Two years before deal, prosecutors knew about Epstein's rape of teenage girls

A Florida judge has released an explosive 150-page transcript related to a 2006 grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, revealing that prosecutors made sure Epstein sexually abused underage girls.

According to transcripts, the deal between Epstein and prosecutors came two years after they learned Epstein had raped teenage girls, and resulted in minimal penalties for the billionaire human trafficker, who continued to sexually exploit children until his death in 2019.

“The details of the case will be outrageous to honest people,” Judge Luis Delgado wrote, releasing the documents after a 2024 Florida law made it legal to do so for transcripts related to Epstein.

The 2008 charges amounted to one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor, despite investigators' knowledge of Epstein's behavior, including numerous incidents of rape.

The filing, which itself further reveals prosecutorial errors that enabled Epstein's later conduct, comes years after the lenient, deferred sentence was criticized.

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

As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alex Acosta, a former labor secretary under Donald Trump, approved a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2008, despite prosecutors' knowledge of the rapes.

Acosta, who also served as Samuel Alito's clerk, left the Trump administration amid scandal after details emerged detailing the failed prosecution of the prolific drug dealer.

At the time, President Trump stressed that the decision was “his, not mine.”

The former president is not named in the grand jury transcript, although his ties to Epstein are well documented.