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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 293-1 Filed 05/25/21 Page 222 of 349
victim/witness staff were “ready to assist you with the details of victim notification, and other
areas for which United States At
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information about available services for victims. Therefore, even
though [the Department] may not afford CVRA rights to victims if
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(6) The right to full and timely restitution as provided in law.
(7) The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay.
(8) T
Docume
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE
2006
Jan - Jum
Sept & V1
Sloman
consultation i
Sloman forwards to Acosta
Oct— FBI ag
victims to info
NPA
meet with 3
Oci — Nov — FBI agents
interview ad
victims
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parties.2°* The rush to reach a resolution should not have led the USAO to agree to such a
significant provision without a full c
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which Villafafia and Lourie believed that the state had intentionally failed to aggressively pursue
a broader state indictment.
O
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D. Acosta’s Decisions Led to Difficulties Enforcing the NPA
After the agreement was reached, the collateral attacks and continued
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To be clear, OPR is not suggesting that prosecutors must obtain all available evidence
before reaching plea agreements or that pro
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with one of Epstein’s defense attorneys about it. Sloman told OPR during his interview that he
“vaguely” remembered the computer i
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Epstein’s state guilty plea.°° As U.S. Attorney, Acosta had the authority to resolve the case in
this manner, but OPR concludes th
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search warrant was executed on that property, the computer equipment associated with those
cameras had been removed. Villafafia kn
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successful federal prosecution, Acosta prematurely decided to resolve the case without adequately
addressing ways in which a feder
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Lourie described the promise not to prosecute “potential co-conspirators” as “unusual,” and told
OPR that he did not know why it w
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Villafafia had raised (defense counsel’s attempt to insert an immigration waiver into the
agreement), but Lourie did not comment o
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entitled to significant weight, and OPR credits them. OPR finds, therefore, that the emails in
question do not themselves establis
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With regard to her comment about “avoid[ing] the press,” Villafafia told OPR that her goal
was to protect the anonymity of the vic
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OPR asked Villafafia about these emails and about the tenor of her interactions with
Lefkowitz during the NPA negotiations and wit
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sentence of incarceration, and the USAO would consider a plea that differed from that requirement
a breach of the NPA and would “p
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promise equates to the imposition of a gag order. Our Office cannot
and will not agree to this.
It is the intent of this Office t
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2. The Evidence Does Not Establish That Acosta Negotiated a Deal
Favorable to Epstein over Breakfast with Defense Counsel
OPR sep
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preparing a “short” charging document “with only ‘clean’ victims that they have not dirtied up
already.”~°° The fact that Lourie a
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including one called by the USAO to offer the NPA term sheet resolution—and a sixth meeting
together with the State Attorney and t
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accept the two-year proposal when it was made, but instead continued to press for a sentence of
home confinement, suggesting that
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In its review of the documentary record, OPR examined an email written by Villafafia in
2018, more than a decade after the NPA was
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been concerned about policy and federalism issues.*”! Sloman told OPR that although he did not
remember specific conversations, he
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The USAO might have been able to surmount the evidentiary, legal, and policy issues
presented by a federal prosecution of Epstein.
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considered that the USAO’s most pivotal decisions—to resolve the case through an NPA requiring
Epstein to serve time in jail, regi
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Longstanding Department policy directs prosecutors to require the defendant to plead to the most
serious readily provable charge c
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agreement that did not require Epstein’s cooperation nor did the USAM require Acosta to obtain
Departmental approval before doing
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As the U.S. Attorney, and in the absence of evidence establishing that his decision was
motivated by improper factors, Acosta had
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different points in time, and regarding different decisions. Menchel, for example, participated in
formulating the USAO’s initial
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CHAPTER TWO
PART THREE: ANALYSIS
I. OVERVIEW
Following the Miami Herald report in November 2018, media scrutiny of and public
a
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 293-1 Filed 05/25/21 Page 155 of 349
the prosecutor indicted him on more serious charges. Hayes was thereafter convicted and
sentenced under the new indictment. The st
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when prosecutors have used third parties as leverage in plea negotiations. Numerous courts have
made clear, however, that a plea i
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flexibility to decline to bring a particular charge based on a “good faith doubt” that the law or
evidence supports the charge.
Z
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cooperation as part of a plea agreement, or compelling cooperation under a “use immunity” order.
The comment observes that these a
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that come within the national investigation and prosecution priorities established
by the Department are more likely to satisfy th
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defendant’s criminal conduct, has an adequate factual basis, makes likely the imposition of an
appropriate sentence and order of r
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Some offenses, even though in violation of Federal law, are of
particularly strong interest to the authorities of the state or loc
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until after Epstein completed his sentence, but that Krischer would oppose such a petition “if it is
in the agreement.”!”? On Nove
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for up to 12 hours per day, six days per week, to work at the “Florida Science Foundation” office
in West Palm Beach.'*? In mid-No
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Dershowitz, Lefkowitz and Starr.”!7’ In that same later public statement, Acosta noted that he
received communications from Dersho
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The Court: Are all the victims in both these cases in
agreement with the terms of the plea?
Ms. Belohlavek: I have spoken to seve
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The next day, Villafafia asked Goldberger to change the plea agreement by inserting the
word “imprisoned” after “6 months,” and Go
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On Monday, June 23, 2008, Roth sent a brief letter to Starr and Lefkowitz informing them
that the office had “completed a thorough
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federal prosecution is not appropriate in this case.”'®’ Lefkowitz alluded to the possibility of
seeking further review of the mat
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4. Acosta Attempts to Revise the NPA § 2255 Language concerning
Monetary Damages, but the Defense Does Not Accept It
Acosta under
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the defense “[f]irst and foremost” reaffirmed the NPA and that Epstein “has no intention of
unwinding the agreement.”
On December
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provision, recounted the history of NPA negotiations, and described the post-signing efforts by
Epstein’s counsel to challenge por
[S]ince the signing of the September 24th agreement, more than two
months[] ago, it has become clear that several attorneys on your
legal team are dissatisfied with that result.
[You], Professor Ders