House Oversight Letter Raises Concerns Over Use of 18 U.S.C. § 2255 in Deferred Prosecution Deal with Jeffrey Epstein

—, ' KIRKLAND & ELLIS Honorable Alice S. Fisher November 28, 2007 Page 2 manner in which the USAO has interpreted the settlement process for these identified individuals under the Agreement requires guidance. These areas are more fully detailed below.* First. Federal criminal investigators and prosecutors should not be in the business of promoting civil lawsuits as a condition precedent to entering non-prosecution or deferred. prosecution agreements. This is especially true where the vehicle for the financial settlement under the Agreement requires payment in a lump sum without requiring proof of actual injury or loss — federal authorities should therefore be particularly sensitive to avoid causing a prejudiced and unfair result. 18 U.S.C. § 2255 is a civil statute implanted in the criminal code; in contrast to all other criminal restitution statutes, § 2255 fails to correlate payments to specific injuries or losses. Instead, the statute presumes that victims have sustained damages of at least a minimum lump sum without regard to whether the complainants suffered actual medical, psychological or other forms of individualized harm. We presume that it is for this reason that 18 U.S.C. § 2255 has never before been employed in this manner in connection with a non-prosecution or, as here, a deferred prosecution agreement. In short, the USAO is operating in uncharted territory. Second, 18 U.S.C. § 2255 creates the potential for compromising witness testimony. Although generally the Government may promise or provide traditional consideration to potential witnesses, employing a civil statute that promises a lump sumi payment to potential Witnesses without proof of actual liability or damage provides an extraordinary incentive that is incompatible with the truth-seeking functions of the criminal justice system. Guidelines or other policy directives should be considered to control the extent to which witnesses are informed by - investigators about the availability of such financial windfalls. Additionally, an inquiry is necessary in this specific case to assure that disclosures to potential witnesses did not undermine the reliability of the results of the federal criminal investigation of Mr. Epstein. Third. The USAO has provided no information as to the specific claims made by each identified individual, nor were we provided the names or ages of those individuals or the time-frame of the alleged conduct. The USAO’s reluctance to provide Mr. Epstein with any information with respect to the allegations against him leaves wide open the opportunity for misconduct by federal investigators. In addition, this information vacuum eliminates the ability for Mr. Epstein and/or his agents to verify that the allegations at issue are grounded in real evidence. Indeed, the requirement that a target of federal criminal prosecution agree to waive his tight to contest liability as to unnamed civil complainants creates at minimum an appearance of injustice, both because of the obvious Due Process concems of waiving rights without notice of * In addition to the areas identified below, it was and remains our position that federal prosecution of this matter is entirely inappropriate based on the prior application and legislative histories of the relevant federal statutes. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012657