The House Oversight Committee released a majority staff report concluding that prosecutorial failures, preferential treatment, and institutional negligence allowed Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to continue sexually exploiting young women and girls for years.
The 15-month inquiry, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., found that crimes Epstein committed after 2005 could have been prevented if not for failures by federal investigators and prosecutors in South Florida and Washington. Rather than pursue a federal indictment, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Florida entered a 2007 non-prosecution agreement that let Epstein plead guilty to lesser state charges. He was sentenced to 18 months, served about 13, and received work-release privileges of up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, during which survivors including Sarah Kellen alleged the abuse continued; federal prosecutors also failed to inform survivors of the agreement.
The report flagged potential conflicts involving former prosecutors Matthew Menchel and Bruce Reinhart. Menchel, who recommended a non-prosecution agreement, had previously had a romantic relationship with Lilly Ann Sanchez, who later represented Epstein, did not recuse himself, and continued meeting with Epstein after the agreement, according to documents cited by the committee; a 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility report found that he failed to disclose the relationship to supervisors but found no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, and Menchel denied an unverified claim that he had skied with Epstein. Reinhart established a private practice while still at the U.S. Attorneys Office and later represented Epstein associates, and former U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta testified that he did not know whether Reinhart had access to information about the investigation.
The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwells horrific crimes for decades, Comer said, calling on the Justice Department to interview or re-interview key witnesses and further investigate allegations against former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and hairstylist Frdric Fekkai, both of whom have denied Kellens accusations. The Republican-led investigation stated that it uncovered no evidence implicating President Donald Trump in Epsteins crimes and accused congressional Democrats of politicizing the inquiry. The committee identified serious prison security failures surrounding Epsteins 2019 death but did not overturn the official suicide finding.
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