An appeals court announced on Friday it will review the legality of a secretive plea deal that allowed disgraced billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his possible co-conspirators to receive a light sentence from federal prosecutors.
The court said it would determine whether a previous decision not to charge Epstein, who killed himself in federal custody last year while awaiting child sex trafficking charges, was signed in violation of his victims’ rights.
Epstein’s victims were left in the dark about the agreement, which refused them the legal right to seek compensatory relief under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act. While Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute in Florida, he was never charged federally.
The well-connected billionaire served nearly 13 months in custody with “work release” agreements which allowed him to leave the prison facilities six days a week for 12 hours at a time.
Courtney Wild, one of Epstein’s victims, has fought an ongoing legal battle with the goal of ultimately undoing that plea deal made between Epstein and the US Attorney’s Office in Miami.
Alexander Acosta, who spearheaded the local attorney’s office that signed the secretive agreement with Epstein, was later appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as the US secretary of labour.
Ms Wild’s attorneys celebrated the news in a statement to the Miami Herald, saying: “This is an important ruling for crime victims, not just for Epstein’s victims but all victims of federal crimes.”
The statement continued: “We look forward to arguing before the full Eleventh Circuit that ‘secret’ plea deal violates the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and that this particular deal should be rescinded.”
Ms Wild also said in a statement through her lawyers that she “had confidence this day would come”.
“We have fought for 12 years,” she said, “and as I’ve said before, no matter how many obstacles pile up, we will never give up fighting for what is right.”
