The absolute best justice that money can buy. I often wonder if decades or centuries from now historians will point to cases like this as signs of the decline and fall of the Republic.
Before everyone starts complaining that Epstein has avoided justice again, this was a civil lawsuit seeking money to compensate the victims for the harm inflicted on them back in the day. It was their decision to settle the lawsuit, not the decision of any prosecutor or government official. I have little doubt that the amount of money they chose to accept, in lieu of testifying about their experiences in open court, was quite high. And we do not know whether the settlement agreement included any kind of restrictions on the victims’ ability to talk about what happened to them.
So it wasn’t in the basement of a pizza parlor and it wasn’t Democrats who set it up.
Without his political ties and enormous wealth, Epstein would never again see the light of day.
I’m not sure what good it does to game the system and become fabulously wealthy and well connected if you can’t have sex with a bunch of teenage girls for all your effort. He should have learned to play the guitar and formed a band, then it would have all been OK with most people.
That was a nice description of the ironies in our society.
Congratulations and thank you to the Miami Herald and it’s investigative reporter, Julie K. Brown, for their recent series covering the extremely favorable treatment Epstein got (from, among others, the person who now serves as Trumpp’s Labor Secretary). The articles probably put tremendous pressure on Epstein’s lawyers to settle quickly at whatever terms they could get.
Brown’s reporting is a must read, though it will infuriate you. Epstein was a monster who engaged in intercourse and other sexual behavior with probably well over 100 underage girls. He got a 13-month sentence which he was allowed to serve at a county jail. And, he was allowed 12-hours a day of work release to go to his own home and conduct his affairs. His victims were not given a chance to testify or even learn about the agreements between Federal prosecutors (led by Labor Secretary Acosta) and Epstein’s attorneys. Individual victims didn’t even know if the charges against Epstein included what he had done to them.
Reading the series makes it very hard to believe that Epstein’s only advantage was a huge budget for his legal defense. There had to be some very strong political power behind the favorable treatment he received. My question is, did those with power get involved because they thought a rich friend was fighting bogus charges, or because they needed to cover up their own knowledge or even involvement.
So you’re saying we can expect to hear from some of them? That seems farfetched.
There are a lot of big wigs breathing a sigh of relief over this settlement. I wonder how much cash they passed Epstein under the table to get this done?
Seems the only justice will be prominent mentions of this crap in both Epstein’s and Acosta’s obituaries. Hope I am around to see 'em.
The non-prosecution agreement protecting Jeffrey Epstein was negotiated a decade ago by prosecutors in the South Florida U.S. attorney’s office, which was then run by current Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta. It is the subject of a separate federal lawsuit in Florida filed by victims who say the deal trampled their rights to be heard.
More on Acosta beginning January 1.
His hair is all wrong, and I see no sign of Spandex.
God, he is such a goblin
A lawyer for Epstein read an apology from him to attorney Bradley Edwards, who represents some of Epstein’s accusers. Edwards claimed Epstein tried to damage his reputation by suing him.
Seriously? What kind of coward can’t even read his own apology and how can it be considered sincere?
It was recited in Pig Latin. Sort of like paying your parking fines in pennies.
O course there is equal justice! Epstein should be doing hard time for the rest of his life. I can just visualize a 20 year old black man accused of the same crimes. “13 months in a suite at the city jail with trips to McDonalds when it struck him.” After the police had beat the shit out of him he would be sent to Pelican Bay to die. There has to be federal charges to indict and convict this MF’er…
I’m saying we don’t know one way or the other whether the settlement agreement purports to silence the plaintiffs. I don’t even know whether Florida law would allow such a provision to be enforced. All we really know is that this particular group of victims decided that they preferred to take the compensation that was being offered than to testify about their experiences in open court. Nobody should begrudge them for that decision.
Acosta should have been criminally prosecuted years ago for dereliction of duty in all this, and still should be.
I’m not begrudging them anything. How do you read that into my comments?