This week I read The Miami-Herald's investigative work on Jeffrey Epstein. You can read the articles here, here, and here. These articles detail the horrendous nature of Epstein's criminal acts. Epstein is a rapist, sex trafficker, and connected politically. (Epstein's connections are to both parties.) Local law enforcement in Florida investigated Epstein for various sex crimes and discovered that his crimes were probably more than local officials could handle. Because the local prosecutor wasn't being real helpful, the local investigators asked the FBI for help. And together they were able to build quite a case against Epstein. The problem, however, was Alexander Acosta. He was the United States Attorney in charge of the case.
Acosta cut a deal with the politically connected Epstein. Acosta, in violation of Department of Justice rules, kept the many victims in the dark about this deal. He didn't want them coming to court and persuading an ineffective federal judge not to approve the deal. Under the non-prosecution deal Epstein would serve 18 months in a local jail. With Epstein's connections, he was able to leave jail everyday for six hours "work" at an office that Epstein kept nearby. Epstein's victims were sacrificed by Acosta on the altar of politics. Yes, the prosecutor, who was supposed to seek justice, failed them.
Today, Acosta is serving as the Secretary of Labor. It is disappointing that the Senate, despite knowing about this, consented to the nomination. What message does this send to the victims?
Crime victims in general and sex-crime victims in particular must be able to trust that prosecutors will do their jobs. But here the victims learned a lesson as old as humankind: nothing trumps political connections. And the young men and women building political connections will learn from this that by sacrificing honor and integrity you too can get a plumb political appointment.
Write your Representative and Senators and demand that Congress conduct an investigation into this matter.
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