← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Defense: How Jay Lefkowitz Tried to Influence Victims’ Legal Representation (3/30/26)
00:22:32
Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team, led by Jay Lefkowitz, attempted to exert influence over how victims would be represented during the federal investigation in Florida. They pushed for a structure where they could help vet or shape the selection of an...
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What's up everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. One of the biggest failures when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein is and the investigation, or so called investigation into his crimes is the fact that he ended up getting that non prosecution agreement. And not only that he received the agreement, but how Epstein's legal team seemed to have led the dance. They were the ones that were setting the ground, setting the rules, and dictating to the prosecution where things were going to go. And for Team Epstein, the whole entire goal was to make sure that this was not a federal case. Because if this was tried as a federal case, Jeffrey Epstein would have went away for a very long time. They wouldn't have been able to control the blast radius. They would have been able to control the witnesses or the process that would have been set into motion. That's why they were so adamant about getting it kicked back down to state because they knew that that process would be a lot easier for them to manipulate the justice system and get Jeffrey Epstein favorable terms such as going home every day, sleeping in the stockade instead of the regular jail, and having a bunch of other privileges that the rest of us couldn't even dream of. And look, we all knew that the fix was in. But now we have the documentation, the emails and the information that backs it all up. And what we're left with is a catastrophic failure by the DoJ, by the state of Florida, and, and by everybody involved. So today we have an article from Bloomberg Law and the headline, epstein's lawyer sought to vet Influence Victims Attorneys. This article was authored by Alexia Fernandez Campbell, Tatiana Monet and Diana Dombrowski, Jeffrey Epstein's defense team. In an effort led by Jay Lefkowitz from Kirkland and Ellis pressured officials at the Justice Department about the legal representation of Epstein's victims. According to files released in January. Look, Lefkowitz was leading the dance, and all these clowns over at Main Justice, Mukazi, Philippe and the rest of them were all maneuvering to get themselves a position when they left public office. And they're all friendly with the people over at Kirkland and Ellis. And how many people from justice ended up working at Kirkland Ellis? Well, I'll tell you, a whole lot of them. Just go ahead and take a look at the roster of lawyers at Kirkland and Ellis. Experts say the defense team's conduct amidst the negotiations for the disgraced financiers 2007 plea deal was an unusual use of influence. Yeah, no, it was. The pressure that they were applying to, to everybody at Main justice, to everybody involved, was absurd and it should have never occurred. And it's one of the main reasons in a whole line of reasons why the NPA should be done away with. Lefkowitz, along with other lawyers representing Epstein, pressed the victim's lawyer to take out of court settlements and to waive their right to sue Epstein under federal law. The emails and letters show Lefkowitz recently announced that he plans to to retire from the firm this spring. I'm sure it's all just a coincidence with all this coming out, but if you've been paying attention, I've been telling you about Lefkowitz for years, and that's because he played a gigantic role in Jeffrey Epstein getting off. And look, it's one thing to do it the way that Diddy's lawyers did, and it's a whole ass other thing when you do it the way that Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers did. Diddy's lawyers, well, they actually handled business inside of that courtroom, and they did a great job on cross examination and caused some reasonable doubt in the mind of the jurors. But that's not what happened with Epstein and his lawyers. Right. Everything was outside of the courtroom. Backroom dealing deals, on the golf course, calling Main justice, pressuring people, and yes, threatening people as well. So it's one thing to be a hard charging prosecutor. Right. Or a great defense attorney that's willing to toe the line. It's a whole ass other thing entirely when you're engaging in that, in my opinion, at the very least, should get you disbarred. Lefkowitz joined Epstein's defense team in 2007. At the time, they were negotiating the plea deal with federal prosecutors in South Florida to ward off a 60 count indictment related to the sex trafficking of minors. Investigators had identified 34 victims who said epstein sexually abused them or trafficked them to other people. Epstein's lawyers and the department of justice attorneys have been highly criticized for the agreement for years. Well, they should be. Imagine cutting a deal like this with a dude like epstein and thinking there's not going to be any blowback. The documents detail how lefkowitz pushed prosecutors to let him vet and influenced the government selection of an independent lawyer to represent epstein's victims, Inserting language into the deal that limited what the lawyer could do while epstein would foot the bill. When alex acosta, the u. S. Attorney for the southern district of florida, rejected the proposal, Lefkowitz indicated he would escalate the issue in washington. Of course, main justice made this call. It was never alex acosta, bro, is a middleman like you would not believe. He's like the general manager at a taco bell who can, you know, give you a couple free drinks or something like that if something screws up. But that's about how far his power goes. You have to call corporate if you want to get things moving right. Same thing goes for the justice department. Well, you think some middle manager is making a decision such as this in one of the biggest bureaucracies on earth? Come on now. Kirkland lawyers would then complain to doj leaders in the nation's capital. Lefkowitz had worked as senior advisor to then president george w. Bush, and while working at Kirkland, was serving as bush's human rights envoy to north korea, While at the same time defending jeffrey epstein with his colleagues still at justice department. How does that sound fair? And how does that sound reasonable? And how can anyone be confident that a real investigation took place when it's rather obvious that the fix was in? If I were to put myself in epstein's shoes, paying for them and threatening to withhold the money seems to be a way of controlling the entire situation, said shea rhodes, director and co founder of the villanova law institute to address commercial sexual exploitation, which educates both criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors on survivors rights and sex trafficking laws. It doesn't matter who's paying the lawyer's bill. The lawyer still works for the client, not the person who's paying the bills. Well, in a perfect world, but then you insert the Epstein lawyers here, and it's a whole ass different story, isn't it? Epstein eventually pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008 and served a year in prison if you want to call it that. The document shed new light on the approach that Epstein's legal defense team used to protect the powerful hedge fund mogul for years. None of this is new. Maybe new to people that were asleep at the wheel, but for those of us who have been following along, this is exactly what went down. And I think that it's pretty interesting that more people are now turning their attention to main justice. And for whatever reason, that's always been a key part of this story that people like to leave out. Their job was to protect his criminal liability in that case and not to rig the civil litigation system against the victims. Scott Cummings, a legal ethics professor at UCLA School of Law, claimed, that's not something that you should do. The tactics appear to have worked. Lefkowitz succeeded in pressuring prosecutors to change the language in the plea bargain, given Epstein the right to approve or reject the independent lawyer picked by the government to represent the victims. Lefkowitz avoided the government's appointment of protective guardianship for the underage girls and scrap wording that required the attorney's firm to have experience, to have handling multiple trials at once. The fix was in, and I'm going to keep hammering this point home until the people in power pay attention. Lefkowitz, Acosta, and Kirkland and Ellis did not respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg Law. It's ultimately on the prosecution for allowing the concessions, Cumming said. Bingo. 100%. As scummy as I think that Epstein's lawyers are, they're gonna walk the line. They're gonna do what they have to do. It's up to the prosecution to tell them to get stuffed.
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In no way, shape or form should Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers be leading the dance. But that's what's been going on from the very beginning. Their obligation is to protect the integrity of the process and to make sure that the victims would have some say, not just give in to Kirkland's lawyers, he said. Victims rights lawyer Carrie Goldberg described the defense team's maneuvers as extraordinary and absurd. We do see these kinds of negotiations with very high net worth people accused of crimes who hire these super fancy lawyers who make the government bend to their will, goldberg said. But she said, this isn't normal. What's extraordinary about this situation is, is just the amount of control that Epstein's lawyers are asserting over everybody in the process, the DOJ as well as the guardian for the victims, goldberg says. And it's been a big problem and I am very happy that Bloomberg Bloomberg Law is writing this article because people need to understand what happened here and if we want to address the situation in full, we have to start by getting rid of that npa. But to do that we have to come to terms with the fact that the whole entire thing was rigged. Their effort to distance the women Epstein abused as girls from Pathways to Sue Epstein began in the fall of 2007. Lefkowitz requested the U.S. attorney's office remove language from the draft non prosecution deal that would require the government to appoint a guardian ad lydium to represent up to 40 identified victims who could pursue monetary damages from Epstein under federal law. He repeatedly questioned the need for a guardian in emails to Marie Vilafana, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the federal Epstein investigation. Lefkowitz built a reputation representing high profile clients, including major healthcare and pharmaceutical companies throughout his three decade plus tenure at Kirkland. Whereas online profile boasts about Kirkland being a feared litigation firm, well, they most certainly are. And when you're dealing with a big time firm like this with a bunch of ex prosecutors, that's what you're going to get. You're going to get a firm that is not scared to litigate and that's why people hire them. Look folks, you have different kinds of attorneys, right? You have, you know, your run of the mill ambulance chasing attorney, you have other attorneys that want to plea out of everything. And then you have trial attorneys, attorneys that live to fight the battle inside of the courtroom. And Kirkland Ellis is filled with those kinds of lawyers. And that was on full display. When it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and the case down in Florida, you may want to consider simply appointing a representative, lefkowitz wrote to her in September of 2007. We could agree to someone you considered appropriate. I'm just not sure the guardian is the right procedural vehicle. Later that day, when Epstein signed the non prosecution agreement, the section outlining legal representation had changed. They would be represented not by a guardian ad lydium but by an attorney picked by the U.S. attorney's office and approved by Epstein. The agreement also stated that the Palm beach financier would pay that attorney's fees. John Browning, a retired Texas appellate justice and legal ethics professor at Faulkner University Thomas Good Jones School of Law, described Epstein paying for his victims legal representation and having say over who that was as highly unusual. It's one thing to pay a victim's compensation fund or be ordered to pay restitution, but such arrangement is beyond pale, he said. And look, I'm certainly not a trained lawyer, but that's something I brought up too. How's that not a conflict of interest? The guy paying the bills is also the guy that's being charged and being, you know, sued for X amount of dollars. But sure, let's bring a guy that he's paying in to represent the people suing him. Please tell me how that makes sense. Well, the truth is you can't tell me how it makes sense because it doesn't. And the whole idea was to steamroll a bunch of poor people into accepting whatever the government was serving up. Over the next few weeks, Lefkowitz screened and scrutinized lawyers Vilafana proposed while floating names he preferred, according to the emails. When prosecutors decided to appoint in the independent party, which they called the Special Master, to pick the victim's attorney instead, Lefkowitz pushed to place limits on who the Special Master could choose, questioning proposed language requiring the lawyer work for a firm large enough to handle multiple trials at once, according to the emails. That seems directly at odds with the purpose of the agreement, which is to facilitate out of court settlements, Lefkowitz wrote to Jeffrey Sloman, the first assistant U.S. attorney in South Florida. Sloman responded a few days later saying he would remove the requirement to satisfy your concern. Sloman and Vilafana did not respond to requests for comment. They're not going to. None of These scoundrels who were involved are going to respond because they all know how bad they look, and there is no explanation, no defense for what occurred here. After the special master had picked attorneys Robert Bob Josephberg and one of his partners, Lefkowitz raised concerns in a letter over vetting them more thoroughly. Sloman pointed out that the defense team had seemed comfortable with the selection and that Alan Dershowitz, another of Epstein's lawyers, said he went to law school with Josephsburg. He also pointed out that Josephsburg and his partner have stellar reputations, Ben, based on their legal acumen and ethics. Well, getting the endorsement from Dershowitz, not exactly a top endorsement, in my opinion. It's hard for me to imagine how much more vetting needs to be done. Sloman wrote to Lefkowitz. Tomorrow, we'll make one full week. Since you were formally notified of the selection, I must insist that the vetting process come to an end. At the same time, Lefkowitz was fighting to enforce the the deal's privacy clause, which was added by Epstein's team, and keep the victims and their attorneys in the dark about the existence of the deal and its associated charges against Epstein. CVRA violation. Right off the bat, neither federal agents nor anyone from your office should contact the identified individuals to inform them of the resolution of the case, including appointment of the attorney representative and the settlement process. Lefkowit said to Acosta in October of 2007. Email. Not only would that violate the confidentiality of the agreement, but Mr. Epstein would also have no control over what is communicated to the identified individuals at this most critical stage. The fix was in. Oh, look, only one girl came forward, and she was 17 and she was about to be 18. And you dumb fucking morons, you gotta be an absolute idiot to pitch that narrative. Goldberg says the move by Lefkowitz and the defense prevented the victims from putting more pressure on the government to act on Epstein's criminal matter. When you have this kind of cooperation between the government and criminal attorneys conspiring against the victims, that's unusual and exceptional. Goldberg said. And the part that's the most frustrating for me is, is that the DOJ could end this deal tomorrow. They could go to court, rip the deal up, and say Epstein did not comply with the deal, so the deal is now null and void. And then from there, that means everybody else that was protected by that deal, they're open to prosecution now. But of course, Pam Bondi and Crash Out Patel, they won't do that, will they? They got better things to do. Have you looked at the Dow? Lefkowitz eventually agreed to Joseph Berg's selection, but still disagreed on the scope of compensation available to victims under the federal Civil Remedy for Personal Injuries, the law which grants victims of sexual abuse and exploitation damages. We hope to address these issues with Assistant Attorney General Fisher in Washington, Lefkowitz wrote in a letter from Facts to Acosta in December of 2007, referring to Alice Fisher, then the head of DOJ's criminal division. The letter was also signed by Kirkland lawyer Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel whose investigation led to former President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Jeffrey Epstein's rising star. Good old Ken Starr. Wasn't he also in charge over at Baylor when they had their issues with sexual assault? Oh, that's right, he was. Huh? Good old Ken Starr, Mr. Morality himself. Weeks before that December 2007 fax to Acosta, Star had requested a meeting with Fisher, accusing South Florida prosecutors of improperly compelling Epstein to pay civil damages under federal law for a plea on state charges. Fisher later told investigators she didn't remember reading the letter. And the Justice Department report said that Fisher did not grant the requested meeting. Sure she didn't. Maybe not officially, but backdoored, Channeled, probably. Now, look, I certainly don't have the proof to back that up, but I'm going on what's logical, right? Do we really think that these people only had meetings that were on the books? By the end of 2007, correspondence about the victim's representation between the Justice Department Lefkowitz had grown contentious. Your attacks on me and on the victims established why I wanted to find someone whom I could trust with safeguarding the victim's best interest in the face of intense pressure from an unlimited number of highly skilled and well paid attorneys. An assistant U.S. attorney in Acosta's office. Road to Lefkowitz. And in December of that year, once Joseph's Bergs got to work and began evaluating the claims of his new clients, he had also clashed with Lefkowitz, who said in an email that Joseph Berg couldn't sue Epstein on their behalf. Lefkowitz threatened to stop paying Joseph Berg fees if he didn't focus on getting the victims to settle for $50,000. This is a mafia run operation, basically. Who does Left quits think he is? Tom Hagen dealing with a band leader like Buddy? What do you think you're doing here? Joseph Berg fumed and accused Epstein of breach in the plea deal. Perhaps your client thought that he could victimize and intimidate countless underage girls that he would then agree to provide minimal compensation to them for the damage he inflicted upon them, and that I would simply let them come in and sign the paperwork for the absolute minimum recovery, joseph Berg emailed Lefkowitz. In response. He added that he was not a clerk just there to document a settlement and get the minimum payout. Without fully evaluating their claims, settling their cases in a vacuum would amount to malpractice, he wrote. No doubt about it. And thankfully, Joseph Berg pushed back. Imagine being a trained attorney, you know, an attorney of note who has pride and then just playing ball with those scumbags for some kind of financial gain. And the truth is, there's a lot of lawyers out there that would have no problem doing it. What's up fools?
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Lefkowitz denied breaching the agreement and reiterated his view that Joseph Berg's work for far exceeded the scope of the plea deal. Cummings of UCLA said the defense lawyer can't exert influence just because their client is paying and they can't help their client interfere with the independent judgment of the victim's lawyer. In May of 2009, Joseph Berg sued Epstein on behalf of Virginia Roberts, who claimed that she was sexually abused by Epstein and trafficked to prominent men including Andrew Mount Bat and Wenzhou, the former Prince Andrew. By June, Epstein stopped paying Joseph Berg's fees. He would eventually take Epstein to court for breaching the plea deal. And they reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount. Settlement this settlement that. Everybody gets a settlement. And that's how people like Epstein continue to get away with their they just pay people off time and time again. And the sad truth is, that's how our system is set up. The whole entire idea is so that the men of Always can continue to prey on the children of Never. And if they happen to get caught or outed, well, what's the next move? I'll pay a settlement. And this is the story time and time again. They get to pay their way out of trouble, Nobody goes to prison, and they just move on to the next victim. And the sad truth is, for people like this, the next victim is never far away. All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.
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