Court officials in Florida have finally released long-secret grand jury documents from the 2006 investigation into notorious sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, a probe that ended with an infamous sweetheart plea deal and immunity for alleged co-conspirators.
In a court order issued Monday, Circuit Judge Luis Delgado granted a request by the Palm Beach Post newspaper to release grand jury transcripts, which Florida law had previously barred from being made public.
As Delgado noted, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in February signed into law a bill that created an exception to the grand jury documents law that appeared targeted at defendants such as Epstein, one that “significantly modified the definition of ‘furthering justice’ to expressly include furthering a public interest,” Delgado wrote in the order.
“It cannot be understated that the amendment to the law very clearly allows what previously was not legally permissible,” wrote Delgado, who noted that the law had previously prohibited him from releasing the transcripts.
“The Court finds that the request involves a matter of public interest,” Delgado wrote. “The criminal prosecutions of the most infamous pedophile in American history began in Palm Beach County — with much controversy. For almost 20 years, the story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable has been the subject of much anger and has at times diminished the public’s perception of the criminal justice system.”
Epstein cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida in 2007 that was widely seen as minimizing his punishment for sexually abusing minors and silencing his victims. He died in 2019 in a jail cell in New York while facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing dozens of young girls.
Epstein’s longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking minors for abuse by Epstein. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Noting that “it is widely accepted that Epstein is a notorious and serial pedophile,” Delgado said that the details in the record “will be outrageous to decent people.”
Delgado also found that law enforcement had all of this information when Epstein’s plea deal was cut, raising more questions about why he escaped more severe punishment. The judge said that it is “understandable” that the public “has a great curiosity about what was widely reported by news agency as ‘special treatment’ regarding his prosecution.”
Among the revelations contained in the transcripts are the statements from victims who were minors at the time they were paid to provide “massages” to Epstein — an exchange that quickly escalated into sexual abuse, trafficking, and rape, according to victims’ testimony.
One girl told the grand jury that she understood that she could make more money if she brought additional girls to Epstein’s Florida mansion.
As the Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber noted during an episode of “Sidebar,” Law&Crime’s true crime podcast, some of the members of the grand jury asked questions that appeared to place at least some of the blame on the victims.
Jeffrey Epstein pictured during a 2009 deposition (Image via YouTube/Palm Beach Post screengrab)
“For example, one juror asked, ‘Do you have any idea deep down inside of you that what you’re doing is wrong?”” Weber said, summarizing a transcript excerpt. When the witness answered in the affirmative, the juror appeared skeptical, asking: “Oh, do you?”
Another juror asked a witness whether she had considered that Epstein “could have hacked you up?”
When the witness said that she “thought about it a lot,” the juror told her she “should give it a little further thought,” Weber noted.
“Wow,” Weber said after reading that part of the transcript. “Wow. Now, it’s almost like they’re shaming her in a way, or suggesting that she should have known better, almost like they’re guiding her about how to live her life, so it was very troubling to see this line of questioning.”
Weber noted that other jurors appeared less judgmental of the victims, with one juror telling a witness that “perhaps you were too young to be up against a man of that age who had more control over you and that you knew,” according to the transcript.
Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo announced the release at the beginning of the week, and he said it was long overdue.
“When I became Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, I promised that I would leave no stone unturned to ensure the release of the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records,” Abruzzo said in a statement Monday.
Abruzzo credited the release of the documents to a successful effort between his office and state lawmakers.
“It was legislation our office championed that led to the release of these grand jury records. We worked tirelessly alongside Senator Tina Polsky and Representative Peggy Gossett-Seidman for this legislation to pass — I am grateful for their partnership in this effort,” Abruzzo’s statement said.
“It is our hope that the release of these records gives peace of mind to our community and gives Jeffrey Epstein’s victims the closure they deserve,” Abruzzo’s statement added.
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