Epstein sexual abuse known to prosecutors for two years

The Epstein case

Published 3 July 2024
- By Editorial Staff

Prosecutors knew about Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls two years before the 2008 plea deal, documents released by a Florida judge show. The girls had testified about being raped and paid to find more victims for the pedophile.

A Florida judge has ordered the surprise release of court documents from the state’s 2006 prosecution of Epstein, made possible after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill earlier this year allowing the documents to be released to the public.

The pedophile was charged with sex trafficking and rape, which ended when Epstein cut a deal with Florida prosecutors two years later to avoid prosecution on the charges. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to 13 months in prison, a sentence that has been criticized as too lenient.

Court documents show that prosecutors in the case heard testimony that the pedophile, then in his 40s, had raped teenage girls as young as 14 at his Palm Beach mansion. The teenagers also testified that they were paid to find more girls for him.

“Outrageous to decent people”

The details in the record will be outrageous to decent people”, Judge Luis Delgado wrote in his order, according to the BBC. “The testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape — all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant, disgusting, and criminal”.

The judge called Epstein “the most infamous pedophile in American history”, adding that the state’s leniency in the case has “been the subject of much anger and has at times diminished the public’s perception of the criminal justice system”.

“Epstein is indeed notorious and infamous and is widely reported to have flaunted his wealth while cavorting with politicians, billionaires, and even British Royalty”, the judge continues:

“It is understandable that given those reports the public has a great curiosity about what was widely reported by news (agencies) as ‘special treatment’ regarding his prosecution”.

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