← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
Collaboration or Capitulation: The DOJ’s Colloquy With Epstein’s Lawyers Exposed (Part 6) (4/3/26)
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The back-and-forth between prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida and Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team during the negotiation of the non-prosecution agreement reads less like an adversarial process and more like a prolonged, collaborative...
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what's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick back up with the email chain with Marie Vilafana and the prosecutors and Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers from the original prosecution in Florida. This email was sent by Jay Lefkowitz to Jeff Sloman and Alex Acosta was cc'd. This email was sent on November 28, 2007 Dear Jeff, I received your email yesterday and was a little surprised at the tone of your letter given the fact that we spoke last week and I had thought it was a very productive meeting. I was especially surprised given that your letter arrived on only the second day back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday, and yet your demands regarding timing suggest that I have been sitting on my hands for days. You should know that the first time I learned about Judge Redacted selection of Pothurst and Josephsburg, and indeed the first time I ever heard their names was in our meeting with you on Wednesday of last week. Nevertheless, I have now been able to confer with my client and we have determined that the selection of Pothurst and Joseph Berg are acceptable to us, reserving, of course, our previously stated objections to the manner in which you have interpreted the section 2255 portion of the agreement. We do, however, strongly and emphatically object to your sending a letter to the alleged victims. Without fair opportunity to review and the ability to make objections to this letter, it is completely unacceptable that you would send it without our consideration. Additionally, given that the U S. Attorney's Office has made clear it cannot vouch for the claims of the victims, it would be incendiary and inappropriate for your office to send such a letter. Indeed, because it is a certainty that any such letter would immediately be leaked to the press, your actions will only have the effect of injuring Mr. Epstein and promoting spurious civil litigation directed at him. We believe it's entirely unprecedented and in any event inappropriate for the government to be the instigator of such lawsuits. Finally, we disagree with your view that you are required to notify the alleged victims pursuant to the justice for all act of 2004. First US Code 18, Section 2255. The relevant statute under the non prosecution agreement for the settlement of of civil remedies does not have any connection to the justice for all Act. Section 2255 was enacted as part of a different statute. Second, the justice for all act refers to restitution and section 2255 is not a restitution statute. It is a civil remedy. As you know, we had offered to provide a restitution fund for the alleged victims in this matter. However, that option was rejected by by your office. Had that option been chosen, we would not object to your notifying the alleged victims at this point. At this juncture, however, we do not accept your contention that there is a requirement that the government notify the alleged victims of a potential civil remedy in the case. Accordingly, for all the reasons we have stated above, we respectfully and firmly object to your sending any letter whatsoever to the alleged victims in this matter. Furthermore, if a letter is to be sent to these individuals, we believe we should have a right to review and make objections to that submission prior to it being sent to any alleged victim. We also request that if your office believes that it must send a letter to go to the alleged victims who still have not been identified to us, it should happen only after Mr. Epstein has entered his plea. This letter should then come from the attorney representative and and not from the government to avoid any bias. As you know, Judge Starr has requested a meeting with Assistant Attorney General Fiser to address what we believe is the unprecedented nature of the section 2225 component of the agreement. We're hopeful that this meeting will take place as early as next week. Accordingly, we respectfully request that we postpone our discussion of sending a letter to the alleged victims and until after that meeting. We strongly believe that rushing to send any letter out this week is not the wisest manner in which to proceed. Given that Mr. Epstein will not enter his plea for another few weeks, time is clearly not of the essence regarding any notification to the identified individuals. Thanks very much, Jay. The next email was sent by Jeff Sloman and it was sent to Jay Lefkowitz. The United States has a statutory obligation, justice for all act of 2004, to notify the victims of the anticipated upcoming events and their rights associated with the agreement entered into by the United States and Mr. Epstein in a timely fashion. Tomorrow will make one full week. Since you were formally notified of the selection. I must insist that the vetting process come to an end this. Therefore, unless you provide me with a good faith objection to Judge redacted selection by COB tomorrow, November 28, 2007, I will authorize the notification of the victims. Should you give me the go ahead on Pothurst and Josephsburg Selection by COB tomorrow, I will simultaneously send your draft of the letter. I intend to notify the victims by letter after COB Thursday, November 29 thanks, Jeff. Next email from Jeff Sloman to Jay Lefkowitz with Alex Acosta cc'd Jay, Please accept my apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but I was a little under the weather yesterday. Hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Regarding the issue of due diligence concerning Judge Redacted selection, I'd like to make a few observations. First, Guy Lewis is known for some time that Judge Redacted was making reasonable efforts to secure Pothurst and Bob Joseph Berg for the assignment. In fact, when I told you of Judge Redacted Selection during our meeting last Wednesday, November 21st, you and Professor Dershowitz seem very comfortable and certainly not surprised with the selection. Pothurst and Joseph Berg are no strangers to nearly the entire Epstein defense team, including Guy Lewis, Lilian Sanchez, Roy Black, and apparently Professor Dershowitz, who said he knew Mr. Joseph Berg from law school. Second, Pothurst and Joseph Berg have long standing stellar reputations for their legal acumen and ethics. It's hard for me to imagine how much more vetting needs to be done. Next email sent by Marie Vilafana to Gerald Lefcourt, NCC to Jeff Sloman and Andrew Laurie. Jerry, as per your discussion with U.S. attorney Acosta, I have attached the office's written counter proposal. If you have any questions regarding the terms, please do not hesitate to call. Next email from Marie Villafana to John McMillan, Andrew Osterbahn agent Kuykendall and Jason Richards. Hi all. Here's a revised version of the indictment. We're still doing some proofreading, but I wanted to get some feedback before I start sending it through the chain of command. Can you let me know what you think? Next email is from Andrew Osterbahn to Marie Vilafana and this email was sent September 11, 2007. Will do. When do you plan to submit it? Next email from Marie Vilafana to Andrew Osterbahn on September 11, 2007.
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Probably sometime tomorrow just to Karen Atkinson to get a first read. Then it will go to Rolando and then up to Jeff. I'm still shooting for a 925 for an indictment date, assuming they don't take our counter counter offer. In case you haven't heard, yesterday one of Epstein's lawyers countered with a 15 month in jail for followed by 15 months community confinement aka home confinement and we counter countered with 20 months in jail followed by 10 months community confinement. Here is the agreement that was sent out thanks Drew. Next email was sent by Andrew Osterbahn to Marie Vilafana. This email was sent on September 11, 2007. I had not heard. The counteroffering is is unfortunate, but I suppose it's understandable. Let me know how it goes. Thanks Marie. Next email from Marie Vilafana to Andrew Osterbahn September 13, 2007 hi Drew, sorry to bother you, but the plea negotiations are getting fast and furious. Epstein's lawyers are fixated on this idea of a victims fund rather than having the girls file separate 2255 actions. I know that the reason that they want to do this is not out of the goodness of their hearts, but to keep this stuff out of the public court files, but in some way it'll help the girls too. Do you know anything about how the fund in Alaska has worked out? Did all the victims consent or did the court just do it? Thank you for your help. I also turned in the indictment package to my immediate supervisor today, so I expect some edits back from her before it goes higher up the chain. If you had any thoughts, please let me know. Next email from Andrew Osterbahn to Marie Vilafana and this one was sent on September 13, 2007. Thanks for more information, Marie. I'll get the details on the BOEM arrangements from the prosecutors and get back to you tomorrow. I believe the girls agreed to the arrangement, but I'll confirm that I should have the indictment reviewed by then as well. Next email from Marie Vilafana to Andrew Osterbahn. Hi Drew, I tracked down the AUSA in Alaska and he's sending me the trust agreement and I'll let you know how things go in the morning. Next email from Marie Vilafana to someone whose name's redacted and CC to Andrew Lowry. Jay, it was nice seeing you again. Andy and I talk with Alex and Jeff. We're all satisfied in principle with the agreement, but the office is uncomfortable with the recommended federal charge. Specifically, we're concerned about the effect of taking the position that Mr. Epstein's house is in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and we have no evidence of any assaults occurring either on Mr. Epstein's plane or offshore from his residence. We're hoping that you can find an alternative federal statute that can be used. I will also wait to hear from Jack Goldberger to discuss logistics. Thank you. Marie Vilafana. Next email from Jay Lefkowitz to Marie Vilafana. Andy meant to copy you on my first attempt to respond to Marie. We appreciate the courtesy of today's meeting and your agreement and Alex's. We understand the concerns you are raising and will work over the next few days to come up with a mutually acceptable solution. I'll speak with you no later than Monday and in the interim we can come up with a solution. We will be in touch with you. Next email from Jay Lefkowitz to Marie Villefana on September 13, 2007. Marie, are you free to speak at 9:00am tomorrow? Next email from Marie Vilafana to Jay Lefkowitz. September 13, 2007. Hi Jay. Yeah, I am. I've been spending some quality time with Title 18 looking for misdemeanors. Do you want to take a look at US Code 18, 403, US Code 18, 15, 12D and 47 USC 223A, 1 and B and we can talk about them tomorrow. I know that someone mentioned there being activity on an airplane. I just want to make sure that there is factual basis for the plea that the agents can confirm. I'm not sure exactly where I'll be tomorrow morning, so is it alright if I call you? Have a good morning. The next and final email from Jay Lefkowitz to Marie Villafauna. Sounds good. I will be at home. Let's talk at 9am Already thinking about the same statutes. Look forward to speaking in the morning. Best J. Alright folks, so that completes this thread. But when I tell you that we haven't even scratched the surface yet, we I mean it. We have so many documents to go over that it's not even funny. So we're going to continue to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And when we have slow news days like today, we're going to have more files added to the catalog. As for this one, well, all the information that goes with it can be found in the Description box.
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This week with digital coupons at Safeway and Albertsons, get beef rib roast for 7.97 per pound member price with minimum purchase of 50 or more in a single transaction. Exclusions apply. See Store for details and broccoli, cauliflower or russet potatoes are $0.97 per pound member price limit £6 plus selected sizes and varieties of Lucerne butter cheese or Philadelphia cream cheese are 197 each member price. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.