from Institution One show that Honor about
• 10:23
  November thirtieth, twenty eighteen, or two days after the series
• 10:27
  and the Miami Herald began, the defendant wired one hundred
• 10:31
  thousand dollars from a trust account he controlled to an
• 10:34
  individual named as a potential co conspirator and honor. About
• 10:38
  December third, twenty eighteen, the defendant wired two hundred and
• 10:42
  fifty thousand dollars from the same trust account to an
• 10:45
  individual who has also been named as a co conspirator.
• 10:49
  According to the government, the second individual is also one
• 10:52
  of the employees identified in the indictment, which alleges that
• 10:55
  she and two other identified employees facilitated the defendant and
• 11:00
  its trafficking of miners by, among other things, contacting victims
• 11:04
  and scheduling their sexual encounters with defendant at his residences
• 11:08
  in Manhattan and pom Beach, Florida. By letter dated July sixteenth,
• 11:13
  twenty nineteen, Defense Council states, among other things, that the
• 11:17
  court should reject the idea that there's literally nothing a
• 11:20
  person of Epstein's means could say, do, or pledge to
• 11:24
  rebut the operative presumption and make himself eligible for release.
• 11:29
  Epstein contends that Section fifteen ninety one and the remand
• 11:33
  presumption do not contemplate or cover the core conduct that
• 11:37
  issue here performing sexual massages for money. Defense Council also
• 11:41
  states that Epstein certainly recognizes the Court's request for further
• 11:45
  transparency and is committed to providing a complete and accurate disclosure. Accordingly,
• 11:51
  we propose that the courts preliminarily accept the initial financial
• 11:55
  disclosure proffered last Friday, and, if intending to grant bail,
• 12:00
  include a release condition directing Epstein to tender a comprehensive
• 12:04
  forensic accounting of his finances as expeditiously as practicable. By
• 12:10
  letters dated July sixteenth and July seventeenth, twenty nineteen. Defense
• 12:15
  Council also submitted information regarding Epstein's new Mexico sex offender
• 12:20
  registration status. Defense Council also stated that Epstein traveled extensively
• 12:25
  over the last eight months and invariably returned to the
• 12:29
  United States, that inescapable reality emphatically proves he won't flee
• 12:34
  and entitles him to release on any and all conditions
• 12:38
  of the court deems appropriate. All right, folks, we're going
• 12:41
  to wrap up right here, and in the next episode,
• 12:43
  we're going to pick up where we left off, and
• 12:46
  that's the indictment. All of the information that goes with
• 12:49
  this episode can be found in the description box.