Jeff Epstein is a low life who should spend the rest of his
life in prison. To be totally honest Jeff Epstein should have to have his
testicles cut off with a chainsaw without the benefit of any anesthesia while
all of his victims take part in the mutilation. But should Jeff Epstein be in
jail now? Legally, that is.
I first learned of Jeff Epstein in 2009. As luck would have
it, multiple settlements in my case were purportedly settled by Epstein. He was
supposedly settling lawsuits against him by underage girls who had been his
victims prior to his going to prison. Brad Edwards, who never went to prison
claimed that he represented these plaintiffs. We even looked at case files. The
fact that Brad Edwards was never indicted remains a mystery to this day. I have
my own theory on that which I am electing to keep to myself. For now, that is.
What is noteworthy is that Jeff Epstein’s lawyers (one of
who is a partner with one of my lawyers) managed to get him one of the best
deals in history. It is a deal that highlights one of the many inequities in
our criminal justice system. There is no one who could credibly argue that
99.9% of the population would not have received a prison term for over 20 years
to be served in a less than friendly federal prison. Epstein, however served
less than two years in a state prison and was eligible for work release every
day! Jeff Epstein, one of the most despicable criminals and victimizers in
modern history served less time than I did. Let that sink in for a moment.
How did that happen? Well the US Attorney at the time, Alex
Acosta, cut Epstein a deal where he would plead guilty to a State of Florida charge.
In exchange, Epstein and his co-conspirators received a pass on the federal
charges. Why did they cut him this deal? I have no idea. Any way you slice it,
Epstein got away with a very lenient sentence and got to keep basically all of
his wealth because of who he was, who he knew and the size of his bank account.
Disgusting. Only the purchase of Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets in 1626 by Peter Minuit
comes close the deal Epstein made.
Nine years later the Miami Herald woke up and decided to
shine a light on Acosta, Epstein, and the case in general. A year after they published
their expose, Epstein was arrested and charged in New York for what is seems are
the very crimes he pleaded guilty to in 2008. This should trouble anyone who
has been found not guilty at trial or who has pleaded guilty, served time and
now trying to rebuild his life. This is very scary.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that double jeopardy, which
prevents a defendant from being charged for the same crime does not apply if
there are overlapping governmental jurisdictions. In other words, someone can
go to trial on the federal level, be found not guilty and then the State of
Florida can decide to prosecute him for the very same crime if an overzealous prosecutor
decides that a State law was violated as well. This is obviously an insane ruling,
but it was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
As insane as that is, however, what is even more appalling is
that it now seems that a defendant can be tried for the same crime on the federal
level if the indictments are issued in different districts. Jeff Epstein cut a
deal in Miami in 2008 and now it seems, on the surface at least that he is
being charged with the same crime in New York 10 years later. Of course, it is
possible that new crimes have been committed. Realistically, this indictment
represents a do-over on a deal that the feds are not happy about.
Why should this bother the white-collar defendant? One of
the most common catch all while collar charges is Wire Fraud or Conspiracy to
Commit Wire Fraud. The very definition of Wire Fraud is a transaction that crosses
state lines. Many defendants accused of Wire Fraud will have alleged victims in
multiple states. Someone sitting in New York may have victims who live in New Jersey,
Florida or California. In all likelihood, he is going to be charged in New
York. Under the new Epstein rule the case may not be over once he resolves his
case in New York be it through a plea deal, an acquittal or even a guilty
verdict. Imagine if the defendant in New York decided to plead guilty in order
to put the case behind him. He served his time, gets released and is now ready
to rebuild. Upon release, an overzealous prosecutor in Florida, where one of
the alleged victims resides, now decides that he is unhappy with the deal that
the New York federal prosecutors gave the defendant. They decide to now
re-indict in Florida since there is a victim from that state who also made a
monetary transfer based on the alleged fraud. This is very scary!
The fact that Epstein is accused of the most heinous of
crimes elicits little sympathy from the public. At the same time, we cannot,
and we should have different types of laws and due process for different types
of crimes. The rules have to be the rules whether someone stands accused of
murder or money laundering. Today the New York prosecutors are charging someone
with a crime in what amounts to a do over, irrespective of the nature of the crime.
Do not fool yourselves. If it turns out that there is nothing new in the
Epstein indictments, while-collar defendants are going to have to start bracing
for the possibility of being indicted in multiple districts for the same crime.
This cannot be allowed to happen!
I want to be clear. Jeffrey Epstein should not be a free
man. He is a low life. In this country if a cop does not have a search warrant,
goes into a house and finds a dead body, that evidence is disallowed, and a
murderer walks free. We may not like it, but these laws are in place to protect
the innocent, even if it means a guilty person goes free. I believe Epstein
deserves to go to jail. I believe he should be placed in the worst prison in
the country. I hope his cell mates do to him what he did to those poor girls.
And I hope it hurts. Badly. I just hope
that the reason he goes is not because of crimes that were supposed to have
been covered by a deal, even if it was a bad one. Oh, and Brad Edwards? He also
belongs in jail too!
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