Epstein Offering Names to Plead Down Sex-Trafficking Charges

Wealthy and well-connected financier, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on Saturday, July 6, 2019 as his private jet landed in New Jersey. He is being accused of operating a human-trafficking ring where underaged girls were sold to wealthy and elite men for sexual use.

Epstein is now offering to divulge the names of those who took part in his child sex trafficking ring in order to shorten his sentencing to a maximum of five years.

Epstein has connections to high-profile people including: Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, and Woody Allen. Fox News reported that Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet for at least 26 trips. 

He was first charged with similar sex crimes during a 2007 federal case in Miami, Florida where his attorneys successfully negotiated a non-prosecution agreement.

In that deal, Epstein was guaranteed no federal charges in exchange for pleading guilty to two state felonies related to prostitution. He registered as a sex offender and served much of his 13-month sentence outside of prison on a work-release program.

The former prosecutorial deal has been criticized by pundits, lawyers, and victims as too lenient. One of the actors facing the harshest criticism is former federal prosecutor who handled this case in 2007, Alexander Acosta. He is currently the Labor Secretary in the Trump administration and defended his actions pertaining to the past case in a press conference on Wednesday.

The Manhattan federal prosecutors are bringing new charges because they feel that the last case was only binding in Miami, Florida and that there is new evidence regarding these charges in Manhattan.

However, Epstein’s attorneys revealed on Monday that a core tenant of their defense will be questioning if these charges are appropriate considering double-jeopardy (i.e. trying the same case in court more than once) is unconstitutional and illegal.

Since his arrest this weekend, Epstein has been in the Manhattan detention center. Federal prosecutors have argued that it was a necessity to keep him in jail confinement because he had the ability to leave the country easily.

However, Epstein’s defense attorneys are moving to discredit this line of thought. In a letter to the court (filed Thursday), Epstein’s lawyers argued for the judge to allow home detention for the accused in his Manhattan mansion while he waits for trial. They directly disputed the federal prosecutors’ claims that Epstein is a high flight-risk and offered to ground and deregister his private jet. The defense attorneys offered other regulations including: electronic monitoring, a waiver of extradition rights, and granting authorities full access to his Manhattan home.

On top of these other measures, the defense’s bail package stipulates that Epstein will put his $77 million Manhattan mansion up on bail. This would then put his mansion in jeopardy if he was to skip his court date.

Prosecutors have stated they will make an official response regarding the bail by the end of this week. The judge will make a decision on this bail package on Monday, July 15.

At this point, it seems there will be more elites to fall in this corruption that is coming to light.