WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spoke out at a hearing held in Palm Beach County.
Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee held the meeting at West Palm Beach City Hall on Tuesday. They called it a field hearing due to Palm Beach County being where Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes first became known.
Palm Beach County is where prosecutors offered Epstein a controversial deal back in 2008 that allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges and serve just 13 months, and also be part of a work release program.
“[It was] right here in Palm Beach County, more than 20 years ago, that the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes were first denied justice with devastating results,” said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla.
“And over the last two and a half decades, not a single congressional hearing has been held on this case here in this community where it all started,” said U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N. Mex.
Epstein’s plea deal, approved by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, allowed Epstein to spend 13 months in jail largely out on a “work release”, among other stipulations.
“If this deal had not occurred here in Palm Beach [County] with the federal government, he would have still been in jail today, he would have never been allowed out on work release to abuse other women,” said Spencer Kuvin, attorney for the victims. “So it was because of the failures of the Department of Justice back then, and entering into this deal, that allowed this operation to just flourish.”
Victims spoke about that deal on Tuesday, as well as their names not being redacted in the Epstein files.
One of the victims identified herself as “Roza.”
“I woke up one day with my name mentioned over 500 times. While rich and powerful remain protected by redaction, my name was exposed to the world,” she said. “Now reporters from across the globe contact me; I cannot live without looking over my shoulder. I can only imagine the long-term impact this mistake will have on my life. Jeffery Epstein was under house arrest for the molestation of underage girls at the exact time he was abusing me.”
Another victim, Jena-Lisa Jones, spoke out about the treatment of her and her fellow victims.
“We came to you seeking answers for why our rights were violated back in 2007. And in the process of asking for those answers, our rights were violated again,”
The brother of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Sky Roberts, also spoke at the hearing.
Giuffre was recruited by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and was pressured into encounters with then Prince Andrew, Epstein’s friend, and died last year.
“Just, I ask that people don’t get desensitized to it, because it’s so easy to do so, and we have to ask more of our government right now,” said Roberts.
“I think this has been a game and a cover-up from the very beginning, unfortunately,” said Amanda Roberts.
Kuvin said the crime was organized and devastating.
“The conduct was organized, repeated, and devastating, yet instead of a prosecution that matched the scale of the harm, what followed was a secret agreement, as we know, that minimized the abuse and insulted the children that had been abused,” he said.
Epstein was ultimately arrested again in 2019 on other crimes, and just a few months later, was found dead in his jail cell.
The main goal of this hearing was to allow these victims to be heard, but they also hope to strengthen a crime victim federal law to make sure that deals like the one Epstein received don’t happen again.
They also want more of the Epstein files released and they would like to see former Attorney General Pam Bondi testify about the release of those files on camera and under oath.
The DOJ has investigated the 2008 plea deal and did not find corruption, but stated they found “poor judgement.”
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