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I have up until now, not told my side of the story. My attorneys and PR people advised me to just stay quiet, and it will all go away. I have received the same advice for five years now. I realize my silence is now causing collateral damage to my friends and other innocent bystanders. The time has come to let the hounds of investigative reporters loose on those that, driven by money, have made false claims, concocted malicious fabrications, and have expanded their fictions now to include others in my orbit.
I was investigated for soliciting underage prostitutes. To be precise, girls under the age of 18 who were brought to my house by their close friends who worked in local massage parlors or strip clubs(West Palm Beach has scores of massage parlors and happy ending places that routinely advertise in the same local papers that have chastised my behavior)[ see Palm Beach Post classifieds]. I am and have always been a bachelor. I have used massage parlor women, licensed massage therapists, and women with no massage experience. I have never ever used force, coercion, or in fact had intercourse with any of these women.
When the police investigated me, went through my garbage, searched my house, they found sex toys, but NO cameras or camera equipment; nothing in fact out of the ordinary from many homes of single men. There were never any photos of underage girls. Never. A careful reading of any law enforcement document makes that clear. The camera that was referred to in the search warrant, was the camera installed in my house with the help of the local police to catch my houseman, John Allessi; the same houseman mentioned in many articles. He was breaking into my house and stealing money after being fired. The camera caught him in the act. These cameras were the only cameras at my house; security cameras.
The local state attorney, after conducting an extensive investigation and interviewing the girls herself, a sex crimes prosecutor with over 13 years experience, and who had herself authored the more tough legislations dealing with sex crimes, said in her own words, “There are no real victims here. The girls knew they were going to a house in Palm Beach, they had their boyfriends or family members drive them to the house and wait outside, and then they encouraged their friends to go.” Many of the girls interviewed were in their mid twenties, some in their early thirties, and some younger than 18. The girl that the newspapers have referred to as a fourteen year old told the police that she had repeatedly told me that she was 18 and a senior in high school, like many of the massage parlor girls told me, and in her own words to the police, said the reason she said she was 18 was that she was told if she didn’t, MR EPSTEIN would not let her in the house. These reports are available.
The state attorney offered me to take a plea to aggravated assault with only probation. My attorneys told me that it would be forever a blight on my record, and I should refuse the deal. I did so. The state attorney, Barry Krisher, took the unusual step of bringing the facts before a state grand jury. In Florida, this happens most often in capital murder cases, not prostitution in someone’s own home. To be certain that the public would not criticize the outcome, the state grand jury was given all the evidence and returned a verdict of Solicitation of Prostitution. Solicitation, a non-registrable offense which carries with it a sentence of mandatory probation. Mandatory probation; solicitation is one of the few statues that has such a designation. The local police chief, however, met this charge with great disdain. He believed something untoward had gone on for the grand jury to return such a mild verdict after his department had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars examining the behavior of a resident that rarely left his house. Women seemed to come and go, women of ALL ages. Some masseuses interviewed were in their sixties, some were men.
The police chief, unhappy with the decision of twelve Florida citizens that weighed the evidence, took the unprecedented step of releasing the raw police reports to the press. The raw sewage of an investigation not corroborated, or as it turns out, not even transcribed from the actual interview tapes correctly. Before a plea to the indictment was entered and the case was still open, he released the reports and then sent a letter off to the parents of some of the girls and to the FBI asking for their assistance. Only two days after the grand jury decided that I should only be charged with solicitation of prostitution, NOT underage women, not pimping, but using prostitutes as a john, I received my first FEDERAL subpoena. What resulted after a thirteen month investigation and can be read in my non prosecution agreement, was the federal government threatened me with a fifty page indictment alleging that I had broken federal law, though all actions took place in my home in Florida, the women were from Florida, and no interstate travel took place. The AUSA said that my secretary had made telephone calls to the women. Many of those calls were return calls, and the use of the telephone by my secretary to confirm massage appointments, was equivalent federally to some guy surfing the internet, knowing full well that the person on the other end of the connection is under age, and trying to coerce them into some illegal sex activity. The internet luring statute says that someone uses the means of interstate commerce, (in my case it was a phone) to knowingly coerce underage persons into sex. This was the first time in history that this statute would be stretched, twisted beyond all recognition in an attempt to threaten prosecution. I had hired Ken Starr, former Solicitor General; Alan Dershowitz, law professor; Roy Black, trial attorney; Joe Whitley, former assistant attorney general; and Guy Lewis former US attorney in South Florida, to defend me against what each one of them had said was no federal crime. Ken Starr wrote a brief using a federalism argument that made it clear that my crime of being a john could not be a federal crime. It was to no avail. What the federal government required was as follows: They required that my defense team, not the feds, but my team, go to the state attorney and ask that he up my charge to a pimping charge; a charge that carried with it sex registration. They would not give him the facts to support that charge, or give me evidence they said they had that I had under Florida law received money FROM these girls to offer them out as prostitutes. Florida law is very clear, that the pimp must have a financial benefit from the crime. It would be our responsibility to ask the state attorney to up my charge and agree to sentence me to 18 months in jail and a year of house arrest. In the history of the state attorneys office, they have no other instance of someone requesting a higher charge than what the grand jury decided and a harsher penalty.
In addition, the federal government would require me to pay a minimum of $50,000 to each woman on a list of women that they would choose. A list that would be kept secret; no names on their list would be disclosed to my attorneys or myself until I was already firmly in a jail cell. A list that we would not only be obliged to pay money to, but if any of the women did not accept the $50,000, I would be required to pay an attorney, chosen by the government, to represent the women to enable them to sue me; I would have to pay their attorney fees. I would be given the names of the women after being in jail, would not be allowed to appeal this deal, pay women, some of whom I had never even met, and if I chose to fight this deal, I would be threatened over and over with being in breach of my agreement. The attorney chosen by the government to represent these women hired his own daughter, a sitting state prosecutor, who received special leave to represent these women, and though she continued to receive her state salary, billed me over $800,000 in a period of one year to represent women suing me. When my side raised objections, we were told that if we fought this, the government would declare a breach of my agreement and indict me. The AUSA actually filed an affidavit with the court that stated that “The protection from the government that Epstein thought he bargained for really is “illusory”, we can always bring a case against him for the live span of any woman we think has been a victim.”
After serving my sentence, I was sued by many women on the government list. During many of the depositions taken in those cases, the women admitted to the following: they had many other clients, they got paid thousands of dollars a week to work in the local massage parlors and sex clubs, they kept their list of johns in their Bible. Many had abusive boyfriends and abortions way before they ever met me, though they claimed sex assault abuse and various other sex claims. Most later brought their best friends to the house who also claimed the same abuse in the hopes of getting money.
With what the newspapers had called a dream team, each and every lawyer, when they saw the result of the negotiations, said with incredulity, “We have never seen anything like this before”. I had never left my house and the women had not traveled on my planes or to another state. I had never made money off of these women. I was a consumer of prostitution, a john. The government said that they could invoke a statute for travel for the purpose of sex, which would be the equivalent to tourists who sign on to fake web sites advertising sex with minors in Cambodia, Thailand and other third world countries. The government said that they could charge me with traveling to Florida to have sex with an underage girl, even though sex with 16 year olds is legal in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and sex with 17 year olds is legal in New York. They suggested that they would indict me for traveling to Florida FOR THE PURPOSE of having sex with minors. Not withstanding the fact that I had a home in Florida for 15 years, regularly traveled to see my brother, mother and business associates. They said that they thought a novel application could at least get me indicted, unless I took the state plea deal. I had little choice. The crimes they alleged, no matter what the likelihood of success, carried with them a minimum mandatory 10-year sentence. I recognize that I am not a sympathetic figure, and had to decide whether to risk a trial where the jury would see an older man and young women that would be paraded in Sunday school outfits during the trial.
I have shown poor judgment in the past, and have paid a heavy price for those mistakes. I had hoped to move forward with my science philanthropy and helping those less privileged than myself. Then came Scott Rothstein.
Scott Rothstein was the senior partner of RRA . He is currently serving a 50 -year prison sentence for perpetrating the largest fraud in South Florida’s history. He decided that sex allegations made against me could be used to fleece hundreds of investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. He recruited Brad Edwards, a smalltime Ft. Lauderdale attorney who had access to some of the women on the government list. Rothstein forged Judges signatures, hid behind attorney client privilege, secrecty of legal docu, work product, cover letter; giving illegal investigative activity the protection normally reserved for lawyers and their legitimate clients. He falsely told investors that I had settled cases with him for hundreds of millions of dollars, but the women wanted their money right away. If they gave him 30 million dollars now, he could give part of it to the women who wanted to remain anonymous, they would go off into the sunset with their money, and the full payment would be made to the investors. Investors that would be getting 50- 100% return on their money for taking advantage of the same women who allegedly had come in contact with me. Bill Schere, an attorney in Broward, has filed 147 complaints against Scott Rothstein and the firm.
The attorney for the women, aware that I would be loathe in involve innocent friends in problems that were strictly of my own making, subpoenaed names and tried to smear any friend or mine whose name appeared in print previously. They contacted Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, David Copperfield; innocent bystanders with no knowledge of any of my actions whatsoever. I settled the cases rather than forcing both the women and others to be subject to a public questioning of their lives.
It appears that the Rothstein firm had continuing help from the government throughout their civil litigations. Emails received as a result of a recent subpoena show descriptions such as, “received info from current FBI agents”.
The former Rothstein partners subpoenaed my attorney for all correspondence regarding my plea with the US attorney. Though highly unusual, the government sided with the former Rothstein partners and agreed we needed to produce all the correspondence between the government and my attorneys.
During the civil deposition of my former houseman, Alfredo Rodriguez, attended by a new attorney from the Rothstein firm, whose name appears on the record as CARA Holmes, [also appears as Carolyn Holmes, also appears as Kara Holmes], the houseman allegedly said that he had stolen a book from my house with telephone numbers in it that the government wanted. This was in July of 2009. I believe that the attorneys went to outside counsel Kendall Coffey, and asked whether or not they could buy the book for the $50,000 that the houseman had asked for it. THREE months later, the FBI and the same AUSA that had headed my prosecution set up my houseman in a sting. It appears that while using a lawyer from the RRA firm, Brad Edwards, as a confidential informant for the government at the same time that Scott Rothstein was using me and the allegations against me to fleece his victims, the US attorneys’ office was sitting in the Rothstein offices planning a sting operation, while right next door, Scott Rothstein was making off to Morocco in an attempt to flee the country. Alfredo Rodriguez was prosecuted by the same AUSA and received an 18- month sentence; however, it also appeared that on the very same day of his sting arrest, he bought an illegal gun, and was later sentenced to four years in prison. Who Cara Holmes is, and what her role was in RRA is still a mystery to us. She appears to be a former FBI agent out of the Chicago office. She joined the Rothstein firm in May of 2009, and joined the Florida Bar at the same time. She attended depositions of my pilots and my houseman. She communicated regularly with Brad Edwards and the investigators on my case. The email traffic is extensive.
The telephone book that Alfredo Rodriguez had stolen from my house was then turned over(by the government?) to the same attorneys who had been told they could not buy it as they would have been buying stolen property. Brad Edwards, the former partner of Scott Rothstein, then used the purloined book to send out letters to everyone in the book, asking for additional stories of my wrongdoing in the past five years with the hopes of getting new clients. The letter was structured so as to circumvent the ethical rules regarding trolling for clients.
While I was serving my sentence, my lawyers were able to come see me in jail. Only two months after being incarcerated, my in house lawyer came to see me to tell me that we were now conducting an audit of legal fees paid to date. They had discovered that Gerald Lefcourt, my primary defense attorney, had taken out cash to the tune of $800,000, that according to his own accountant, he was not entitled to. He had simply prepared invoices that said, “Please pay another $100,000 or $200,000”. Though he had been asked on multiple occasions to substantiate the bills, his response would be, “We are working full time for you”. I pointed out that his was not the only firm working for me, but he replied, “Would you like me to quit?” He eventually returned over $400,000 over a period of time, as he said that his cash flow could not handle the strain. He said that he was still owed for things like taxi fair, coffee and doughnuts, detailed for $2.53, and would keep $400,000.
I was told that I should hire Guy Lewis, a former US Attorney in the Southern District. Lewis, a southern style gentleman; white suits, fast cars; said he had a great relationship with the current US Attorney, Alex Acosta, and the people in Washington that would potentially need to review what ever happened in South Florida. He wanted a $100,000 per month retainer, and with this, his partner Mike Tein would represent me. Upon review of Lewis’ background, it was suggested that he might now not have the credibility that he had represented, and rumors were that he had been asked to leave the Department of Justice for inappropriate billing. I told him in no uncertain terms that if this were true he would need to tell me, as he was representing my credibility with the government. If he had been asked to leave the Department of Justice, it would dramatically hurt my chances if it were he making my case to senior officials. He swore up and down, as southerners are apt to do, that there was no truth whatsoever to the allegations. Being charged with untrue allegations rang close to my heart, and I chose to side with Lewis. Only after my incarceration, when Lewis and Tein came to see me in a 9’x 10’ attorney room that smelled of urine, and I told them that I was now being sued by many of the girls on the government list, they expressed their regrets and their willingness to help. However, as they walked out down the dungeon like hall with the sound of clanging gates in the background, they were unaware of the security cameras and microphones throughout the hallway. They chose to high-five one another on camera and smile with the comment, “This is going to be a couple more years of fees”. The guards at the jail, accustomed to some of the most heinous physical crimes imaginable, and hardened against most of humanity’s foibles, were caught off guard by the exhilaration of the potential of more fees.
Sex for money; it’s a sensitive subject. The reactions range from Andrew Dworkin the feminist who considers all intercourse a form of rape; man inserting his authority, to Jackie Mason that posits that when a man takes a woman for dinner, many times his real motivation is the hope of receiving sex at the end of the evening. He suggests it is hypocritical for the man to be able to pay the florist for flowers, the doorman for getting a cab, the restaurant for the food, and the liquor store for the gift of wine, but can’t pay the only person that performs the actual sex act without committing a crime. Yes, I paid for sex. I am a john. Yes, I understand that prostitution is a crime and a crime that very few johns have even gone to jail for. I am aware that there are strong feelings amongst many people regarding that crime. Many countries have legalized it, some states have legalized it; many have a policy of no enforcement. New York City has escort services that openly advertise, massage parlors that have neon signs in midtown. In actual fact, the crime of paying for sex at the time of my transgressions was under penal code 230; equivalent to that of jay walking unless the girl was under 15. Yes, under the age of 15. That was in New York. In Florida, the age of consent is 18. Misrepresentation of age is not considered a defense. Even if the girl worked in a sex establishment where one has to prove age to work, if the girl was met in a bar where the drinking age is 21, or shows ID that appears to be valid that she is over 18, that is not a defense. The State Attorneys who deal with this sort of crime on a regular basis reviewed the case brought by the local police, and said in no uncertain terms that there “were no real victims “ in the Epstein case. NO real victims. Their words; they said the women knew what they were doing. They even brought their best friends to Epstein’s house after going there a number of times themselves. How could there be a serious crime?
The AUSA decided that she would protect the young women of Palm Beach. She saw a need for child safety everywhere she looked. She has been chastised twice by local judges for hiding information from and misleading the court, and had a supervisor represent her in front of a judge that would have disciplined her. Her first subpoena to me asked for all my tax returns, my medical records, my phone book, my plane logs.
The women came to my house. I usually exercised every day followed by a massage. Most of the time, I would be on the telephone when a woman was brought into the room. Many times they rubbed my feet or back. I never spoke to them at all, because I would be on the phone. The room was dimmed, and often I would not even see the woman. If not on the phone, I would talk to the woman. NO intercourse ever occurred; most women testified they never touched my genitals at all. NEVER. These depositions were taken as a result of the government supported civil suits against me.