Donald Trump

White House Says It's ‘Looking Into' Acosta's Role in Jeffrey Epstein Case

The Trump administration is “looking into” Labor Secretary Alex Acosta’s role in securing an unusually lenient plea deal — the details of which were illegally kept hidden from dozens of victims in the case — for sex offender and well-connected former hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, NBC News reported.

Epstein, 66, reached a nonprosecution deal in 2008 with then-Miami U.S. Attorney Acosta's office to halt a federal sex abuse investigation involving dozens of teenage girls in return for him pleading guilty to state charges involving a single victim, paying financial settlements to other victims and becoming a registered sex offender.

The wealthy financier, who'd been friends with the likes of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, wound up serving 13 months in a Palm Beach jail, where he was allowed to leave almost daily through a work-release program and to have his own private security detail.

Acosta was actively involved in the negotiations, according to documents that were introduced into evidence in a lawsuit by two victims who said their rights were violated. That included an email between Acosta and one of Epstein's lawyers, former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr, where he agreed to temporarily hold off on sending out victim notification letters at Starr's request.

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