You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Judge: Alex Acosta Broke Law in 2008 over Sex Abuser Jeffrey Epstein Plea Deal

HeadlineFeb 22, 2019

Calls are growing for Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign, after a federal judge ruled Thursday that Acosta broke the law in 2008, while working as a federal prosecutor, for his role in securing a controversial plea deal for billionaire serial sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein. The deal allowed Epstein to avoid a federal trial and possible life in prison, and effectively ended an FBI probe into the case, which alleged Epstein sexually abused and trafficked more than 30 underage girls. The plea deal was then sealed, in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. A recent Miami Herald investigation described the deal as “one of the most lenient deals for a serial child sex offender in history.” The deal also gave immunity to Epstein’s co-conspirators. Epstein was known to socialize with many prominent figures, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top