It's a question that has been troubling us for awhile: how did a billionaire hedge fund manager who was accused of being a sex-slave owning pedophile get away with 13 months in a country club prison, and still get to hang out with Princes and Presidents? A fascinating and troubling article on The Daily Beast today delves into the case of Jeffery Epstein, a man who believes the difference between himself and a sexual predator is like the difference "between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel."
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. But Epstein had been accused of much, much worse things, including purchasing a "Balkan sex slave" when she was 14. Feds identified roughly 40 young women, most of them underage at the time, who described being lured to Epstein’s Palm Beach home and being pressured or forced into various sex acts.
The Daily Beast has a letter written by R. Alexander Acosta, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida during Epstein’s criminal investigation, which reveals numerous details about the inner workings of the case. He narrates the struggle between prosecutors and Epstein's all-star defense team, which included Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr among others. By the end of it, Acosta was disgusted with the way Epstein’s sentence was carried out: “…without doubt, the treatment that he received while in state custody undermined the purpose of a jail sentence.”
Between that letter and interviews with other people involved with the case, the Daily Beast comes to this chilling conclusion: "Fear and intimidation experienced by victims during pre-trial proceedings, combined with a ferocious, protracted campaign to undermine the prosecution, culminated in a set of charges that became a virtual slap on the wrist." Meanwhile, Mr. Smuggy McSmuggerson has reportedly moved back to NYC, and the FBI has reopened the case against him because of the testimony of Virginia Roberts, who claims that she was abused by Epstein and “loaned” to his friends from the age of 15. Roberts, who also says she met Bill Clinton, is willing to speak on the record about it.
