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ultimately ordered that substantial records relating to the USAO’s resolution of the Epstein case
be made public. During the course of the litigation, the court made numerous rulings interpreting
the CVRA. After failed efforts to settle the case, the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment
remained pending for more than a year.
In 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Acosta to be Secretary of Labor. At his
March 2017 confirmation hearing, Acosta was questioned only briefly about the Epstein case. On
April 17, 2017, the Senate confirmed Acosta’s appointment as Labor Secretary.
In the decade following his release from incarceration, Epstein reportedly continued to
settle multiple civil suits brought by many, but not all, of his victims. Epstein was otherwise able
to resume his lavish lifestyle, largely avoiding the interest of the press. On November 28, 2018,
however, the Miami Herald published an extensive investigative report about state and federal
criminal investigations initiated more than 12 years earlier into allegations that Epstein had coerced
girls into engaging in sexual activity with him at his Palm Beach estate.3 The Miami Herald
reported that in 2007, Acosta entered into an “extraordinary” deal with Epstein in the form of the
NPA, which permitted Epstein to avoid federal prosecution and a potentially lengthy prison
sentence by pleading guilty in state court to “two prostitution charges.” According to the Miami
Herald, the government also immunized from prosecution Epstein’s co-conspirators and
concealed from Epstein’s victims the terms of the NPA. Through its reporting, which included
interviews of eight victims and information from publicly available documents, the newspaper
painted a portrait of federal and state prosecutors who had ignored serious criminal conduct by a
wealthy man with powerful and politically connected friends by granting him a “deal of a lifetime”
that allowed him both to escape significant punishment for his past conduct and to continue his
Julie K. Brown, “Perversion of Justice,” Miami Herald, Nov. 28, 2018. https://www.miamiherald.com/
news/local/article220097825.html.
iv
abuse of minors. The Miami Herald report led to public outrage and media scrutiny of the
government’s actions.4
On February 21, 2019, the district court granted the CVRA case petitioners’ Motion for
Partial Summary Judgment, ruling that the government violated the CVRA in failing to advise the
victims about its intention to enter into the NPA.5 The court also found that letters the government
sent to victims after the NPA was signed, describing the investigation as ongoing, “mislead [sic]
the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility.” The court also highlighted
the inequity of the USAO’s failure to communicate with the victims while at the same time
engaging in “lengthy negotiations” with Epstein’s counsel and assuring the defense that the NPA
would not be “made public or filed with the court.” The court ordered the parties to submit
additional briefs regarding the appropriate remedies. After the court’s order, the Department
recused the USAO from the CVRA litigation and assigned the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Northern District of Georgia to handle the case for the government. Among the remedies sought
by the petitioners, and opposed by the government, was rescission of the NPA and federal
prosecution of Epstein.
On July 2, 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York obtained
a federal grand jury indictment charging Epstein with one count of sex trafficking of minors and
one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The indictment alleged that from
2002 until 2005, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims in both New York and Florida
whom he sexually abused and exploited. Epstein was arrested on the charges on July 6, 2019. In
arguing for Epstein’s pretrial detention, prosecutors asserted that agents searching Epstein’s
Manhattan residence found thousands of photos of nude and half-nude females, including at least
one believed to be a minor. The court ordered Epstein detained pending trial, and he was remanded
to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in
Manhattan.
Meanwhile, after publication of the November 2018 Miami Herald report, the media and
Congress increasingly focused attention on Acosta as the government official responsible for the
NPA. On July 10, 2019, Acosta held a televised press conference to defend his and the USAO’s
actions. Acosta stated that the Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office “was ready to allow Epstein to
walk free with no jail time, nothing.” According to Acosta, because USAO prosecutors considered
this outcome unacceptable, his office pursued a difficult and challenging case and obtained a