Opinion

Jeffrey Epstein Paid $5 Million To Three Sex Trafficking Victims

Reuters

Conchita Sarnoff Executive Director, Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking
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According to Brad Edwards, a Florida criminal attorney representing 3 victims who sued the billionaire pedophile and registered sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Epstein paid $5.5 million in total to settle a lawsuit filed by three of more than two dozen underage victims who sued Epstein in Florida.

Mr. Edwards said, “each survivor was paid $1MM each.” Although all three victims are presently adult women, they remain unidentified for their safety and security.  During the court filings, they were identified as: L.M., E.W., and Jane Doe.

The victim, L.M. was paid $1 million; E.W. was paid $2 MM; and Jane Doe was paid $2.5 MM according to the settlement agreement.  The settlement agreement was to be kept confidential however, a series of events notwithstanding the ongoing litigation between Mr. Edwards and Mr. Epstein uncorked the “Jeannie in the Bottle”, when court documents filed last week in a hearing, in Florida on Tuesday, were revealed, in preparation for a December trial, filed by Mr. Edwards against Mr. Epstein for “malicious prosecution.”

Mr. Epstein is currently represented by Ms. Tonja Haddad Coleman.  Attorney Coleman requested a delay in the Epstein trial because she claimed she has been unable to speak to her client since Mr. Epstein’s estate, on the private island of Little St. John in the United States Virgin Island, was devastated by Hurricane Irma last month.

Given the large amounts of money Mr. Epstein claims to invest for his clients, he does not accept investments under $1 Billion and demands complete control of said funds while under management, it is unusual that he is unable to communicate with an attorney in spite of the hurricane in the USVI.  In addition to his USVI private island estate, Mr. Epstein owns a private jet, helicopter and several homes in Palm Beach, Florida, New York City, New Mexico, Paris, and London that were not in the vicinity of the United States Virgin Islands and unaffected when Hurricane Irma struck.

At the outset, the Palm Beach County Circuit Judge, Donald Hafele, hearing the case rejected Ms. Coleman’s request.  According to court files Mr. Epstein was unable to offer proof such as an affidavit that he was without the ability to communicate with his attorney.  Pending the Edwards vs. Epstein case goes to trial, Judge Hafele did allow attorney Coleman additional time to respond to the various motions brought before the Court.

Attorney Edwards is also suing the U.S. attorney’s office, claiming it violated the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA) when it negotiated a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein, in 2007. It was not until after the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) agreed to drop the federal investigation and allow the predator to be charged at the State level that Epstein agreed to plead guilty to two charges of solicitation of prostitution with a minor in the Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Mr. Alex Acosta, the Labor Secretary in the Trump Administration and former prosecutor in Florida’s Southern District at the time of Epstein’s trial, agreed to drop the federal charges against Mr. Epstein after intense pressure from the attorneys representing Epstein.  The reason, Labor Secretary Acosta said, was that “Epstein agreed to settle lawsuits and pay restitution to more than two dozen human trafficking survivors, serve a minimum amount of jail time, and register as a sex offender.”

What remains hidden is the amount of settlement paid by Mr. Epstein on behalf of Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, his former companion and alleged procurer, who was sued for defamation by another victim, Virginia Louise Roberts-Giuffre, aged 14 when she was apparently trafficked for sex to several of Maxwell and Epstein’s high powered male friends.  The victim’s attorneys, David Boies and his associate, Stanley Pottinger from Boies Schiller, New York, did not disclose the amount or points in the settlement agreement.


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