http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/breaking-feds-explain-sweet-deal-for-billionaire-sex-offender-epstein/nN5WTmFcZRaRXzHZSYWtLP/
WEST PALM BEACH. Federal prosecutors went on the offensive this month, denying allegations that they bowed to pressure from billionaire Palm Beach resident Jeffrey Epstein and his high-priced lawyers at the expense of dozens of teenage girls he sexually abused.
In their first public comment since 2007 — when they negotiated a deal that allowed Epstein to escape federal charges — prosecutors filed hundreds of pages of documents in U.S. District Court, explaining what led to the now infamous non-prosecution agreement that has been decried as “a sweetheart deal.”
Contrary to claims by attorneys representing two of Epstein’s victims in a lawsuit against the federal government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafana said she and her superiors were trying to help the traumatized young women when they agreed to let Epstein plead guilty to state prostitution charges.
In exchange for pleading guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and soliciting minors to engage in prostitution in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Epstein was not charged with any federal counts. As part of the agreement, Epstein had to register as a sex offender and agree to settle civil lawsuits that his roughly 30 victims filed against him.
Getting Epstein to agree to pay restitution to his victims and register as a sex offender were key, Villafana wrote. Prosecutors wanted to assure his victims that they would be compensated and that “other minors throughout the country” would be protected, she wrote.
But shortly after Epstein signed the agreement on Sept. 24, 2007, he began fighting it, she said. He and his legal team, including former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, whose investigation led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, contacted high-level justice department officials. They challenged the terms of the non-prosecution agreement.