{"id":118426,"date":"2019-03-11T22:17:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T02:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=118426"},"modified":"2019-03-13T12:01:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T16:01:36","slug":"epsteingate-soon-to-be-blown-wide-open-federal-court-to-unseal-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=118426","title":{"rendered":"EPSTEINgate Soon To Be Blown Wide Open, Federal Court to Unseal Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Federal court moves to unseal documents in Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->BY JULIE K. BROWN<br \/>\nBradenton Herald<\/p>\n<style>.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}<\/style>\n<div class=\"mcclatchy-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bradenton.com\/news\/state\/florida\/article222090545.html\/video-embed\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>A federal court of appeals in New York on Monday took the first step in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/article227184299.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unsealing documents<\/a>that could reveal evidence of an international sex trafficking operation\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article220097825.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">allegedly run by multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article221897990.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">former partner<\/a>, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n<p>The three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gave the parties until March 19 to establish good cause as to why they should remain sealed and, failing to do so, the summary judgment and supporting documents will be made public. The court reserved a ruling on the balance of the documents in the civil case, including discovery materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re grateful that the court ruled the summary judgment papers are open and they are moving to expedite having them unsealed,\u2019\u2019 said Sanford Bohrer, the attorney representing the Miami Herald, which filed the motion last year to have the entire case file opened. The Herald\u2019s appeal is supported by 32 other media companies, including the New York Times and Washington Post.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_118554\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-118554\" class=\"size-large wp-image-118554\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM-1024x843.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"527\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM-1024x843.png 1024w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM-300x247.png 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM-768x632.png 768w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Sp_Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-8.48.53-PM.png 1140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-118554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ghislaine Maxwell was sued for slander after calling Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s accusers, a liar. Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein, sought to have documents from the court case remain sealed.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The case, which was settled in 2017, contains more than 1,000 documents, lawyers said during oral arguments in New York on Wednesday. Maxwell is the sole party fighting to keep the case sealed.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the documents, including court orders and motions, were filed under seal or heavily redacted, similar to other cases in New York and Florida involving Epstein, a wealthy, politically connected money manager. Epstein, 66, was not a party to the lawsuit, which was filed against Maxwell in 2015 by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article219494920.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Virginia Roberts Giuffre<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Giuffre claimed in the lawsuit that she was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article219494920.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recruited by Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago<\/a>, President Donald Trump\u2019s resort in Palm Beach, when she was 16 years old. Giuffre had been working at the resort\u2019s spa when Maxwell approached her and asked her whether she wanted to become a masseuse for Epstein. Giuffre claimed that the massages were a ruse for Epstein and Maxwell to sexually abuse her and other underage girls, some of whom were trafficked to other influential people, from 1999 to 2002.<\/p>\n<p>Maxwell settled the case before trial, resulting in several millions paid to Giuffre, sources have told the Herald. Maxwell, now an environmentalist, has denied all the allegations. Epstein\u2019s attorney, Martin G. Weinberg, has not responded to emails and calls made by the Herald seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>But in an op-ed letter to The New York Times last week, Weinberg and three of Epstein\u2019s other lawyers \u2014 including Kenneth Starr, known for his pursuit of President Bill Clinton over his sexual conduct \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/04\/opinion\/letters\/jeffrey-epstein.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denied that Epstein ever ran a sex trafficking operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number of young women involved in the investigation has been vastly exaggerated, there was no \u2018international sex-trafficking operation\u2019 and there was never evidence that Mr. Epstein \u2018hosted sex parties\u2019 at his home,\u201d the lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Ben Sasse questioned attorney general nominee William Barr about the Jeffrey Epstein case on January 15, 2019, getting the nominee to commit to having the Department of Justice look into the handling of that case if confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys for Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz and conservative social media blogger Michael Cernovich, two other parties to the appeal,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/article227184299.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">also argued to unseal<\/a>\u00a0the entire case file. Dershowitz\u2019s lawyer, Andrew G. Celli Jr., wanted the court to release three documents immediately, saying they were necessary to clear the name of his client, who has been accused of being involved in Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Dershowitz was among a team of lawyers who represented Epstein when he came under criminal investigation in Palm Beach in 2005.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article220097825.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Epstein was accused by more than three dozen girls<\/a>, most of them 13 to 16, of luring them to his mansion to give him massages that turned into sex acts. He then used those same girls to recruit more girls over a period of several years, court and police records show.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia Roberts was working at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited to be a masseuse to Palm Beach hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein. She was lured into a life of depravity and sexual abuse.<\/p>\n<p>Giuffre said she was directed by Epstein to have sex with Dershowitz when she was underage. Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard University and constitutional law scholar, claims the case file contains documents that will prove that she is lying.<\/p>\n<p>Giuffre\u2019s lawyer, Paul Cassell, however, told the appeals court that the case file will establish that she is telling the truth.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Epstein received a controversial plea deal that gave him and an untold number of others who were not named immunity from federal prosecution. The non-prosecution agreement, brokered by former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, is now the focus of a Justice Department investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Acosta, now President Trump\u2019s labor secretary, has said that the deal was approved at the highest levels of the agency.<\/p>\n<p>A federal judge ruled on Feb. 22 that the deal was illegal because Acosta kept it from Epstein\u2019s victims in violation of the Crime Victims\u2019 Rights Act, a federal law that grants victims certain rights, including the right to be told about a plea deal and to appear at sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>A Miami Herald investigation,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/article220097825.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cPerversion of Justice,\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/a>showed that Acosta and other prosecutors deliberately kept Epstein\u2019s victims in the dark so that they could not appear at his sentencing and possibly derail the deal. The sentencing judge was also misled about the scope of Epstein\u2019s crimes and how many girls he abused, records indicate.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. attorney in Atlanta has been assigned to review the non-prosecution agreement in the wake of the Feb. 22 ruling. Epstein\u2019s victim\u2019s want the deal thrown out \u2014 which would set a precedent.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in state court.<\/p>\n<p>Epstein\u2019s lawyers indicated that they intend to fight any effort to void his immunity agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The girls who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and the cops who championed their cause remain angry over what they regard as a gross injustice, while Epstein&#8217;s employees and those who engineered his non-prosecution agreement have prospered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Epstein has gone to prison and made enormous monetary settlements relying on his negotiated agreement. He is entitled to finality like every other defendant,\u2019\u2019 the lawyers said.<\/p>\n<p>Epstein did not go to prison, but served 13 months in a private section of the Palm Beach County jail, where he was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day to go to his office in West Palm Beach under a work release program that is normally not granted to convicted sex offenders.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bradenton.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article227411649.html\">https:\/\/www.bradenton.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article227411649.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal court moves to unseal documents in Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}