Palm Beach County Courthouse
June 30, 2008
Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his sentencing dressed comfortably in a blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers. His attorney, Jack Goldberger, was at his side.
At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the 55-year-old silver-haired financier _ accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls _ was fingerprinted and handcuffed, just like any other criminal sentenced in Florida.
But inmate No. W35755 would not be treated like other convicted sex offenders in the state of Florida, which has some of the strictest sex offender laws in the nation.
Ten years before the #MeToo movement raised awareness about the kid-glove handling of powerful men accused of sexual abuse, Epstein's lenient sentence and his extraordinary treatment while in custody are still the source of consternation for the victims he was accused of molesting when they were minors.
Beginning as far back as 2001, Epstein lured a steady stream of underage girls to his Palm Beach mansion to engage in nude massages, masturbation, oral sex and intercourse, court and police records show. The girls _ mostly from disadvantaged, troubled families _ were recruited from middle and high schools around Palm Beach County. Epstein would pay the girls for massages and offer them further money to bring him new girls every time he was at his home in Palm Beach, according to police reports.
The girls, now in their late 20s and early 30s, allege in a series of federal civil lawsuits filed over the past decade that Epstein sexually abused hundreds of girls, not only in Palm Beach, but at his homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and in the Caribbean.
In 2007, the FBI had prepared a 53-page federal indictment charging Epstein with sex crimes that could have put him in federal prison for life. But then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta signed off on a non-prosecution agreement, which was negotiated, signed and sealed so that no one would know the full scope of Epstein's crimes. The indictment was shelved, never to be seen again.
Epstein instead pleaded guilty to lesser charges in state court, and was required to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to 18 months incarceration.
But Epstein _ who had a long list of powerful, politically connected friends _ didn't go to state prison like most sex offenders in Florida. Instead, the multimillionaire was assigned to a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade, where he was able to hire his own security detail. Even then, he didn't spend much time in a cell. He was allowed to go to his downtown West Palm Beach office for work release, up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, records show.
He was permitted to hire his own private psychologist for his required sex-offender counseling, and after his release from jail, his subsequent year of probation under house arrest was filled with trips on his corporate jet to Manhattan and to his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands _ all approved by the courts with no objections from the state.
On the morning of his sentencing in 2008, none of Epstein's victims were in the courtroom to protest his soft jail term or the unusual provisions of his incarceration and probation _ and that was by design.
Emails and letters contained in court filings reveal the cozy, behind-the-scenes dealings between federal prosecutors and Epstein's indomitable legal team during the run-up to his federal plea deal, as they discussed ways to minimize his criminal charges and avoid informing the girls about the details of the deal until after the case was resolved.
That arrangement benefited Epstein in a number of ways. Unlike other high-profile sex crime cases, federal prosecutors agreed to keep his sentencing quiet, thereby limiting media coverage. His underage victims _ identified in FBI documents _ weren't told about the plea deal so they weren't in court, where they could voice their objections and possibly sway the judge to give Epstein a harsher sentence or reject the agreement altogether.
Most important, Epstein's crimes would be reduced to felony prostitution charges, giving him the ability to argue that the girls weren't victims at all _ they were prostitutes.
Four accomplices named in Epstein's non-prosecution agreement _ Nadia Marcinkova, Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff _ were also given immunity from federal prosecution. Marcinkova was a young girl when Epstein brought her from Yugoslavia to live with him. Several victims told police that she was involved in orgies with Epstein and underage girls. Ross, Groff and Kellen, now known by her married name Vickers, were schedulers who arranged his underage sex sessions, according to the FBI and police.
Marcinkova and Kellen, through their attorneys, declined to comment for this story. The Herald was unsuccessful in reaching Ross and Groff.
Acosta, who is now President Donald Trump's secretary of labor, told lawmakers last year at his confirmation hearing that he did not know that Epstein would receive such liberal treatment while incarcerated. But court records show that federal prosecutors under his authority acquiesced to many of Epstein's demands, including that he not go to federal or state prison.
"I can't remember how I found out that he had taken a plea," said Courtney Wild, identified by the FBI as one of more than three dozen underage girls _ some of them as young as 13 _ who had been molested by Epstein at his waterfront estate between 2001 and 2005.
"We were purposefully misled into believing that his sentencing (in state court) had nothing to do with the federal crimes he committed against me or the other girls."
Epstein, now 65, was released in 2009 after serving 13 months.
Wild, who was 14 when she met Epstein, is suing the federal government, alleging that prosecutors kept her and other victims in the dark as part of a conspiracy to give Epstein _ described in the lawsuit as "a powerful, politically connected multimillionaire" _ one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history.
Now 31, Wild is Jane Doe No. 1 in "Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 vs. the United States," which seeks to overturn Epstein's plea agreement on the grounds that it was executed in violation of the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act. The measure affords crime victims a series of rights, including to confer with prosecutors and to be notified about plea negotiations and sentencing.
That lawsuit _ and an unrelated state court case scheduled for trial on Dec. 4 _ could expose more about Epstein's crimes, as well as who else was involved and whether there was any undue influence that tainted the federal case.
Some of Epstein's victims will finally have an opportunity to testify for the first time as part of the Dec. 4 case in state court in Palm Beach County. It pits Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradley Edwards against Epstein, who had accused Edwards of malfeasance in his representation of several victims.
Jack Scarola, the attorney representing Edwards, said Epstein should be held accountable for his unrelenting attacks against Edwards _ as well as others who were involved in his case.
"We are going to demonstrate through this case that no one _ no matter how much money they have _ can abuse children and then attempt to bully those who come to the defense of children," said Scarola, a former state prosecutor.
