More than 30 years have passed since the first public allegation that Jeffrey Epstein assaulted and trafficked children and young women for sex. A civil complaint said he repeatedly abused a 13-year-old girl beginning in 1994.
Five presidential administrations later, Epstein’s victims include more than 1,000 women, many of them children when he and his accused companions abused them. Yet, largely due to repeated failures by the Justice Department, most perpetrators remain unidentified and unpunished. The nation’s highest law enforcement agency has prolonged the victims’ abuse by denying them justice.
The department’s failures continue today. It can no longer be trusted to deliver justice “without fear or favor.” Congress must intervene more decisively. A brief history will explain why.
In 1996, Maria Farmer told the FBI that Epstein had assaulted her and her minor sister. The bureau took no visible action.
In 2008, Epstein faced a possible life sentence for 32 counts alleging that at least 40 underage girls were brought to his Palm Beach mansion for sex. Prosecutors said many victims were willing to testify but never had the opportunity. The case did not go to trial because U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta secretly crafted a deal allowing Epstein to plead guilty to two lesser charges.
Epstein served only 13 months in a Florida jail. He was given unusual privileges, including work release for 12 hours a day, six days a week. Investigators said he regularly violated the rules of the work-release program without punishment. In addition, the deal included a controversial non-prosecution agreement that gave Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity from further state or federal prosecution for those crimes.
In 2017, Trump appointed Acosta as secretary of Labor. He resigned in 2019 over the plea bargain controversy. In 2020, the Justice Department reviewed the plea bargain and concluded that Acosta used poor judgment but did nothing improper.
In 2019, Epstein was arrested and jailed on new sex trafficking charges. While awaiting trial, he was found dead in his cell. Despite protocol violations and missing security footage at the jail, the Justice Department ruled that Epstein had committed suicide.
The latest controversy involves 6 million Justice Department documents related to the Epstein case. Although evidence and Epstein’s victims allege his involvement in an international sex trafficking operation, the FBI and Justice Department issued a memo last July saying that they planned no further charges and no further information on their investigations of Epstein.
Hellbound and Down 