Prosecutor in Jeffrey Epstein case did not reveal defendant’s child rapist past while seeking reduced sentence in case months before sweetheart deal – and Alex Acosta defended her actions
- A. Marie Villafana failed to note that a Texas man had sexually assaulted two minors while he was being sentenced for attempting to rape a 14 year old
- She asked the judge to sentence the man to a term on the low-end of the scale, even though he continued to contact the girl after his arrest
- The mother of the victim objected and alerted the judge to one of the previous offences, and soon after the second prior offense was confirmed
- ‘The court is at a total loss as to why the the US Attorney … found it appropriate to intentionally withhold information from the court,’ said the judge at the time
- Alex Acosta defended Villafana and asked another lawyer to send a treatise tot he judge asking to soften the critical language
The Florida prosecutor at the helm of Jeffrey Epstein’s sweetheart deal was very publicly reprimanded while working on the case when she omitted crucial facts in a separate child abuse trial.
A. Marie Villafana failed to note that a Texas man who traveled to Florida in order to rape a teenager had a history of predatory behavior with minor females.
She did this at the same time she was working on Epstein’s deal, and in one email made it clear she was going out of her way to help the defendant.
Villafana wrote to Epstein’s lawyer that she ‘bent over backwards to keep in mind the effect that the agreement would have on Mr. Epstein and to make sure that you (and he) understood the repercussions of the agreement.’
Burns: Alex Acosta (above) defended A. Marie Villafana and asked another lawyer to send a treatise tot he judge asking to soften the critical language
Villafana was arguing that the defendant’s punishment should be in the low-end of the sentencing guidelines in court, after he traveled over 1,000 miles to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
That man continued to contact the victim even after his arrest, and after hearing Villafana’s remarks to the judge her mother objected.
She then alluded to a sexual relationship the defendant had with a minor, which led to evidence that he had raped at least two minor females.
The judge was not pleased.
‘The court is at a total loss as to why the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, as well as the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the above-styled cause, found it appropriate to intentionally withhold … information from the court,’ Judge William Zloch said at the time.
Acosta then stepped in to try and get Judge Zloch to soften his language according to The Miami Herald, and assigned another prosecutor in the office to write a treatise while making that request.
Judge Zloch refused, and Acosta lost no faith in Villafana, who moved forward as the prosecuting attorney on the Epstein case.
A decade later, Judge Kenneth Marra had similar remarks for both Acosta and Villafana while releasing his decision that their deal with Epstein and failure to properly and fully notify his victims was illegal.
‘When the Government gives information to victims, it cannot be misleading,’ he wrote in that decision.
‘While the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the (agreement) with Epstein’s attorneys, scant information was shared with victims.’
Acosta was forced to step down soon after Epstein’s arrest while Villafana still works as for the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida.