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Jeffrey Epstein was set to potentially cooperate with the feds in his sprawling sex-trafficking case, with lawyers for both sides huddling just two weeks before he killed himself in jail, newly released FBI files show.
Federal prosecutors met with lawyers for the twisted pedophile financier July 29, 2019, when his camp, “in very general terms, discussed the possibility of a resolution of the case, and the possibility of the defendant’s cooperation,” according to an FBI record made public in the Epstein files last week.
The 66-year-old sex offender — whose former pals ranged from world leaders to billionaires and Hollywood powerhouses — killed himself just two weeks later, as he was locked up in a Lower Manhattan jail cell awaiting trial in the bombshell criminal case, according to authorities.
Another document in the Epstein files references the same meeting with the feds but notes, “Defense counsel did not make a specific proposal, and they did not indicate what the nature of Epstein’s cooperation might be, if any.
“It was suggested that defense counsel contact SDNY if Epstein was prepared to accept responsibility for his conduct and/or they had a specific proposal for a resolution of this case.”
On Friday, the Department of Justice released its biggest file dump in the case to date, making public 3.5 million pages of investigative materials about Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking network of underage girls and women.
On Monday, the feds notified a federal judge that they were forced to take “down several thousands of documents and media that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information due to various factors, including technical or human error,” according to a letter by Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton.
Clayton said the DOJ “has worked all hours through the weekend” to address victim complaints over the fact that they were named or pictured in evidence that was released.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November which forced the DOJ to make public all of the records it accumulated through the years as part of the its probe of Epstein and his righthand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell. But the law protects any of Epstein’s victims from being exposed.
To date, Epstein — who previously pleaded guilty to child prostitution charges — and his convicted madam Maxwell are the only two who have faced criminal charges in the case.
But the disgraced British socialite Maxwell filed papers in December revealing there were 25 alleged accomplices of Epstein who reached settlements with victims and who were never charged criminally.
Another four of Epstein’s former employees were mentioned in a non-prosecution agreement, but they were never charged or named, Maxwell added in the papers seeking to overturn her 20-year sentence.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York — is the most prominent figure to be accused of partaking in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring. He was accused by Virginia Giuffre of having sex with her when she was a minor. Andrew has denied those allegations.
Many other powerful and famous people have been embarrassed after they were linked to Epstein in the newest records dump.
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