Florida feds knew of New York victim in Epstein indictment 11 years earlier

Source: ABC

Before her testimony could be secured, Epstein cemented a controversial deal.

A woman whose allegations of childhood sex abuse in New York were central to last year's indictment of Jeffrey Epstein was questioned by the FBI and subpoenaed for testimony by federal prosecutors in Florida more than a decade ago in connection with the first federal investigation into Epstein's alleged child sex trafficking, according to court documents and multiple sources familiar with the events.

But the woman, who was 19 at the time of her initial contact with federal agents in 2008, did not appear before a grand jury in West Palm Beach, as the subpoena commanded. Before her testimony could be secured, Epstein cemented a controversial and once-secret non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami by pleading guilty to two state prostitution charges for which he was sentenced to 18 months in a county jail.

The woman's account could have helped prosecutors strengthen an already expansive case against Epstein, by potentially unraveling an alleged network of child sexual abuse at his Manhattan residence that mirrored what had been uncovered at his home in Palm Beach. But with the deal done, the federal grand jury was suspended, the investigation halted, and the subpoena to the woman, ultimately, withdrawn.

"I certainly think with the FBI's capabilities, even back then, that they could have unraveled the entire network from New York to Paris to New Mexico," said Spencer Kuvin, a West Palm Beach attorney who represented three of Epstein’s alleged victims during the original federal investigation in Florida. "The potential was always there. [The government] shut this thing down and pled this thing out before going through and talking to probably more than half of the women that were involved in this whole thing. Had they conducted a full investigation and taken their time, this would've been a whole different story.”



Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/exclusive-florida-feds-knew-york-victim-epstein-indictment/story?id=69088738