Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney in Miami who gave Jeffrey Epstein and an untold number of his co-conspirators immunity for sex trafficking dozens of underage girls, defended his decision not to prosecute Epstein during a closed-door congressional hearing Friday. The hearing, held by the House Oversight Committee, is the latest in a series of efforts by Congress to scrutinize how the late financier managed to get away with abusing hundreds of girls and young women over more than two decades — despite Epstein being on the FBI’s radar since 2006. The scandal continues to consume the Trump administration, which has been unable to satisfy public outrage over the Justice Department’s decision in July to not release all of its Epstein files. Most of the material the DOJ has released thus far has already been in the public domain. “It’s important to remember that this is a massive cover up,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari. “There are many, many more people involved, financial institutions involved, potentially foreign governments involved, but this is one key part to getting to the bottom and getting to the answers that we need to get justice for the survivors.” Ansari and other Democratic congressional leaders, on a break from the hearing, described Acosta’s testimony as “defiant,” “unremorseful” and “evasive.” They said the former FIU law professor said Epstein’s victims weren’t credible — and that he didn’t believe that their stories of sexual assault would lead to a successful federal prosecution. Acosta “essentially said he didn’t have faith in the victims, their stories and their ability to tell their own story and their own testimony, which is deeply disturbing to all of us sitting in there,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost during the break. They said they also found it disturbing that, even in hindsight, Acosta would not admit that mistakes were made and was not apologetic about how his actions led to other victims being abused by Epstein. “There was a clear lack of remorse,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat. “…This is someone who should at least acknowledge that he made a mistake … his memory faded whenever we asked pointed questions.” Acosta largely ignored questions from reporters on his way in and out of the hearing, but did stop to answer a question about FBI Director Kash Patel saying Tuesday that the plea deal was the “original sin” in the government’s handling of Epstein’s criminal case. “I’ve testified for six hours,” he said. “I’ll let the record speak for itself.” This is the first time that Acosta, 56, has testified under oath about his decision to give Epstein a plea deal. The agreement allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser prostitution charges in state court rather than be prosecuted for federal sex trafficking crimes that could have sent him to prison for life. Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in the county jail, but served just 13 months — most of it as a work-release inmate which allowed him to leave jail and go to his office in West Palm Beach almost every day. While he was monitored by Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies, he was nevertheless able to have women come into his office, where he pressured them to have sex with him while a sheriff’s deputy was standing outside the door. Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, noted that they met with survivors last month and “one of the survivors that was there was very clear that she was abused and assaulted and raped by Jeffrey Epstein during his work release, and during that time when he was out during that 18-month period that was given to him by Mr. Acosta and his team.” Acosta, the representatives said, refused to characterize the plea bargain as a “sweetheart deal” — maintaining that even today he believes the deal was the best course of action.
Tag: sex trafficking
‘SUPREME FRIEND’: Sarah Ferguson, Under Fire, Has Patronage Removed from Four Charities – Email Surfaces of Duchess of York Telling Epstein She Was Lying When She Disowned Him
The ‘Epstein curse’ caught up to Fergie.
Over the decades, the sexual exploits and shady business deals of the Duchess of York were every bit as bad and scandalous as those perpetrated by her disgraced former husband, Prince Andrew.
It was only when the Jeffrey Epstein scandal hit overdrive, and with the sequence of lies told by ‘randy Andy’ that he eclipsed her in the outrage department.
But now, Fergie is back, under fire for her very own Epstein ties, and her very own lies.
A few weeks ago, during her DOJ interviews, Ghislaine Maxwell stated that it was Ferguson who introduced Epstein to Andrew.
Maxwell also stated that the Duchess of York was trying to ‘put the moves’ on Epstein.
But an email from 2011 has recently surfaced that really sent Fergie into the doghouse, in which she called the late sex Epstein her ‘supreme friend’.
The reaction was swift: the Duchess of York has been removed as patron of four charities.
BBC reported:
“Julia’s House, a children’s hospice charity serving families in Dorset and Wiltshire, was the first to remove Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew, saying it was ‘inappropriate’ for her to continue in the role.
Later on Monday, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the Children’s Literacy Charity and Prevent Breast Cancer also announced they had dropped the duchess as patron.”
More Epstein Papers Released; Mystery Names Unmasked
Congressional Investigation Gains Momentum Under New Leadership
The House Oversight Committee’s aggressive pursuit of Epstein documents represents a dramatic shift from the previous administration’s reluctance to fully investigate elite corruption networks.
Under Republican leadership, the committee has successfully pressured Epstein’s estate to comply with subpoenas that had languished for years.
The newly released materials include names that were previously blacked out, suggesting federal agencies may have been protecting certain individuals from public scrutiny.
This development comes as no surprise to Americans who witnessed the Biden administration’s pattern of protecting establishment figures while targeting political opponents.
The previous Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein case raised serious questions about selective enforcement and whether certain elites received preferential treatment.
Now, congressional Republicans are demonstrating the kind of oversight that should have happened years ago.
Elite Protection Racket Finally Exposed
The timing of these document releases reveals the extent to which powerful interests worked to suppress damaging information during the Biden years. For too long, Americans watched as obvious corruption went uninvestigated while resources were wasted on politically motivated prosecutions.
The fact that these documents existed but remained hidden demonstrates how the deep state apparatus functioned to protect connected elites at the expense of justice for victims.
What’s particularly disturbing is how the previous administration seemed more interested in covering up elite misconduct than pursuing accountability.
While ordinary Americans faced unprecedented government overreach and surveillance, those with the right connections enjoyed protection from scrutiny. This two-tiered justice system exemplified everything wrong with the swamp mentality that Trump voters rejected twice at the ballot box.
Cicero megachurch pastor charged in connection with alleged child sex trafficking operation
A west suburban megachurch pastor is facing federal charges connected to an alleged child sex trafficking operation.
Neighbors told ABC7 that Cicero’s Light of the World Church at 1400 South 58th Court is popular. It is part an international church known by its Spanish name, La Luz Del Mundo.
But the church was closed on Tuesday after federal agents arrested Pastor Joram Núñez Joaquin last Wednesday during a 5 a.m. service, his attorney told ABC7.
Núñez Joaquin’s attorney provided photos in a court motion to try and get the pastor released from federal detention. He is named in a federal case involving California church leaders.
Federal prosecutors claim Núñez Joaquin, from the church’s Cicero branch, posed as an attorney and tried to coerced victims in California to not report alleged incidents. Nuñez Joaquin has pleaded not guilty.
Also last week, Naasón Joaquín García, an alleged relative of Núñez Joaquin, was taken into federal custody.
A newly unsealed indictment out of New York alleges García and co-defendants exploited the church for decades to enable the systemic sexual abuse of children and women for the sexual gratification of García and his father, who died in 2014.
García had been serving a more than 16-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to two state counts.
In Chicago, Núñez Joaquin was in a courtroom in the Dirksen Federal Building on Monday, charged with racketeering conspiracy.
His attorney told the judge that Núñez Joaquin is a 37-year-old married father of three children who is not charged with any violence or sex abuse and should be released.
Former AG Bill Barr floats his own theory as he explains possible Jeffrey Epstein-CIA links to Congress
Former Attorney General William Barr told Congress that late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s long-rumored links to intelligence agencies could be explained by the fact that the CIA has a special division that “talks to people who are well-connected.”
“Many American businessmen who have foreign contacts sometimes will talk to intelligence agencies and provide information to them. And the CIA has a unit that goes around and talks to people who are well-connected and asks them questions,” Barr told the House Oversight Committee in an August deposition.
“So my supposition, when I saw things about him being connected to U.S. intelligence, maybe, like many other businessmen, he talks to them, but this is not, in my opinion, based on what I saw, I didn’t think it was an intelligence operation, and I never received any information that led me to believe that.”
The former attorney general said that he doesn’t believe that the pedophile was formally “working for” the agency, according to a transcript made public Tuesday.
The CIA did not immediately offer comment for this story.
Barr started his career working for six years at the CIA in the 1970s and served two stints as attorney general, first from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, a former CIA director, and then under President Trump in 2019 and 2020.
The former London bus driver ‘running Dubai sex ring where girls are forced to carry out disgusting sexual fetishes for rich men’ – as former worker describes the depraved acts
A former London bus driver has been accused of running an illegal prostitution ring in Dubai, exploiting vulnerable young women and forcing them into degrading sex acts.
Charles ‘Abbey’ Mwesigwa was filmed by an undercover reporter claiming women under his control would do ‘pretty much everything’ clients asked.
BBC Eye and the World of Secrets podcast interviewed women who said they were lured to the UAE seeking stable employment, only to be forced in to coercive sex work.
Troy, a man who worked for Abbey, said women were told upon arrival they owed money for flights, visas and living costs, and that the only way to repay the debt was through prostitution.
Troy said that women were forced into sexual acts he had ‘never seen in his life’, catering to ‘rich men [who] look for girls that can fulfil their fantasies’.
‘They see musicians, they see footballers, they see presidents,’ Troy alleged.
‘It doesn’t matter what those girls go through as long as Abbey’s rich clients are happy. These girls, they have no escape route,’ he added.
Mia (not her real name), who says she was trapped by the network, said at least one of the clients regularly asks to defecate on the women.
She said that clients were mostly white Europeans. Many clients expect extreme sexual acts from the women because of their race, she said.
The investigation sought to unveil the real stories behind the viral hashtag #DubaiPortaPotty, an internet story of influencers moving to Dubai to be willingly defecated on by wealthy clients for money.
EPSTEIN CURSE IN THE UK: Fired US Ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson Is Ousted From His Own Lobbying Firm, Loses University of Manchester Honors
A reduced version of Prince Andrew’s fall from grace is ongoing with Mandelson.
Like we have been reporting here on TGP since December 2024, the long and close relationship between Labour peer Lord Peter Mandelson and the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein made him a very poor choice for a British Ambassador to the US – not to talk about his reportedly shady EU and China ties.
In January, reports arose of pushback on the part of the Donald J. Trump administration, who much preferred Dame Karen Pierce as the Washington envoy.
These reports have partially been confirmed since Trump invited Pierce to a state banquet during his upcoming UK state visit – and not Mandelson.
Revealed: 100 new Epstein emails ‘that could destroy’ Prince Andrew: Cache of ‘devastating’ messages between the Duke and convicted paedophile unearthed in US probe
Prince Andrew could be ‘destroyed’ by a cache of more than 100 secret emails contained in the Epstein Files, The Mail on Sunday has been told.
Multiple well-placed sources have revealed that potentially ‘incriminating’ emails between the Duke of York and the convicted paedophile are contained in hundreds of thousands of documents currently being reviewed by the US Congress before they are made public.
One source said: ‘If you think what’s happened to Peter Mandelson is bad then you have no idea what will happen when the Andrew emails are released. They are embarrassing and incriminating and he could be destroyed.’
Lord Mandelson was fired as British ambassador to Washington last week after a string of embarrassing emails between himself and Epstein were released.
In one, ‘Petie’ urged the billionaire to fight back against his conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution.
David Boies, the high-powered lawyer who represented Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, says he believes there is enough evidence to open a criminal investigation into the prince.
Andrew vehemently and consistently denied Ms Giuffre’s claims that she was sex-trafficked to him by Epstein.
In 2022, the duke reached a reported £12 million civil settlement with Ms Giuffre – who committed suicide earlier this year – with no admission of guilt.
Several embarrassing emails between Andrew and Epstein have already been revealed in legal papers over the years, including one in which the prince said: ‘Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!’
That email, from February 2011, was unearthed in court documents from a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority against Epstein’s personal banker Jes Staley.
Legal documents said the email was sent ‘by a member of the British Royal Family’, which the BBC and others widely reported was Prince Andrew.
When Ms Giuffre, previously known as Virginia Roberts, first made claims against the duke he fired off an email to his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was subsequently jailed for her role as a child sex trafficker for Epstein.
In the message, sent on January 3, 2015, he said: ‘Let me know when we can talk. Got some specific questions to ask you about Virginia Roberts.’
Maxwell replied: ‘Have some info. Call me when you have a moment.’
The MoS understands that there are ‘at least’ 100 emails involving Andrew contained within the Epstein files.
Some come from an account with Pipex, one of the UK’s first commercial internet providers. That email address is listed alongside multiple phone numbers for the duke found in Epstein’s infamous ‘little black book’.
Epstein’s Inbox Lays Out Gift Networks, PR Tactics, And Strange Habits
Nearly two weeks ago the House Oversight Committee released a trove of emails related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Today Bloomberg revealed they have obtained over 18,000 more – and dedicated a fleet of journalists to sift through them – with what we imagine was an effort to find dirt on President Donald Trump.
And while mentions of Trump are scant, the emails reveal a vast network of gifts spanning Epstein victims, recruiters, and associates.
Trump Stuff
Donald Trump is mentioned a few times in the cache; he appears alongside Epstein and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, and in a 2003 New York Magazine–described dinner Maxwell arranged at Epstein’s townhouse with “barely clad models”; in a Sept. 14, 2006 email in which Maxwell sends Epstein a 51-name VIP list that includes Trump – to which Epstein replies “Remove trump,” with the list’s purpose unclear. On Aug. 23, 2007 Maxwell writes to Epstein that reporters likely “went to donald trump” as the Epstein investigation into his sex crimes intensified.
And there’s one message recounting Trump and Epstein’s real-estate rivalry over Abe Gosman’s former mansion (which Trump ultimately bought).
The correspondence, most active from 2005 to 2008, includes a 2007 accountant’s spreadsheet itemizing nearly 2,000 gifts, purchases and payments totaling about $1.8 million. Many entries bear Maxwell’s initials, “GM,” indicating she helped arrange them. The records log intended recipients ranging from political aides and financiers to assistants and women who later identified as victims. The spreadsheet does not confirm whether gifts were actually delivered or accepted.
The emails also show Maxwell’s role was broader than she has publicly claimed.
Senate Republicans defeat Democrats’ effort to force the release of Epstein files
In a close vote, Senate Republicans defeated an effort Wednesday by Democrats to insert language into Congress’ annual defense authorization bill that would have forced the public release of case files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein.
The Senate voted 51-49 to dismiss the changes to the bill, with Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky joining with all Democrats in opposition.
For months, Democrats have clamored for the release of what’s become known as the Epstein files, looking for practically every opportunity to force Republicans to either join their push for disclosure or publicly oppose a cause that many in the Republican base support. President Donald Trump signaled as he was running for president that he was open to releasing a full accounting of the case, but is now trying to dismiss the push as a “Democrat hoax.”
So far, Democrats have been successful in forcing Republican leadership to grapple with the issue, yet it was unclear whether they would actually be able to crack Trump’s hold on congressional Republicans to force legislation through Congress.
Hellbound and Down 
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