Formal Letter Demanding NPA Answers

UNITED STATES SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE LETTER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RE: NON-PROSECUTION AGREEMENT WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN 2019 In 2019, members of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee sent a formal letter to the Department of Justice requesting a comprehensive explanation of the non-prosecution agreement (NPA) entered into with Jeffrey Edward Epstein in September 2007 by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. The letter sought documents, communications, and testimony related to the negotiation and execution of the agreement and the decision not to pursue federal sex trafficking charges against Epstein. CONTEXT: The congressional inquiry was prompted by the renewed federal prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which arrested Epstein on July 6, 2019, on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, Case No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB. The new charges raised fundamental questions about why similar federal charges had not been brought in 2007 when the FBI investigation in South Florida had identified dozens of victims. The Senate inquiry was also prompted by the February 2019 ruling by Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida in the case of Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States, No. 08-80736-CIV, in which the court found that the government had violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by failing to notify Epstein's victims of the NPA as required by 18 U.S.C. section 3771. SPECIFIC REQUESTS: The Senate Judiciary Committee letter requested the following categories of information from the Department of Justice: all communications between the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and Epstein's defense counsel, including attorneys Jay Lefkowitz, Kenneth Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black, Gerald Lefcourt, and Jack Goldberger; all internal DOJ memoranda and communications regarding the decision to enter into the NPA; all communications between the Southern District of Florida and DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C., regarding the Epstein matter; records identifying the unnamed co-conspirators who received immunity under the NPA; and all documents relating to the decision not to notify victims of the agreement. The committee also requested testimony from former United States Attorney Alexander Acosta, who oversaw the NPA negotiation and who was then serving as Secretary of Labor in the Trump administration. Acosta resigned from his cabinet position on July 12, 2019, amid renewed scrutiny of his role in the Epstein plea deal. The committee sought to determine whether Acosta's decision was influenced by improper considerations, including pressure from Epstein's well-connected defense team, and whether senior DOJ officials in Washington approved or were aware of the terms of the NPA. Source: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Correspondence Letter to the Department of Justice, 2019