Prosecutors knew Jeffrey Epstein raped two teenagers, two years before deal with his mistress: Grand Jury Docs

Recently released grand jury documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case reveal that Florida prosecutors knew about the rape of two teenagers two years before they offered Epstein a favor deal that would allow him to avoid severe punishment.

The 2006 grand jury documents released Monday include the testimony of two girls who both said they were paid to give Epstein massages and then engaged in sexual acts with the late millionaire financier as minors. The documents also include testimony from police officers who interviewed many other girls who accused Epstein of similar acts.

But two years later, in 2008, Epstein was able to reach a deal with federal prosecutors in South Florida that resulted in him pleading guilty to just one state charge: procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. He served 13 months on a work release program that allowed him to leave prison and go to his office almost every day. He also served a year under house arrest and was required to register as a sex offender, the Associated Press reported.

The agreement had long been criticized as being too lenient, which ultimately led to the resignation in 2019 of Alex Acosta, then-Labor Secretary under US President Donald Trump, who had signed it a decade earlier.

Brad Edwards, who represents many of Epstein’s alleged victims, told AP that former Palm Beach County prosecutor Barry Krischer, who presided over the grand jury hearing, “brought the case to the grand jury with an agenda – to bring as few or no criminal charges as possible against Jeffrey Epstein.”

“A fraction of the evidence was presented in a misleading way and the office portrayed the victims as criminals,” Edwards told the outlet. “It’s so sad how many victims Epstein was able to abuse because the state brought him water when they had the chance to put him away.”

The grand jury hearing lasted less than four hours. The first witness called was Joseph Recarey, a detective with the Palm Beach Police Department. He had led the investigation into Epstein’s dealings with underage girls and interviewed over a dozen alleged victims. Recarey explained that the police had received a report from the stepmother of a 14-year-old girl who, according to the mother, was paid $300 to massage an older man on Palm Beach Island.

The girl, who was 16 at the time of her testimony, was then called. She said an older friend had recruited her to go to Epstein’s mansion the year before, shortly before her 15th birthday.^th birthday and was asked to strip down to her underwear before Epstein entered the room. She testified that she then gave Epstein a massage and allowed him to use a vibrator on her for an additional $100 on top of the $200 she was promised for the massage.

On the witness stand, she admitted to lying about her age and telling Epstein she was 18, which she was ordered to do by his assistant. Her parents learned of the encounter when she got into a fight at school when another girl called her a prostitute. A school official later found $300 in her purse.

Both the girl and the other alleged victim were portrayed as prostitutes during their testimony. A juror asked the younger girl if she had “any idea deep down that… what she was doing was wrong?” The girl replied, “Yes, I knew that.” The juror then suggested that the girl was “well aware that what she was doing was damaging to her own reputation,” to which the girl replied, “Yes, I know that.”

The juror then asked whether the girl was aware “that you had committed a crime.”

“Now I am. I didn’t know it was a crime when I did it,” the girl replied. “Now it’s probably prostitution or something like that.”

The only other alleged victim who testified said she had been to Epstein’s house about 10 times since she was 16 and that he “knew my age from the beginning.”

As she continued her testimony, a prosecutor asked her whether she was aware that “you had actually committed prostitution yourself.”

The grand jury documents were released this week in response to a motion filed by the Palm Beach Post and other news outlets requesting the release of grand jury testimony, ABC News reported. The documents are intended to provide answers to how a grand jury could have brought an indictment on just one count of solicitation of a minor, but the documents do not provide any information about what charges were presented to the grand jury.