Pelosi: Acosta must step down.

[Celerity]

28. every Senator, no matter what party, knew he was dirty, the Miami Herald exposed him nationally

before the vote for confirmation.

Trump labor nominee talked tough on sex crimes but gave billionaire a ‘sweetheart’ deal


https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article136073328.html

By Jay Weaver and Patricia Mazzei

[e-mail]

MARCH 03, 2017 07:00 AM, UPDATED MARCH 03, 2017 09:31 PM

A decade ago, a Miami Beach father who traveled to Cambodia to pay for sex with three underage girls was found guilty in federal court and convicted of sex tourism involving children. Kent Frank, 50, was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Miami’s U.S. attorney at the time, Alex Acosta, declared in a news release that society “cannot permit such individuals to seek sanctuary in our community.” “We will prosecute sexual abuse of children aggressively, both when the targets are children in our community and when the defendants travel to target children abroad,” he vowed.

But Acosta, now President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of labor, made a very different call in another, far more sordid case just months later. The agreement Acosta approved for Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein — a “sweetheart plea deal,” according to attorneys for Epstein’s victims — could come back to haunt his Senate confirmation hearing if any senators question Acosta’s judgment in one of the most high-profile cases of his career. Using his private staff to coordinate the illicit sexual activity, Epstein had paid dozens of girls cash to engage in nude massages, masturbation, oral sex and intercourse in his palatial mansions in Palm Beach, New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands between 1999 and 2005.

Epstein, then 55 and defended by an all-star legal team, pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting minors for prostitution. He registered as a sex offender in Florida and agreed to pay damages to 40 female victims ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old. As part of the plea agreement negotiated by Acosta’s office, Epstein wouldn’t be charged in federal court — even though the feds had drawn up a proposed 53-page indictment that carried potential punishment ranging from a mandatory 10 years in prison up to a life sentence. Epstein ended up serving just over a year in a Palm Beach County Stockade — while local authorities allowed him during his incarceration to go to work or do whatever he wanted for six days out of every week.

Acosta’s “non-prosecution agreement” — initially kept secret from Epstein’s victims — was signed by the billionaire and his lawyers in September 2007 and amended through the end of that year. The deal also immunized several of his co-conspirators from federal prosecution, a rare bonus. “Clearly, Epstein received preferential treatment due to his wealth, race and political connections,” said Miami attorney Joel DeFabio, who — citing the Epstein case — tried unsuccessfully to obtain similar treatment for two clients accused of running prostitution rings involving minor girls.

“The charges against Epstein were outrageous, and the evidence was more than enough to obtain a conviction at trial. The fact that Epstein’s wealth enabled him to hire a stellar legal team should not be a valid reason for such a gross disparity in treatment,” DeFabio said. “This matter should be explored by the [Senate] confirmation committee to ensure that Acosta will be committed to equal treatment under the law of all Americans and that he will never give preferential treatment to the wealthy and politically connected.”


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