Jeffrey Epstein trial is called off after reaching last-minute settlement

Billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reached a last-minute settlement on Tuesday just as jury selection was expected to begin for his trial in Palm Beach, Florida.

The 65-year-old hedge fund manager ‘surrendered’ and agreed to an undisclosed financial settlement with attorney Bradley Edwards, who represents several of Epstein’s alleged victims.      

Edwards had sued the financier alleging malicious prosecution and defamation after the billionaire filed a lawsuit attacking Edwards and his methods. 

Epstein admitted today to making ‘totally false allegations.’    

The settlement means none of the women will testify against Epstein, who is accused of pimping out 80 underage girls to his friends from 1995 to 2005. 

However, the dramatic climbdown has cleared Edwards’ path in his bid to quash Epstein’s controversial federal prosecution immunity deal over the sex victims. 

Edwards’ lawyer Jack Scarola told the court the agreement was ‘not a compromise but a surrender’ by the ‘serial sex offender.’   

‘For the sake of Epstein’s victims, Bradley Edwards would not and did not compromise his claims. He did not settle for anything less than a complete surrender by Jeffrey Epstein,’ Scarola said. 

In a statement read by his lawyer, Epstein (pictured in 2008) apologized to and admitted to making ‘totally false allegations’

Brad Edwards was all smiles while speaking to Jeffrey Epstein’s attorney’s Scott Link and Jack Goldberger prior to a civil settlement announcement made in Palm Beach County Court Tuesday. Link read a written apology from Epstein to attorney  Edwards, where Epstein admitted that the charges he leveled against Edwards were completely false

‘While the financial terms of the settlement are required to remain confidential, there are important components that are not confidential.’ 

He revealed Edwards remains committed to continue with his challenge to Epstein’s sweetheart ‘non prosecution agreement’ that allowed him to escape a possible life sentence and serve just 13 months in a Florida state facility.

He added: ‘That will be followed through to conclusion….to set aside the non-prosecution agreement for Jeffrey Epstein and his named and unnamed co-defendants fully responsible for the crime that they have committed.’

Epstein was not in court on Tuesday but his attorney Scott Link read out his apology in which he admitted to lying. 

‘While Mr Edwards was representing clients against me, I filed a lawsuit against him in which I made allegations about him that the evidence conclusively proves were absolutely false,’ he said. 

‘The truth was that his aggressive investigation and litigation style was highly effective and therefore troublesome to me.

‘The lawsuit I filed was my unreasonable attempt to damage his business reputation and cause Mr Edwards to stop pursuing cases against me. It did not work.

‘Despite my efforts, he continued to do an excellent job for his clients and through his relentless pursuit, held me responsible. I am now admitting that I was wrong and that the things I said to try to harm Mr Edwards’ reputation as a trial lawyer were false..

‘I sincerely apologize for the false and hurtful allegations I made and hope for some forgiveness or my acknowledgement of wrongdoing.’   

More than 60 girls have claimed they were turned into sex slaves by Epstein when they were teenagers and Edwards previously won $5.5million for some victims.

In this case, which has dragged on since 2009, Edwards was suing the financier for ‘malicious prosecution’ as the result of a long-running battle between the two men.   

Epstein had tried to sue the lawyer claiming the civil cases involving three victims financed an unlawful Ponzi scheme run by Scott Rothstein, a partner at Edwards’ former law firm.  

Rothstein was convicted of financial fraud and got 50 years, but denied Edwards had been involved in the scheme.   

Epstein then dropped his case, but Edwards then sued over his reputation. 

As many as 60 other girls have come forward to claim they were recruited by Epstein into having sex with his coterie of friends and acquaintances while they were aged between 14 and 17. Many were from disadvantaged homes or had troubled childhoods.

Alleged victim Michelle Licata sheds tears as she recalled her sexual encounters with Epstein saying ‘He had no repercussions and doesn’t even believe he did anything wrong’ 

Virginia Roberts, pictured above, claimed Epstein abused her sexually at the age of 16

The underage girls were lured to Epstein’s mansion in Florida with the lure of a couple hundred dollars to give him a massage- he allegedly sexually assaulted many of them 

Despite what began as a full-blown FBI investigation into Epstein’s alleged prostitution ring of young girls, he was eventually offered a ‘sweetheart’ deal in 2007 instead of facing a possible life sentence. 

Victims were outraged at the court’s treatment of the billionaire, who counted Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew among his rich and powerful friends.     

He pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in a Florida state court following an agreement that effectively kicked out a 53-page federal indictment.

The hedge-fund tycoon was sentenced to 18 months and served just 13 in Palm Beach County stockade, not a state prison. He was reportedly allowed out for up to 12 hours a day to visit his office and meet clients.  

The ‘non prosecution’ deal with the state also meant he, his named co-conspirators and his unnamed co-conspirators were given immunity from federal prosecution.  

The deal was also sealed from the public and the victims, meaning no one would  ever learn the entirety of Epstein’s crimes. 

It was revealed last week that the deal was brokered by President Trump’s Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta when he was US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  

Trump’s current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta (right) was the top federal prosecutor in Miami that brokered the deal to have Epstein serve just over a year behind bars instead of life behind bars 

In the second case mentioned by Scarola today, his client Edwards is suing the US government on behalf of three victims in the sex investigation.  

He alleges it violated the Crime Victims’ Right Act, which states victims should be kept informed of possible hearings and ‘reasonably heard’ over pleas and sentencing.  

Edwards wrote in a court filing that if the victims knew about the non-prosecution agreement ‘they would have taken steps to object’, according to the New York Times.      

Epstein could be stripped of his criminal prosecution immunity if the case succeeds, possibly leading to a federal trial for the sex crimes.

Scarola had said earlier this week that the purpose of the second case is to ‘invalidate Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement’ which also granted immunity to his co-conspirators. 

At a press conference after the hearing, Mr Scarola re-emphasized the bid to quash Epstein’s plea deal.

He said: ‘We have tried for a long time to convey the injustice done to Bradley Edwards and the injustice that continues to be done to the victims of Epstein’s abuse as a consequence of the plea bargain that not only resulted in immunity for Jeffrey Epstein, but handed out get-out-of-jail cards to his named and unnamed co-conspirators as well.

‘That injustice needs to be addressed and will be addressed through the pro bono efforts of Bradley Edwards and his co-counsel.’

Mr Edwards told reporters: ‘I am getting calls from my clients who have been hidden but pushed into silence, scared to death, finally saying thank you for standing up to him (Epstein) and sending him to the brink until he had to admit you win, he lost.

‘They are willing to talk. They want to share their stories.’