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.
Victims spoke about that deal on Tuesday, as well as their names not being redacted in the Epstein files.
“[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.
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.”
The victim’s attorney, Spencer Kuvin, also spoke at the hearing.
“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 later arrested 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 these 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.
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