Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
Cast of Characters
Jeffrey Epstein – Wealthy financier, Registered Sex Offender
Prince Andrew – Second Son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip
Bill Clinton – 42ndPresident of the United States
Alan Dershowitz – Commentator, OJ Defense Attorney, Retired from Harvard Law School
Donald Trump – 45thPresident of the United States
Alex Acosta – current Secretary of Labor, former US Attorney Southern Florida
It was 2008, far before the advent of the #METOO movement. The “Access Hollywood Tape;” the Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby trials, and the Kavanaugh hearings were more than a decade in the future.
Jeffrey Epstein was a brilliant financier, with clients like Les Wexner, the founder of the Limited Brand companies here in Columbus. He was a well-liked person, not just because of his money and altruism, but as a friend to the rich and famous. Two Presidents, a Prince and an Academy Award winning actor were among those who spent time with him, either at his Palm Beach home, his New York house (said to be the largest private home on Manhattan,) his 100 acre private island in the Virgin Islands or jetting around the globe on his private jet.
In 2005, Epstein had his personal assistant, Sarah Kellen, hire a fourteen-year-old girl to give “massages” at his Palm Beach mansion. The “massages” were more than massages, and the child got $300 for her efforts. When it was revealed, Epstein plead guilty to a single count of soliciting a minor for prostitution, and served a 13 month sentence, spending every night in jail, and every day on “work release” to his office. Epstein is now a registered sex offender.
That much is fact.
The FBI’s investigation turned up much more than just one child. While some reports are still sealed, at least forty underage girls were recruited and paid by Epstein. The Assistant US Attorney’s report at the time stated:
“Mr Epstein, through his assistants, would recruit underage females to travel to his home in Palm Beach to engage in lewd conduct in exchange for money… some of the girls were expected to strip naked and give massages to Epstein while he masturbated, while others had full intercourse with the financier… Some of those victims went to Mr Epstein’s home only once, some went there as many as 100 times or more.”(Guardian)
Epstein was never tried for any charges; and while there was a full Federal investigation, he was never charged with any Federal crimes. The US Attorney in Miami, Alex Acosta, allowed Epstein to take a plea deal. The solicitation charge was a state penalty, the sentence served in the local Palm Beach county lockup.
Epstein served a part-time thirteen-month sentence for one crime, instead of a life sentence for the many offenses he may have committed. And the deal was sealed, kept quiet, so quiet that even the victims weren’t given any options or notifications. This week, eleven years later, a Federal District Court ruled that Acosta had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. The case is back open.
Currently attorneys for the victims are looking at their options. The Federal Court gave the US Attorneys fifteen days to come to some agreement with the victims (though that seems like a short amount of time considering it’s been eleven years.) There is no Federal statute of limitation on the crime of sex trafficking, and the Justice Department, already under pressure from several US Senators, has re-opened the investigation.
The question is: why did Acosta, now the Secretary of Labor in the Trump Administration, make the deal in the first place? Two possible answers are Epstein’s money, and Epstein’s friends. Two US Presidents, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, flew with Epstein multiple times and visited his homes (Epstein’s Palm Beach house is less than five minutes from Mara Lago.) OJ Simpson defense attorney and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz also travelled with Epstein, and was accused of having sex with one of the teenage girls. And Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, was also accused of participating in the underage sex.
Princes and Presidents, celebrity lawyers and the super-rich: all-powerful men who could influence a US Attorney to keep the investigation quiet. Did Alex Acosta bury the Epstein scandal to protect others, or to gain a “quid pro quo” for himself, now the Trump Administration Secretary of Labor?
We don’t know the answer yet, but the Miami-Herald, and now the US Department of Justice, are doing the hard investigative work to find out. For Donald Trump, just another in the list of scandals that threaten his Presidency.
