I just finished watching the Jeff Epstein special on
Netflix. It made me sick to my stomach and if anyone reading this wants to avoid
losing their appetite, he or she should not watch this. As a parent of two
daughters, it makes me sick. The whole episode is so incomprehensible. From the
fact that his crimes went on for so long to the sweetheart deal his lawyers got
for him to his ultimate end proves that adage that often times, truth is
stranger than fiction.
There is another part of the story that was not covered in
the Netflix story. It is a story that maybe five people are privy to. It is a
story that I have told to perhaps three people. I am not even sure that I told
it to my own lawyers. It is a story that needs to be told. I share this story
not out of vengeance not out of malice. I share this story because as a father
of two daughters I am outraged. I am outraged at what happened to these girls
and I am outraged that law enforcement either covered up his actions or were
complicit in the crimes. I am also outraged because while it is terrible that
these girls were exploited by Jeff Epstein, while it is outrageous that Alex
Acosta allowed him to get away with it, it is equally abhorrent that they were exploited
for financial by someone else many of
these victims trusted. While I generally refrain from talking about my own
personal case, I feel that this story merits an exception because as I said, nearly
11 years after I was initially implicated in a crime, it is a story that must
be told.
When Jeff Epstein was arrested, I did post a blog about him.
For those of you who missed it, you can read it here: http://www.whitecollarguru.com/2019/07/will-jeff-epstein-walk-free.html.
My personal opinion is that ultimately Jeff Epstein was going to get away with
it. Sure, he was going to be in prison until his trial started and possibly
would have even been found guilty. However, at some point there was going to be
some court, possibly the Supreme Court, that was going to have to tackle the
question of whether Epstein’s deal, flawed as it was, did protect him from being
prosecuted for all of his related crimes that took place prior to 2008. My personal
opinion was that at the end of the day, the law was going to come down on
Epstein’s side. I say this for simple
reason that if it would not, then every person who accepted a plea deal, present
company included, could, in theory be charged for that same crime in another district.
The entire system of plea deal would fall apart at the seams and defendants would
no longer accept plea deals. From a purely pragmatic standpoint Epstein’s deal
was going to stand.
That, however, is not the story I wish to tell today. I am
sure there are many of you who are familiar with my case to varying degrees. But
for those who are not and for those who just do not remember, I was involved in
a case that purportedly was selling what were effectively viatical settlements.
In simple terms, a plaintiff would settle for a payment to be paid out over a
period of time and rather than wait, the plaintiff would sell the stream of
payments to an investor at a discount in exchange for a lump sum payment up
front. This is a common investment pitched by JG Wentworth as well as some
other companies. The types of cases ranged from sexual harassment claims to
class action to employment issues to qui tam cases and the returns were similarly
varied. Unbeknownst to me, and unfortunately for the investors none of the
cases actually existed. Ultimately the prosecutors admitted I had no role in
that scheme but managed to get me to plea to something else, but that is a story
for another time.
I am going to take you all back to the summer of 2009. Jeff
Epstein had recently been released from prison. At around the same time, Alex
Acosta, the person who headed up the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of Florida stepped down to become dean of the law school at Florida International
University. He also started hanging out in Fort Lauderdale with Scott Rothstein
at around the same time. Scott Rothstein was the mastermind behind the viatical
settlement Ponzi scheme. I myself met Acosta at least two times at Bova Prime, a
restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. For those of you who have watched the Netflix series,
you will remember that there are three attorneys representing the victims of
Jeff Epstein. It is my belief that representing these victims and getting their
stories told is of the noblest cases a lawyer can take. One of those
prominently featured is an attorney by the name of Brad Edwards. Coincidentally
enough, Brad Edwards joined Scott Rothstein’s firm in 2009 and was a lawyer
there at the time Acosta started hanging around with Rothstein. Why did Edwards
join Rothstein’s firm? Well according to what I had heard, he was representing
a bunch of victims and his firm did not have the financial capabilities to
handle the case. His clients certainly had hired him on a pure contingency basis.
Scott Rothstein’s firm did, however, have the financial resources to fund the
cases. I imagine for Rothstein, it amounted to the opportunity to earn fees
from these settlements in exchange for funding these cases. Unfortunately, Rothstein,
and it seem ultimately Edwards, and possibly even Acosta had more sinister plans
in mind.
As I mentioned the cases that were purportedly being funded
varied. In September of 2009, a new “class” of cases emerged. We were told that
we were now going to be funding cases that were being settled by a defendant named
Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, I really had no idea who he was, but was told he
had been pleaded guilty to having sex with underage girls, had just gotten out of
prison, and was now being sued by these girls. Supposedly, these girls did not
want to relive the horror of their experience at a trial (who could blame them)
and were willing to settle confidentially out of court for a stream of payments
totaling $20 million. Each. These girls were tired of fighting and tired of
waiting and anyone who settled was willing to sell their settlement for a one-time
lump payment of $10 million. These were by far the largest individual settlements
we were funding and quite honestly the reason for the massive discount was its
size and the number of cases that had to be settled.
Another aspect of these settlements was their
confidentiality in nature. In general, there was little if any information available
about the underlying case, even to me. Here however, suddenly there was a
plethora of information available to me about the Epstein case. I, as well of
one or two of the investors, was permitted to go through court filings and even
read depositions and see exhibits. The investor that I can say for certain
looked at these documents even had a law degree. I vividly remember looking at
a flight manifest from Epstein’s plane that had the names of Bill Clinton and
Prince Andrew listed. While my memory is not as fresh as it was in 2009, I seem
to recall seeing the names David Copperfield, Robert Mueller and Alan Dershowitz
as well. According to Scott, the reason these settlements had to be kept so
confidential was not because of Epstein; everyone knew he was a rapist.
It was the other people who were with him, who may or may not have victimized
these poor girls that were forcing Epstein to keep things confidential.
The issue I had was that these cases were just too big. I
needed more information. I needed to speak with someone who was intimately involved
with these settlements. I told this to Scott, and he arranged for me to speak
with the lawyer who was representing these women. He arranged for me to speak
with Brad Edwards.
My conversation with Brad Edwards was direct and to the
point. I asked him straight out if these were his clients and he confirmed that
they were. I asked him if they were entering into settlements with Jeff Epstein
and he confirmed that they were. I asked him why they would not go to court,
and he told me that the pain of reliving the experience was just too great for
them to bare. I asked why they cannot wait to receive their $20 million and he
explained that they have no money and that they were so traumatized by Epstein that
they needed their money up front. He claimed his clients also did not believe Epstein
would ultimately pay. I then asked him why the discount was so great, and he
explained that since there were so many settlements, it would be impossible to
fund them all if the cost to the investor was greater. He also made it seem
that he was not giving his clients the option to take the stream of payments.
He made it seem that he was telling his clients that if the settle, they also
have to sell their settlement to the investor so that everyone is the same.
There was only one problem with that Edwards was telling me: None of it was
true since none of the settlements, as it turned out actually existed.
We had looked through thousands of pages of documents. We
had read through depositions. We had seen settlement documents signed by Jeff
Epstein. As a result of all of that data as well as Brad Edwards’ confirmation
we had funded at least $40 million in “Epstein Settlements”. But now even years
later I still cannot believe that Edwards lied to my face, that he aided and
abetted Scott Rothstein. Watching him today on the Netflix series, having him
portray himself as a hero to these women made me sick. Yes, to the extent that
he has been their advocate he is to be praised but so should the other two
lawyers featured in the series. Unlike the other lawyers, Edwards exploited his
clients. The question is why. Why did he lie to all of these investors and exploit
his clients in the name of what turned out to be a fraud? Did he do so because he
was getting a payment from Rothstein? Surely, that should have come out by now.
Did he do so simply out of loyalty to
his boss, as many others had done? Did
he do so because Scott assured him it was no big deal? To this day I have no
idea why he did it, I just know he lied to me and as a result of his lies $40
million was lost.
It should not be lost what I mentioned before that around the
same time we were funding the settlements, Acosta appeared in Rothstein’s orbit.
Coincidence? Maybe. I have come to learn that there are no coincidences in
life. In the Netflix series, Edwards claims he was left out of all plea
discussion surrounding Epstein. He appears outraged! Yet, it is totally
unfathomable to me that he and Acosta did not at least cross paths during the
summer of 2009. It is unfathomable to me that Scott did not arrange for them to
meet. It is unfathomable to me that even if he had heard that Acosta was in the
vicinity that he would not have accosted (pun intended) him! The only
explanation is that Edwards is a liar and that he (and possibly even Acosta) were
complicit in Rothstein’s fraud.
Now there is one major problem with my conspiracy theory and
a major reason that I am not to believed. Rothstein, in the years following his
being sent off to prison for 50 years gave a series of depositions. In one of
those depositions he seems to exonerate Edwards and says that Edwards had no
idea that his records were being used to perpetuate a fraud. For me this was
very confusing, and it has puzzled me for many years. It is especially puzzling
in light of the lies Scott spewed about me and many others at his depositions.
Yet for Edwards, someone who lied to me, got a free pass. Sure, it is possible that
Rothstein simply forgot, but why go out of his way to exonerate the man? It
simply made no sense. Today, as I was watching
the Netflix special, it finally came to me. Rothstein had been hoping for a
break in his sentence. He was hoping that by implicating others the prosecutors
would recommend his sentence be substantially reduced. Let us not forget the position
that Alex Acosta had formerly held; he was the US Attorney for the Southern District
of Florida. He was appointed by President George W. Bush. In other words, he
was the former boss of the same people who had the power to reduce Rothstein’s
sentence. Is it really out of the realm of possibility that the prosecutors
told Rothstein to keep whatever dirt he had on Acosta to himself? Clearly,
since he and Edwards were so connected to the Epstein case, any implication of Edwards
would inevitably lead back to Acosta! This is especially so since Acosta left
the USAO and started hanging around with Rothstein at the same time Edwards
starts helping Rothstein perpetuate a fraud. The prosecutors needed to keep
their old boss and by extension out of this mess. Opening up that can of worms
would certainly have reflected poorly on the office given the amazing plea deal
given to Epstein. It certainly would not have helped Rothstein get a reduction!
That is my theory anyway.
It does give rise to another issue and I guess it applies to
every defendant in the Rothstein mess. If the prosecutors were trying to
protect their old boss and by extension the entire office, it does taint the
entire investigation. Prosecutors are able to quite easily steer an
investigation in anyway they can. It would seem, that since Epstein was such a
big part of the Rothstein scheme that the entire office should have recused
itself because of that every conflict relating to Epstein. However, none of
them did so. It does call the entire direction into question and could very
well be a reason for any of the defendants to appeal their convictions. That however
is a side point and not relevant to the story today.
So, there you have it. That is my story according to the
best of my recollection. In light of the series it is a story that I had to finally
put on paper so to speak. I did fund it cathartic to finally get it off my
chest as I had been keeping it bottled up for so long. So, will the real Brad
Edwards please stand up?