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- [00:00]
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- [00:54]
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Eric Fudali
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- [01:17]
Interviewer
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Eric Fudali
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Interviewer
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Eric Fudali
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Interviewer
Today we are joined by Eric Fudali, who is a managing partner of the Blum law firm and has also represented and continues to represent close to a dozen Epstein Maxwell survivors. Welcome Eric. Thank you for coming.
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Eric Fudali
Thanks for having me.
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Interviewer
I know this is a very busy time for you and there's a lot of different avenues to pursue, but my first question is after the hearing with Pam Bondi and how absolutely disrespectful and deplorable she was, how did that leave the victims feeling for survivors?
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Eric Fudali
Yeah, I'm not even sure I could call that a hearing. I mean, to me that was just like an extended temper tantrum. But by Pam Bondi, I don't know how else to describe that. It was so bizarre. And what's so strange about this is, you know, for the past couple months or so I've been, you know, almost giving them the Department of Justice the benefit of the doubt and saying this is probably just pure incompetence. No way they are intending to disrespect the survivors. No way they're just intending to protect the potential co conspirators and their potential co abusers. But after that hearing when Pam Bondi wouldn't even like, look at them, I mean, not even, okay, not apologize. This administration is not a very apology oriented administration to say the least. But not even to give them the respect of looking at them in the eye, acknowledging their existence, acknowledging, you know, what they've been through. Just a temper tantrum. I mean, just yelling and pointing fingers and insulting. I'm at the point where I have no other reasonable explanation that this is a cover up. There is zero disregard for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. And the only care above from this administration in this Department of Justice is protecting themselves. I mean, I don't know what other. And protecting their friends. I don't know what other possible conclusion you could come to after viewing that. And for the survivors, it's the same thing. You know, what's so unfortunate about this is this is something they're used to, right? They have been wronged, they have been disrespected, they have been exploited, they have been victimized and revictimized since the 90s. I mean, way back from the, you know, from the Maria Farmer complaint that, that went to nothing. But with the, you know, with the FBI, to the Alex Acosta deal that I could speak hours about how that was a travesty of injustice and allowed Epstein to continue to abuse, to Jeffrey Epstein being able to kill himself while in federal custody somehow. And then of course, Ghislaine Maxwell being convicted and then being transferred to a minimum security resort after she was given a, a platform by Todd Blanche to just make things up. So, you know, it's nothing new for them and it's so profound that no matter how long, how many times they're wronged, how many times are we victimized, how many times some of the most powerful people in the country like Pam Bondi, you know, can, can disrespect them. They still. So they're frustrated, you know, they're, they're, they're angry. But as you've seen and as I think the public has seen for the last, you know, couple of years or so, the more angry and the more disrespect they get, the stronger they get and the more they're going to continue to fight.
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Interviewer
I'm so glad to hear that because it is, it's so alarming how disrespectful she was in that hearing and when they raised their hand, all the people who had not been contacted, and it's my understanding now that other countries, obviously the doj, they came out and said, we're done. Hands off, we're done. You have other countries now launching investigation and asking for witnesses to come forward. Do you, as a, as an attorney for these survivors, does that give you some optimism that justice will come? It just won't be from the United States?
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Eric Fudali
It certainly gives, gives me optimism and I don't want to lose sight of the progress that these survivors have made even in the United States. Right. We are a long way to go in. The way the DOJ has handled this is just atrocious. However, they did get these documents released. It was very clear and I would have said maybe five, six months ago, I would have said no way. This administration wants this story to go away. They are never going to give in. But because of the fight of the survivors, they convinced, Congressman, they convinced almost the entirety of Congress, almost unanimous. They got the Senate, they even got Trump to sign it. I mean, this Epstein Transparency Act. So I don't want to lose sight because there has been a lot of progress from the prosecution, but it's clear from the Department of Justice that there's going to be no real criminal liability for the United States. So yes, we are optimistic that we're seeing some of the other, you know, other countries, you know, actually take this seriously, actually take a pro survivor approach to this, which is in stark contrast to the way the United States has handled it. So yeah, there is some optimism. Of course, myself and my, my clients will absolutely be, you know, participating in any, you know, any lawful investigation, any criminal investigation that, you know, that that transpires, whether it's in the United States or abroad. You know, we want justice and we're not going to stop until we get it.
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Interviewer
Let me ask you what, how can you put pressure on the Department of Justice moving forward? Because there seems to be, like you said, because of the groundswell of support for releasing the documents, you know, 3 million approximately documents have been released, but you have a whole another 3 million that have yet to be released. They're still covering up perpetrators names while allowing victims names to be unredacted. So how do you, as an attorney for the survivors, put pressure on the Department of Justice?
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Eric Fudali
It's a great question. You know, I think the answer is to continue doing what they did and continue doing what everyone has done to get to this point. Remember, there was a strong fight to ever release any of these documents. It took a lot of work. It took a bill to be passed, like an actual bill to go through Congress, to go through the Senate, to Get signed by the president to get these files released. That was a lot of pressure, and that was an enormous feat for the survivors and for the, you know, those who have advocated for the survivors. So my answer to that is to continue to do what we've been doing, but, you know, amplify it up. Continue to call your congressperson, continue to call your representative. Continue to raise the voices of the survivors. Don't let this story go silent. The administration is going to do everything they can do to try to distract, to try to put this story to bed as they've been trying to do for the last six months or so. Don't let it die. Continue to advocate, advocate, raise the voices of the survivors. Trust, you know, the survivors believe, women, believe these survivors and, you know, be an advocate for them because they're trying to drown out their voices. You saw Pambani couldn't. Couldn't even acknowledge their existence. That's sort of a good, you know, almost microcosm for the entire way this administration has treated these victims. Don't let them push them away. Continue to advocate, continue to fight and continue to do interviews like these. Continue to put advocates for the. For the Epstein survivors and for just justice and common sense justice. You know, keep amplifying those voices, and I think hopefully that pressure will continue, continue to mount, and we'll make more change and we'll get true, you know, exposure, accountability, and then ultimately closure for the survivors.
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Interviewer
Can you sue the Department of Justice for the failure to prosecute or what are. What are your remedies against the Department of Justice?
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Eric Fudali
So we're looking into all of those remedies right now. And, you know, I've had a lot of meetings internally at my law firm with our clients and, you know, trying to expl Every avenue of suing the Department of Justice for what, you know, for the catastrophe that this has been, you know, suing district attorney's office, the FBI. The problem is the federal government gets to make the laws as to how the federal government gets sued. And it's not a simple task. There's a lot of red tape. There's a lot of yellow tape. There's a lot of delays filing claims when, you know, there's just. There's a lot of red tape. Now, that doesn't mean we're going to stop it. It's not a deterrence to us. However, I think Congress and the people who are already in power have a quicker and better avenue for that, for that type of thing than we do holding contempt hearings, filing lawsuits themselves. Getting judges to oversee this. We're going to pursue every single remedy we can. But I think it needs to be a group effort with the survivors, the survivors, attorneys and Congress, because the federal government puts a lot of red tape in the way of, you know, lay people suing the federal government for, say, failing to prosecute or using their discretion. It's very difficult. There's a lot of immunity the government has.
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Interviewer
What about civil lawsuits against perpetrators?
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Eric Fudali
Absolutely. So that obviously, obviously, of course, is something that, that we are pursuing. You know, we were, of course, part of the civil lawsuits early on against Epstein, against JP Morgan. And we're continuing, as more and more information is revealed, continuing to consider and investigate certain lawsuits. Obviously, we are finding out, like, you know, like I said earlier, there is some optimism, there has been progress. We are seeing some names, you know, we are seeing names that were previously, you know, secret, revealed as possible co conspirators, as possible, you know, financiers of, of Jeffrey Epstein. And, you know, we're investigating to see whether those people knew, whether they should have known what they were financing. It's important to remember that despite what Alex Acosta did in 2008 or what he didn't do, he did make Jeffrey Epstein a registered sex offender. That was public. So I think Anyone who after 2008 continued, continued to socialize closely with Jeffrey Epstein, continued to finance him, continue to just associate with him in a very close manner, knew or should have known that they were associating, funding, financing, socializing with a registered sex offender who was continuously surrounded by young girls. So I think those people have a lot of questions to answer. And as more and more names and more information are revealed, we are absolutely investigating, you know, very specific people and looking into potential civil lawsuits.
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Interviewer
Okay. I have a question that I've had since this whole. We're going to release the names. You know, when Pam Bondi first came in, she was going to release all. Then she said, oh, there is none. And then you find out they want to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, but they don't want to interview the victims. What are the victims able to create a list and release a list of perpetrators publicly? Like come together, like, say, you know, you have a dozen clients, they put, you know, all the names on a list and release that. What are the perils for them in doing that?
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Eric Fudali
Yeah.
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Interviewer
And is that something that you would consider so.
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Eric Fudali
Good. Great, great question. So we'll start with the perils. The perils are that if they release names, accusing them of sex trafficking or sexual abuse or anything related to that, they could very well get sued by those very powerful people. And unfortunately so in my line of work, what I do as a career is I represent typically women against very powerful sexual abusers, okay, sex traffickers. And sort of the playbook recently for powerful men has just been to sue their accuser into oblivion. Nonstop lawsuits where the, you know, the court's going to find them $50,000, who cares for a frivolous lawsuit. They're going to continue to do it and do it and do it. And if you give them an inch, they're going to take that inch and they're going to sue. And defamation has sort of been the in trend, if you will, you know, lawsuit to file. I've been sued on behalf of my advocacy for my clients all the time, my clients have been sued. You know, it's very ugly now. We take it, but it's ugly. And I think there's a fear when these women do not have the resources of say, these very, very. And now we can see how powerful, powerful men, it can be intimidating. Now, of course, truth is a defense to defamation, but that doesn't mean you don't have to hire a lawyer. That doesn't mean you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. And it's not pleasant to be sued. So that's one of the deterrents, you know, the other not so deterrent is, you know, it's a fair question, of course, because, you know, the women, you know, likely do have this information. But I think the pressure on them to have, you know, the burden on the women to be the ones. Yeah, absolutely. Is just so unfair when the DOJ isn't, is in possession of these names. You know, it's not as if it's just the survivors. Her note, clearly there's names redacted and very suspicious, very salacious emails. We know the DOJ has basically admitted that they have redacted names of potential co conspirators. We've seen the names redacted. So, you know, it's, it's, it's the burden of the Department of Justice. It's the, I mean, it's the Department of Justice, right? This is not the Department of Defending Trump. This is not the Department of keeping Jeffrey Epstein files secret. This is Department of Justice. They should be the ones who are advocating for the survivors. They should be the ones who are releasing these names. They should be the ones pursuing justice, not the ones depriving the survivors of justice.
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Interviewer
No, I completely agree. It's such an it's just another huge burden to put on these survivors. Okay, one last thing. Ghislaine Maxwell, she has that long interview with Todd Blanche transferred to Cushy Country Club Fed and then goes into Congress to the Oversight Committee and takes the Fifth and says she will only release information with clemency if she is granted clemency. What was your reaction to that?
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Eric Fudali
You know, I am sick of hearing from Glenn Maxwell. I think that Todd Blanche quote, unquote interview was a, was a, a re victimization of the survivors. Giving someone who's been accused of perjury, given someone who is a convicted child sex trafficker, one of the most heinous crimes we have here in the United States. Convicted child sex trafficker convicted of tricking 14 year old girls to get into Jeffrey Epstein's orbit because she knew that he was going to rape them ultimately. So she is a despicable person and she did not deserve a platform. She does not even really deserve to be spoken about. I was appalled by that whole thing. And what's even more appalling is that Donald Trump has not ruled it out. You would think any common sense with Donald Trump would be asked, are you considering a clemency or pardon? Any reasonable human being would say, of course not. She's a convicted child sex trafficker. What kind of insane person would be, would consider a pardon for that? So that's even, you know, even more appalling that it hasn't been ruled out. There is even hope that she felt confident enough that she could even request that. Yeah. So I guess, you know, short answer, long answer to your question is, you know, really just sort of appalled by anything that has to do with Ghislaine Maxwell these days. In my opinion, she deserves to be rotting behind bars in a maximum security prison where convicted child sex traffickers belong to.
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Interviewer
Well, and wasn't she also convicted of perjury?
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Eric Fudali
She was accused of perjury. And then I believe those, those, those were dropped because she would, they were ended up pursuing the other charges, the more serious charges of child sex trafficking. So they chose not to pursue the perjury charges as well after they convicted her of child sexual. But she was, she has been accused in a court of law of perjury.
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Interviewer
Okay, final question. As you move forward with these victims, what would justice look like for them?
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Eric Fudali
Right. So it's really three things, I think, and I think, I guess it's a lot. But you can narrow it down to three things. The first is exposure. The number one thing they've been Advocating for is exposure of not just Jeffrey Epstein, not a bunch of redacted names, certainly not their own names, because that's basically what the Department of Justice did. But exposure of everyone who facilitated, who enabled, who turned a blind eye, or at worst, co abuse. With Jeffrey Epstein, full exposure. Second comes accountability. Now, accountability can take a lot of forms. Of course there's criminal accountability. That would be ideal. Civil accountability, or even see, you see some like societal accountability. You have seen, you know, people lose their jobs, people resign, people sell their companies. There's been some real, you know, what I'd call societal accountability, but they're really after criminal and civil liability. Then the third is closure. They'd really like to move on with their lives, you know, as much as they advocate as much they've been fighting and they're going to continue to fight to keep this, this topic, you know, in the news and keep it relevant. So keep more pressure. They would like closure. They'd like to move on for this. They would like to be able to turn on their phones or their TVs and not see Jeffrey Epstein's face or name every single time. And not that have to be their full identity anymore. They'd like closure, but you can't. They cannot have closure without accountability and justice. And they can't have the accountability and justice without exposure. So it needs to be all three and it needs to be in that order. Exposure, accountability, and closure. And I think that sums up really what this fight is all about for the survivors.
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Interviewer
I agree and thank you for sharing that. Please share our support with your clients and as we move forward, you know, obviously, if we'd love to have you back as more things come to light and best of luck to you in this mission. Thanks for being on.
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Eric Fudali
Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.
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- [19:05]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
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