Victims Sue Federal Govt for Slap on the Wrist Given to Billionaire Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was given a “Sweetheart Deal” by federal prosecutors who chose to allow him to be charged at the state level, not with federal crimes. Lawyers representing the victims say details of the deal were kept from them and now they’re suing the federal government for violating the Crime Victims Rights Act.
By Jack Burns
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
June 24, 2017
Jeffrey Epstein should have been locked up and the key thrown away, according to some who believe the “billionaire pedophile” got off easy. Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and soliciting minors, avoided federal charges, only had to spend his nights in jail, and was allowed to live as a free man during the daytime.
Now, as a part of a separate lawsuit against the government, prosecutors are having to defend their arrangement in the so-called “sweetheart deal” for Epstein.
Epstein only served 13 months of an 18-month sentence, while work release allowed him to go to his office and work as a money manager during the daytime hours. After his short stint in jail was over, he was forced to register as a sex offender and spent just another year on probation.
The arrangement angered at least two of his more than 30 known victims, who decided to sue the federal government for the slap-on-the-wrist plea deal to which the federal prosecutors agreed. They say they were lied to and were never notified of the plea deal’s details.
According to the Palm Beach Post, prosecutors critical of the plea deal have called it, “One of the most extraordinarily lenient plea deal arrangements in modern history.” The Post discovered, by reading court documents, Epstein may have victimized upwards of 40 girls.
Attorneys Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell represent the victims in their lawsuit against the federal government. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra is overseeing the case that accuses the federal government and its prosecutors of violating the federal Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA).
Edwards and Cassell say their clients (Epstein’s victims) were left out of the proceedings and not properly informed of the plea deal prosecutors were offering. They point to a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafana sent to the victims.
The letter, sent in 2008, reportedly informed them the FBI had resumed their investigation of Epstein. In other words, the victims believed he was going to be charged with federal crimes, which would have put the billionaire pedophile behind bars. Instead, he was given a plea deal and the victims contend they were not made aware of the details, thereby violating the CVRA.
According to the Palm Beach Post Villafana contended “most of the young women were extremely reluctant — or simply refused — to testify against Epstein, who had paid them to give him sexually-charged massages at his mansion.” It’s implausible to the victims’ attorneys their clients would not have testified, yet that’s the contention Villafana made to Marra in an attempt to get him to throw out the lawsuit.
The Rest…HERE
