In addition to accusations of receiving sexual services from minors, financier Jeffrey Epstein was involved in a large-scale money laundering case. The lead prosecutor drew attention to everyone who was connected with financial transactions carried out by Epstein since 2003. The financier and his legal team began a counter-war with the legal representative of the prosecution.
This is reported by UNN with reference to Bloomberg.
Details
Federal prosecutors expanded their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes in 2007 to include potential money laundering charges. The lead prosecutor asked a grand jury to issue subpoenas for "all financial transactions conducted by Epstein and his six companies" since 2003. Representatives of large financial companies were summoned to court to obtain records of Epstein's accounts and financial activities.
Marie Villafaña, then an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, even contacted a longtime Epstein asset management client, Les Wexner, the billionaire businessman behind the Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works brands, about the investigation, according to documents and emails.
As Bloomberg notes, in response to this expansion of the investigation, Epstein "became enraged," and the influential financier's legal team launched an aggressive campaign of accusations against the assistant U.S. attorney.
Epstein's lawyers tried to prove that Marie Villafaña was making baseless accusations in order to force the odious financier to make a deal with the investigation.
This was a smear campaign in opposition to attempts to "follow the money." Epstein's people pressured Villafaña's superiors to remove her and others from the case, trying to create conditions for the complete closure of the case.
Ultimately, attempts to prosecute Epstein for sex and financial crimes ceased after senior U.S. Attorney's Office officials instructed prosecutors to begin plea negotiations with Epstein.
These negotiations resulted in a federal non-prosecution agreement, as Epstein pleaded guilty to two state-level sex crime charges.
Thus, it was more than a decade before Epstein's finances again came under scrutiny.
Villafaña, who left the federal prosecutor's office in 2023, declined to comment on the story, Bloomberg adds.
The article also states that previously undisclosed details of the financial crime investigation were contained in 18,000 emails from Epstein's personal Yahoo inbox, which are available to Bloomberg.
The relevant correspondence began about a year before Epstein appeared in Palm Beach County Jail in June 2008. It includes his correspondence with lawyers, correspondence related to the grand jury investigation, and draft complaints prepared by some of his lawyers accusing the prosecution of misconduct.
Separately, it refers to "Epstein's outraged, error-filled letters about the investigation" - these letters were addressed to friends and business partners, including the former CEO of investment bank Bear Stearns.
Recall
US President Donald Trump said he would discuss with the Department of Justice the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sexual exploitation of minors.