Jeffrey Epstein, Billionaire Long Accused of Molesting Minors, Is Charged

Mr. Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking, had avoided federal charges a decade ago in a widely criticized plea deal.

By Patricia Mazzei and William K. Rashbaum
July 6, 2019

Jeffrey E. Epstein, a billionaire New York financier long accused of molesting dozens of young girls, has been charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking, two people with knowledge of the case said on Saturday night.

Mr. Epstein was arrested in the New York area and is in federal custody. He is expected to appear before a federal magistrate on Monday.

Mr. Epstein had avoided federal criminal charges in 2007 and 2008 in a widely criticized plea deal after he was accused of paying dozens of underage girls for sexual massages in Florida.

Before then, Mr. Epstein, a former hedge-fund manager, had been friendly with Donald J. Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

He pleaded guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting prostitution, served 13 months in a county lockup and registered as a sex offender. His extraordinary jail arrangement allowed him to get out of the Palm Beach County Stockade six days a week to work out of his office.

The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Mr. Epstein, declined to comment on Saturday night.

Defense lawyers for Mr. Epstein could not immediately be reached for comment.

Women who said they were Mr. Epstein’s victims have repeatedly assailed federal prosecutors for reaching the nonprosecution agreement with him more than a decade ago.

Jack Scarola, a lawyer for two of the women, said he had not been informed of the arrest.

“But given his extensive pattern of past criminal conduct and the apparent addictive nature of his aberrant behavior, an arrest comes as no surprise,” Mr. Scarola said on Saturday night.

The new charges against Mr. Epstein were first reported on Saturday night by The Daily Beast.

In the Florida investigation, the authorities found that Mr. Epstein paid cash to dozens of girls, some of them as young as 14 or 15, to give him nude massages that often ended in masturbation, oral sex or, in at least one case, forcible rape.

Some of the girls were runaways or foster children; Mr. Epstein would ask some girls to recruit others to bring to his properties. The encounters took place from 1999 to 2005.

According to court records, in a 2007 interview with the F.B.I., one girl shared that at age 15 she began visiting Mr. Epstein and gave him massages — both in her underwear and then nude — for $200 each.

Over time, the encounters became increasingly sexual. Mr. Epstein also got the underage girl to bring other girls who worked with her at a local strip club.

The plea deal that protected Mr. Epstein from federal charges was signed by the top federal prosecutor in Miami at the time, Alexander Acosta, who is now President Trump’s labor secretary.

In February, a judge in Florida ruled that the prosecutors led by Mr. Acosta violated federal law when they failed to disclose Mr. Epstein’s nonprosecution agreement to his victims.

The agreement was negotiated in secret while victims were told prosecutors were still pursuing a possible federal criminal case.

Mr. Acosta has defended the handling of Mr. Epstein’s case, saying the plea deal sent Mr. Epstein to jail and guaranteed that he would register as a sex offender.

But lawyers for his victims have fought for years against a punishment they saw as too lenient.

The case received new public scrutiny after an investigative report published by The Miami Herald in November quoted four of Mr. Epstein’s victims, who are now adults, on the record for the first time.

One of the victims, Courtney Wild, now 31, was wearing braces when she first met Mr. Epstein. “Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless,” Ms. Wild told The Herald. “He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right.”

Investigators had identified more than 30 victims. The Herald said it located about 60.

In February, the Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into the nonprosecution agreement. The inquiry is reviewing whether prosecutors committed professional misconduct in their handling of the Epstein case.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/06/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-arrested-sex-trafficking.html

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Floridatexan wrote:
Mr. Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking, had avoided federal charges a decade ago in a widely criticized plea deal.

By Patricia Mazzei and William K. Rashbaum
July 6, 2019

Jeffrey E. Epstein, a billionaire New York financier long accused of molesting dozens of young girls, has been charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking, two people with knowledge of the case said on Saturday night.

Mr. Epstein was arrested in the New York area and is in federal custody. He is expected to appear before a federal magistrate on Monday.

Mr. Epstein had avoided federal criminal charges in 2007 and 2008 in a widely criticized plea deal after he was accused of paying dozens of underage girls for sexual massages in Florida.

Before then, Mr. Epstein, a former hedge-fund manager, had been friendly with Donald J. Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

He pleaded guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting prostitution, served 13 months in a county lockup and registered as a sex offender. His extraordinary jail arrangement allowed him to get out of the Palm Beach County Stockade six days a week to work out of his office.

The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Mr. Epstein, declined to comment on Saturday night.

Defense lawyers for Mr. Epstein could not immediately be reached for comment.

Women who said they were Mr. Epstein’s victims have repeatedly assailed federal prosecutors for reaching the nonprosecution agreement with him more than a decade ago.

Jack Scarola, a lawyer for two of the women, said he had not been informed of the arrest.

“But given his extensive pattern of past criminal conduct and the apparent addictive nature of his aberrant behavior, an arrest comes as no surprise,” Mr. Scarola said on Saturday night.

The new charges against Mr. Epstein were first reported on Saturday night by The Daily Beast.

In the Florida investigation, the authorities found that Mr. Epstein paid cash to dozens of girls, some of them as young as 14 or 15, to give him nude massages that often ended in masturbation, oral sex or, in at least one case, forcible rape.

Some of the girls were runaways or foster children; Mr. Epstein would ask some girls to recruit others to bring to his properties. The encounters took place from 1999 to 2005.

According to court records, in a 2007 interview with the F.B.I., one girl shared that at age 15 she began visiting Mr. Epstein and gave him massages — both in her underwear and then nude — for $200 each.

Over time, the encounters became increasingly sexual. Mr. Epstein also got the underage girl to bring other girls who worked with her at a local strip club.

The plea deal that protected Mr. Epstein from federal charges was signed by the top federal prosecutor in Miami at the time, Alexander Acosta, who is now President Trump’s labor secretary.

In February, a judge in Florida ruled that the prosecutors led by Mr. Acosta violated federal law when they failed to disclose Mr. Epstein’s nonprosecution agreement to his victims.

The agreement was negotiated in secret while victims were told prosecutors were still pursuing a possible federal criminal case.

Mr. Acosta has defended the handling of Mr. Epstein’s case, saying the plea deal sent Mr. Epstein to jail and guaranteed that he would register as a sex offender.

But lawyers for his victims have fought for years against a punishment they saw as too lenient.

The case received new public scrutiny after an investigative report published by The Miami Herald in November quoted four of Mr. Epstein’s victims, who are now adults, on the record for the first time.

One of the victims, Courtney Wild, now 31, was wearing braces when she first met Mr. Epstein. “Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless,” Ms. Wild told The Herald. “He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right.”

Investigators had identified more than 30 victims. The Herald said it located about 60.

In February, the Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into the nonprosecution agreement. The inquiry is reviewing whether prosecutors committed professional misconduct in their handling of the Epstein case.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/06/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-arrested-sex-trafficking.html

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So...if he's convicted will Bill Barr do his master's bidding and let him off the hook?

Pandora’s Box: Jeffrey Epstein arrested for alleged sex trafficking

https://dailysoundandfury.com/pandoras-box-jeffrey-epstein-arrested-for-alleged-sex-trafficking/

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There was a case pending in 2016 by a former victim, who stated she was recruited at Mar-a-Lago and named both Epstein and Drumpf.  Then it went away.  I bet I know who will get a subpoena...Michael Cohen.  And even though the charges are at SDNY, therefore federal, Drumpf can't pardon him because then Epstein would be compelled to testify against him and all his co-conspirators.



Fascinating list, isn't it!

Here's a better shot than the one at the site, which left out Epstein's girlfriend for some reason:

“I learned through a source that Trump banned Epstein from his Maralago [Mar-A- Lago] Club in West Palm Beach because Epstein sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club,” Fort Lauderdale lawyer Bradley Edwards’ said.

Bill must be getting nervous! Listed on the Lolita flight list over 2 dozen times!

Joanimaroni wrote:Bill must be getting nervous! Listed on the Lolita flight list over 2 dozen times!

Bill Oh Clinton. Who cares. He's yesterdays news, if he's guilty hang him.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-07/trump-was-only-one-help-prosecutor-2009-epstein-case

PkrBum wrote:https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-07/trump-was-only-one-help-prosecutor-2009-epstein-case

zero hedge is a fake site, just like Tyler Durden, a fictional character from FIGHT CLUB. I'll bet Drumpf was really helpful...and knowledgeable.

Floridatexan wrote:

PkrBum wrote:https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-07/trump-was-only-one-help-prosecutor-2009-epstein-case

zero hedge is a fake site, just like Tyler Durden, a fictional character from FIGHT CLUB.  I'll bet Drumpf was really helpful...and knowledgeable.

Tyler Durden didn't really exist in FIGHT CLUB but he knew how to hook in simple minded glibtards.

Christine Pelosi
@sfpelosi
This Epstein case is horrific and the young women deserve justice. It is quite likely that some of our faves are implicated but we must follow the facts and let the chips fall where they may - whether on Republicans or Democrats. #WeSaidEnough #MeToo https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-of-minors-source …


Trump banned him from Mar-A-Lago.

Joanimaroni wrote:
Christine Pelosi
@sfpelosi
This Epstein case is horrific and the young women deserve justice. It is quite likely that some of our faves are implicated but we must follow the facts and let the chips fall where they may - whether on Republicans or Democrats. #WeSaidEnough #MeToo https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-of-minors-source …


Trump banned him from Mar-A-Lago.

Didn't Epstein get a slap on the wrist for this years ago. Does anyone know if Trump banned boy stalker and long time family friend republican Mark Foley from Mar A Loco?

Trump's Labor secretary Alex Acosta Under Fire As Disturbing Epstein Details Continue To Emerge.

Jeffrey Epstein Was a ‘Terrific Guy,’ Donald Trump Once Said. Now He’s ‘Not a Fan.’

By Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman
July 9, 2019

WASHINGTON — It was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, something that George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who ran American Dream Enterprise, had organized at Mr. Trump’s request.

“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” Mr. Houraney recalled in an interview on Monday. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.”

Mr. Houraney, who had just partnered with Mr. Trump to host events at his casinos, said he was surprised. “I said, ‘Donald, this is supposed to be a party with V.I.P.s. You’re telling me it’s you and Epstein?’”

In fact, that was the case, an indication of a years long friendship between the president and Mr. Epstein that some say ended only after a failed business arrangement between them. The full nature of their eventual falling out is not clear.

But through a mutual appreciation of wealth and women, and years of occupying adjacent real estate in Palm Beach and on Page Six, the lives of the two men routinely intersected for decades — until the connection turned from a status symbol into a liability, and Mr. Trump made sure to publicize the fact that he had barred his onetime friend from his clubs.

“In those days, if you didn’t know Trump and you didn’t know Epstein, you were a nobody,” said Alan Dershowitz, the longtime Harvard University Law School professor who later served on Mr. Epstein’s defense team when he was charged with unlawful sex with minors in 2006.

Before Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty to the charges, and was mainly known as a reclusive, sweat-shirt-sporting billionaire who liked the company of young women, Mr. Trump spoke enthusiastically about their relationship.

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

He also dismissed Mr. Houraney’s warning about his friend’s conduct.

“I said, ‘Look, Donald, I know Jeff really well, I can’t have him going after younger girls,’” Mr. Houraney remembers. “He said, ‘Look I’m putting my name on this. I wouldn’t put my name on it and have a scandal.’”

Mr. Houraney said he “pretty much had to ban Jeff from my events — Trump didn’t care about that.”

Shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Houraney accused Mr. Trump himself of inappropriate behavior toward his girlfriend and business partner, Jill Harth, during their business dealings.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

But speaking Tuesday to reporters in the Oval Office, the president distanced himself from Mr. Epstein, noting that he “knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.” But Mr. Trump added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”

Mr. Epstein, who was charged on Monday in Manhattan with sex trafficking, is better known as a longtime friend of former President Bill Clinton’s than as a close associate of Mr. Trump’s. In fact, the relationship with Mr. Trump turned so toxic that Mr. Epstein at one point told friends that he blamed Mr. Trump for his legal problems with the Palm Beach County police.

But while Mr. Trump has dismissed the relationship, Mr. Epstein, since the election, has played it up, claiming to people that he was the one who introduced Mr. Trump to his third wife, Melania Trump, though neither of the Trumps has ever mentioned Mr. Epstein playing a role in their meeting. Mrs. Trump has said that her future husband simply asked for her phone number at a party at the Kit Kat Club during Fashion Week in 1998.

Mr. Epstein was never a dues-paying member of the Mar-a-Lago club, according to an official at the Trump Organization. But as a guest of a guest, he was treated like a close friend by the club’s owner and self-appointed headwaiter, Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump barred Mr. Epstein from his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.

The two were photographed together there in the 1990s and early 2000s, Mr. Trump always in a tie, Mr. Epstein always without. And in Manhattan, they attended many of the same dinner parties, like the one that Mr. Epstein hosted for Prince Andrew, where the guest list also included Ron Perelman and Mort Zuckerman, among others.

But longtime Trump associates played down their closeness, saying that was simply how Mr. Trump treated any guest at his club — checking on their steaks, bragging about his meatloaf, scanning the room for a better table so guests felt like they were getting special treatment.

Since Mr. Trump’s decision to enter the presidential race in 2015, his aides and allies have been eager to minimize any connection to Mr. Epstein, knowing that Mr. Epstein’s relationship with Mr. Clinton would be investigated at a time Hillary Clinton was likely to be his opponent.

Roger J. Stone Jr., the former Trump adviser, wrote in his book “The Clintons’ War on Women,” which was published during the campaign, that Mr. Trump “turned down many invitations to Epstein’s hedonistic private island and his Palm Beach home.” Once when Mr. Trump visited Mr. Epstein at his Palm Beach home, Mr. Stone wrote, he later seemed to joke about the scene of underage girls he witnessed there.

“The swimming pool was filled with beautiful young girls,” Mr. Trump later told a Mar-a-Lago member, according to Mr. Stone. “‘How nice,’ I thought, ‘he let the neighborhood kids use his pool.’”

Sam Nunberg, a former campaign aide to Mr. Trump, said he raised concerns about the candidate’s involvement with Mr. Epstein before Mr. Trump officially began his presidential campaign. But Mr. Trump assured Mr. Nunberg that he had barred Mr. Epstein from entering his clubs after Mr. Epstein had tried to recruit a woman who worked at Mar-a-Lago.

“Trump said, ‘I kicked him out of the clubs when this stuff became public, and I made sure NBC knew,’” Mr. Nunberg recalled.

Mr. Trump appeared fully aware of what a liability his onetime Palm Beach pal had become.

Mr. Nunberg said that in early 2015, he was beckoned into Mr. Trump’s office at Trump Tower in Manhattan, along with Corey Lewandowski, then his campaign manager, and Michael D. Cohen, then Mr. Trump’s private lawyer, after David J. Pecker of The National Enquirer had just left the building.

Mr. Trump showed the two men a copy of a new issue of The Enquirer that had yet to hit the stands, with pictures of Mr. Epstein’s private island. Mr. Trump was gleeful about Mr. Epstein’s connection to the Clintons and hinted there would be more to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/trump-epstein.html

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Sal wrote:One of the oddest things about Epstein is that no one can explain his vast wealth.

He claims to be a hedge fund manager of some sort, but only one client has been identified, and other professionals in the field say that he's no sort of hedge fund manager that they're familiar with.

In addition to his nine-story townhouse in Manhattan and other properties around the globe, he owns two islands in the AVI, on one of which he constructed a bizarre temple like structure above a maze of underground tunnels.

The locals refer to that island as "Pedo Island".

Extremely bizarre and unsettling.

I think he was advising people to offshore their money to the US Virgin Islands. I'm not sure what else he had up his sleeve...uh, wherever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein

polecat wrote:

Love it, polecat - thanks for the grins!

Sal wrote:Acosta is gone.

Just the first.

More to come.

Here's a link to one of 3 articles on the subject of how Epstein made his money:

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/hedge-funders-have-some-thoughts-on-what-epstein-was-doing.html

I haven't read them all yet, but I did have a thought about Drumpf and Epstein's relationship, beyond the pedophilia. What kind of financial relationships did they have?

As for Drumpf "cooperating" with the investigation at the time, you have to ask yourself why he would be sooooo cooperative.