Epstein Jane Doe lawsuits reveal family disputes and pending criminal case

{ D> EPSTEIN fom 1B $100, according to the lawsuit. The two attended the same Palm Beach County high school. Jane Doe No. 2 is now - 19.and living in Virginia, Her man said, Both lawsuits contend that Epstein, 55, targeted “economically disadvantaged girls from western Palm Beach County” who were perceived as less likely to complain to authorities, or whose credibility would be quest:oned if they did. “Both complaints are full of lies,” said Guy Lewis, former US. attorney in Miami and ‘one of Epstein’s many attor- neys. Jane Doe No. 2's lawsuit “is an outrageous, defamatory copycat of the first.” There has been a twist in the first Jane Doe lawsuit. Her mother in Georgia contends that her former husband — Jane. Doe's father — con- sulted with neither of them before filing the lawsuit. She . is asking a judge to. halt the litigation until her daughter turns 18 in May and can make her own decisions. The mother asked in court filings to be added to the law- suit, saying she “has suffered and will continue to suffer severe mental anguish and pain’ as a result of Epstein’s “reckless conduct.” Jane Doe “just didn’t want the lawsuit ‘going forward with the fathers involve- ment,” said Ted Leopold, the mother’s attorney. “She wanted to pursue it on her own. The father essentially did this on his own.” Jane Doe has’ béen es- tranged from her father since Thanksgiving, Leopold said. “That's why it's even stranger what he did,” he said. . The girls mother is asking a judge in their divorce case to find the father in contempt of court for violating their divorce decree by not con- ferring with her on a matter = SSS TT pommpe sani or Fagan -¥ | plaintiff's parents| at odds over suit | involving their daughter. “The father has sole custo- dy and has the right to make decisions on his daughter's rights,” Herman said. Epstein is a wealthy New York money manager who has counted Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Britain's Prince Andrew among his friends.. He was the target of a lengthy investigation into his activities with girls by the Palm Beach Police Depart- ment that resulted in his in- dictment in July 2006 on one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. That case is pending. ; ’ Epstein has been sued in New York by a woman who says he had sex with her when she was 16. Herman : said he has received calls from others making the same | assertions in that state. Hetman convened a news conference Wednesday on the middle bridge connecting West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. “This is the bridge... these |} girls were recruited to come over and give a massage,” he said. “When they crossed this bridge, they had no idea what was in store for them, This is_ a bridge of tears.” Herman has described both Jane Does as typical teenage girls Epstein robbed of their innocence. But Harvard University law Professor Alan Dershowitz, another Epstein attorney, pro- vided the state attorney's of- fice with information gleaned from the myspace.com Web site two years ago showing that some of Epstein’s alleged victims boasted of their alco- hol and marijuana use. Herman said the girly backgrounds aren’t relevant {| to Epstein’s purported. be- havior. “They don’t have the mental capacity to consent to something like this with a grown man,” he said. @larry_keller@pbpost.com ve HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021524