037-01.pdf

Case 9:08-cv-80380-KAM Document 37-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/29/2008 Page 1 of 22 EXHIBIT A Case 9:08-cv-80380-KAM Document 37-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/29/2008 Page 2 of 22 Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 14 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2008 Page 1 of 21 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA Case No. 08-80736-Civ-Marra/Johnson Fl LED by /tv.... '/ D.C. IN RE: JANE DOE, Petitioner. ___________ / DECLARATION OF A. MARIE VILLAFANA IN SUPPORT OF UNITED STATES' RESPONSE JUL 0 9 2008 STEVEN M. U,RIMORE CLERK U.s, 01ST. CT. S.D. OF FLA, -W,P.B, TO VICTIM'S EMERGENCY PETITION FOR ENFORCEMENT OF CRIME VICTIM RIGHTS ACT, 18 U.S.C. § 3771 1. 1 1 A. Marie Villafana, do hereby declare that I am a member in good standing of the Bar of the State of Florida. I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1993. After serving as a judicial clerk to the Hon. David F. Levi in Sacramento, California, I was admitted to practice in California in 1995. I also am admitted to practice in all courts of the states ofMinnesota and Florida, the Eig~th, Eleventh, . and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Florida, the District of Minnesota, and the Northern District of California. My bar ., ..... , .. ····-··· ....... ,.. . . ............ ··- ....... ···- ....... ···--······ • ..; ' . admission status in California and Minnesota is currently inactive. I am currently employed • as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida and was so employed during all of the events described herein. Case 9:08-cv-80380-KAM Document 37-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/29/2008 Page 3 of 22 Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 14 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2008 Page 2 of 21 2. I am the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). The federal inve5:tigation was initiated in 2006 at the request of the Palm Beach Police Department ("PB PD") into allegations that Jeffrey Epstein and his personal assistants had used facilities of interstate commerce to induce young girls between the ages of thirteen and seventeen to engage in prostitution, amongst other offenses. 3. Throughout the investigation, when a victim was identified, victim notification letters were provided to her both from your Affiant and from the FBI's Vict,im-Witness Specia.list. Attached hereto are copies of the letters provided to Bradley Edwards' three clients, T.M., C.W., and S.R. 1 Your Affiant's letter to C.W. was provided by the FBI. (Ex. 1 ). Your Affiant's letter to T.M. was hand-delivered by myself to T.M. at the time that she ,vas interviewed (Ex. 2). 2 Both C.W. and T.M. also received letters from the FBI's Victim- Witness Specialist, which were sent on January 10, 2008 (Exs. 3 & 4 ). S.R. was identified via the FBI's investigation in 2007, but she initially refused to speak with investigators. S.R. 's status as a victim of a federal offense was confirmed when she was interviewed by 1 Attomey Edwards filed his Motion on behalf of "Jane Doe," without identifying which of •• hi; ciiic11ts·is-the-pui1Jc>rted-vfr·t1m: ·AccordingJy, Iwi"lladdiess facts related to c.W., T.M., ands .R. All three of those clients were victims bf Jeffrey Epstein's while they were minors beginning when they were fifteen years old. 2 Please nok that the dates on the U.S. Attorney's Office letters to C. W. and T.M. are not the dates that the letters were actually delivered. Letters to all known victims were prepared early in the investigation and delivered as each victim was contacted. -2- Case 9:08-cv-80380-KAM Document 37-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/29/2008 Page 4 of 22 Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 14 '-" Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2008 Page 3 of 21 ...._,, federal agents on May 28, 2008. The FBI's Victim-Witness Specialist sent a letter to S.R. on May 30, 2008 (Ex. 5). 4. Throughout the investigation,. the FBJ agents, the FBI's Victim-Witness Specialist, and your Affiant had contact with C.W. and S.R. Attorney Edwards' other client, T.M., was represented by counsel and, accordingly, all contact with T.M. was made through that attorney. That attorney was James Eisenberg, and his fees were paid by Jeffrey Epste,in, the target of the investlgation. 3 5. In the summer of 2007, Mr. Epstein and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Flo_rida ("the Office") entered into negotiations to resolve the investigation. At that time, Mr. Epstein had been charged by the State of Florida with solicitation of prostitution, in violation ofFlorida Statutes § 796.07. Mr. 'Epstein's attorneys sought a global resolution of the matter. The United States subsequently agreed to defer federal prosecution in favor of prosecution by the State of Florida, so long as certain basic preconditions were met.· One of the key objectives for the Government was to preserve a federal remedy for the young girJs whom Epstein had sexually exploited. Thus, one condition of that agreement, notice of which was provided to the victims on July 9, 2008, is the foliowing: •• "Any person; who·while a minor, was a victim of a violation of an offense enumerated in Title 18, United States Code, Section 2255, will have the same rights to proceed under Section 2255 as she would have had, if Mr. Epstein 3 The undersigned does not know when Mr. Edwards began representing T.M. or whether T.M. ever fonnally terminated Mr. Eisenberg's representation. -3- Case 9:08-cv-80380-KAM Document 37-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/29/2008 Page 5 of 22 Case 9:08-cv-80736-KAM Document 14 Entered on FLSD Docket 07/15/2008 Page 4 of 21 had been tried federally and convicted of an enumerated offense. For purposes of implementing this paragraph, the United States shall provide Mr. Epstein':S attorneys with a list of individuals whom it was prepared to name in an Indictment as victims of an enumerated offense by Mr. Epstein. Any judicial authority interpreting this provision, including any authority determining which eviclenliary burdens if any a plaintiff must meet, shall consider that it is the intent of the parties to place these identified victims in the same position as they would have been had Mr. Epstein been· convicted at trial. No more; no less." ' 6. An agreement was reached in September 2007. The Agreement contained an express confidentiality provision. 7. Although individual victims were not consulted regarding the agreement, several had expressed concerns regarding the exposure of their identities at trial and they desired a prompt resolution of the matter. At the time the agreement was signed in September 2007, T.M. was openly hostfle to the prosecution of Epstein. The FBI attempted to interview S.R. in October 2007, at which time she refused to provide any information regarding Jeffrey Epstein. None of Att