Jack Crowe
July 10, 2019
Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta defended his handling of the 2008 sex-abuse case against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein during a Wednesday press conference, arguing that as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, he achieved the best outcome possible considering the Florida state attorney’s initial failure to prosecute the case aggressively.
Acosta came under fire this week after Epstein was indicted on new federal sex-trafficking charges in New York on Monday. He pushed back during the press conference against the allegation that his office failed Epstein’s victims in securing just a 13-month jail sentence that allowed Epstein to leave six days per week to work at his personal office.
“The Palm Beach state attorney’s office was ready to let Epstein walk free. No jail time, nothing,” Acosta told reporters at the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. “Prosecutors in my former office found this to be completely unacceptable and they became involved. . . . Our prosecutors, as this 2008 article recounts, presented the ultimatum: plead guilty to more serious charges — charges that require jail time, registration, and restitution — or we’d roll the dice and bring a federal indictment. Without the work of prosecutors, Epstein would have gotten away with just that state charge.”.......To Read More....
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