HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018923 FD-919 (Rev. 06-05-2003) FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Precedence: ROUTINE To: Miami Date: 08/08/2006 From: Miami PB2/Palm Beach County Resident Agency Contact: Approved By: Drafted By: Case ID #: 31E-MM-108062 (Pending) 188B-MM-105207-C (Pending) Title: VICTIM NOTIFICATION FORM b 6 b7C Synopsis: To document victim information. Please refer to the Victim Notification System for the additional pertinent information on the following victims-I Reference: 31E-MM-108062 Serial 1 Details: VnsCase#: CAgtName: PContact: BusName : BusEIN : BusAcct : VicFirN : VicMidN : VicLastN: SSAN • VicDate : VicDOD : VicMinor: DOB • Race Sex 31E-MM-108062 b 6 b7C 41 9’1? 3 /6- HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018924 .k)-B60 (Rev. 5-8-81) 9 • Mount Clipping in Space Below) Expert: Ignorance of age isn’t defense in sex cases By LARRY KELLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Even if Palm Beach money manager Jeffrey Epstein didn’t know that girls who police say gave him sexual massages at his Intracoastal home were under the legal age, that alone wouldn’t have exempted him from criminal charges of sexual activity with minors. “Ignorance is not a valid defense,” said Bob Delde, a legal skills professor who was a Lake City prosecutor for nearly 30 years, half of that time specializing in sex crimes against children. “There is no knowledge element as far as the age is concerned,” Dekle said. After an 11-month investigation, Palm Beach . police said there was probable cause to charge Epstein, 53, with unlawful sex acts with a minor Epstein: Two politicians have returned donations since he was charged with soliciting minors. and lewd and lascivious molestation. They contend that Epstein — friend of the rich and famous and financial patron of Democratic Party organizations and candidates— committed those acts with five underage girls. In the past week, New York Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer has returned about $50,000 in campaign contributions he received from Ep- stein, and Mark Green, a candidate to replace Spitzer in See EPSTEIN, 5B 10- (Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) 1B / 5B / The Palm Beach Post West Palm Beach, FL Date: 8/5/2006 Edition: Title: ExpertL Ignorance of age isn’t defense in sex cases Character or Classification: 31E-MM-1 08062 Submitting Office: MM Indexing: al lq H, 11 HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018925 Lawyer: Jur° often believe &hilts over kids 10- EPSTEIN from 1B his current job, has returned $10,000 to him because of the Palm Beach scandal, the New York Daily News has reported. Rather than file charges, the state attorney’s office presented the case to a county grand jury. The panel indicted Epstein last week on a single, less serious charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. The case raised eyebrows because the state attorney’s office rarely, if ever, kicks such charges to a grand jury. And it increases the difficulty of prosecuting child sex abuse cases, especially when the defendant is enormously wealthy and can hire highpriced, top-tier lawyers. At least one of Epstein’s alleged victims told police he knew she was underage when the two of them got naked for massages and sexual activity. She was 16 years old at the time and said Ep- stein asked her questions about her high school, according to police reports. A girl who, said she met Epstein when she was 15 said he told her if she told anybody what happened at his house, bad things could happen, the police reports state. Epstein’s youngest alleged victim was 14 when she says she gave him a massage that included some sexual activity. She is now 16. The girl’s father says he doesn’t know whether she told Ep- stein her age. “My daughter has kept a lot of what happened from me because of sheer embarrassment,” he said. “But she very much looked 14. Any prudent man would have had second thoughts about that” Defense attorney Jack Goldberger maintains that not only did Epstein pass a polygraph test showing he did not know the girls were minors, but their stories weren’t credible. The state attorney’s office also implied that their credibility was an issue when it decided not to charge Epstein directly, but instead give the case to the grand jury. “A prosecutor has to look at it in a much broader fashion,” a state attorney’s spokesman said last week. Epstein hired Harvard law Professor Alan Dershowitz when he became aware he was under investigation, and Dershowitz gave prosecutors information that some of the alleged victims had spoke of using alcohol and marijuana on a popular Web site, according to a Palm Beach police report. Prosecutors typically consider two things in deciding whether to charge somebody with sex-related offenses against minors — whether there is sufficient evidence and whether there is a public interest in doing so, Delde said. Child sex abuse cases often are difficult to prosecute, an attorney says. If two teens are in a sexual relationship and the boy turns 18 before the girl, he could be charged with a sex crime if the sex continues. There would be no public interest in pursuing that, Dekle said. But where there is a large gap in ages — and especially in cases of teachers with students — there is a public interest in prosecuting, he said. Likewise if the accused has a track record of sex with minors. Still there is a “universal constant” in prosecuting these cases, Dekle said. Men who exploit underage children for sex often carefully choose their victims in ways . that will minimize the risk to them, he said. Victims usually are from a lower social status, and they may suffer from psychological problems, Dekle said. “Lots of child sexual abuse victims have been victimized by multiple people over a period of time. Then the act of abuse produces behavior in the victims that further damages their credibility.” Examples include promiscuous behavior and drug abuse. Some of the alleged victims in the Epstein case returned to his home multiple times for the massage sessions and the $200 to $300 he typically paid them per visit “That would be a definite problem for the prosecutor,” said Betty Resch, who prosecuted crimes against children in Palm Beach County for five years and now is in private practice in Lake Worth. “The victim becomes less sympathetic” to a jury, Resch said. “But she’s a victim nevertheless. She’s a kid.” Most men charged with sex crimes against minors look normal, Dekle said. A jury expecting to see a monster seldom will. And the victims’ ages work against them and in favor of the defendant in a trial, Dekle said. If a child and an adult tell different stories and both swear they’re telling the truth, adult jurors are more likely to believe the adult, Dekle said. “You have all these things working againstyou in a child sex abuse case. Prosecutors normally try to be very careful in filing those cases because they know what they’re getting into. There is no such thing as an iron-clad child sexual abuse case.” 0 lany_keller@pbpostcom HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018926 Palm Beach chief focus of fire in Epstein case Defendant’s lawyers take him on; he slams state attorney By LARRY KELLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer In the case of Pahn Beach financier Jeffrey Ep- stein, it seems, attimes, as if two men are accused of wrongdoing: Epstein and Palm Beach Police Chief Ti -V) ON) -pH -9 lq Michael Reiter. Epstein, 53, was indicted lastmonth on a charge of felony solicitation of prostitution solely because of Re- iter’s “craziness,” one of Epstein’s lawyers said. His department disseminated “a distorted view of the case” and behaved in a “childish” manner when the grand jury didn’t indict Ep- stein on the charges it sought, another Epstein lawyer complained. To hear the Epstein camp tell it, Reiter, 48, is a loose cannon better suited to be the sheriff of Mayberry. They whisper that he’s embroiled in a messy divorce. Reiter did in fact file for divorce from his wife, Jill, last year, after 24 years of marriage. They have a son, 18, and a daughter, 14. The , couple is scheduled to go to mediation Wednesday. Nothing in the court file suggests their split is particularly ugly. Reiter incurred the wrath of the Epstein camp as well as the state attor- See REEFER, 7B 10. (moles aoeds u! 6uldd1101unoN • • Co- - CM CD 4’ (in co aseo umsd2 el eig jo snool ALP 110eaEl wled co co .c4) CO 6 R. CD .7‘ CD CD 0 DO •-• CD ca 2 03 CD CD 52. 0 CD SD .4, 0 (1) 0 CO HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018927 Colleagues cite chief’s professionalism, REITER from 1B ney’s office for two reasons. First, he pressed for Epstein to be charged with the more serious crimes of sexual activity with minors. Second, he slammed State Attorney Barry Krischer in blunt language seldom used by one lawetforcement official concerning another because of what he perceived as that office’s mishandling of the case. In a letter to Krischer irritten May 1, Reiter called hig actions in the Epstein case “highly unusual.” He added, “I must urge you to. consider if good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from the prosecution of these cases.” , In short, Reiter told the county’s top prosecutor for the past 13 years that he ought to get off the ‘case. “It looks like a departure from professionalism,” Miami- Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said of Reiter’s letter. Following Epstein’s indictment, Reiter referred the case to the FBI to determine whether the super-rich, super-connected defendant had violated any federal laws. Reiter won’t discuss the case or the broadsides aimed at him. But others almost uniformly use one word to describe the chief: professional. “I have always been impressed by Mike’s professionalism and his leadership,” said Rick Lincoln, chief of the Lantana Police Department and a Palm Beach County cop for 32 years. “The town of Palm Beach has a very professional police department. We all consider Mike to be our peer and a man of integrity.” Reiter: Town Manager Peter Elwell says the Palm Beach police chief’s well worth his $144,000 salary. Juno Beach Police Chief H.C. Clark II agreed. Al- though he doesn’t know Re- iter well, he has met with him on countywide law enforcement issues. “I’ve never seen him lose his cool. I’ve never seen anything but a professional demeanor from him.” Reiter joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1981, leaving a $20,000-a-year patrol job at the University of Pittsburgh. His personnel jacket shows consistently excellent job evaluations. Posh Palm Beach is no hotbed of crime, and in his first year on the job, a resident confined to his home with a sick child thanked Re- iter for delivering a few Cokes to the house. Reiter refused payment for the beverages. Another resident thanked Reiter for shutting off his car’s headlights in his driveway, saying a valet must have been at fault. Reiter worked everything from road patrol to organized crime, vice and narcotics. And he’s no novice at investigations involving the island’s rich and famous. He was the lead detective probing the drug overdose death of David Kennedy in 1984. He also was one of the officers who worked the investigation of William Kennedy Smith, who was charged in 1991 — and later acquitted — with. raping a woman at the Kennedy family compound in Palm Beach. Reiter, who has a master’s degree in human resource integrity development from Palm Beach Atlantic University, also has attended the FBI Na- tional Academy in Quantico, Va., and management coursift es at Harvard. He’s been active in countywide interagency law enforcement organizations and has a “top secret” national security clearance. “He has a perspective thafs broader than just addressing the needs of the town,” said Town Manager Peter Elwell, who promoted Reiter from assistant chief to chief in March 2001. Reiter makes more than $144,000 as the town’s top cop. Elwell thinks he’s worth it. “He’s very businesslike, very straightforward. He’s not easily agitated or flamboyant He’s about the work,” Elwell said. “I think that his service as chief has been outstanding in five-plus years.” Q larry_kellegpbpog.com HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018928 The man who had everythm if a (mope eoecis Li! 6ulddlio lunovl • (37 5 91 03 (D X Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion at 358 El Brillo Way. f;! Jeffrey Epstein craved big homes, elite friends and, investigators say, underage girls By ANDREW MARRA, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 0 Di 2, 0 CY. CD •.(D 5: peg 01.1M uew eqi HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018929 Jeffrey Epstein has donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates’ campaigns, including John Kerry’s presidential bid, the reelection campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and the Senate bids of Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Charles Schumer. WINGED GARGOYLES guarded the gate at Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Inside, hidden cameras trolled two rooms, while the girls came and went. For the police detectives who sifted through the garbage outside and kept records of visitors, it was the lair of a troubling target. Epstein, one of the most mysterious of the country’s mega-rich, was known as much for his secrecy as for his love of fine things: magnificent homes, private jets, beautiful women, friendships with the world’s elite. But at Palm Beach police headquarters, he was becoming known for something else: the regular arrival of teenage girls he hired to give him, massages and, police say, perform sexual favors. Epstein was different from most sexual abuse suspects; he was far more powerful. He counted among his friends former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, along with some of the most prominent legal, scientific and business minds in the country. When detectives started See EPSTEIN, 6A 0- Epstein’s mysterious lifestyle began to unravel after claims of sexual activity with minors. HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018930 A life of luxury and secrecy TINA FINEBERG/The Assoc:ad Press Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse dominates a block on the Upper East Side. Mow!)lt to be the largest private residence in Manhattan, it is reported to have closed-circuit television and a heated sidewalk to melt fallen snow. Powerful legal team tymies detectives. Women in his life Ghislaine Maxwell, a fixture at elite parties and the intensely private daughter of a media tycoon, dated Epstein in the 1990s, ‘I’m like a Heidi Reiss.’ told police she took at least six girls to visit Epstein, all between the ages of 14 and 16. PalmBeachPostcom Read previous stories on the Epstein investigation. HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018931 EPSTEIN from .1A asking questions and teenage girls started talking, a wave of legal resistance followed. If Palm Beach police didn’t know quite who Jeffrey Epstein was, they found out soon enough. Epstein, now 53, was a quintessential man of mystery. He amassed his fortune and friends quietly, always in the background as he navigated New York high society. When he first attracted notice in the early 1990s, it was on account of the woman he was dating: Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late British media tycoon Robert Maxwell. In a lengthy article, headlined ‘The Mystery of Ghislaine Maxwell’s Secret Love,” the British Mail on Sunday tabloid laid, out speculative stories that the socialite’s beau was a CIA spook, a math teacher, a concert pianist or a corporate headhunter. “But what is the truth about him?” the newspaper wondered. “Like Maxwell, Epstein is both flamboyant and intensely private.” The media frenzy did not begin in full until a decade later. In September 2002, Epstein was flung into the limelight when he flew Clinton and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker to Africa on his private jet Suddenly everyone wanted to know who Epstein was. New York magazine and Vanity Fair published lengthy profiles. The New York Post listed him as one of the city’s most eligible bachelors and began describing him in its gossip columns with adjectives such as “mysterious” and “reclusive.” Although Epstein gave no interviews, the broad strokes of his past started to come into focus. Building a life of extravagance He was born blue-collar in 1953, the son of a New York City parks department employee, and raised in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood. He left college without a bachelor’s degree but became a math teacher at the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan. The story goes that the father of one of Epstein’s students was so impressed with the man that he put him in touch with a senior partner at Bear Stearns, the global investment bank and securities firm. In 1976, Epstein left Dalton for a job at Bear Stearns. By the early 1980s, he had started J. Epstein and Co. That is when he began making his millions in earnest. Little is known or said about Epstein’s business except this: Re manages money for the extremely wealthy. He is said to handle accounts only of $1 billion or greater. It has been estimated he has roughly 15 clients, but their identities are the subject of only speculation. All except for one: Leslie Wexner, founder of The Limited retail chain and a former Palm Beacher who is said to have been a mentor to Epstein. Wexner sold Epstein one of his most lavish residences: a massive townhouse that dominates a block on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It is reported to have, among its finer features, closed-circuit television and a heated sidewalk to melt away fallen snow. That townhouse, thought to be the largest private residence in Manhattan, is only a piece of the extravagant world Epstein built over time. In New Mexico, he constructed a 27,000-square-foot hilltop mansion on a 10,000-acre ranch outside Santa Fe. Many believed it to be the largest home in the state. In Palm Beach, he bought a waterfront home on El Brill° Way. And he owns a 100-acre private island in the Virgin Islands. Perhaps as remarkable as his lavish homes is his extensive network of friends and associates at the highest echelons of power. This includes not only socialites but also business tycoons, media moguls, politicians, royalty and Nobel Prizewinning scientists whose research • he often funds. “Just like other people collect art, he collects scientists,” said Martin Nowak, who directs the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University and was reportedly the recipient of a $30 million research donation from Epstein. Epstein is said to have befriended former Harvard President I.Arry Summers, prominent law Professor Alan Dershowitz, Donald Trump and New York Daily News Publisher Mort Zuckerman. And yet he managed for decades to maintain a low profile. He avoids eating out and was rarely photo- -grahed. “The odd thing is I never met him,” said Dominick Dunne, the famous chronicler of the trials and tribulations of the very rich. “I wasn’t even aware of him,” except for Vanity Fair article. Epstein’s friendship with Clinton has attracted the most attention. Epstein met Clinton as early as 1995, when he paid tens of thousands of dollars to join him at an intimate fund-raising dinner in Palm Beach. But from all appearances, they did not become close friends until after Clinton left the Oval Office and moved to New York. Epstein has donated more than $100,000 to Democratic candidates’ campaigns, including John Kerry’s presidential bid, the reelection campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and the Senate bids of Joe Lieberman, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christopher Dodd and Charles Schumer. Powerful friends and enemies A Vanity Fair profile found cracks in the veneer of Epstein’s life story. The 2003 article said he left Bear Stearns in the wake of a federal probe and a possible Securities and Exchange Commission violation. It also pointed out that Citibank once sued him for defaulting on a $20 million loan. The article suggested that one of his business mentors and previous employers was Steven Hoffenberg, now serving a prison term after “bilking investors out of more than $450 million in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history.” As he amassed his wealth, Epstein made enemies in disputes both large and small. He sued the man who in 1990 sold him his multimillion-dollar Palm Beach home over a dispute about less than $70,000 in furnishings. HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018932 •c=q. \rmer friend claimed Epstein A cro:,-ti out of a promise to reimgurse him hundreds of thousands of dollars after their failed investment in Texas oil wells. A judge decided Epstein owed him nothing. “It’s a bad memory. I would rather not have ever met Jeffrey Epstein,” said Michael Stroll, the retired former president of Williams Electronics and Sega Corp. “Suffice it to say I have nothing good to say about him.” Among the characteristics most attributed to Epstein is a penchant for women. He has been linked to Maxwell, a fixture on the high-society party circuits in both New York and London. Previous girlfriends are said to include a former Ms. Sweden and a Romanian model. “He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Donald Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” Investigation leads to Epstein Although he was not a frequenter of the Palm Beach social scene, he made his presence felt. Among his charitable donations, he gave $90,000 to the Palm Beach Police Department and $100,000 to Ballet Florida. In Palm Beach, he lived in luxury. Three black Mercedes sat in his garage, alongside a green Harley- Davidson. His jet waited at a hangar at Palm Beach International Airport: At home, a private chef and a small staff stood at the ready. From a window in his mansion, he could look out on the Intracoastal Waterway and the West Palm Beach skyline. He seemed to be a man who had everything. But extraordinary wealth can’ fuel extraordinary desires. 411 In March 2005, a worried mother In Palm Beach police. She said another parent had overheard a conversation between their children. Now the mother was afraid her 14-year-old daughter had been molested by a man on the island. The phone call triggered an extensive investigation, one that would lead detectives to Epstein but I leave them frustrated. Palm Beach police and the state attorney’s office have declined to discuss the case. But a Palm Beach police report detailing the criminal probe offers a window into what detectives faced as they sought to close in on Epstein. Detectives interviewed the girl, who told them a friend had invited her to a rich man’s house to perform a massage. She said the friend told her to say she was 18 if asked. At the house, she said she was paid $300 after stripping to her panties and massaging the man while he masturbated. Police interview 5 alleged victims The investigation began in full after the girl identified Epstein in a photo as the man who had paid her. Police arranged for garbage trucks to set aside Epstein’s trash so police could sift through it. They set up a video camera to record the comings and goings at his home. They monitored an airport hangar for signs of his private jet’s arrivals and departures. They quickly learned that the woman who took the 14-year-old girl to Epstein’s house was Haley Robson, a Palm Beach Community College student from Loxahatchee. In a sworn statement at police headquarters, Robson, then 18, admitted she had taken at least six girls to visit Epstein, all between the ages of 14 and 16. Epstein paid her for each visit, she said. During the drive back to her house, Robson told detectives, “I’m like a Heidi Fleisa” Police interviewed five alleged victims and 17 witnesses. Their report shows some of the girls said they had been instructed to have sex with another woman in front of Epstein, and one said she had direct intercourse with him. In October, police searched the Palm Beach mansion. They discovered photos of naked, young-looking females, just as several of the girls had described in interviews. Hidden cameras were found in the garage area and inside a clock on Epstein’s desk, alongside a girl’s high school transcript. • Two of Epstein’s former employees told investigators that young-looking girls showed up to perform massages two or three times a day when Epstein was in town. They said the girls were permitted many indulgences. A chef cooked for them. Workers gave them rides and handed out hundreds of dollars at a time. One employee told detectives he was told to send a dozen roses to one teenage girl after a high school drama performance. Others were given rental cars. One, according to police, received a $200 Christmas bonus. The cops moved to cement their case. But as they tried to tighten the noose, they encountered other forces at work. In Orlando they interviewed a possible victim who told them nothing inappropriate had happened between her and Epstein. They asked her whether she had spoken to anyone else. She said yes, a private investigator had asked her the same questions. When they subpoenaed one of Epstein’s former employees, he told them the same thing. He and a private eye had met at a restaurant days earlier to go over what the man would tell investigators. Detectives received complaints that private eyes were posing as police officers. When they told Epstein’s local attorney, Guy Fronstin, he said the investigators worked for Roy Black, the high-powered Miami lawyer who has defended the ’ likes of Rush Limbaugh and William Kennedy Smith. While the private eyes were conducting a parallel investigation, Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor, traveled to West Palm Beach with information about the girls. From their own profiles on the popular Web site MySpace.com, he obtained copies of their discussions about their use of alcohol and marijuana. He took his research to a meeting with prosecutors in early 2006, where he sought to cast doubt on the teens’ reliability. — The private eyes had dug trip HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018933 enough dirt on the girls to m e prosecutors skeptical. Not only did some of the girls have issues with drugs or alcohol but also some had criminal records and other troubles, Epstein’s legal team claimed. And at least one of them, they said, lied when she told police she was younger than 18 when she started performing massages for Epstein. After the meeting, prosecutors postponed their decision to take the case to a grand jury. In the following weeks, police received complaints that two of the victims or their families had been harassed or threatened. Epstein’s legal team maintains that its private investigators did nothing illegal or unethical during their research. By then, relations’ between police and prosecutors were fraying. At a key meeting with prosecutors and the defense, Detective Joseph Recarey, the lead investigator, was a no-show, according to Epstein’s attorney. ‘The embarrassment . on the prosecutor’s face was evident when, the police officer never showed up for the meeting,” attorney Jack Goldberger said. Later in April, Recarey walked into a prosecutor’s office at the state attorney’s office and learned the case was taking an unexpected turn. The prosecutor, Lanna Belohlavek, told Recarey the state attorney’s office had offered Epstein a plea deal that would not require him to serve jail time or receive a felony conviction. Recarey told her he disapproved of the plea offer. The deal never came to pass, however. Future unclear after charge On May 1, the department asked prosecutors to approve warrants to arrest Epstein on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and to charge his personal assistant, Sarah Kellen, now 27, for her alleged role in arranging the visits. Police officials also wanted to, charge Robson, the self-described Midi Fleiss, with lewd and lascivious acts. By then, the department was frustrated with the way the state attorney’s office had handled the case. On the same day the warrants were requested, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter wrote a letter to State Attorney Barry Krischer suggesting he disqualify himself from the case if he would not act. Two weeks later, Recarey was told that prosecutors had decided once again to take the case to the grand jury.’ It is not known how many of the girls testified before the grand jury. But Epstein’s defense team said one girl who was subpoenaed — the one who said she had sexual intercourse with Epstein — never showed up. The grand jury’s indictment was handed down in July. It was not the one the polke department had wanted. ^ Instead of being slapped with a i charge, of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, Epstein was charged with one count of felony solicitation • of prostitution, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He was booked into the Palm ,1 Beach County Jail early July 23 and ^ released hours later. Epstein’s legal team “doesn’t clispute that he had girls over for massages,” Goldberger said. But he said their claims that they had sexual encounters with him lack credibility. “They are incapable of being believed,” he said. ‘They had criminal records. They had accusations of theft made against them by their employers. There was evidence of drug use by some,of them.” • What remains for Epstein is yet to be seen. The Palm Beach Police Department has asked the FBI to investi- , gate the case. It also has returned the $90,000 Epstein donated in 2004. In New York, candidates for governor and state attorney general have vowed to return a total of at least $60,000 in campaign contributions from Epstein. Meanwhile, Epstein’s powerful friends have remained silent as tabloids and Internet blogs feast on the public details of the police investigation. Gold)oerger maintains Epstein’s innocence but says the legal team has not ruled out a future plea deal. He insists Epstein will emerge in the end with his reputation untarnished. “He will recover from this,” he said. Staff writer Larry Keller and staff researchers Bridget Bulger, Angelica Cortez, Amy Hanaway and Melanie ’ Mena contributed to this story. andrew_marra@pbpostcoth HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018934¶
Epstein camp calls female accusers liars By LARRY KELLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Attorneys and publicists for Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein went on the offensive Monday, contending that teenage girls who have accused Epstein of sexual shenanigans at his waterfront home are liars and saying that the Palm Beach Police De- partment is “childish.” “There never was any sex between Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein any underage women,” his lead attorney, Jack Goldberger, said from Idaho where he was vacationing with his family. Epstein did have young women come to his house to give him massages, Goldberger said. “Mr. Epstein absolutely insisted anybody who came to his house be over the age of 18. How he verified that, I don’t know. The question is, did anything illegal occur. The law was not violated here.” He had no explanation as to why Epstein would pay girls or women with no massage training — as the alleged victims said was the case — $200 to $300 for their visits. “The credibility of these witnesses has been seriously ques- ‘Mr. Epstein absolutely insisted anybody who came to his house be over the age of 18.’ JACK GOLDBERGER, Epstein’s lead attorney tioned,” Goldberger said. Epstein, 53, was indicted by a county grand jury last month on a charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. Af- ter an 11-month investigation that included sifting through Epstein’s trash and surveilling his home, Palm Beach police concluded there was enough evidence to charge him with sexual activity with minors. When the grand jury indicted Epstein on the less serious charge, Police Chief Michael Reiter referred the case to the FBI to determine whether there were federal law violations. After a spate of stories about the case last week, New York publicist Dan Mores — whose client list has included Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez — said on Saturday that Ep- stein’s camp was ready “to get , their story out.” See EPSTEIN, 9B 10- CD X CO 5. fsg) M 0 0. SD HOUSE OVERSIGHT 018935 Attorney: Police gave media ‘distorted view’ EPSTEIN from 1B • They did that Monday via Goldberger and a Los Angeles publicist for Miami criminal defense attorney Roy Black, who also has represented Epstein in the case. “We just think there has been a distorted view of this case in the media presented by the Palm Beach police,” Goldberger said. Reiter has consistently declined to comment on the case and did not respond to a request for comment Monday. The implication that State Attorney Barry Krischer was easy on Ep- stein by presenting the case to a grand jury rather than filing charges directly against him is wrong, Goldberger said. The Palm Beach Police Department was “happy and ecstatic” that the panel was going to review the evidence. “I think what happened is they weren’t happy with the. result. They decided to use the press to embarrass Mr. Epstein.” But records show that Reiter wrote Krischer on May 1 — well before the case went to the grand jury — suggesting that Krischer “consider if good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from the prosecution of these cases.” Rather than flat-out decline to charge Epstein, Krischer referred the case to the grand jury to “oppease” the chief, Goldberger said. A state attorney’s spokesman would say only that the office refers cases to the grand jury when there are issues with the viability of the evidence or witnesses’ credibility. Both the state attorney and the grand jury concluded there was not sufficient evidence that Epstein had sex with minors, according to Goldberger. “It was just a childish performance by the Palm Beach Police Department,” Goldberger said. The defense attorney said one of the alleged victims who claimed she was a minor was in fact over the age of 18. Another alleged victim who was subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury failed to do so. Epstein’s Epstein investigation Read a letter from Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter to State Attorney Barry Krischer on the Epstein probe. PalmBeachPost.com accusers, he added, have histories of drug abuse and thefts. ‘These women are liars. We’ve established that.” But why would they all invent their stories about meeting Epstein for sexual massages? “I don’t have an answer as to what was the motivation for these women to come forward and make these allegations,” Goldberger said. larry_kelleapbpost.com •¶