Newly released grand jury documents in the saga of Jeffrey Epstein reveal that Florida prosecutors were aware that Epstein had raped two teenage girls – two years before offering him a sweetheart deal that allowed him to escape serious punishment.
The 2006 grand jury documents, released Monday, include the testimony of two girls who each described being paid to give Epstein massages and then engaged in sexual activity with the late millionaire and financier while they were underage. The documents also include testimony from police officers who interviewed many more girls who alleged similar acts with Epstein.
But two years later, in 2008, Epstein was able to reach a deal with South Florida federal prosecutors that resulted in him pleading guilty to just one state charge of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. He served 13 months in a work-release program, which allowed him to leave jail and go to his office nearly every day. He also served a year of house arrest and was required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.
The deal had long been criticized as too lenient, eventually leading to the 2019 resignation of then-President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, who had signed off on it a decade earlier.
Brad Edwards, who is representing many of Epstein’s alleged victims, told the AP that former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, who led the grand jury hearing, “took the case to the Grand Jury with an agenda — to return minimal, if any, criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein.”
“A fraction of the evidence was presented, in a misleading way, and the Office portrayed the victims as criminals,” Edwards told the outlet. “It is so sad, the number of victims Epstein was able to abuse because the State carried water for him when they had a chance to put him away.”
The grand jury proceeding took less than four hours. The first witness called was Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey, who led the investigation into Epstein’s dealings with underage girls and had interviewed more than a dozen alleged victims. Recarey explained that police received a report from the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl, whom the mother said had received $300 to massage an older man on Palm Beach Island.
That girl, who was 16 at the time of her testimony, was then called. She said that an older friend had recruited her to go to Epstein’s mansion the year earlier, just before her 15th birthday, and was asked to strip down to her underwear before Epstein entered the room. She testified that she then massaged Epstein and agreed to allow him to use a vibrator on her for an extra $100 in addition to the $200 she was promised for the massage.
On the stand, she admitted to lying about her age and telling Epstein she was 18, which she said she was told to do by his assistant. Her parents found out about the encounter after she got into a fight at school when another girl called her a prostitute. A school official later found $300 in her purse.
The girl and the other alleged victim were both painted as prostitutes during their testimony, with a juror asking the younger girl if she had “any idea deep down inside of you that…what you’re doing is wrong?” The girl responded by saying, “Yeah, I did.” The juror then suggested the girl was “well aware that what you’re doing to your own reputation,” to which the girl responded, “Yes, I do.”
The juror then asked if the girl was “aware that you committed a crime?”
“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” the girl replied. “Now, I guess it’s prostitution or something like that.”
The only other alleged victim to testify said that she had gone to Epstein’s home about 10 times, starting when she was 16, and that he was “well aware of my age from the very beginning.”
Later in her testimony, a prosecutor asked her if she understood that “you in effect were committing prostitution yourself?”
The grand jury documents were released this week in response to a motion from the Palm Beach Post and other news outlets seeking to unseal the grand jury testimony, ABC News reported. The documents are meant to provide answers to how a grand jury could return an indictment on just one count of solicitation of a minor, yet the documents don’t reveal what charging options were presented to the grand jury.
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[[{“value”:”
Newly released grand jury documents in the saga of Jeffrey Epstein reveal that Florida prosecutors were aware that Epstein had raped two teenage girls – two years before offering him a sweetheart deal that allowed him to escape serious punishment.
The 2006 grand jury documents, released Monday, include the testimony of two girls who each described being paid to give Epstein massages and then engaged in sexual activity with the late millionaire and financier while they were underage. The documents also include testimony from police officers who interviewed many more girls who alleged similar acts with Epstein.
But two years later, in 2008, Epstein was able to reach a deal with South Florida federal prosecutors that resulted in him pleading guilty to just one state charge of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. He served 13 months in a work-release program, which allowed him to leave jail and go to his office nearly every day. He also served a year of house arrest and was required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.
The deal had long been criticized as too lenient, eventually leading to the 2019 resignation of then-President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, who had signed off on it a decade earlier.
Brad Edwards, who is representing many of Epstein’s alleged victims, told the AP that former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, who led the grand jury hearing, “took the case to the Grand Jury with an agenda — to return minimal, if any, criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein.”
“A fraction of the evidence was presented, in a misleading way, and the Office portrayed the victims as criminals,” Edwards told the outlet. “It is so sad, the number of victims Epstein was able to abuse because the State carried water for him when they had a chance to put him away.”
The grand jury proceeding took less than four hours. The first witness called was Palm Beach Police Detective Joseph Recarey, who led the investigation into Epstein’s dealings with underage girls and had interviewed more than a dozen alleged victims. Recarey explained that police received a report from the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl, whom the mother said had received $300 to massage an older man on Palm Beach Island.
That girl, who was 16 at the time of her testimony, was then called. She said that an older friend had recruited her to go to Epstein’s mansion the year earlier, just before her 15th birthday, and was asked to strip down to her underwear before Epstein entered the room. She testified that she then massaged Epstein and agreed to allow him to use a vibrator on her for an extra $100 in addition to the $200 she was promised for the massage.
On the stand, she admitted to lying about her age and telling Epstein she was 18, which she said she was told to do by his assistant. Her parents found out about the encounter after she got into a fight at school when another girl called her a prostitute. A school official later found $300 in her purse.
The girl and the other alleged victim were both painted as prostitutes during their testimony, with a juror asking the younger girl if she had “any idea deep down inside of you that…what you’re doing is wrong?” The girl responded by saying, “Yeah, I did.” The juror then suggested the girl was “well aware that what you’re doing to your own reputation,” to which the girl responded, “Yes, I do.”
The juror then asked if the girl was “aware that you committed a crime?”
“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I was doing it,” the girl replied. “Now, I guess it’s prostitution or something like that.”
The only other alleged victim to testify said that she had gone to Epstein’s home about 10 times, starting when she was 16, and that he was “well aware of my age from the very beginning.”
Later in her testimony, a prosecutor asked her if she understood that “you in effect were committing prostitution yourself?”
The grand jury documents were released this week in response to a motion from the Palm Beach Post and other news outlets seeking to unseal the grand jury testimony, ABC News reported. The documents are meant to provide answers to how a grand jury could return an indictment on just one count of solicitation of a minor, yet the documents don’t reveal what charging options were presented to the grand jury.
“}]]
