Trump’s Secretary Of Labor Lied To Victims Of Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein, Federal Judge Says
Millionaire financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose name has been associated with a plethora of high-profile politicians, including Bill Clinton, in the past, was reportedly helped by Donald Trump’s current secretary of labor in covering up his crimes, according to Newsweek.
The ruling stemmed from the 2017 prosecution of Epstein on several sexual offense charges. The evidence drew an overwhelming pattern of sexual assault and sex trafficking, including 103 “Jane Doe” victims. Despite the evidence, the lawyers representing the victims entered a plea deal with Epstein’s lawyers, which required him to plead guilty to two prostitution charges and serve 13 months in jail. In exchange, no other charges were brought on Epstein or his unidentified co-conspirators.
One of the prosecutors in the case, Alexander Acosta, is currently serving as Trump’s secretary of labor. The U.S. District Judge of Palm Beach County, Florida, Kenneth Marra, said in a 33-page opinion that Epstein’s prosecutors misled the victims by not revealing the details of the plea deal. Law requires prosecutors to reveal the details of a plea deal to the victims, but despite a lot of discussion taking place between Epstein’s lawyers and the prosecutors about how to work out a deal, the victims were not made aware of it until much later.
“When the Government gives information to victims, it cannot be misleading. While the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the [agreement] with Epstein’s attorneys, scant information was shared with victims,” wrote Marra.
Many of Epstein’s victims were 13- to 16-years-old at the time they were abused. Acosta is believed to have kept them in the dark about the deal and approved sealing it, which meant that the victims could not object in court later.
Michelle Licata, one of the alleged victims of Epstein, said that the prosecutors including Acosta made sure the millionaire hedge funder was not punished.
“I don’t think anyone has been told the truth about what Jeffrey Epstein did. He ruined my life and a lot of girls’ lives. People need to know what he did and why he wasn’t prosecuted so it never happens again.”
Here is the full #PerversionofJustice investigative series about Jeffrey Epstein: https://t.co/0VLjRkKvm7
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) February 21, 2019
Epstein is alleged to have been responsible for the trafficking of minor girls – many of them from overseas – for parties in high-end New York neighborhoods, including Manhattan, as well as New Mexico, the Caribbean, and aboard his private plane, infamously referred to “The Lolita Express.”
Epstein is known to have many close friends who are power players in the world of Washington politics, with the current American president being a keen admirer himself.
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump said about Epstein back 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. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”