By: Jennifer Gonzalez
On August 27, 2019, sixteen women stood in front of Judge Richard M. Berman[i]and recounted the abuse they endured at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein.[ii]Each woman stood with their backs to an empty chair at the defense table where Epstein would have sat. This hearing came on the heels of Epstein’s alleged suicide in custody on August 10, 2019.[iii]Federal prosecutors called for the hearing to review their request to drop pending sex trafficking charges against Epstein.[iv]Recognizing that the victims will never get to directly address their abuser in criminal court, Judge Berman utilized this opportunity to “give [Epstein’s victims] their day in court.”[v]“I believe it is the court’s responsibility, and manifestly within its purview, to ensure that the victims in this case are treated fairly and with dignity.”[vi]Because no one was named in Epstein’s federal indictment, the court had no choice but to drop the sex trafficking charges.[vii]For Epstein’s victims, who for years suffered as Epstein evaded federal prosecution,[viii]this came as a huge blow. “The fact I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at my soul[.] [ . . .] Even in death, Epstein is trying to hurt me.”[ix]If Epstein cannot be held accountable, who can?
Fortunately, not all hope is lost for Epstein’s victims. “Federal prosecutors and F.B.I. agents who built the case against Mr. Epstein will turn their attention to people whom his accusers have said participated in a scheme that dates back more than a decade and involved the sexual exploitation of dozens of underage girls.”[x]In a formal statement released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman confirmed that his office will continue to investigate “the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count[.]”[xi]The U.S. Attorney’s statement refers to Count I of Epstein’s indictment for “Sex Trafficking Conspiracy.”[xii]Under 18 U.S.C. §371, “conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States,”
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.[xiii]
Prosecutors allege that Epstein
enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, minor girls to visit his mansion in Manhattan, New York . . . and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida . . . to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash. Moreover, and in order to maintain and increase his supply of victims, Epstein also paid certain of his victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused by [him]. In this way, [he] created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit in locations including New York and Palm Beach.[xiv]
[ . . .]
In creating and maintaining this network of minor victims in multiple states to sexually abuse and exploit, . . . the defendant . . . worked and conspired with others, including employees and associates who facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein [in New York and Palm Beach].[xv]
The indictment would seem to suggest that federal prosecutors will look to—or have begun to look into—the “employees and associates” who enabled Epstein’s repeated abuse of his victims. However, even in death, Epstein remains an obstacle: his 2007 plea agreement with former Labor Secretary and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta barred the filing of “any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova.”[xvi]Since Epstein’s death, two of his victims have sought to “cancel the remaining provisions of the [plea agreement].”[xvii]
[i]Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
[ii]Renae Merle & Matt Zapotosky, ‘The reckoning must not end’: Epstein’s accusers urge prosecutors to pursue his enablers, The Wash. Post(Aug. 27, 2019), https://beta.washingtonpost.com/national-security/at-hearing-to-dismiss-jeffrey-epsteins-charges-those-who-say-he-abused-them-given-chance-to-be-heard/2019/08/26/35cb03c2-c83a-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.html?noredirect=on.
[iii]Press Release, State from Attorney General William P. Barr on the Death of Jeffrey Epstein, Dep’t of Justice (Aug. 10, 2019), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-attorney-general-william-p-barr-death-jeffrey-epstein.
[iv]Ali Watkins, Benjamin Weiser, & Amy Julia Harris, Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims, Denied a Trial, Vent Their Fury: ‘He Is a Coward’, The N.Y. Times(Aug. 30, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-hearing-victims.html(internal quotation marks omitted).
[v]Id.
[vi]Id.
[vii]Id.
[viii]William Cummings, Why Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crime arrest is sparking calls for Trump Labor Secretary Acosta to resign, U.S.A. Today(Jul. 9, 2019), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/09/jeffrey-epstein-alexander-acosta-under-fire-2007-plea-deal/1681236001/.
[ix]Merle & Zapotosky, supranote 2.
[x]Benjamin Weiser & William K. Rashbaum, Why the Jeffrey Epstein Investigation Is Not Over, The N.Y. Times(Aug. 11, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-suicide-investigation.html.
[xi]Press Release, Statement of Manhattan U.S. Attorney On The Death of Defendant Jeffrey Epstein, Dep’t of Justice (Aug. 10, 2019), https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-manhattan-us-attorney-death-defendant-jeffrey-epstein.
[xii]Indictment at 1, United States v. Jeffrey Epstein, 19 Cr. 490 (Jul 8, 2019), https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1180481/download.
[xiii]18 U.S.C. § 371 (2012).
[xiv]Indictment, supranote 12, at 2.
[xv]Id. at 4.
[xvi]Exhibit 62, Non-Prosecution Agreement at 5, In Re: Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (filed Feb. 10, 2016).
[xvii]Bill Bostock, Epstein’s accusers say now that he’s dead the government should rescind the generous 2007 plea deal that protected any accomplices, Bus. Insider(Aug. 13, 2019), https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-victims-plea-deal-scrapped-2019-8.
