Tag: Jeffrey Epstein

For ‘client’ Jeffrey Epstein, an unlocked cell in a Florida jail

Washington Post logoPALM BEACH, Fla. — In 2008, a supervisor at the county jail here alerted staff members to the needs of an inmate serving an 18-month sentence for sex crimes involving a minor. Jeffrey Epstein, he wrote in a memo, was a first-time offender “poorly versed in jail routine,” and “his adjustment to incarceration will most likely be atypical.”

“For the time being, I am authorizing that his cell door be left unlocked and he be given liberal access to the attorney room where a TV will be installed,” Capt. Mark Chamberlain wrote in August of that year.

The memo does not indicate how long the cell door was to be left unlocked, but it and other documents obtained through public-records requests shed new light on the apparent deference granted to the wealthy financier while in the custody of Palm Beach County, as well as on the conditions of his confinement.

View the complete July 19 article by Lori Rozsa on The Washington Post website here.

Behind the scenes the night Trump partied at Mar-a-Lago with Jeffrey Epstein and NFL cheerleaders

Washington Post logoDonald Trump was coming off a bruising few years: His casino and real estate business had teetered on the edge of collapse, awash in debt. His marriage to Ivana Trump had disintegrated, and his relationship with model Marla Maples had fallen apart.

In November 1992, eager for a comeback, Trump threw a raucous party with NFL cheerleaders at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and invited NBC to tape the event.

Footage of that party, unearthed and aired by NBC News on Wednesday, shows Trump grabbing dancing cheerleaders and socializing with financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested last week and charged with sex trafficking.

Trump has repeatedly said he is “not a fan” of Epstein’s and that the two had a falling out about 15 years ago. Epstein, who owns a home in Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago, pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

View the complete July 17 article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Beth Reinhard on The Washington Post website here.

Newly revealed video shows Trump and Jeffrey Epstein ogling cheerleaders at Mar-a-Lago party

AlterNet logoNewly revealed video recorded in 1992 shows Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein ogling NFL cheerleaders at a party held at the future president’s Mar-a-Lago club.

The video recorded by NBC and broadcast Wednesday by MSNBC shows Trump, then a celebrity businessman, dancing with dozens of cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, and then greeting Epstein and two other men.

Trump and the accused pedophile Epstein are then seen pointing toward various women and commenting on their looks, although it’s not always clear what they’re saying.

Trump and the accused pedophile Epstein are then seen pointing toward various women and commenting on their looks, although it’s not always clear what they’re saying.

View the complete July 17 article by travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Prosecutors ‘Dramatically’ Expand Investigation Of Jeffrey Epstein

Federal investigators have been able to “dramatically expand” their investigation into financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as prosecutors bring sex trafficking charges against him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller said in court on Monday.

The government revealed the expansion of the case at the day’s bail hearing. In searching the defendant’s house, investigators found an old passport with his picture and a fake name that listed Saudi Arabia as the location of his residence, the prosecutor said.

The judge was surprised at this revelation, NBC News reported, asking the attorney, “Say again?”

View the complete July 15 article by Cody Fenwick on the National Memo website here.

Here’s the lesser-known part of Acosta’s plea deal that kept Epstein safe for years — and how it finally blew up

AlterNet logoMuch has been written about high-powered wealth manager Jeffrey Epstein’s controversial plea bargain for child sex trafficking from Alexander Acosta — how it gave him just a 13-month minimum-security sentence with daily work-release, how it let him register as a much lower-level sex offender than it should have, how it shut down the FBI investigation and kept the names of his co-conspirators secret, how it may have violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by not disclosing the details to his alleged victims.

But as Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle wrote on Saturday, there is one massively important aspect of the plea bargain that has been comparatively overlooked — Epstein’s agreement not to contest lawsuits brought by his alleged victims.

At first blush, that might seem like a concession on Epstein’s part. In fact, that’s a spectacular deal for him. As a billionaire (or at least something like it), it didn’t hurt Epstein in the least to pay out settlements to his victims. On the other hand, in doing so, he guaranteed those victims’ silence going forward, which is why he went so many years without being prosecuted for other offenses. If even prosecutors didn’t know who the victims were, they couldn’t investigate to see if there were any additional sex crimes that could be brought against him.

View the complete July 13 article by Matthew Chapman from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Former Florida prosecutor: Acosta is ‘completely wrong’ — indictment was scrapped ‘after secret negotiations’ with Epstein lawyers

AlterNet logoThe former Florida State Attorney who was in charge of the office prosecuting the case against Jeffrey Epstein – until federal prosecutors intervened – is blasting Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta for his claims at Wednesday afternoon’s press conference.

The way Secretary Acosta, who was the federal prosecutor who gave Jeffrey Epstein the sweetheart deal allowing him to avoid possibly years or decades in jail, the billionaire child sex offender “would have gotten away” had he not gotten involved.

But NBC News Correspondent for Investigations Tom Winter reports that Former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer says Acosta is “completely wrong.”

View the complete July 11 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were the only two guests at a party with 28 women flown in for the ‘entertainment’: NYT report

AlterNet logoA new report from the New York Times on Tuesday revealed new details about the years-long friendship between President Donald Trump and the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The most bizarre revelation was the account of a party, told by Florida businessman George Houraney, at which Trump and Epstein were the only guests:

It was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, something that George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who ran American Dream Enterprise, had organized at Mr. Trump’s request.

“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” Mr. Houraney recalled in an interview on Monday. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.”

View the complete July 10 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Report: Trump And Epstein Entertained At Mar-A-Lago By Dozens Of Young Women

A new report from the New York Times on Tuesday revealed fresh details about the years-long friendship between President Donald Trump and the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The most bizarre revelation was the account of a party, told by Florida businessman George Houraney, at which Trump and Epstein were the only guests:

It was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

View the complete July 9 article by Cody Fenwick from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

Senate Republicans tiptoe around Acosta, largely defer on his future

Labor secretary’s role in cutting deal with Jeffrey Epstein

Some Republicans in Congress are looking for more answers about Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s conduct as U.S. attorney, but they’re  not joining calls by Democrats that he step down because of a generous plea deal he cut with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

One Republican member of the Judiciary Committee said Tuesday that Acosta should explain his handling of the plea agreement with Epstein.

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said he would get out ahead of whatever may emerge from any inquiry from the Justice Department, but Senate Republicans more broadly are taking a wait-and-see approach.

View the complete July 9 article by Katherine Tully-McManus and Niels Lesniewski on The Roll Call website here.

Trump defends Acosta amid Epstein scrutiny

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday defended Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who is facing calls to resign over his role in a non-prosecution agreement with multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in a sex-crimes case.

Trump told reporters at the White House that Acosta has been a “very good” Labor secretary and that Acosta probably wished he had handled the Epstein plea deal “a different way.”

The president added that he would be looking at the case “very carefully.”

View the complete July 9 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.