FBI was set to arrest Jeffrey Epstein while he judged a beauty pageant in 2007
The FBI was ready to arrest Jeffrey Epstein in 2007 while he was judging a beauty pageant in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but missed out on the chance to nab the serial sexual predator because the federal prosecutor on the case wanted to “take his time.”
A few months later, that prosecutor secretly offered Epstein a now-infamous sweetheart deal that kept him out of federal prison and allowed him to serve just 13 months in a jail, with weekend releases.
The details of the decision were described in a report released by the Department of Justice which found the prosecutor, then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, exercised “poor judgement” but did not engage in professional misconduct. The feds on Thursday shared the results of the probe with a room full of Epstein’s accusers, leaving some of them “emotional.”
The missed opportunity in the Virgin Islands left the FBI’s supervisory special agent “extremely upset.”
It also irked Marie Villafaña, who was the lead prosecutor in the Florida investigation of Epstein. She had “intended to file charges by May 15, 2007 and the FBI planned to arrest Epstein immediately thereafter,” Fox News reported. But Villafaña was unable to get authorization from Acosta for an indictment.
Villafaña wanted Epstein to face as much as 210 months — or 17-and-a-half years — behind bars.
Two weeks after submitting the prosecution memorandum, on May 14, Villafaña sent out an email that said Epstein was flying to New Jersey from the Virgin Islands. When she asked if she could file charges the next day, she was told “No,” because Acosta wanted “to take his time making sure he is comfortable before proceeding.”
Villafaña said she could not get her supervisors to understand “the seriousness of Epstein’s behavior and the fact that he was probably continuing to commit the behavior, and that there was a need to move with necessary speed.”
Two months later, Acosta offered Epstein the two-year state plea. Epstein pleaded guilty under a non-prosecution agreement in 2008 negotiated by Acosta.
Around the same time, the financier served as a “key federal witness” against to hedge fund managers from the now defunct Bear Stearns investment bank.
Acosta was made U.S. Labor Secretary by President Trump in 2017 and resigned amid questions over the 2008 plea deal after Epstein was arrested again in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges.
Epstein was found hanged in his cell in the Manhattan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan a month later.
With Post wires
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