Jeffrey Epstein’s victims make new attempt to throw out plea deal

Jeffrey Epstein, pictured in a New York mugshot, could face 45 years in prison

Two of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have launched a fresh bid to have a controversial plea deal thrown out in Florida. 

Epstein, who was indicted on new sex trafficking charges in New York on Monday, escaped with a light sentence in a separate sex case in Florida in 2008 after cutting a deal with prosecutors.  

Under the ‘non-prosecution’ agreement, the billionaire was allowed to plead guilty to state charges – avoiding a federal prosecution and serving only 13 months in jail. 

Now, two victims want the deal – kept secret at the time – to be thrown out, saying prosecutors broke the law by failing to consult them. 

The victims’ lawyers said they welcomed Epstein’s latest indictment in New York, but said the new charges did not address the Florida case. 

The 2008 deal also forced Epstein, now 66, to register as a sex offender and reach financial settlements with victims. 

But he avoided the life sentence he could have received in a federal case.  

Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that Epstein’s victims should have been consulted about the agreement. 

The Florida court will now have to decide whether to throw out the 2008 ‘non-prosecution’ deal. 

Epstein, and the Justice Department, have said the deal must stand. 

Epstein escaped with a light sentence and avoided a federal prosecution after reaching a deal with prosecutors in 2008 (he is pictured in a Florida court that year)

Epstein escaped with a light sentence and avoided a federal prosecution after reaching a deal with prosecutors in 2008 (he is pictured in a Florida court that year)

‘The past cannot be undone; the government committed itself to the NPA, and the parties have not disputed that Epstein complied with its provisions,’ prosecutors wrote. 

Still, two U.S. attorneys acknowledged that the failure to consult ‘fell short of the government’s dedication to serve victims to the best of its ability.’     

The scandal has also implicated Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, who was then the federal prosecutor who oversaw the deal. 

Trump yesterday voiced support for Acosta and called him a ‘really great secretary of labor’. 

‘You know, if you go back and look at everybody else’s decisions, whether it’s a U.S. attorney, or an assistant U.S. attorney or a judge, if you go back 12 or 15 years ago or 20 years ago and look at their past decisions, I would think you would probably find that they would wish they’d maybe did it a different way,’ the president said. 

Still, Trump said the White House would look ‘very closely’ at the circumstances of the 2008 deal. 

Acosta has faced growing calls to resign, including from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who accused him of having ‘engaged in an unconscionable agreement’ with Epstein. 

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta defended the new prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday

Labor Secretary Alex Acosta defended the new prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday

The plea deal was ‘kept secret from courageous, young victims preventing them from seeking justice,’ Pelosi said.   

Acosta said charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York are ‘an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice.’

The Justice Department said in February that its Office of Professional Responsibility was reviewing the 2008 plea deal. 

Trump in 2002 told New York Magazine he’d known Epstein for 15 years, describing him as ‘a lot of fun to be with.’

But he has now distanced himself, insisting: ‘I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.’  

Epstein, who pleaded not guilty to the latest charges on Monday, could get up to 45 years in prison if convicted. 

Prosecutors said a search of Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion over the weekend yielded a vast trove of hundreds or even thousands of lewd photos of young women or girls. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk