Jeffrey Epstein Arrested Again. Will He Be Put Away Forever? Will Donald Trump Follow?

Alexander Acosta’s resignation letter

UPDATE: Sunday, 14 July 2019 – Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, the former United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who was intimately and directly involved in the Federal government’s non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, whom Acosta granted immunity from prosecution in lieu of his guilty plea to felony charges by the State of Florida of solicitation of prostitution from an underage girl, has announced his resignation 12 July 2019, to be effective one week later, 19 July 2019.

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Yesterday (Saturday, 07 July 2019), after his private Boeing 727 landed in New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport from Paris, multi-millionaire hedge fund manager and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force on at least one charge related to sex trafficking. He will be held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center – a nearby high-security Federal jail which has held notorious criminals like international narcotrafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – until the Federal indictment against him will be unsealed Monday in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in Manhattan.

The news release of th indictment against him states in part that “JEFFREY EPSTEIN, 66, is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.”

The beginnings of Epstein’s downfall occurred in 2005 when a 14-year-old girl told Palm Beach police that an older man named “Jeff” had molested her at his residence, which was an unmistakably unique two-story pink mansion on a dead-end street. From that point, police investigations found a pattern of behavior involving nearly 30 young girls, many whom told him they were under age at the time of the offenses.

The Florida State Attorney’s Office in Palm Beach claimed the victims’ testimony wasn’t credible because they were young girls, and only filed one felony count of soliciting underage prostitution against Epstein. In 2006, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter accused prosecutors of giving special treatment to Epstein and referred the case to the FBI. Thereafter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami drafted a 53-page indictment against Epstein, and an 82-page prosecution memorandum.

Under a controversial plea deal in 2007 with Alex Acosta, then U.S. Attorney in Miami, Epstein plead guilty in 2008 to charges by the State of Florida of soliciting underage prostitution, thereby avoiding more serious Federal charges relating to allegations of sexual abuse of dozens of underage girls between 2002-2005. The Federal Statute of Limitations for sex crimes against children was repealed/eliminated in 2006. (cf. 18 U.S. Code § 3283. Offenses against children) In February this year, the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility announced they were investigating Acosta’s actions as U.S. Attorney in Epstein’s case to determine if they constituted professional misconduct. Alexander Acosta is now Trump’s Secretary of Labor.

Also earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra of the Southern District of Florida, ruled the plea deal violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act because it was illegally concealed from Epstein’s victims, unsealed the records, and is considering whether to invalidate the Non-Prosecution Agreement for Federal charges against Epstein.

Because Epstein is considered a flight risk, and owns homes in Paris, Mexico, the Caribbean island of Little St. James – a 70-acre private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands – or possibly other locations where international extradition agreements may not in place with the United States, Federal authorities will likely hold him in custody for three days without needing any reason, such as for a bail hearing, which is the maximum allowed by Federal court rules.

Because Epstein’s guilty plea was to charges by the State of Florida, no double jeopardy violations exist, since the current case against him involves Federal law. Further, the NPA (Non Prosecution Agreement) was with Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, whereas the current case involves violations pursued by the Southern District of New York.

The case gained international attention and Federal scrutiny last year, when the Miami Herald published an investigation of collusion between Acosta and other Federal prosecutors and Epstein’s lawyers, in which Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in jail, but was granted work release, and spent most days at his Palm Beach office.

One of the reasons why this case is so attention-worthy, is that then-private-citizen Donald Trump is one of Epstein’s close friends, and the two were known to frequent each others’ residences and fly on Epstein’s jet, and Epstein was a member of Trump’s pricey Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago. In an interview with New York magazine in 2002, Trump said in part that, “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

In 2016, during the presidential campaign, an unidentified young woman filed a suit against Trump and alleged that when she was then-aged 13, he raped her at a party held at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on the Upper East Side. Trump denied her claims, and she later dropped her suit against him, because – as her lawyer stated – she was intimidated by death threats. Trump and others associated with him called her allegations “untrue.”

By virtue of his work, and net worth, Epstein is well-connected in many other circles, and counts among his friends numerous powerful and influential individuals, most of whom are high-profile, and/or high net worth including Leslie Wexner, the Ohio-based Founder and CEO of L Brands which includes Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works whose net worth Forbes estimated at $7.3 billion in 2013, Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, whom is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr also has ties with Epstein because he and Dershowitz colluded with Acosta to arrange his plea deal.