Outrage as DoJ clears Alex Acosta and his team of prosecutors of wrongdoing and say they just exercised 'poor judgement' by giving Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal in 2008 for soliciting child prostitution
The Department of Justice has cleared Alex Acosta and his team of prosecutors of misconduct but says they showed 'poor judgement' with the sweetheart deal they gave Jeffrey Epstein in 2008.
In 2008, Epsten pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution after being investigated in Palm Beach for sexually trafficking multiple girls. As part of his deal, he spent a year in 'prison' but he was allowed to go to his office every day and work.
The deal also protected three co-conspirators from prosecution in Palm Beach, and it was kept secret from his victims for a year.
It was widely criticized as a slap on the wrist for the pedophile, who killed himself in jail awaiting trial for sex trafficking last summer.
The deal has been under investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility for months and on Thursday, it said released its decision.
Former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta put together the deal in 2008 that gave Jeffrey Epstein just 13 months in prison for soliciting underage girls for prostitution. He was cleared of misconduct on Thursday
'While OPR did not find that Department attorneys engaged in professional misconduct, OPR concluded that the victims were not treated with the forthrightness and sensitivity expected by the Department.
'OPR also concluded that former U.S. Attorney Acosta exercised poor judgment by deciding to resolve the federal investigation through the non-prosecution agreement and when he failed to make certain that the state of Florida intended to and would notify victims identified through the federal investigation about the state plea hearing,' the office said in a statement.
It released an executive summary of the report but not the full report, citing privacy laws that protect the victims involved as the reason why.
It was immediately criticized by politicians who say this is another example of Epstein's victims being failed by the government.
'Letting a well-connected billionaire get away with child rape and international sex trafficking isn’t ‘poor judgment– it is a disgusting failure. Americans ought to be enraged.
'Jeffrey Epstein should be rotting behind bars today, but the Justice Department failed Epstein’s victims at every turn,' Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, fumed in a statement.
There has not been any reaction from Epstein's victims yet.
Epstein's home in Palm Beach, where he trafficked girls over many years
The report concluded that Acosta, who took responsibility in interviews for his decisions, had the authority as the U.S. attorney 'to resolve the case as he deemed necessary and appropriate, as long as his decision was not motivated or influenced by improper factors.'
The office said its investigation had turned up no evidence that Acosta was swayed by 'impermissible considerations, such as Epstein’s wealth, status, or associations' and in fact had resisted efforts by defense lawyers to return the case to the state for whatever outcome the state wanted.
The report also did not find that a well-publicized 2007 breakfast meeting with one of Epstein’s attorneys led to the non-prosecution agreement — which had been signed weeks earlier — 'or to any other significant decision that benefited Epstein.'
Records reviewed by the office show that prosecutors weighed concerns about witness credibility and the impact of a trial on victims, as well as Acosta’s concerns about the Justice Department’s proper role in prosecuting solicitation crimes.