Epstein Accused of International Sex Trafficking Scheme - Public Demands Condemning Documents Unsealed.

Epstein Accused of International Sex Trafficking Scheme - Public Demands Condemning Documents Unsealed

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7/5/2019

Author: 777 Media Source



   On July 3rd, a New York federal appeals court requested the unsealing of judicial documents that are predicted to expose New York financier, Jeffery Epstein, and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, as ring leaders of an underaged international sex trafficking organization. The 2,000 pages of documents ordered to be released comes two days after the Miami Herald persuaded the court to issue a ruling voiding Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement. It was initially announced in a civil court last week that the agreement would NOT be voided.

   Reportedly, Epstein enticed underage girls with massages in order to get them to his estate in Palm Beach only to sexually abuse them and offer money as an incentive to gather more underaged recruits. His water front estate was the perfect guise to lure in his unsuspecting victims who were in the age range of 13 to 16 years old. The operation was shockingly kept under wraps for 9 years having begun in 1997. The now 66 year old Epstein was never prosecuted due to receiving immunity for pleading guilty of lesser charges in a state court in 2008. His co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is the daughter of late publishing aristocrat, Robert Maxwell. Despite fighting to keep the vile documents sealed, Maxwell, 57, has never been charged with a crime. She has been accused of acting as a “madam” of the operation, an accusation she emphatically denies.

   The Miami Herald was not alone in it’s demands to have the documents unsealed. The New York Times and the Washington Post were also included in the request filed in a brief to the court. Social media blogger, Michael Cernovich and Epstein’s attorney, Alan Dershowitz, also demanded the records unsealed. The New York case began in 2015 when Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an alleged victim, came forward claiming that she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell when she was underaged. She claims she was peddled to wealthy politicians, powerful lawyers as well as academics and government leaders alike. After the accusations broke to the public, Maxwell quickly denounced Giuffre as a liar which lead to a law suit brought by Giuffre for defamation of character. It was disclosed by several sources to the Herald that the case was settled in 2017 in favor of Giuffre. Soon after, majority of the documents associated with the case were ordered to be sealed.

   Another defamation lawsuit was filed by Giuffre in April against Dershowitz, who in addition to being Epstein’s attorney is also a Harvard law professor. Giuffre is claiming that Dershowitz falsely gave public statements accusing her of lying for financial gain. Although Dershowitz wants the case dismissed, it is still pending.

   As a part of a November investigation nicknamed “Perversion of Justice”, the Herald headed to court to have the records revealed in January. The newspaper was unsuccessful in it’s efforts as a lower court ruled against them. Regardless of the arguments heard by the appeals court from the Herald, Cernovich and Dershowitz in March, Giuffre’s attorney, David Boises, said,

   “The most important point is the court saying that facts that are brought out in court proceedings that go to improper and, in some cases, unlawful conduct should not be concealed from the public.”

   He went on to say,

   “The court is saying the public has a right to know what the evidence is in cases involving the public interest. Cases of sexual abuse and sex trafficking are cases in which the public has an obvious and compelling interest.’’

   U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided in their ruling that a lower district court was mistaken when it issued the sealing of the New York case. Essentially this allowed all of the involved parties to file everything in secrecy. Judge Jose A. Cabranes stated,

   “The District Court failed to review the documents individually and produce ‘specific, on‐the‐record findings that sealing is necessary to preserve higher values.’ Instead, the District Court made generalized statements about the record as a whole. This ... was legal error.’’

    Judge Rosemary Pooler agreed with the 2-1 decision to unseal the documents but disagreed with how they should be reviewed. The lower court will be reviewing the balance of the history of the case involving summary judgement materials with the exception of minor modifications of perhaps thousands of additional pages. It is said that Cabranes believes the right of the public to be made aware of the evidence of this case is far more essential than the individuals begging to keep the information a secret. He did warn the press to “exercise restraint in covering potentially defamatory allegations,” noting that documents revealed in court are not always factual. He cautioned,

    ”When faithfully observing its best traditions, the print and electronic media ‘contributes to public understanding of the rule of law’ and ‘validates [its] claim of functioning as surrogates for the public.’ At the same time, the media does the public a profound disservice when it reports on parties’ allegations uncritically.”

   Although many are in agreement with the appeal, the decision could still be overturned by two unnamed individuals who are concerned their names may be made public in connection with the case. The victims who want the non-prosecution agreement rescinded faced a harsh blow when federal prosecutors in Georgia refused to set the agreement to the side. The victims are holding fast with the addition of another federal court legal battle which included a 35 page filing.

   In it’s own article published on July 3rd, the Herald revealed that in its letter to the New York appeals court that the “filing means that the Justice Department has no intention of allowing Epstein’s victims and the public to examine the facts of Epsteins’s case and reach their own conclusions.” Herald attorney, Sanford L. Bohrer, believes it’s now more important than before that the court take action in unsealing the New York case. Kenneth A. Marra, a federal court judge in Florida, ruled that the government infringed upon the Crime Victim’s Rights Act because it failed to make other victims of Epstein aware that prosecutors had cast the case away. Marra ordered the prosecution and the lawyers of the victims to come up with a way to rectify the violation. Arguments by both Epstein and the victims’ lawyers are predicted to be filed next week
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   Casey Frank, the Miami Herald’s senior editor for investigations, stated,

   “We continue to believe that justice was not well served by the secrecy cloaking nearly every aspect of Mr. Epstein’s alleged sex crimes." "We are all better off when allegations as serious as those against Mr. Epstein are held up to the light rather than buried.”

   In it’s investigation the Herald outlined the collaboration of federal prosecutors (specifically then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta) with Epstein’s highly influential legal team in order to provide immunity to the New York financier and an undisclosed number of others involved in these crimes against the underaged girls.

   Among the accused is Prince Andrew and Dershowitz both of which have fiercely opposed the allegations. Dershowitz believes that he will be vindicated once documents in the Maxwell file show that he has been wrongly accused.

  In a statement, Dershowitz said,

   “When the materials are unsealed, the public will see the evidence in my accuser’s own words that prove I was framed to get money, and that I am totally innocent, as I have consistently asserted since the day I was falsely accused.’’ “My false accuser’s lawyers will try to spin this, but no amount of self-serving spin can deny the reality of her own written admissions.’’

   Acosta (who is now President Donald Trump’s labor secretary) believes that the deal was fair because of the fact that it solidified the imprisonment of Epstein due to pleading guilty to state charges. It ensured that he would serve time in a county jail as well as require that he register as a sex offender. Ultimately Epstein spent 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail although he did receive liberal work release privileges (which is usually denied to sex offenders).

   Should Epstein’s despicable charges and Maxwell’s vile accusations be reopened for examination? Or did Epstein and Maxwell pay their dues? The public deserves to know the truth but should it come at the cost of the privacy of so many young women who were wrongfully violated? The need for justice sometimes outweighs to desire for confidentiality. At the same time, drudging up bad memories may cause emotional harm to the ill-fated victims. At this point while everything is still pending and under intense scrutiny only time will tell.

Source:
https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232251212.html?__twitter_impression=true