Epstein Defense Counsel Claims Federal Sex Offender Registration and Charges Were Improperly Pursued

JAY P. LEFKOWITZ, ESQ. May 19, 2008 PAGE 5 OF 6 C. “Mr. Epstein Does Not Believe He Is Guilty Of The Federal Charges Enumerated Under Section 2255.” At our December 14, 2007 meeting at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, counsel for Epstein announced, inter alia, that it was a “profound injustice” to require Epstein to register as a sex offender and reiterated that no federal crime, especially 18 U.S.C. Section 2422(b), had been committed since the statute is only violated if a telephone or means of interstate commerce is used to do the persuading or inducing. This particular attack on this statute had been previously raised and thoroughly considered and rejected by the SDFL and CEOS prior to the execution of the Agreement. You also argued that the facts were inapplicable to the contemplated state statutes and that Epstein should not have been allowed to have been induced into the Agreement because the facts were not "what he understood them to be. It should be noted that the SDFL.has never provided you with any evidence supporting its investigation. This is not, and has never been, an Alford plea situation (see North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160 (1970)). Ultimately, you requested an independent review. Subsequent to the above-mentioned meeting, the SDFL received three letters from you and/or Mr. Starr which expanded on some of the themes announced in the December 14” meeting. Essentially, you portrayed the SDFL as trying to coerce’a plea to unknown allegations and incoherent theories. On December 17, 2007, you decreed that Epstein’s conduct did not meet the requirements of solicitation of minors to engage in prostitution (FI. Stat. Section 796.03) one of the enumerated crimes Epstein had previously agreed to plead guilty to; that Epstein’s conduct does not require registration under Florida law; and the State Attorney’s Office does not believe the conduct is registrable. On December 21, 2007, you rejected the USA’s proposed resolution of the 2255 provision because you “strongly believe that the provable conduct of Mr. Epstein with respect to these individuals fails to satisfy the requisite elements of either 18 U.S.C. Section[s] 2422(b) ... or .-. 2423(b).” In your December 26, 2007 correspondence you stated that “we have reiterated in previous submissions that Mr. Epstein does not believe he is guilty of the federal charges enumerated under section 2255” and requiring “Mr. Epstein to in essence admit guilt, though he believes he did not commit the requisite offense.” As the SDFL has reiterated time and time again, it does not want, nor does it expect, Epstein " to plead guilty to a charge he does not believe he committed. As a result, we obliged your request for an independent de novo review of the investigation and facilitated such a review at the highest levels of the Department of Justice. It is our understanding that that independent review is now complete and a determination has been made that there are no impediments to a federal prosecution by the SDFL. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012202