OK, you guys (and Booty also) are getting pretty damn deep into this subject, so here's the ACOSTA/EPSTEIN story which goes back to the very (almost) beginning.
Sorry for the length but it may be of interest to one and all.
Former Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta is facing renewed backlash over striking a “sweetheart” plea deal for billionare Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 during Acosta's time as the United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida.
“I don’t know how he can survive this,” Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst said of Acosta after the contents of the federal indictment on Epstein were released.
Acosta agreed to keep Epstein’s plea deal secret from the victims, which was ruled illegal in 2017 by a federal judge in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
The Miami Herald published a sweeping tell-all in November 2018 detailing how Epstein escaped charges in Miami despite evidence of child-sex trafficking and 80 women claiming to be molested or sexually abused by Epstein between 2001 and 2006.
Acosta made a deal with Washington, D.C. attorney Jay Lefkowitz, his former colleague, at a breakfast meeting in October 2007, according to the Miami Herald.
Acosta let Epstein off with a 13-month sentence in county jail with work-release privileges in 2008. His charges were reduced to two prostitution charges in state court.
Acosta agreed to keep Epstein’s plea deal secret from the victims, which was ruled illegal in 2017 by a federal judge in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
The deal closed an FBI probe into whether there were more victims, granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators,” kept the deal from the victims in violation of federal law, and gave Epstein a lenient sentence in state court.
How in the world, do you, the U.S. attorney, engage in a negotiation with a criminal defendant, basically allowing that criminal defendant to write up the agreement?” Bradley Edwards, a former state prosecutor who represents victims of Epstein, told the Miami Herald.
At the time, federal prosecutors in Miami had identified 36 underage victims, but they were not present at Epstein’s sentencing and most of them heard of Epstein’s sentencing from the news.
A former Miami-Dade police sergeant told the Miami Herald that the FBI had enough evidence to put Epstein away for a long time, but were overruled by Acosta.
At his confirmation hearing for labor secretary, Acosta was questioned on his decision to not prosecute Epstein federally, saying, “At the end of the day, based on the evidence, professionals within a prosecutor’s office decided that a plea that guarantees someone goes to jail, that guarantees he register [as a sex offender] generally and guarantees other outcomes, is a good thing.”
California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein opposed Acosta for labor secretary, and said at his confirmation hearing: “His handling of a case involving sex trafficking of underage girls when he was a U.S. attorney suggests he won’t put the interests of workers and everyday people ahead of the powerful and well-connected.’’
After the Miami Herald published the new information about Acosta’s decision to strike a plea deal, Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio said, “There’s probably more to it than what you’ve seen,” Rubio said. “That man should have been in jail for a long time.”
Back in February, Republican Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse launched an investigation into the Department of Justice’s handling of the case against Jeffrey Epstein.
Acosta is now facing renewed pushback upon the release of the serious charges against Epstein.
