Multimillionaire Palm Beach sex offender's secret plea deal to be unsealed Friday

Multimillionaire Palm Beach sex offender's secret plea deal to be unsealed Friday Page 1 of 2 PalmBeachPost.com Multimillionaire Palm Beach sex offender's secret plea deal to be unsealed Friday By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 17, 2009 WEST PALM BEACH - Billionaire financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's secret deal struck with federal prosecutors is due to be unsealed and released to the public tomorrow. PRINTTHIS Following requests by the Palm Beach Post and attorneys for some of his alleged victims, the document - improperly sealed in state court - is expected to be unsealed by Circuit Judge Jeffery Colbath. Epstein's attorney has unsuccessfully fought its release in court. Jeffrey Epstein Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein has been sentenced to 18 months for felony solicitation of prostitution following accusations by teen girls. Past coverage • Page2Live.com coverage Post your comments on this story below Share This Story The back room deal with federal prosecutors is potentially all the more interesting in light of the legal powerhouses who have worked for Epstein, including Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr of Bill Clinton impeachment fame. Epstein ended up avoiding federal charges, and pleaded guilty in state court to felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. In July 2008, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail, and later allowed out up to six days a week on work release. Epstein left the jail in late July 2009 after serving not quite 13 months of the sentence, having earned gain time for good behavior. Palm Beach Police began an I I-month investigation of the "international moneyman of mystery," as the New York magazine dubbed him, after they received a complaint from a relative of a 14-year-old girl who had given Epstein a naked massage at his home, an $8.5 million mansion on the Intracoastal Waterway. Police sought and found in poor neighborhoods a variety of tall, thin, model- like young women, who told stories of being recruited, then going to http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title.Multimillionaire+P... 9/17/2009 EFTA00212129 Multimillionaire Palm Beach sex offender's secret plea deal to be unsealed Friday Page 2 of 2 Epstein's home, massaging him and stimulating him - and walking away with between $200 and $1,000. The investigation triggered tensions between poli rs, with then-Chief saying in a May 2006 letter to then-State Attornetill that the chief prosecutor should disqualify himself. "I continue to find your office's treatment of these cases highly unusual," Reiter wrote. He then asked for and got the federal investigation that ended in the sealed deal. "The Jeffrey Epstein matter was an experience of what a many-million-dollar defense can accomplish," Reiter told the Palm Beach Daily News upon his retirement. Epstein now faces at least 20 civil lawsuits filed by young woman represented b rominent torneys. The civil litigation intensified recently with a lawyer for the one of the women, made a request to inspect and photograph Epstein's genitalia. One of the young women - who told police she was Epstein's "number one girl" - described his genitalia as being deformed and "egg-shaped", according to a police record. Attorneys, including former Cirucit Judge William Berger, sought the release of the sealed deal as part of their legal strategy in those civil suits. Epstein has repeatedly invoked his right to remain silent and not incriminate himself when being deposed in the civil lawsuits. The attorneys sought to unseal the deal to clarify whether Epstein faces the possibility of further prosecution, which may or may not impact his right to remain silent. Find this article at: http:,7www.palmboachpost.convlocalnewsicontontilocal_news/epaper/2009/09/17/0917epstein.html F Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article. http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.corn/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Multimillionaire+P... 9/17/2009 EFTA00212130