Federal prosecutors in
Florida who broke the law by keeping Jeffrey Epstein’s victims in the dark when they cut a sweetheart plea deal with him are now fighting to make sure his alleged accomplices are kept in the loop.In a court filing on Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida wrote that co-conspirators should be given notice of any decisions that might affect them “so that they have a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claims affecting them.” They should, the prosecutors wrote, be afforded the “deep-rooted historic tradition that everyone should have his own day in court.”The concern is tinged with irony given that the prosecutors’ filing is part of a lawsuit brought by Epstein accusers to invalidate the 2008 plea deal that let Epstein plead to a relatively minor charge and serve just 13 months in jail, much of it on work release.The two Jane Does who filed the federal suit said it violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act because they were never notified the feds were about to hand the politically connected Epstein the deal of a lifetime.A federal judge agreed that the prosecutors, led by future Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, broke the law and tried to “mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility.”Acosta Resigns Over Epstein Plea Deal, Says It Isn’t ‘Fair’ to Be ‘the Focus’The non-prosecution agreement didn’t just keep Epstein out of federal prison; in unusually broad language it also guaranteed his unnamed co-conspirators would not be prosecuted.Once Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell last week—while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges brought by a different set of federal prosecutors—the Jane Does filed paperwork seeking once again to have the old plea agreement invalidated.Among their suggestions: The judge should, at the very least, toss out the part of the agreement that covered accomplices.Prosecutors filed their response to that on Wednesday, asking the judge to deny the victims’ request, arguing that there is no reason to rescind a plea agreement that is now moot because the defendant is dead.Earlier this week, Attorney General
William Barr struck a more aggressive tone when discussing Epstein’s cronies.“Let me assure you that case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,” Barr said at the National Fraternal Order of Police’s biennial conference in New Orleans. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. Victims deserve justice and will get it.”AG William Barr to Jeffrey Epstein’s Possible Co-Conspirators: We’re Still Coming for You