Quite interesting legal proceedings. Judge Marra has denied request by Bruce E. Reinhart, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, right of intervention.
Salacious New Chapter in Florida Billionaire’s Sex Scandal
(Florida Center for Investigative Reporting) – For years, the story of South Florida billionaire money manager Jeffrey Epstein — involving allegations of human trafficking, an international underage sex ring, a Palm Beach mansion, a private island in the Caribbean, and an FBI investigation — has been tabloid fodder in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Police referred the case to the FBI. In September 2007, Dershowitz helped Epstein negotiate a then-secret non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which deferred to the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office for criminal charges, court records show.
Brad Edwards, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer, and Paul Cassell, a former federal judge who now teaches law at the University of Utah, filed a Jane Doe lawsuit against the U.S. government in July 2008 [pdf], alleging that that Epstein had committed crimes against their clients, including sex trafficking of children by fraud.
The case, which has been pending for more than six years before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra, initially involved two women, identified as Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2, who said they were sexually abused by Epstein and trafficked as minors.
In June 2007, the FBI delivered to Jane Doe #1 a standard victim-notification letter, which explained that the case against Epstein was “under investigation” and notified Jane Doe #1 of her rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (“CVRA”). In August 2007, Jane Doe #2 received a similar notification letter.
In September 2007, Epstein and the U.S. Attorney’s Office began plea discussions. The negotiations led to an agreement under which Epstein would plead guilty to two state felony offenses for solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution and the U.S. Attorney’s Office would agree not to prosecute Epstein for federal offenses. On September 24, 2007, Epstein and the U.S. Attorney’s Office executed a Non-Prosecution Agreement (“NPA”) under these terms.
Plaintiffs contend that the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not confer with them regarding the plea discussions and, in fact, intentionally kept secret the negotiations and the NPA. From September 24, 2007, the day on which the NPA was executed, through June 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not notify either Plaintiff of the existence of the NPA.
… Plaintiffs alleged that Bruce E. Reinhart, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, “joined Epstein’s payroll shortly after important decisions were made limiting Epstein’s criminal liability” and improperly represented Epstein victims in follow-on civil suits. (DE 48 at 22). Plaintiffs contend that such conduct “give[s], at least, the improper appearance that Reinhart may have attempted to curry [favor] with Epstein and then reap his reward through favorable employment.” (DE 48 at 23). Reinhart takes great offense to these accusation–which he contends are false, irrelevant to the CVRA claims, and gratuitous–and seeks intervention to rebut these allegations and move for sanctions..
Continued below the fold …
On Dec. 30, 2014, Edwards asked to have two new accusers added to the case — identified as Jane Doe #3 and Jane Doe #4.
“There’s absolutely no kernel of truth to this story,” said Dershowitz, who represented Epstein. “I don’t know this woman. I’ve never been in the same place with her. She’s made up the whole story completely from whole cloth.”
…
“Epstein’s purpose in ‘lending’ Jane Doe [along with other young girls] to such powerful people [was] to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political and financial gain, as well as to obtain blackmail information,” the filing alleges.Jane Doe #3 identifies one of the men she was forced to have sex with as Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor and high-profile criminal defense lawyer. “Dershowitz was an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators,” the filing alleges.
Dershowitz denied the claims, describing them as part of an extortion plot. He called the filing “the sleaziest legal document I have ever seen.”
“They manipulated a young, suggestible woman who was interested in money,” Dershowitz said. Dershowitz said he intends to file complaints against Edwards and Cassell. “This is a disbarrable offense, and they will be disbarred,” Dershowitz said. “They will rue the day they ever made this false charge against me.”
