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‘Why did they protect Epstein?’: Lawmakers demand answers from Palm Beach prosecutors, feds
A shadow hearing in Florida focused new attention on the secret deal that let Jeffrey Epstein avoid serious prison time, and the officials who made it happen.
ARI HAIT WPBF 25 NEWS. ARI, THANK YOU. PALM BEACH COUNTY TODAY, ONCE AGAIN AT THE CENTER OF THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN SEX ABUSE INVESTIGATION, EPSTEIN SURVIVORS, LAWYERS, LAWMAKERS ALL CALLING FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE EPSTEIN CASE. DURING A RARE SHADOW HEARING HELD BY CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS TODAY IN WEST PALM BEACH. THERE WAS A LOT OF CRITICISM AGAINST THE FORMER PALM BEACH COUNTY STATE ATTORNEY, WHO THEY SAY DIDN’T DO ENOUGH TO EPSTEIN BEHIND BARS MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, WHEN THESE CRIMES CAME TO LIGHT. KOHBERGER TIFFANY KENNEY, OUR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, TERRI PARKER WERE BOTH IN THAT HEARING TODAY. STEPHANIE, THERE’S A REFERENCE DURING THE HEARING THAT THIS WAS LIKE RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME. THAT AND THEY ALSO REFERRED TO PALM BEACH COUNTY AS GROUND ZERO FOR SOME OF THE ABUSE THAT TOOK PLACE. IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL AND A POWERFUL DAY FOR THE WOMEN WHO TESTIFIED BEFORE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THE WEST PALM BEACH CITY HALL. THEY SHARED THEIR STORIES OF HORRIFIC ABUSE, AND THEY ALSO CALLED FOR JUSTICE FOR WOMEN, APPEARED IN PERSON FOR THE FIELD, HEARING JUST A FEW MILES FROM EPSTEIN’S PALM BEACH HOME. SOME OF THE WOMEN WERE ABUSED HERE IN PALM BEACH COUNTY AND WERE AS YOUNG AS 14. DANNY BENSKY WAS ABUSED EIGHT YEARS AFTER EPSTEIN WAS FIRST REPORTED TO THE FBI. THE EPSTEIN CASE DEMONSTRATES THAT INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEMS HAVE FAILED SURVIVORS TIME AND TIME AGAIN. I LOST YEARS OF MY LIFE FIGHTING THIS, AND SO DID MANY OTHERS. WE DID THAT SO THE NEXT VICTIM WOULDN’T HAVE TO. SO. DON’T LISTEN. AND ONE OF THE OTHER MAIN FOCUSES, TERRI PARKER YOU ARE ALSO THERE WAS THAT SECRET SWEETHEART DEAL THAT EPSTEIN GOT FROM PROSECUTORS BACK IN 2008 HERE IN PALM BEACH COUNTY. RIGHT. AND AS YOU HEARD, SOME OF THE SHARPEST CRITICISM FROM EVERYBODY IN THE ROOM WAS AIMED AT THE FEDERAL AND LOCAL PROSECUTORS WHO CUT THIS SECRET DEAL FOR EPSTEIN, THAT LET HIM GO ON AND ABUSE OTHER GIRLS FOR YEARS. THEY CALLED IT A COVERUP, AND THEY SAID HE DID KEEP ON PREYING ON YOUNG GIRLS, BECAUSE FOLKS, SO MUCH OF THE TRUTH LIES HERE, HIDDEN IN PALM BEACH COUNTY. AND WE STILL HAVE YET UNDER OATH, HEARD FROM SOME OF THE KEY PLAYERS. CONGRESSWOMAN LOIS FRANKEL, CALLING FOR LOCAL PLAYERS TO GIVE TESTIMONY ON EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED HERE IN 2006, SEVEN AND EIGHT, WHEN PALM BEACH POLICE FOUND DOZENS OF EPSTEIN VICTIMS AND ENOUGH EVIDENCE THEY SAID, TO PUT HIM AWAY FOR LIFE. INSTEAD, FORMER PALM BEACH COUNTY STATE ATTORNEY BARRY KRISCHER TOOK THE CASE TO A GRAND JURY, WHERE HIS PROSECUTORS CALLED ONLY TWO VICTIMS AND ATTACKED THEIR CREDIBILITY, TREATING THEM LIKE CRIMINALS. I WANT TO KNOW FROM BARRY WHY? WHY DID WHY WAS HE ONLY GOING TO CHARGE EPSTEIN WITH SOLICITING PROSTITUTION, WHICH IS A 60 DAY SENTENCE? WHAT HAPPENED? WHO CALLED HIM? WHO DID HE TALK TO? WAS HIS TEAM OVERPOWERED? DID HE GET DID HE GET CALLED? DID HE GET THREATS? WHAT DID HE GET? IT’S ALMOST INEXPLICABLE. LOOK, AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE PRESSURE THAT WAS ON BARRY KRISCHER WAS NOT ONLY POLITICAL, BUT IT WAS FINANCIAL. AND AT THE, YOU KNOW, END OF THE DAY, HE WAS LOOKING TO HIS JOB AND HIS FUTURE HERE IN THE COUNTY. AND I THINK HE WAS ULTIMATELY AFRAID TO PROSECUTE THESE CASES BECAUSE OF THE HIGH PROFILE NATURE OF THE CASE. VICTIMS ATTORNEY SPENCER KUVIN, ALSO CRITICAL OF THE MIAMI U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE UNDER ALEX ACOSTA THAT WORKED OUT A SECRET NON-PROSECUTION AGREEMENT. SHOCKING VICTIM COURTNEY WILD. I HAVE NEVER HEARD THE FEDS OF LETTING YOU HELP THEM DECIDE WHICH CRIMES THEY’RE GOING TO CHARGE YOU WITH, OR IF YOU’RE COOL WITH HOW LONG YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND IN JAIL. BUT I THOUGHT, WHAT DO I KNOW? MAYBE THAT’S HOW IT WORKS FOR RICH GUYS. THAT’S HOW IT DID WORK FOR JEFFREY EPSTEIN. AND ONE NOTE LOIS FRANKEL WAS MAYOR OF WEST PALM BEACH DURING THAT TIME WHEN THE ORIGINAL EPSTEIN INVESTIGATION WAS UNDERWAY. AND TIFFANY, HERE’S ANOTHER QUESTION. MEANTIME, SPENCER COOGAN SAYS HE WAS IN EPSTEIN’S PALM BEACH MANSION AND THE NEW YORK MANSION, AND HE SAW EVIDENCE OF A BIG SECRET CAMERA NETWORK. SO THE QUESTION IS, WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE VIDEO EVIDENCE AFTER THOSE HOMES WERE SEARCHED AND THEY TOOK AWAY ALL THAT EVIDENCE? WHERE IS IT? WE’VE NEVER SEEN IT. YEAH. AND THE OTHER THING HE MENTIONED WAS THAT GHISLAINE MAXWELL, A COCONSPIRATOR, WAS ALSO A PROLIFIC PHOTOGRAPHER, AND HE WANTED TO KNOW WHERE ALL HER PHOTOS, SHE DOCUMENTED ALMOST EVERYTHING IN HER LIFE. SO THEY WERE WONDERING WHERE THOSE PHOTOS ARE AS WELL. ALL RIGHT, WELL, WE’LL BE SURE TO FOLLOW ALL OF THIS. WE HAVE IT ALL ON OUR WEBSITE, WPBF.COM. FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME THAT THIS CASE CAME TO LIGHT IN PALM BEACH COUNTY MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO, TERRI HAS BEEN COVERING IT FOR AT LEAST TWO DECADES TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY. AND TERRI. AS FOR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, WE HEARD THE SURVIVORS AND ATTORNEYS WHO TESTIFIED TODAY, THEY’RE JUST GOING TO CONTINUE TO PUSH THE DOJ TO RELEASE THE UNREDACTED FILES, THE EPSTEIN FILES, AND HOPE THAT EVENTUALLY THEY WILL GET T
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‘Why did they protect Epstein?’: Lawmakers demand answers from Palm Beach prosecutors, feds
A shadow hearing in Florida focused new attention on the secret deal that let Jeffrey Epstein avoid serious prison time, and the officials who made it happen.
Some of the strongest criticism at Tuesday’s Jeffrey Epstein shadow hearing was aimed not just at Epstein, but at the prosecutors and federal officials who handled his case in Florida.Speakers called the secret deal cut for Epstein a cover-up and raised a haunting question: Why did they protect Epstein?“Because folks, so much of the truth lies here hidden in Palm Beach County, and we still have not heard under oath from some of the key players,” U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel said. Frankel called for local players to testify about what happened in 2006, 2007 and 2008, when Palm Beach police said they found dozens of Epstein victims and enough evidence to put him away for life.Instead, then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer took the case to a grand jury. His prosecutors called only two victims and attacked their credibility, treating them like criminals, according to critics at Tuesday’s hearing.“I want to know from Barry why was he only going to charge Epstein with soliciting prostitution, which is a 60-day sentence?” Frankel said. “What happened? Who called him? Who did he talk to? Was his team overpowered? Did he get threatened? What did he get? It’s almost inexplicable.”Victims’ attorney Spencer Kuvin said the pressure on Krischer was both political and financial.“At the end of the day, he was looking to his job and his future here in the county,” Kuvin said. “And I think he was ultimately afraid to prosecute these cases because of the high-profile nature of the case.” Kuvin was also sharply critical of the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office under Alex Acosta, which worked out a secret non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges and shielded potential co-conspirators.Courtney Wild, one of Epstein’s victims, said the deal was made behind closed doors without telling the victims.“I have never heard the feds letting you decide which crime they’re going to charge you with or if you’re cool with how long you’re going to spend in jail,” Wild said. “But I thought, what do I know? Maybe that’s how it works for rich guys. That’s how it worked for Jeffrey Epstein.”Frankel was mayor of West Palm Beach during the years of the original Epstein investigation.Kuvin raised another unresolved question Tuesday. He said he was inside Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, and one of his clients was inside Epstein’s New York mansion, and they saw evidence of video recording systems. So, where, he asked, is all of that surveillance that might show who the customers and enablers were?Lawmakers said they were going to continue to press for answers and the release of the final 2.5 million documents still unreleased in the Epstein files.
Some of the strongest criticism at Tuesday’s Jeffrey Epstein shadow hearing was aimed not just at Epstein, but at the prosecutors and federal officials who handled his case in Florida.
Speakers called the secret deal cut for Epstein a cover-up and raised a haunting question: Why did they protect Epstein?
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“Because folks, so much of the truth lies here hidden in Palm Beach County, and we still have not heard under oath from some of the key players,” U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel said.
Frankel called for local players to testify about what happened in 2006, 2007 and 2008, when Palm Beach police said they found dozens of Epstein victims and enough evidence to put him away for life.
Instead, then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer took the case to a grand jury. His prosecutors called only two victims and attacked their credibility, treating them like criminals, according to critics at Tuesday’s hearing.
“I want to know from Barry why was he only going to charge Epstein with soliciting prostitution, which is a 60-day sentence?” Frankel said. “What happened? Who called him? Who did he talk to? Was his team overpowered? Did he get threatened? What did he get? It’s almost inexplicable.”
Victims’ attorney Spencer Kuvin said the pressure on Krischer was both political and financial.
“At the end of the day, he was looking to his job and his future here in the county,” Kuvin said. “And I think he was ultimately afraid to prosecute these cases because of the high-profile nature of the case.”
Kuvin was also sharply critical of the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office under Alex Acosta, which worked out a secret non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal sex trafficking charges and shielded potential co-conspirators.
Courtney Wild, one of Epstein’s victims, said the deal was made behind closed doors without telling the victims.
“I have never heard the feds letting you decide which crime they’re going to charge you with or if you’re cool with how long you’re going to spend in jail,” Wild said. “But I thought, what do I know? Maybe that’s how it works for rich guys. That’s how it worked for Jeffrey Epstein.”
Frankel was mayor of West Palm Beach during the years of the original Epstein investigation.
Kuvin raised another unresolved question Tuesday. He said he was inside Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, and one of his clients was inside Epstein’s New York mansion, and they saw evidence of video recording systems.
So, where, he asked, is all of that surveillance that might show who the customers and enablers were?
Lawmakers said they were going to continue to press for answers and the release of the final 2.5 million documents still unreleased in the Epstein files.
