Epstein Breaking News Today – A Road to Justice Was Cleared

Today, an impediment to giving a voice to crime victims was removed and a struggle can now continue to bring justice to women who were victims of a sexual predator in their tender teenage years of life.

After a confession he was wrong in his accusations against Attorney Brad Edwards, a courtroom statement of Jeffrey Epstein read by his lawyer will allow a continued and focused pursuit of a lawsuit against the federal government.

That lawsuit seeks to restore to Epstein’s teenage victims the rights promised under the Crime Victim’s Rights Act (CVRA).

Jack Scarola has said:

“The efforts of the Crime Victims lawsuit is to set aside the secret, illegal deal that enabled Jeffrey Epstein to evade appropriate punishment for his destruction of dozens of lives. His victims have been silenced for far too long; however, thanks to Mr. Edwards’s work, and the excellent journalism and media coverage over the past week, their voices are finally being heard.”

The young women identified as Jane Does in the lawsuit were denied all the rights afforded to them under the Crime Victim’s Rights Act, including:

• The young women were not notified of the court proceedings in which Jeffrey Epstein, flanked by his lawyers and government lawyers, entered a plea and agreed to a sweetheart plea deal.
• The young women were not permitted to present testimony, either oral or written, to the plea deal made by the government.
• The young women were not permitted to be present in court during the plea hearing.
• The young women were ignored by the court system and were not “treated with fairness and respect” for their dignity.
• They young women were denied the “right to be informed in a timely manner of any plea bargain or deferred prosecution agreement”.

And, these young women were not just denied these promised rights, the whole process seems to have been hidden from them and a deal that substantially allowed Jeffrey Epstein to walk free with nearly no punishment in relation to his crimes.

The Miami Herald’s excellent reporting sets forth the deal struck between Epstein lawyers and prosecutor Alexander Acosta:

“Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.

His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found.

Facing a 53-page federal indictment, Epstein could have ended up in federal prison for the rest of his life.

But on the morning of the breakfast meeting, a deal was struck — an extraordinary plea agreement that would conceal the full extent of Epstein’s crimes and the number of people involved.”

Given the accusations facing Epstein, he potentially faced decades in prison. Instead, in the figurative “cover of night”, prosecutors agreed to a mere 13 months in county lock-up. That watered-down sentence was not enough of a deal though. The whole deal also granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators”, without naming any individual.

The lawsuit being pursued by Brad Edwards and Jack Scarola hopes to turn back the clock and allow the victims of Jeffrey Epstein to be heard; to have a voice in allowing the court to hear their side of the accused’s crimes; to hear their story about wrongs done to them. That is the reason for the Crime Victim’s Rights Act.

Prosecutors should not have ignored these young victims.

Jack Scarola and Brad Edwards hope to change the outcome for our clients and restore the rights of these young women.

What was today really about? Today was about clearing a path of obstructions for the hope of finding justice for young victims ignored by their justice system.