Raniere on tape: Some children 'perfectly happy'
having sex with adults
having sex with adults
Recording of NXIVM co-founder final piece of evidence feds use as racketeering, sex trafficking case nears end
By Robert Gavin
Times Union
NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and Allison Mack appear in a group of videos titled "Keith Raniere Conversations," that were published on YouTube on April 9, 2017. (Keith Raniere Conversations/YouTube)
NEW YORK — Keith Raniere told top NXIVM disciples that some small children are "perfectly happy" having sexual experiences with adults and that it is "society" that considers it abuse, according to a video shown Friday at his trial.
Raniere, 58, also dictated curriculum in NXIVM teachings that asserted women have reported an "unexpected experience of freedom which occurs during rape."
Raniere's remarks on video, played during the testimony of FBI agent Michael Weginer, represent the final piece of evidence that prosecutors presented at the NXIVM's co-founder's trial in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors and witnesses allege the self-help guru had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old Mexican girl and kept pornographic images of her in a townhouse on Hale Drive in the Knox Woods development in Halfmoon.
Earlier Friday, Judge Nicholas Garaufis scheduled closing arguments for Monday, which will mark the start of the trial's seventh week.
Raniere pontificated about child sexual abuse as he spoke to supporters in a video-chat exchange. The man known within NXIVM as "Vanguard" appeared adamant as he explained to supporters that many people who "scream abuse" do not understand what they're talking about.
"So they abuse abuse," an unshaven Raniere, clad in a black jacket, told a group of acolytes including actress Allison Mack, a top member of his secret "master/slave" club within NXIVM.
Raniere suggested some children are "adult-like" and are mentally capable of experiencing sex with adults without suffering psychological harm. He noted the age of consents varies from country to country and state to state.
"What's abuse in one area is not abuse in another," Raniere said.
"Some little children are perfectly happy with that (experience)," Raniere said. "It's more society that abuses them then the parent."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza also played a video of NXIVM president Nancy Salzman speaking at a meeting at the former Apropos restaurant on Halfmoon. On the video, Salzman parroted what Raniere had previously said. Salzman made the remarks during a meeting of Jness, a women's group within NXIVM.
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| more than $520,000 in cash, from NXIVM President Nancy Salzman’s residence on Oregon Trail in Halfmoon, N.Y |
Salzman, who pleaded guilty in March to federal offenses connected to the federal investigation of NXIVM, suggested that the blame in cases of child sex abuse should, in some cases, be something NXIVM students "have to think out for themselves.
Penza showed literature from NXIVM described as "The Human Experience."
"If someone comes from a country where adults orally stimulate children and they find out, according to American culture they have been abused. Have they? Who did the abusing?" the literature asked.
"The abuser is our culture. Our society," it answered.
Raniere is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor and conspiracy. The racketeering charges include underlying alleged acts of possession of child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child, extortion, identity theft and fraud.
Halfmoon, NY
Ronaldo served with federal court papers over
rape allegations
rape allegations
© Reuters / Susana Vera
Mayorga’s legal team recently confirmed that the case had been switched to a federal court in a bid serve Ronaldo with the relevant papers.
The team was said to have tracked down the Portugal star’s address in Italy – where he plays with Juventus – in May, and he has now been served with the court papers, US outlet TMZ reports.
Ronaldo, 34, and his legal team have firmly denied the claims that he raped Mayorga in a Vegas hotel suite after a night spent partying, and that she was later coerced into accepting $375,000 in hush money over the case.
The player’s legal team have acknowledged a payment existed, although they have claimed that documents reported by some media are “fabrications.”
According to TMZ, Ronaldo’s representatives have already responded with court documents of their own, reportedly seeking permission to file a new report in a potential bid to have the case thrown out.
The case was reopened by Las Vegas police last year, after Mayorga went public with her claims and said she still felt traumatized by the alleged incident. She also claimed she had been emboldened by the Me Too movement.
Police have no brought formal charges against Ronaldo so far, and the player has previously said he is confident his name will be cleared and that the encounter with Mayorga was fully consensual.
Keith Raniere, The Founder Of The Alleged Sex Cult NXIVM, Has Been Found Guilty On All Charges
Several victims testified in graphic detail about incidents in which Raniere coerced them into performing sexual acts
Michael Blackmon
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Raniere, 58, once called “vanguard” and “the smartest man in the world” by members of the organization he founded, was convicted of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit forced labor by a jury of eight men and four women after five hours of deliberations.
"This trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact, a master manipulator, a con man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization," said Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, right after the verdict was made.
"His crimes, and the crimes of his co-conspirators, ruined marriages, careers, fortunes and lives," Donoghue said.
"The evidence proved that Raniere was truly a modern day Svengali."
His conviction brings an end to the case against NXIVM, which became a mainstay in headlines in 2017 after the New York Times reported on the group. The Times’ story revealed a secret women’s group within NXIVM called DOS, in which members became “slaves” and were branded with Raniere’s initials using a cautery pen.
Raniere was the sole defendant in the case to stand trial after several women previously pleaded guilty to a series of charges. Allison Mack, the former Smallville actor who allegedly was Raniere’s second-in-command, pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges. She did not testify at trial.
Of the women who pleaded guilty, only Lauren Salzman testified during the trial, detailing her relationship with Raniere and how she tried to protect him up until the moment he was arrested in 2017.
Raniere did not testify during the trial, though his attorney Marc Agnifilo argued the relationships Raniere had with NXIVM members were consensual.
During the six-week-long trial, several former members of DOS spoke of how they got involved with the organization. The women testified that Raniere tried to control every aspect of their lives, including whom they dated, what they ate, as well as their weight.
To join the organization, the women had to provide “collateral” — personal information, including nude photographs, that could be used against them if they were to defy their “master” or speak publicly about the “secret sorority.”
Several of the women, who where identified in court only by their first names, described in graphic detail incidents in which Raniere coerced them into performing sexual acts. The women said they went along out of fear their collateral would be released.
A woman named Nicole testified that Raniere allegedly blindfolded her and watched while a woman she did not know performed oral sex on her. Another woman said she and her two sisters were led to have abortions after having sex with Raniere.
Elizabeth Williams / AP
All of the women who testified said they became involved with NXIVM by taking the group’s purported self-help courses. Over time, the women said they developed what they thought was a special bond with Raniere.
Daniela, now 33, testified that she was 16 years old when she was introduced to Raniere at “V-Week,” — an annual 10-day-long celebration of Raniere’s birthday.
The young woman, originally from a small town in Mexico, testified that she was so inspired by NXIVM, she decided to move to Albany for one year to be mentored by Raniere.
While there, Raniere “punished” Daniela by forcing her to stay in a room for nearly two years, unable to see anyone from her family. Daniela said she had a sexual relationship with Raniere, as did her two sisters, and they were made to have abortions.
The tactics used to indoctrinate Daniela into the organization were similar to those of other women who testified, including Jay, Nicole, and Sylvie. The women testified that Raniere made them feel special before they were recruited to join DOS.
Nicole, an actor who became involved in the group after taking courses, testified that she was blindfolded, tied to a table, and sexually assaulted by an unknown person while Raniere asked her invasive questions about her sex life.
After the incident was over, she was told by Raniere that she was “brave” and that nothing bad had happened.
Her testimony was similar to Sylvie’s, who said she was coerced into having oral sex performed on her by Raniere.
Jay, an actor and model, told the court that the reason she joined DOS was because it was described to her as a program where women pushed one another to be better.
Jay testified that she had confided in other DOS members about her experience being abused as a child. She testified she was stunned when Mack instructed her to seduce Raniere, telling her it would “heal” her previous sexual abuse trauma.
In that moment, she said, she knew she “needed to get ....... out of there.”
Mark Vicente, a former high-ranking member of NXIVM, testified in May that he convinced Jay to send him the images she saved of the collateral so he could give it to the FBI. Vicente said he first alerted authorities to the group.
Looking back on his time in the organization, Vicente said he felt ashamed. “[To] see that I was basically enforcing this kind of really dark, hateful misogyny was deeply upsetting to me,” he said.
Raniere faces life in prison and is expected to be sentenced Sept. 25. He plans to appeal the verdict.
Jeffrey Epstein plea deal must stand,
prosecutors tell sex abuse victims
By Julie K. Brown Miami Herald (TNS)
MIAMI — Suspected sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was handed another break by the Department of Justice on Monday when federal prosecutors rejected his victims’ efforts to throw out his plea deal and prosecute him for abusing dozens of underage girls.
U.S. Attorney Byung “B.J.” Pak said that because Congress did not outline specific penalties in the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when it was created by Congress, Epstein’s victims have no right to demand anything from the government — not even an apology. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the plea deal violated that legislation.
In the filing, federal prosecutors did concede that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida failed to treat Epstein’s victims — most of whom where 13 to 16 years old when they were victimized — fairly, but they said that the law gives prosecutors discretion in deciding how to dispose of a case. Victims have a right to confer with prosecutors, but no rights beyond that, Pak said.
The federal judge in the case, Kenneth Marra, will have to decide what happens now.
Epstein, a politically connected financier, escaped federal sex-trafficking charges after his high-powered lawyers, led by Kenneth Starr and Alan Dershowitz, pressured prosecutors in Miami to work out a secret plea deal in 2007.
The controversial agreement, engineered by then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser charges in state court, resulting in a 13-month jail sentence on a single prostitution charge involving a girl who was 17. At the time, investigators had identified nearly three dozen victims.
The Story Behind a Powerful American Child Sex Trafficker's Remarkable Deal
The women, now in their late 20s and early 30s, were underprivileged middle and high school girls recruited in and around Palm Beach County from about 1998 to 2006.
The Miami Herald, in a three-part series published in November called Perversion of Justice, detailed through emails, letters and other court documents how federal prosecutors worked hand-in-hand with Epstein and his lawyers to keep his victims in the dark and seal records so that no one would know the extent of Epstein’s crimes or who was involved.
Acosta agreed to not prosecute Epstein federally, which means Epstein is not subject to double jeopardy. Instead, his plea agreement included unusual language that granted federal immunity — not only to Epstein, but to others who were never identified or named, leading many to suspect that the deal covered up a larger sex trafficking operation, possibly crossing international borders.
Two of Epstein’s victims sued the government in the Southern District of Florida in 2008. During the course of that case, which dragged on for a decade, evidence was uncovered that showed Epstein and others working for him had been recruiting underage girls in the United States and abroad.
Since then, at least two other women have come forward alleging in court documents that Epstein and one of his partners, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, had been recruiting women and underage girls to force them to have sex. Maxwell has never been charged and has denied the allegations.
The Herald has been seeking to unseal documents in a New York case involving her that could provide new information about Epstein’s operation. Maxwell’s lawyers have been fighting the Herald’s effort, which is supported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 32 other media companies, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Dow Jones, Fox News, Gannett, Politico, Reveal Center for Investigative Reporting and Tribune Publishing Co.
In February, Judge Marra ruled that Acosta and other federal prosecutors not only broke the law by failing to tell the victims that a deal had been reached, but that they deliberately misled victims into believing the FBI was still actively investigating the case.
In ruling that the plea deal was illegal, Marra directed lawyers for the victims and the government to file legal briefs outlining ways to resolve the case. Two of Epstein’s victims, Jane Doe No 1 and Jane Doe No. 2, said they want the deal invalidated and Epstein prosecuted.
Sources have told the Herald that at least 16 other women also want him prosecuted.
Pak did, however, say that victims would be given an opportunity to confer in private with prosecutors, or if they wish, be heard at a public hearing. He also agreed to give federal prosecutors additional training on dealing with crime victims.
Marci Hamilton, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and CEO of CHILD USA, said giving the victims a chance to speak at a hearing is a good first step.
But prosecutors’ failures went beyond the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, she said.
“I continue to believe that the government violated the due process rights of the victims in its failure to inform them of the deal in a timely manner,” Hamilton said. “That is a constitutional violation and the remedy is not limited to the Crime Victims’ Rights Act’s provisions.”
Jack Scarola, one of the victims’ attorneys, said the government’s remedies ignore an important element in the case that Congress could never have predicted when it created the Crime Victims’ Rights Act in 2004.
“Congress didn’t provide for remedies for circumstances like this because it was inconceivable to Congress that there would be a conspiracy between our government and a serial child molester — who could have conceived of that?” Scarola said.
Pak, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, went so far as to warn the judge in the case that the court had no authority to overrule the original decision by Acosta to not to prosecute Epstein.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump was a friend of Epstein, so his appointment of Pak may have been self-serving.
“Courts are not to interfere with the free exercise if the discretionary powers of the (United States attorneys) in their control over criminal prosecutions,” said Pak, citing case law. “The decision whether to prosecute Epstein lies solely within the executive branch, and any order today, by this court, as to what the government must do in the future would be wholly inappropriate.”
Scarola, a former prosecutor, conceded that prosecutors do have discretion to handle a case as they see fit, but that discretion is not unlimited; victims have the right to appeal to the judge at sentencing, something Epstein’s victims were denied.
“Courts reject plea deals when they find them to be unjustifiable and unreasonable — especially if they are not told the full scope of the agreement,” Scarola said.
Pak took over the case in March after prosecutors in South Florida where the case originated recused themselves. Joining him in signing the brief were assistant U.S. attorneys Jill E. Steinberg and Nathan P. Kitchens.
After the Herald series, Congress demanded that the Justice Department investigate the case, examining whether Acosta — who is now President Trump’s secretary of labor — committed any prosecutorial misconduct in negotiating the deal.
The Justice Department assigned its Office of Professional Responsibility to handle the review. But OPR has no oversight over former attorneys in the Justice Department, including Acosta, so it’s unclear what will become of the probe.
Acosta has repeatedly refused to comment to the Herald about the case. In the past, he has told Congress that the deal was necessary to ensure that Epstein receive some jail time and register as a sex offender.
But Epstein’s lenient treatment continued even after he was sentenced, as he received extraordinary privileges rarely, if ever, afforded to a child sex offender in Florida. He was allowed to leave the Palm Beach County jail for nearly half of every day on “work release.”
Epstein’s lawyers are expected to file a response in the CVRA case by July 8.
Sundance co-founder, ordered to prison for
sex abuse of girl
By Annie Knox
AMERICAN FORK — In February, years after a Utah girl was touched inappropriately by an adult she had trusted, her older sister knew something was wrong.
She insisted her younger sibling disclose what happened, then immediately called their parents, who debated what to do as their horror set in.
Their mother confronted Sterling Van Wagenen, she recalled in an American Fork courtroom, where the Sundance Film Festival co-founder was ordered Tuesday to serve at least six years and up to life in prison.
Not, 'I would never do such a thing', but 'I would remember if I did'!!!
The opportunity was one of several he had to come clean and help his victim begin to heal, the girl, now a teenager, told him in a letter, standing next to her sister as she read it aloud.
"You've had at least four or five chances to do this, and you never took them. You lied to literally everyone. So don't apologize for the damage you could have addressed if you weren't a coward. I strongly believe the only thing you were actually torn up about is the fact that you got caught," she said.
Van Wagenen, a longtime filmmaker for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, co-founded the Sundance Film Festival with Robert Redford. He worked with Sundance until 1993 and later went on to teach at BYU, where he was director of content for BYUtv from 2007-2010. He resigned from a teaching position at the University of Utah earlier this year.
While Van Wagenen maintains he was abused as a child, 4th District Judge Roger Griffin said the filmmaker knew his actions were appalling and unjustified.
"The past does not justify the present," Griffin said.
He recommended that authorities keep Van Wagenen, 72, in the Utah State Prison for far longer than the minimum of six years.
“I want the victim to know you did the right thing and you’re not responsible for anything that happened and anything that will happen," the judge said, his voice thick with emotion. "You’re a brave young lady."
The girl came forward at the time when a years-old allegation of abuse against Van Wagenen surfaced from a childhood friend of his son, her mother said. Sean Escobar was 13 when he said Van Wagenen touched him inappropriately during a sleepover in 1993, according to police reports. His family chose not to pursue criminal charges at the time.
Escobar, now in his 30s, taped Van Wagenen apologizing for inappropriately touching him in a recording that surfaced in February.
On Tuesday, Van Wagenen sat with his hand covering his mouth at times during the hearing. At his turn to speak, he thanked Escobar and called him a "blessing."
"It's clear that any kind of apology I could make at this point is meaningless, so I’m not going to attempt one," Van Wagenen said.
"I do believe there is a door open for repentance and healing through Christ alone. And that’s my source of hope and I hope you can find your way to that place as well," he told the girl before he was handcuffed and led from the courtroom.
The Deseret News typically does not identify victims of sexual abuse, but Escobar previously agreed to be named. He and the girl, a relative of Van Wagenen's, embraced outside the courtroom, the first time they met.
"She doesn't have to live the life I lived, you know? What a blessing. What a blessing for her that she doesn't have to spend the next 25 years wondering if he's hurting other people and if he's being honest," Escobar said.
He said that when Van Wagenen praised him, "I couldn't help but think, ‘You're thanking me for catching you,’ which I just suppose that demonstrates how chronic and addictive and evasive he'd been around these issues all these years. … I just wish he would have done more of his own volition."
Van Wagenen's attorney, Steven Shapiro, argued that his client had taken responsibility on his own, in part by telling Shapiro he wanted to admit to the charge before the criminal investigation concluded.
Van Wagenen pleaded guilty in April to aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, after prosecutors said he abused the girl at his home in Woodland Hills, Utah County, between 2013 and 2015.
Days later, he admitted to an identical charge in a West Jordan courtroom. He had touched the same child inappropriately as she sat on his lap on a stairway to her family's basement in Salt Lake County at another point in the two-year time frame, when she was between 7 and 9 years old. Sentencing in that case is July 9.
In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors in both counties agreed to seek the sentence of at least six years and up to life in prison to run concurrently, or at the same time. Van Wagenen originally faced 15 years to life for each count.
Former busboy who alleged actor Kevin Spacey
groped him drops civil lawsuit
Award-winning actor still faces criminal charges
of indecent assault and battery
The Associated Press A young man who said Kevin Spacey groped him in a Nantucket bar in 2016 has dropped his lawsuit against the Oscar-winning actor.
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for the man, announced in an email Friday that the suit filed June 26 in Nantucket Superior Court has been voluntarily dismissed. No reason was provided either by Garabedian or in the court filing. Garabedian said he would have no further comment.
An email was left Friday requesting comment from Alan Jackson, Spacey's lawyer. A telephone message was also left at his office.
Suit can't be refiled
Jackson has previously said the man was lying in the hopes of winning money in a civil case against Spacey.
According to the court filing, the suit was dismissed "with prejudice," which means it cannot be refiled.
It says "because no adverse party has served an answer or motion for summary judgment in this matter, plaintiff is dismissing the civil action."
The legal development could have significance for the criminal case against Spacey, said William Korman, a former prosecutor in the Suffolk County District Attorney's office who is now a criminal defence lawyer specializing in sexual assault cases.
When a civil suit is dropped so quickly, it's a possible indicator that a private settlement was reached and that the accuser may ultimately stop co-operating with prosecutors, he said.
"Any settlement could not be conditioned on a refusal to co-operate with the prosecution," said Korman. "Nevertheless, money is a great motivator for an individual not to follow through."
It's also possible prosecutors, upset with the timing of the civil suit, specifically asked the accuser to drop it, said David Yannetti, a former prosecutor who is now a criminal defence lawyer in Boston. The civil suit was filed months into the ongoing criminal case, but such suits are typically filed after a criminal case is decided, he said.
"Maybe the prosecution said it's either about money or it's about a crime, but it can't be about both, and you have to make a decision on where you want to go with this," Yannetti said.
The civil suit was likely filed before completion of the criminal case because the three-year statute of limitations is approaching, Yannetti added.
"We're operating with very little info, but it's clear something unusual is going on here," he said. "Either the prosecution got involved or there was some sort of civil settlement."
Criminal case will go forward
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe's office declined to comment on whether prosecutors had any role in the withdrawal of the civil suit or whether a settlement has been reached.
"The criminal case is independent from the civil case and will go forward," Tara Miltimore, assistant district attorney, said in an email.
Garabedian's client, the son of Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh, alleged Spacey got him drunk and sexually assaulted him at the Club Car restaurant where the then 18-year-old worked.
The criminal case has centred on the cellphone used by the 18-year-old the night of the alleged groping. The defence has said it needs to recover text messages to support Spacey's innocence.
Nantucket District Court Judge Thomas Barrett has ordered the man to hand the phone over to the defence, but his lawyer said they cannot find it. The judge has given them until Monday to produce the phone.
Heidi Montag's Dad Granted Early Release From Probation After Child Sex Abuse Allegations
'The Hills' star's stepsister victim outraged by shocking decision
Heidi Montag's Dad Probation Ends Early After Child Sex Abuse Allegations
Photo Credit: Aspen Police; Getty Images
The Hills: New Beginnings star Heidi Montag Pratt‘s father was sentenced to four years of probation after pleading guilty to child abuse in 2016 — but in a disturbing development, William Montag is already off of probation, RadarOnline.com can exclusively report.
According to Arapahoe County, Colorado court documents obtained exclusively by Radar, the 72-year-old was granted early termination from his four-year probation sentence on February 5, 2019 – a decision that outraged his victim, Heidi’s stepsister Carissa Berlet. (Carissa, a 38-year-old Colorado mom, gave Radar permission to reveal her identity in an exclusive interview.)
“I fought it,” she told Radar. However, she was unsuccessful.
As part of his plea agreement, William was ordered to complete a “Boundaries” course, rehabilitate himself and not commit any crimes, in addition to his probation.
During a February hearing, William provided a letter from his probation officer, who stated he successfully completed the conditions of his probation, including paying fees and costs and maintaining a “pro-social lifestyle.”
His probation officer also described him as “low risk to re-offend.”
The court approved early probation because he “accomplished those goals,” and “demonstrated his ability to maintain a pro-social lifestyle,” per the documents.
Like Carissa, state prosecutors objected to William’s request for early probation release because he completed only “slightly” more than half of his sentence, and at the time of his sentencing, his victim objected to any leniency, court documents indicate.
As Radar readers know, William was arrested January 29, 2015, and originally pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault on a child and aggravated incest.
But as Radar reported exclusively, he ended up pleading guilty on August 5, 2016 to just one felony count of child abuse. “He pleaded guilty the day the trial started,” Carissa told Radar.
“He denied abusing me the entire time, so I was shocked when he pleaded guilty. He was given the strictest punishment allowed for that charge.”
The arrest affidavit, details years of unspeakable sexual abuse William allegedly inflicted on stepdaughter Carissa, beginning in the mid-90’s when she was just 13 years old.
According to the documents, she came forward in 2013 after confessing the traumatic events of her past to a therapist. She told cops William abused her on more than 50 occasions in their family home.
Today, Carissa says the #MeToo movement has given her much-needed comfort in knowing she made the right choice to confront her abuser and identify herself to the public for the first time.
“It’s not right that when women come forward, the first thought is she is lying… All of that is wrong,” said Carissa, who has a no contact order in place barring William from coming within 100 feet of her or her family.
From aggravated incest to a single count of child abuse is an astonishingly good deal for Montag, and a disgraceful disregard of the years of suffering endured by Carissa. I hate plea deals, especially when the DA caves.
Arapahoe Co., CO
Court Orders Document Release in
Epstein Sex-Abuse Case
By Crime and Justice NewsMore than a decade after Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex-abuse case shocked the nation, the extraordinarily light sentence he got continues to embarrass presidents, a prince and a powerful lawyer, Courthouse News Service reports.
Epstein / Acosta
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered sunlight for nearly 2,000 pages of files related to the wealthy tycoon and the dozens of girls whose assault claims he buried with an expansive plea deal. The fight was spurred by Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown’s series “Perversion of Justice,” which renewed attention to the Epstein case by highlighting his ties to the nation’s elite.
In refusing to unseal documents, U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said public access would defeat privacy interests and “promote scandal arising out of unproven potentially libelous statements.” The Second Circuit vacated that decision, with Judge Jose Cabranes saying, “We have long noted that the press plays a vital role in ensuring the public right of access and in enhancing ‘the quality and safeguards the integrity of the fact-finding process.”
Brown’s series highlighted how the judiciary victimized the powerless and protected the powerful through Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, who negotiated a sweetheart plea deal with Epstein as federal prosecutor a decade ago. The agreement allowed Epstein to serve a 13-month sentence in a county jail.
From which he could leave every morning and go to his luxurious offices for the day.
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