Saturday, February 18, 2017

Labor pick Acosta part of Epstein-Trump underage sex crime cover-up By The Wayne Madsen Report




Labor pick Acosta part of Epstein-Trump underage sex crime cover-up
By The Wayne Madsen Report
Alexander Acosta, President Trump's pick to replace failed nominee Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary, has his own political baggage stemming from his actions as U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida in the sweetheart plea deal involving billionaire pederast Jeffrey Epstein. Acosta agreed to a rather unprecedented non-prosecution agreement (NPA) struck with Epstein and his attorneys on October 30, 2007 that saw the federal government waive any future prosecution of Epstein or any of his associates named or unnamed by underage female sexual abuse victims of Epstein. Epstein pleaded 
guilty to one state of Florida charge of soliciting prostitution from a 14-year old girl.
Although Acosta later mildly criticized the plea deal in an open letter he write in 2011, he did not respond to WMR's request in January 2015 for an interview on the civil case in which four of Epstein's victims sued the U.S. government, claiming that the NPA violated their rights under the Crime Victims' Rights Act. The victims, who are now adults, claimed that the federal government's NPA with Epstein violated the 2004 CVRA. Acosta was clearly aiming to protect Epstein's high-powered friends, including the person who just nominated him as Labor Secretary. Acosta's letter states: "Our judgment in this [Epstein] case, based on the evidence known at the time, was that it was better to have a billionaire serve time in jail, register as a sex offender, and pay his victims restitution than risk a trial with a reduced likelihood of success." Epstein's 13-month "jail time" included the stipulation that he only had to stay in prison in the evening and was free to leave during the day. The Palm Beach Police Department was outraged by Epstein's plea deal.

The NPA was signed on behalf of Acosta by A. Marie Villafana, the then-Assistant U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida who later became the U.S. Attorney under Attorney General Eric Holder. The plea deal with Epstein was concluded after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and the FBI investigated Epstein separately from the investigation conducted by the Palm Beach County Police Department and the Florida State Attorney's Office.  The deal cut between Acosta and Villafana and the state of Florida, which was then under the governorship of Republican Governor Charlie Crist and Republican Attorney-General Bill McCollum stated that the federal government would defer to Florida on the prosecution of Epstein. Acosta went on to become the dean of the law school of Florida International University in Miami.
Flight manifests of Epstein's Gulfstream jet and Boeing 727 indicate that Epstein's passengers included a mix of underage sex traffic victims and some of the world's most powerful politicians and businessmen. These include Bill Clinton, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Chicago Pritzker family chieftain and Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker (the first cousin of President Obama's Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker), and failed Palm Beach mayoral candidate Gerry Goldsmith. Underage passengers included on the manifest include Virginia Roberts and Cindy Lopez and others listed by their first names: Colleen, Tatianna, Margarita, Carolina, Lisa, Margaret, Dana, Julie, and Jessica. Epstein's two major "procurers" of underage girls are also frequent flyers on Epstein's "Pederast Airlines" -- Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late publishing tycoon and Mossad asset Robert Maxwell, and Sarah Kellen (now Sarah Kensington), the girlfriend of NASCAR driver Brian Vickers. Up to 40 women were identified as being the victims of sexual abuse by Epstein. Court records indicate the number may be higher with one reference to a Jane Doe 103.

In a later lawsuit filed on September 26, 2016 by another Jane Doe, identified as Katie Johnson, it is alleged that there were three additional underage victims of Epstein -- as well as Donald Trump -- in 1994. They are Jane Doe (Johnson), Joan Doe, and Maria, the latter a 12-year old girl who Jane, Joan, and a third witness, Tiffany Doe, allege may have been "disappeared" by Trump after he sexually assaulted and raped her at the Wexner Mansion in Manhattan.

Epstein pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked by FBI agents, 
"Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?” Epstein also took the Fifth when the FBI asked him: "Have you ever socialized with Bill Clinton in the presence of females under the age of 18?” Fourteen private phone numbers for Trump and members of his family, including his media-shy brother Robert Trump, Robert's wife Blaine Trump, Donald Trump ex-wife Ivana Trump, and Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, are found in Epstein's address book.

 
Trump and his family's names and numbers found in pederast Jeffrey Epstein's "black book."
The Senate Labor Committee has an opportunity to ask Acosta about the Epstein plea deal during his confirmation hearing. However, do not expect committee chairman Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to proceed down such a road of inquiry. Alexander's chief of staff, Ryan Loskarn, was arrested at his Washington, DC home in December 13 and found with an entire computer hard disk full of child pornographic videos and photos. Loskarn, who was remanded to his Maryland parents' custody while awaiting arraignment in federal court in Washington, was found hanging in his parents' basement in January 2014. The cause of death was determined, without a full autopsy, to have been suicide.