Palm Beach Post seeks to unseal Jeffrey Epstein's confidential deferred prosecution agreement amid claims of high‑level political connections

+ 4A THE PALM BEACH POST e WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009 Public has right to know details of deal, Post attorney will claim pb EPSTEIN from 1A such as protecting a trade secret or a compelling gov- ernment interest. Yet no notification or reason occurred in Epstein’s case, according to court records. Epstein’s own attorneys, in federal filings, have referred to his confiden- tial deferred prosecution agreement with the US, attorney's office, struck in September 2007, as “un- precedented” and “highly unusual.” And it was “a significant . inducement” — for Epstein to accept the state’s deal, observed the state judge who accepted his plea, County Judge Deborah Dale Pucillo. Epstein now faces at least a dozen civil lawsuits in federal and state courts filed by young women who said they had sex with him and now are seeking damages. Attorneys for some of those women want his agreement with federal _ prosecutors unsealed and will ask Circuit Judge Jet frey Colbath to do.so today. ‘Tt is against public policy for these documents to be have been sealed and hidden from public scrutiny. As a member of the public, EW. has a right to have these documents unsealed,” wrote former Circuit Judge Bill Berger, now in-private practice and representing one of the women. The Palm Beach Post also will ask Colbath to unseal the agreement. Post attor- ney Deanna Shullman will argue that the public has a right to know the specifics of Epstein’s deal. According to various media accounts, Epstein moved in circles that in- cluded President Clinton, Donald, Trump and Prince Andrew. “International 'Moneyman of Mystery,” de- clared a 2002 New York mag- azine profile of Epstein. Epstein, 56, is in the Paltn Beach County Stock ade, serving an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty nearly a year ago to felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring teenagers for prostitution. He is allowed out from 7 am. to 11 pm., escorted by a deputy, said Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera. During a Palm Beach Police Department vestigation, five victims and 17 witnesses gave statements. They told of young women brought by his assistants to Epstein’s mansion on El Brillo Way for massages and sexual activity, and then béing paid afterward. At Epstein’s plea confer- ence last year, his attorney, Jack Goldberger, in- . and. then-Assistant State At- 4 torney Lanna Belohlavek | approached Pucillo in a sidebar conference. Pucillo, who had left the bench nine years earlier, , was filling in temporarily as a senior judge. ° According to atranscript, Goldberger told Pucillo that , Epstein had entered a con- fidential agreement with ' the US. attorney's office in which federal prosecu- tors brokered not pursuing charges against him if he pleaded guilty in state court. Pucillo then said she | wanted a sealed copy ofthe | agreement filed in his case, and Goldberger concurred that he wanted it sealed. Belohlavek later signed off on it. The Florida Supreme Court has expressed “seri- ous concern’ and launched an all-out inquiry into seal- ing procedures across the state following media re- ports in 2006 of entire cases being sealed and disappear | ing from court records. “The publics constitu- tional right ofaccess to court records must remain invio- late, and this court is. fully committed to safeguarding this right,”.justices wrote in their final report. Epstein’s office on Tuesday referred any questions to Goldberger, who declined to comment. Pucillo also has declined to comment. @susan_spencer_wendel@pbpost.com HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021655