Epstein Transcripts Newly Released: Florida Prosecutors Knew Billionaire Raped Teen Girls Years Before He Made Deal

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida prosecutors heard graphic testimony about how the late millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted teenage girls two years before they took a plea deal, according to transcripts released Monday from the 2006 grand jury investigation.

The transcripts have been at the center of a legal battle for about a decade after media investigations into Epstein's ties to the rich and powerful appear to have allowed him to continue raping and sex trafficking teenage girls without ever being sent to prison or serving serious jail time.

The judge’s release of the roughly 150 pages came as a surprise because he had scheduled a hearing next week to determine when and how to release them. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in February authorizing the release on Monday or any later date, at the order of Circuit Judge Luis Delgado.

LEARN MORE: Grand jury records from Jeffrey Epstein child abuse investigation to be released under Florida law

Transcripts show that the grand jury heard testimony that Epstein, who was in his 40s at the time, raped girls as young as 14 at his Palm Beach home. The teens testified and told detectives that they were also paid to find him other girls.

“The details of the case will be shocking to honest people,” Delgado wrote in his order. “The testimony gathered by the grand jury involves activities ranging from the unacceptable to the rape – all of the behaviors involved are sexually deviant, disgusting and criminal.”

After the grand jury investigation, Epstein struck a deal with federal prosecutors in South Florida in 2008 that allowed him to escape tougher federal charges and plead guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. The deal has long been criticized as too lenient. He was sentenced to a year and a half in the Palm Beach County jail system, followed by a year of house arrest. He was required to register as a sex offender.

The deal has been widely criticized as being too lenient.

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According to transcripts, Palm Beach police Detective Joe Recarey testified in July 2006 that the initial investigation began when a woman reported in March 2005 that her stepdaughter, who was in high school at the time, said she had received $300 in exchange for “sexual activity with a man in Palm Beach,” Recarey testified.

Another teenage girl, whose name was redacted in the transcript, told detectives she was 17 when she was approached by a friend who told her she could earn $200 providing a massage at Epstein's home.

Once at the house, the teenager was led into a room by an Epstein assistant, and shortly after, Epstein came in and asked her to undress. She complied and began the massage. When Epstein tried to touch her, she told him she was uncomfortable. Epstein then told her he would pay her if she brought other “girls” to his house. She agreed to do so, according to the October 2005 interview with detectives recounted by Recarey.

“And he said, 'The younger the better,'” Recarey said.

When she brought a 23-year-old friend, Epstein told her the friend was too old. Over time, the teen brought six friends from her high school to Epstein's home, including a 14-year-old girl, the detective said.

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The teenager, who likens herself to Hollywood detective Heidi Fleiss, said the girls knew what they were getting into. She was paid $200 for each friend she brought and a rental car paid for by Epstein.

“The more you did, the more money you made,” the teen told the detective. “She explained to him that there would be a massage or maybe some touching, and that you would have to do the massage topless or naked.”

Epstein was charged in 2018 with sex trafficking in New York, where he also owned a home that was the scene of abuse, after the Miami Herald published a series of articles that renewed public attention on the case, including interviews with some of the victims who had filed civil lawsuits against him. Epstein was 66 when he killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, according to federal officials.

In his order, Delgado called Epstein “the most infamous pedophile in American history.”

“For nearly 20 years, the story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of the most vulnerable people in Palm Beach County has sparked much anger and at times diminished public perception of the criminal justice system,” Delgado wrote.

“Epstein is indeed notorious and infamous and is widely reported to have flaunted his wealth while hobnobbing with politicians, billionaires and even British royalty,” he continued. “It is understandable that in light of these reports, the public is very curious about what has been widely reported by news organizations as ‘special treatment’ regarding his prosecution.”

Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Stephany Matat in West Palm Beach, Fla., Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Ala., and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.