>>6985108

>>6984334

Where can I find a timeline of Alexander Acosta/Epstein?

He left his gov job by July 1, 2009 when he became the second dean of Florida International University College of Law.

June 2008 was when Epstein pled guilty, how long afterwards did U.S. Attorney Acosta leave that job?

Also, can anyone get this page to load? https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article222705765.html

This archive is visible http://archive.fo/2LVam

Since Miami Herald wants to play hardball, here's the article:

Alexander Acosta is being unfairly criticized for his handling of Epstein’s plea deal

By David Oscar Markus

dmarkus@markuslaw.com

December 06, 2018 02:29 AM

Alexander Acosta is arguably President Trump’s most successful cabinet member. For starters, job numbers and unemployment rates are breaking records under his supervision as Labor Secretary.

And particularly noteworthy for this administration, Acosta has been scandal free. There have been no Twitter fights (like with Jeff Sessions), no misuse of government funds (like with six other cabinet members), or other similar issues (like with Louise Linton going off on Instagram).

Instead, Acosta has done what he has always done — kept his head down, worked hard, and gotten good results.

Because of his successes, there had been some whispers that Acosta was being considered, albeit as a long-shot, for Attorney General.

Acosta, who has dedicated his life to public service (from the civil rights division to U.S. Attorney to dean of Florida International University School of Law to his current position in the cabinet), would have been an incredible choice.

Then last week, the Miami Herald retold the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s plea deal from over 10 years ago, when Secretary Acosta was U.S. Attorney Acosta. Although Epstein was required to plead guilty, register as a sex offender, pay restitution and go to state prison, there are many — including the New York Times, Miami Herald, and others — who are calling for Congress to investigate Acosta and force him out, equating Acosta’s approval of the deal to Epstein’s actions.

Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein is a free man, despite sexually abusing dozens of underage girls according to police and prosecutors. His victims have never had a voice, until now.

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>>6985303

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Although it is fair to have an honest disagreement about the Epstein plea agreement, the attacks on Acosta are not justified. As for the merits of the agreement, it is important to remember that the federal government only prosecutes federal crimes.

At the time this case was being investigated, there were serious questions about whether Epstein’s crimes had the required federal nexus. These were traditional state court crimes with local victims, which the federal government decided should be prosecuted by the state system.

In addition, there were legitimate concerns about how a trial would have turned out. These trials are difficult as the Michael Jackson (acquitted) and Bill Cosby (hung jury before eventually obtaining conviction, which is now subject to appeal) cases have shown. Here, prosecutors have said that many of the victims either refused to testify or were going to say things that helped Epstein.

The girls who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and the cops who championed their cause remain angry over what they regard as a gross injustice, while Epstein's employees and those who engineered his non-prosecution agreement have prospered.

The sad truth is that over 97 percent of cases result in plea agreements. There are so many moving parts in these deals that it is hard to say how or why any particular deal is made — the strength of the government’s case, witness issues, jurisdictional questions and prosecutorial goals are just some of these considerations. That’s why when prosecutors recommend no jail time for Michael Flynn or allow Michael Cohen to ask for no jail time, there are always critics including the president.

To argue that Acosta was persuaded to sign off on passing the case to state authorities because of Epstein’s wealth or Epstein’s lawyers is to ignore Acosta’s record as a tough prosecutor who put away Jack Abramoff, Jose Padilla, Broward Sheriff Ken Jeanne, executives of Hamilton Bank, and many more.

>>6985315

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Acosta was the first U.S. Attorney to go after the Swiss banks, and he obtained a fine for $780 million as well as the names of individuals who were using secret Swiss Banks to avoid U.S. taxes. He was not a softie on the rich.

Some of these clients have been my own — and whether my clients’ cases turned out well or not for them, when we dealt with each other, I always found Acosta to be open-minded, engaging, fair, and tough.

It’s a shame that this issue has tainted Acosta. Not only has he done a really good, scandal-free, job as Labor Secretary, he would have been a tough, but fair, Attorney General. He is the kind of person we should be crossing our fingers to get in this administration.

It’s telling that the best that the critics can come up with is that he approved an old agreement to allow the state system deal with a state crime, resolving a difficult case, and putting a bad guy in prison.

David Oscar Markus is a Miami criminal defense lawyer at Markus/Moss who practiced against Acosta when he was U.S. Attorney of the Southern District. @domarkus

>>6985356

The more we learn, the more it's maybe a miracle Epstein was convicted at all.

http://archive.fo/AAiox

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Jeffrey Epstein's deal with Alexander Acosta wasn't out of line with what I have seen

Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco, Opinion contributor Published 2:41 p.m. ET July 10, 2019 | Updated 4:32 p.m. ET July 10, 2019

Jeffery Epstein has had a long list of friends from high places, including the likes of Stephen Hawking, Bill Clinton and President Trump. But did Epstein leverage these connections? We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

Alexander Acosta acted like other prosecutors. Outcome of Epstein’s original indictment not necessarily out of the ordinary for trafficking cases.

In the mid-2000s, a 53-count indictment was drafted, but never filed, against American financier Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, Palm Beach Police had identified 17 girls, as young as 14, who alleged sexual contact with him. One of the girls, Haley Robson, told police that she was paid to bring other girls to Epstein’s mansion for massages, before being pressured and paid to remove their clothes and submit to fondling and other invasive sexual contact. Instead of prosecuting the case, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida at the time — Alexander Acosta — offered a plea deal for two prostitution offenses, which carried a penalty of 13 months of incarceration with work release and a requirement to register as a sex offender. Epstein and his attorneys took the deal.

Acosta is now the labor secretary for the Trump administration, while Epstein faces new sex trafficking of minors charges in New York.

Top Democrats in Congress have publicly criticized Acosta’s plea deal, accusing him of mishandling the prosecution with an “unconscionable agreement” and demanding his resignation.

While the number of alleged victims against Epstein and failure of Acosta to confer with them before the plea agreement was made are certainly causes for concern, the unfortunate reality is that the outcome of Epstein’s original indictment is not necessarily out of the ordinary for these types of cases.

>>6985544

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There are more Jeffrey Epsteins

For example, take the case of James Joseph, Jr. aka “Spyder.” He was arrested in 2009 in Missouri, after a woman in his company told police that he had taken her identification, she was unable to leave, and she and other women were told by him to engage in prostitution. Despite the allegations of sex trafficking, as part of a plea deal, a federal judge in Missouri sentenced him to ten months in jail for possessing a fake ID.

After Joseph took the plea deal, a probation officer realized he had an active warrant out of New York for assault against a woman named Natasha. Natasha alleged that in 2001 she was physically kidnapped, assaulted, raped and told that if she ever wanted to see her family again, she’d have to start having sex for money. She made her escape in New York, after being told she was going to be taken to China to be sold for sex.

New York authorities were notified that Joseph was in custody in Missouri, but they declined to extradite him. He was placed on federal probation and moved to Southern California, until America’s Most Wanted featured Natasha’s story. After being contacted by America’s Most Wanted producers, U.S. Marshalls took Joseph into custody for the alleged crimes in New York, while cameras rolled. Again, despite the violence and severity of the sex trafficking allegations, he took a plea deal in New York and was sentenced to less than 18 months in jail.

Five years later, Joseph finally faced charges for sex trafficking more than a half-dozen women in Contra Costa County, California. I testified as a sex trafficking expert witness in both his grand jury hearing and at his trial. In 2018, Joseph was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 174 years to life.

The reality is that sex trafficking laws are applied differently across jurisdictions and circumstances, while sex trafficking crimes are notoriously difficult to prove in a court of law. Victims are often erroneously perceived as consenting participants and have credibility gaps exploited during trial. As a result, prosecutors typically use a variety of tactics to obtain convictions without litigation, including charge bargaining and plea bargaining.

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Similar to the Epstein outcome in the mid-2000s, convictions of sex traffickers are often secured through guilty pleas for tangentially related offenses.

We need more reform

More importantly, although the concept of sex trafficking has been recognized in the United States for over 100 years, our efforts to combat it have seen considerable change concentrated over the last two decades. Although the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed in 2000, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report — the single most authoritative source for empirical crime data in the United States — didn’t even publish data on sex trafficking until 2013.

More on human trafficking: Our hotels are fighting human trafficking, but we can't do it alone: Marriott CEO

Although some want to believe that Epstein’s affluence, prominence, and political connections heavily influenced how the allegations against him were handled by Acosta in the mid-2000s, the reality is the result of his first indictment is not necessarily out of the norm. That is not to say that Epstein’s wealth and stature did not affect the outcome of his previous case or will not affect the outcome of his current case, but it isn’t as much of a gulf as people are being led to believe.

Top Democrats in Congress can try and vilify Acosta, but that will not bring about meaningful change. Evidence based reform is needed to better protect victims, prevent sex trafficking crimes and facilitate the prosecution of offenders. No matter where they fall on the socioeconomic spectrum or how powerful they may be, persons who consume commercial sex services with juveniles are unlikely to be convicted of sex trafficking. In fact, given the level of legal impunity they typically enjoy, that have become emboldened. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree that needs to change.

Instead of playing partisan politics, legislators must invest the time and resources needed to combat sex trafficking in a more meaningful way, first by analyzing and addressing the barriers to successful prosecution.

Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco serves a human trafficking expert witness in criminal and civil court. Her first book Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium is used to train law enforcement on human trafficking investigations. Follow her on Twitter: @MehlmanOrozco

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.