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Millionaire Employs Legal Dream Team in Sex Scandal
July 28, 2006 3:16 PM
Though he's only been charged with solicitation of a prostitute, New York financier Jeffrey Epstein has a dream team of lawyers working on his behalf.
A lengthy police probe was conducted in Palm Beach to investigate allegations that Epstein paid young and underage girls to massage him and have sex or engage in sexual activity with him. Police had wanted to arrest him on four counts of illegal sexual activity with minors. While that investigation was ongoing, Epstein's lawyers were already hard at work. His defense team includes Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black, Jack Goldberger, and Gerald Lefcourt.
Roy Black, whose former clients include Rush Limbaugh and William Kennedy Smith, said that private investigators were used to investigate the claims made by the young and underage girls who told police they were paid to massage Epstein.
According to police documents obtained by ABC News, some girls and their families reported being harassed and followed by private eyes working for Epstein. One girl’s father told police that he had been "followed aggressively by a private investigator" who was "running other vehicles off the road in an attempt not to lose sight" of him, according to police records.
Black said the allegations about the private investigators' behavior are false and that proof of that was submitted to the state attorney's office and the grand jury. He also added that the use of private investigators is not unusual in a case when police allege criminal activity.
Also on the team is Alan Dershowitz, who defended OJ Simpson and Claus Von Bulow. It was Dershowitz, according to police documents, who provided the state attorney's office with a package of damning material on the main "victims" in the case. That package included images from myspace.com, in which some of them speak about alcohol and marijuana use, according to police documents.
Dershowitz has not returned calls from ABC News seeking comment.
Gerald Lefcourt, Epstein's New York-based attorney, who defended Russell Crowe and Abbie Hoffman, has been engaging in the public relations spin. He reportedly told the New York Post that: "The prosecutor didn't want to bring any charges in this case, but because of the craziness of the police chief, we have the charge of solicitation." The chief of police in Palm Beach, Michael Reiter, wrote in a letter to parents of the alleged victims that he does not believe justice has been served in this case. He also wrote to State Attorney Krischer urging him to "consider if good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from the prosecution of these cases."
Lefcourt has not returned calls from ABC News seeking comment.
Jack Goldberger is the local attorney who said yesterday that Epstein overwhelmingly passed a lie detector test administered by a highly respected expert.
"This expert is regularly called upon by numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Palm Beach County State Attorney's office," said Goldberger. "Moreover, a 13-month investigation by local law enforcement, which included a search of Mr. Epstein's home, turned up absolutely no evidence to support or corroborate these allegations."
The Police Chief does not agree with Mr. Goldberger's assessments. A spokesperson for Chief Reiter has told ABC News: "We think our investigation speaks for itself."
With no further action expected from the state attorney's office, police have turned the case over to the FBI, which is reviewing the case and could get involved if it is determined that federal statutes making it unlawful to have sex with minors have been violated.
Meanwhile, the state attorney's office said yesterday that the no further charges will be brought. He will be arraigned and it could go to trial on the charge of sollicitation.
It seems that all there is left to do for Epstein is to keep paying his attorney bills.
Click here to read ABC News' full coverage on the Millionaire Sex Scandal.
July 28, 2006 in Millionaire Sex Scandal | Permalink | User Comments (5)
Even in this fabled land of equality, ya gotta love the aristocracy.
It's so predictable.
Posted by: zach | Jul 28, 2006 6:56:26 PM
here we go agin...only the rich can afford justice in this country.when are people going to wake up?
Posted by: steve | Jul 29, 2006 2:41:11 AM
What do all these people have in common??????????
Posted by: Jim | Jul 31, 2006 6:58:17 PM
its amazing what money can do these days
Crime is crime and too many judges and lawyers and juries are looking the other way
Posted by: Alan | Mar 23, 2007 3:24:55 PM
In the words of Styx; "Justice for money, what can you say? We all know its the American way."
Posted by: Lana | Jul 25, 2007 5:12:25 PM
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