WASHINGTON — Ex-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta on Friday blamed everything from evidentiary issues” to uncooperative witnesses for an infamous plea deal that gave Jeffrey Epstein about a year in prison, mostly on work release, for a prostitution rap in the mid-2000s.
Acosta admitted to a House panel he felt “remorse’’ over his office’s controversial agreement involving the wealthy pedophile.
But he blamed “evidentiary issues” and uncooperative witnesses for the agreement during a six-hour grilling before a House panel.
Acosta testified to the House Oversight Committee that prosecutors in his Miami office struggled with the task of intervening in the state-level case, which resulted in just one felony charge, according to lawmakers and staff from both parties.
“One of the things that Mr. Acosta has implied is that in talking with some of the victims, there were some that gave answers that weren’t consistent with others,” Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters during a break in the interview. “Some wanted to cooperate, some didn’t.”
Due to the “weaknesses” of the case presenting a challenge of getting a guilty verdict at the federal level, the US attorney’s office chose instead to seek a negotiated plea with Epstein’s lawyers, according to Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
“Mr. Acosta expressed concern that if the case had gone to trial and prosecutors lost, it would have sent the message that Epstein had escaped accountability and could continue committing offenses,” also stated a readout of the testimony also provided by staff for the Republican majority.
The lead prosecutor on the case at the time had also put out a statement citing “evidentiary issues that could jeopardize a conviction if the case went to trial,” the testimony readout noted.
Acosta’s lawyer said in a statement that his client affirmed “with today’s knowledge, the 2006 prosecution would have been handled differently, as far more is known about Epstein now than nearly two decades ago.”
“The Palm Beach State Attorney’s originally proposed resolution — no jail time or sex offender registration — was unacceptable to Mr. Acosta and his team,” added the attorney Jeffrey Neiman. “Mr. Acosta made clear that everyone at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including himself, believed the victims.
“During today’s testimony, Mr. Acosta took responsibility for approving the final resolution, admitting that relying on the state system was a mistake,” Neiman also said, adding that Epstein’s sentencing and sex offender registry sent “a message to the community that Epstein’s conduct was unacceptable.”
Members of both parties on the Oversight Committee referred to the result as a “sweetheart deal,” with Democrats railing against the “deeply flawed” federal intervention and accusing Acosta of being involved in a “cover up” to benefit President Trump, a former close associate of Epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, said Acosta “stood by those decisions and would not claim any responsibility to the victims and in fact said … he had no knowledge of what happened to those victims even to this day,” Garcia said, noting than many Epstein “went on to abuse.”
“It is our understanding from the victims’ attorneys that there were at least 40 minors who gave sworn statements to the FBI — as part of the investigation, before a decision was made in this case — that they had been raped, abused, and trafficked,” added Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).
Neiman shared that Acosta had “viewed the survivors’ recent press conference and told the Committee they were courageous, confident, and eloquent” and “expressed regret that the US Attorney’s Office’s communication with the victims was not more forthright.”
Palm Beach Police Department detectives had referred the case to the FBI after State’s Attorney Barry Krischer brought the single count in 2006, claiming the indictment didn’t include “the totality of Epstein’s conduct,” according to a 2020 Department of Justice review.
By 2007, Acosta’s prosecutors ended up crafting a non-prosecution agreement that required Epstein to plead guilty to the prostitution charge and another charge off soliciting a minor for sex.
