EFTA00762962.pdf

From: ' on behalf of To: njeevacation®gmail.com" <jeevacation@gmail.com> Subject: Fw: Epstein News Articles Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:53:22 +0000 Importance: Normal Attachments: Epstein_combined_articles.pdf Forwarded by Public Records/PalmBeach on 02/24/2010 05:53AM To: From: Michael PalmBeach Date: 08/12/2008 09:33PM Subject: Epstein News Articles (See attached file: Epstein combined articles.pdf) Joyce, I am looking forward to meeting with you on Wednesday. Please find below (and attached as a PDF file), some background information for your reference. Thanks for agreeing to have this discussion. Regards, Mike Palm Beach Post Editorial #1 He was over 50. And they were girls By Elisa Cramer HASH(Ox5fa474) Friday, August 04, 2006 If the women whom Palm Beach police say a part-time town resident invited to his home and paid for sex acts were, in fact, women, the solicitation charge against Jeffrey Epstein might feel more sufficient. But, according to police records, they weren't. He was over 50. And they were girls. 14. 15.16.17-year-old girls. That should count for something - the difference between prostitution and pedophilia. So, it is baffling that Mr. Epstein, who was indicted last month by a grand jury on one felony count of solicitation of prostitution, has not been charged, as Palm Beach police strenuously urged, with unlawful sex acts with a minor and lewd and lascivious molestation. Conviction of crimes against minors would mean steeper penalties than the maximum five-year prison term Mr. Epstein faces if convicted of the single count of felony EFTA00762962 solicitation. It also would help carry a message of intolerance to perverts who prey on girls. Prosecutors did not pursue charges against Mr. Epstein reflecting the age of the victims because they assumed a jury would view the girls not as victims but as promiscuous, untrustworthy, willing participants. The presumption is offensive. Mr. Epstein, a 53-year-old Manhattan money manager who has hired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and defense attorney Jack Goldberger, has denied knowing how old the girls were. But police interviews with five alleged victims and 17 witnesses under oath, as well as phone messages, a high school transcript and other items that police found from searching Mr. Epstein's trash and 7,234-square-foot waterfront home, provide evidence that he knew the girls were teenagers. One girl couldn't show up when Mr. Epstein wanted because she had soccer. Another time, Mr. Epstein had to wait for his "massage" session because the girl he wanted was still in class. Why didn't State Attorney Barry Krischer let a jury decide whether to believe the teenagers - including a 16-year-old who went to Mr. Epstein's house to "work" in December 2004 after being asked whether she needed to make money for Christmas gifts? Prosecutors gave greater weight to the details Mr. Dershowitz provided about the girls in an apparent effort to assail their character. Mr. Dershowitz pointed out to prosecutors that some of the teenagers had talked on myspace.com about marijuana and alcohol use. The 20-year-old Royal Palm Beach woman who told police she recruited girls for Mr. Epstein has a Web page on myspace.com that features one girl using the name Although no charges of witness tampering have been filed, the parents of at least one of the teenage victims complained to police of being followed and intimidated by two men. Police determined that their vehicles were registered to two private investigators. Mr. Goldberger denied knowing anything about it. Police also note in their reports that the state attorney's office offered Mr. Epstein a plea deal that would have placed him on probation for five years, allowing him ultimately to walk away with no criminal record at all. I asked Mr. Krischer's spokesman, Mike Edmondson, why the case was referred to a grand jury instead of Mr. Epstein being charged and facing a trial before a jury. And shouldn't the victims' credibility be a factor to determine whether a crime's been EFTA00762963 committed, not whether a July will convict? (After all, as Mr. Goldberger told The Palm Beach Post of Mr. Epstein, "He's never denied girls came to the house.") Especially, I asked Mr. Edmondson to explain: Why shouldn't the public look at this case and think there are two kinds of justice - one for the wealthy and one for the rest of us? Mr. Edmondson said he could not comment on the case because it is active, but on the latter point, he offered, for the sake of "philosophical debate": "Whether wealth buys a different standard of justice across the country ... the answer to that would, of course, be yes." But in this case, he said, "regardless of the battery of attorneys, the outcome would be the same. Every issue that was debated in public was debated in our office before this case went to the grand jury." In this case, it is not the victim? credibility but the state attorney's that deserves questioning. Palm Beach Post Editorial #2 Massaging the system Palm Beach Post Editorial Thursday, August 10, 2006 Palm Beach police say their 11-month investigation shows that 53-year-old part-time town resident Jeffrey Epstein committed unlawful sex acts with and lewd and lascivious molestation on five underage girls. Defense attorney Jack Goldberger claims that his client, Jeffrey Epstein, had no idea that the untrained girls he hired for massages were minors. The Palm Beach Count State Attorney's Office could have let a jury decide whom to believe. Instead, State Attorney Barry Krischer left the public to wonder whether the system tilted in favor of a wealthy, well-connected alleged perpetrator and against very young girls who are alleged victims of sex crimes. Mr. Krischer took the unusual step of referring the case to a grand jury, which last month indicted Jeffrey Epstein on one felony count of solicitation of prostitution. That decision came after Harvard law Professor Alan Dershowitz met with prosecutors to undermine the credibility of the 14- to 17-yearold girls who charged that Mr. Epstein had paid them $200 to $300 to undress and massage him in his five-bedroom, 7 1/2 -bath home on the Intracoastal Waterway. The girls, Mr. Dershowitz told prosecutors, had written on myspace.com about smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. But if the girls have a credibility problem, what about EFTA00762964 Jeffrey Epstein? Mr. Goldberger, told The Post: "Mr. Epstein absolutely insisted anybody who came to his house be over the age of 18. How he verified that, I don't know." And prosecutors took him at his word? Police collected evidence that refutes Jeffrey Epstein's defense. Police searched his home and garbage and found phone messages about the girls' school schedules and even a high school transcript, suggesting that Mr. Epstein at least knew that the girls were teenagers. The state attorney's office has responded to criticism from Palm Beach police and others by noting the higher standard prosecutors face for conviction than law-enforcement officers do for arrest. But in this case, the state attorney bowed to the risk that a jury might look at both Jeffrey Epstein and the girls, and point fingers at both sides. Even if the girls could be impugned as prostitutes, solicitation of a minor is a crime. Former disc jockey and teacher Bruno Moore was charged with that Tuesday. Investigators say the 34-year-old used the Internet - myspace.com - to recruit a I3-year old. Police say Jeffrey Epstein used a 20-year-old woman who had a myspace.com account to recruit young girls. His actions were sleazy. It would have been good to ask a jury just how criminal they were. Palm Beach Post Editorial #3 Spare us the outrage Wednesday, February 13, 2008 An 11-month police investigation led to an indictment on one felony charge of solicitation of prostitution. That was in July 2006, and part-time Palm Beacher Jeffrey Epstein still has faced no repercussions for allegedly preying on underage girls. So maybe Mr. Epstein is satisfied that he's getting his money's worth from his large legal team, which includes Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz (remember O.J. Simpson?) and Kenneth Starr (remember Monica Lewinsky?). Jack Goldberger of who's also on the team, told Post columnist Jose Lambiet in November: "This case is absolutely going to end without a trial within the next two months." He was wrong, but Mr. Goldberger remains on Mr. Epstein's payroll, feigning moral outrage at two lawsuits filed this year against the Manhattan money manager. The lawsuits allege sexual exploitation of teenaged girls, one of them as young as 14. Said Mr. Goldberger after the first lawsuit, seeking EFTA00762965 more than $50 million, was filed on Jan. 24: "We think this shows what this case is all about: money." Yes, it is - Mr. Epstein's effort to buy his way out of prosecution. Another Epstein attorney, Lilly Ann Sanchez dismissed it: "Jeffrey Epstein did not have sex with this woman." For those girls who claim that he did, Mr. Epstein's lawyers maintain that he did not know their ages, despite a police search of his home and garbage that found phone messages about the girls' school schedules and even a high school transcript. For all of his money, Mr. Epstein's best defense remains "I didn't know that I was a criminal pervert"? Palm Beach Post Editorial #4 Rich man fought the law and he mostly won Palm Beach Post Editorial Monday, July 07, 2008 Two years after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of solicitation of prostitution, Jeffrey Epstein finally admitted that he lured a teenage girl to his $8.5 million, 13,000-square-foot Palm Beach mansion for sex. A week ago, the 55-yearold investment banker began serving 18 months in jail. But that plea deal - guilty of felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution - does not account for all five of the girls, one as young as 14, who alleged that Epstein sexually abused them. And why is Epstein serving his term in the overcrowded Palm Beach County Jail and not a state prison, where inmates are sent if their sentences are longer than one year? The slow, dissatisfying resolution of the case sends a message to the public Post your that there's a different system ofjustice for the wealthy who hire highcomments powered lawyers. Epstein's legal team included defense on this attorney Jack Goldberger, Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, who defended O.J. Simpson against murder charges, and Kenneth Starr, the prosecutor who pursued then-President Bill Clinton for lying about sex with young women. Palm Beach police spent 11 months investigating Epstein before State Attorney Barry Krischer sent the case to a grand jury, instead of charging Epstein so the man who once EFTA00762966 boasted of accepting only billionaire clients could face a trial. The police had taken a high school transcript, class schedules and phone messages from Epstein's home that showed he knew the girls were underage. Yet Mr. Krischer was more swayed by Epstein's lawyers, who attempted to impugn the girls' character by showing they had chatted on myspace.com about smoking marijuana and drinking. He should have let a jury decide whether the victims - and Epstein - were credible. Ultimately, one charge against Epstein finally reflected the age of one victim, and the plea agreement left Epstein labeled a sex offender. With that additional charge, if Epstein had been convicted at a trial, he could have been sentenced to anything from probation to 15 years in prison, Assistant State Attorney Belohlavek said, adding that the recommended guideline sentence was 21 months. Epstein also won't have to certify to the court that he is receiving counseling, typically required of sex offenders, because he has a private psychiatrist. But without court supervision, who will ensure Epstein is in fact being treated? The plea deal also drops a federal investigation of Epstein. If a federal investigation was warranted, how does dropping it before completion benefit the public? Epstein preyed on girls and denied it. For three years, his wealth and the influence of his lawyers bought him the protection the state attorney owed to the victims. New York Post — 07/27/2008 New York Post - New York, N.Y. Date: Jul 27, 2006 Start Page: 014 Section: Page Six Text Word Count: 395 IT looks like New York billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein got off easy when he was hit with a charge of soliciting a prostitute for a "happy ending" in Palm Beach. Because if Palm Beach police had their way, Epstein, 53 - who surrendered last Sunday and is out on $3,000 bail - might have been whacked with far more serious charges of paying underage girls for sex. But a state grand jury found the witnesses in the case were not credible and threw out all but the single charge of soliciting a hooker in his luxurious Palm Beach home. Epstein's lawyers and friends now say he's the hapless victim of a vendetta by According to the police investigation, a copy of which was obtained by the Palm Beach EFTA00762967 Post, detectives took statements from 17 witnesses and five alleged victims= She said they were paid $200 per session. Cops also allege that Epstein's , set up the liaisons and put fresh sheets on the massage table and supplied massage oils. Police searched through Epstein's garbage and retrieved sex toys and feminine hygiene products. Epstein's Palm Beach lawyer, Jack Goldberger, told Page Six that the Florida state attorney concluded the cops had looked at evidence from a "one-sided perspective." He added that Epstein had passed an extensive lie-detector test in which he was grilled about underage girls. Epstein's New York lawyer, Gerald Lefcourt, said, "The prosecutor didn't want to bring any charges in this case, but because of the craziness of this police chief, we have the charge of solicitation." Last night. %S PTV in Palm Beach reported that one reason Cops also allege that [Jeffrey Epstein]. =, set up the liaisons and put fresh sheets on the massage table and supplied massage oils. Police searched through Epstein's garbage and retrieved sex toys and feminine hygiene products. Epstein's Palm Beach lawyer, Jack Goldberger, told Page Six that the Florida state attorney concluded the cops had looked at evidence from a "one-sided perspective." He added that Epstein had passed an extensive lie-detector test in which he was grilled about underage girls. NewYork Post — 09/20/2007 JAIL LOOMS FOR SEX-CASE MOGUL September 20, 2007 -- THE sordid sex case involving Jeffrey Epstein may be coming to an unhappy ending -with a plea deal that would put the publicity-shy billionaire behind bars for 15 months for allegedly soliciting EFTA00762968 underage teen girls for sex at his Palm Beach mansion. Sources tell Page Six that Epstein's high-powered lawyers - including Alan Dershowitz, Gerald Lefcourt, Roy Black and Kenneth Starr - have been negotiating a deal with federal prosecutors who are probing, among other things, whether the gray-haired money manager paid girls for sex or transported them across state lines. Epstein is currently charged by the State of Florida with soliciting young prostitutes for sex - but federal charges would be far more serious. The Palm Beach Post reported yesterday that Epstein is very close to a deal with the feds that would send him to jail for 114 / to 2 years. Sources tell us that while a deal has not yet solidified, what's under discussion is a guilty plea to at least one charge in exchange for a sentence of 15 months in a Florida state prison, followed by 15 months of home confinement. That would be a fraction of the time he would have to serve if he were to be convicted by a jury. Epstein's spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said his client would have no comment. Dershowitz also declined to comment late yesterday. Palm Beach police records show that on March 15, 2005, a 14-year-old girl alleged she had visited Epstein's estate, where she partially stripped and gave him a massage during which he "pulled out a purple vibrator" and used it on her in exchange for $300. A further probe uncovered five young women who said Epstein had masturbated and touched their genitals during massages, the records state. A woman named i according to cops. Despite the allegations, Epstein was only nailed on a single charge of soliciting a hooker - but it sparked a federal probe. Epstein's lawyers and friends have insisted he was the hapless victim of a vendetta by EFTA00762969 EFTA00762970 IMF" New York Times — 09/03/2006 Questions of Preferential Treatment Are Raised in Sex Case Against Money Manager - September 3, 2006 By ABBY GOODNOUGH PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the summer and autumn of last year, when most of the mansions here stood empty behind their towering hedges, the police stealthily watched one at the end of a waterside lane. They monitored the comings and goings of its owner's private jet, subpoenaed his phone records and riffled through his trash. The owner was Jeffrey Epstein, 53, an intensely private New York money manager with several billionaire clients. Months earlier, the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl told the Palm Beach police that a wealthy older man, whom the girl later identified as Mr. Epstein, might have had inappropriate sexual contact with her. EFTA00762971 In sworn statements to the police, the I4-year-old and other teenage girls said a friend had arranged for them to visit Mr. Epstein's home and give him massages, usually in their underwear, in exchange for cash. Most of the girls, according to the police, said Mr. Epstein had masturbated during the massages, and a few said he had penetrated them with his fingers or penis. They identified him in photos and accurately described the inside of his home. Some recalled that his employees had fed them snacks or rented them cars. Mr. Epstein pleaded not guilty in August to the crime he was ultimately charged with, soliciting prostitution. But at a time when prosecutors around the nation have become increasingly severe in dealing with people accused of sex offenses the case has raised questions about whether Mr. Epstein's prominence won him preferential treatment. By the account of the police, they found probable cause to charge Mr. Epstein with much more serious offenses: one count of lewd and lascivious molestation and four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. But instead of proceeding with such charges on his own, the Palm Beach County state attorney took the rare step of presenting a broad range of possible charges to a grand jury, which indicted Mr. Epstein in July on the lesser count. In Florida, prosecutors usually refer only capital cases to grand juries. Even before the indictment, the In an editorial, The Palm Beach Post attacked Mr. Krischer, a Democrat whose post is elective, saying the public had been left "to wonder whether the system tilted in favor of a wealthy, well-connected alleged perpetrator and against very young girls who are alleged victims of sex crimes." The case has taken a toll on the reputation of Mr. Epstein, who owns a palatial home in Manhattan, has pledged $30 million to Harvard and once flew former President Bill Clinton on his 727. Politicians including Eliot Spitzer, a Democratic candidate for governor in New York, and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, also a Democrat, have returned campaign contributions from him. But Mr. Epstein fought back, assembling a team of star lawyers, including Gerald B. Lefcourt and Alan M. Dershowitz, a friend ofhis, to look into the backgrounds of his young accusers. Mr. Lefcourt says that the police acted "outrageously" and that his client has been EFTA00762972 wrongfully dragged through the mud. "He disputes that he ever had sex with any under-age person or anything like that," said Mr. Lefcourt, whose clients have included Russell Crowe, Martha Stewart and Abbie Hoffman. Neither the police nor the state attorney's office would discuss the case in detail. But the police released a thick report on the I3-month investigation after the indictment was unsealed in late July. The police started investigating Mr. Epstein in March 2005, almost immediately after they were contacted by the stepmother of the 14-year-old, who, according to the report, The police then interviewed a total of 5 alleged victims and 17 witnesses, many of whom told similar stories about what they had observed or participated in at Mr. Epstein's home. According to the report, Mr. Lefcourt, his lawyer, said He also said Mr. Epstein had passed a lie-detector test clearing him of any sexual involvement with under-age girls. A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach police said that early this year, the police went to Mr. Krischer, the state attorney, intending to apply for warrants to arrest Mr. Epstein. Instead, she said, they were told that Mr. Krischer would convene a grand jury to examine the evidence and decide what charges, if any, to bring. Around that time, the police report said, Mr. Dershowitz met with prosecutors to share information about the accusers, including statements they had posted on MySpace.com, the social networking site, concerning use of drugs and alcohol. According to the report, EFTA00762973 Mr. Krischer's office then decided to delay the grand jury session for several months. The Palm Beach police grew frustrated, the report said, and on May 1 the department asked prosecutors to approve warrants to arrest Mr. Epstein. Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Mr. Krischer, said the state attorney's office sometimes sent noncapital cases to grand juries when there were questions about witness credibility. Mr. Krischer does not recommend a particular charge in such cases, Mr. Edmondson said, but gives the grand jury a list of possible charges. Bruce J. Winick, a law professor at the University of Miami, said that while prosecutors in Florida rarely referred noncapital cases to grand juries, they sometimes did so with sensitive cases to be extra•cautious. Mr. Lefcourt said the police were wrong to have released the report so soon, especially without correcting information that later proved wrong. He cited his assertion that one accuser had lied about her age, adding that she had also been arrested on drug charges and had been fired by her employer for stealing. "What I'm trying to focus on,- Mr. Lefcourt said, "is, What's motivating the selective and misleading release of information to the public?" Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company New York Times — 06/30/08 Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case •NYTimes.com Page 1 of 4 ge 1 of 4 July 1, 2008 Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case By LANDON THOMAS Jr. The bad news arrived by phone last week on Little St. James Island, the palm•fringed Xanadu in the Caribbean where Jeffrey E. Epstein, adviser to billionaires, lives in secluded splendor. Report to the Palm Beach County jail, the caller, Mr. Epstein's lawyer, said. So over the weekend Mr. Epstein quit his pleasure dome, with its staff of 70 and its flamingo-stocked lagoon, and flew to Florida. On Monday morning, he turned himself in and began serving 18 months for soliciting prostitution. "I respect the legal process," Mr. Epstein, 55, said by phone as he prepared to leave his EFTA00762974 EFTA00762975