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866 KB
Extraction Summary
6
People
2
Organizations
0
Locations
2
Events
3
Relationships
6
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Legal document
File Size:
866 KB
Summary
This legal document details a critical point in the plea negotiations for Jeffrey Epstein around September 20, 2007. It shows Epstein's defense team rejecting a federal plea agreement to pursue a "state-only" deal, primarily to avoid the federal sexual offender registration requirement. The document captures the internal communications among prosecutors, including Villafaña, Lourie, Acosta, and State Attorney Barry Krischer, as they react to the defense's shift in strategy and establish a hard deadline for filing charges.
People (6)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Epstein | Defendant |
Subject of a Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) and plea negotiations; defense attorneys fought against his sexual offen...
|
| Acosta | Supervisor/Prosecutor |
Defense attorneys attempted to speak with him directly; he was updated on negotiations by Villafaña and Lourie.
|
| Lefkowitz | Defense Counsel |
Communicated with Villafaña regarding the rejection of the federal plea and the terms of the NPA.
|
| Villafaña | Prosecutor |
Communicated with Lefkowitz, responded to his emails, and alerted her colleagues (Acosta, Lourie, Krischer) about the...
|
| Lourie | Prosecutor/Supervisor |
Was informed by Villafaña about Lefkowitz's position and subsequently emailed Acosta about the defense's motives.
|
| Barry Krischer | State Attorney |
Mentioned as being able to quickly assemble a plea agreement for state court; was alerted by Villafaña that negotiati...
|
Organizations (2)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| USAO | government agency |
United States Attorney's Office, whose insistence on sexual offender registration was fought by the defense.
|
| Immigration | government agency |
Mentioned as an entity that the prosecutor's office cannot bind in a non-prosecution agreement.
|
Timeline (2 events)
Relationships (3)
They are on opposing sides of a plea negotiation, with Lefkowitz representing the defense and Villafaña representing the prosecution, communicating about the terms of a potential agreement.
Villafaña, a prosecutor, is updating Krischer, the State Attorney, on the status of the negotiations, indicating a reporting or collaborative relationship.
Key Quotes (6)
"back to doing the state-charges-only agreement"Source
— Lefkowitz
(Told to Villafaña, describing the defense's new position after rejecting the federal plea deal.)
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Quote #1
"we need a signed agreement by tomorrow [Friday] or we are [filing charges] on Tuesday."Source
— Villafaña
(Relaying to her colleagues what she told defense counsel as a deadline for the plea negotiations.)
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Quote #2
"not going very well"Source
— Villafaña
(In an alert to Krischer about the status of the plea negotiations with Epstein's defense.)
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Quote #3
"changed their minds again, and they only want to plead to state charges, not concurrent state and federal."Source
— Villafaña
(Explaining the defense's position to Krischer.)
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Quote #4
"If we cannot reach . . . an agreement, then I need to [charge] the case on Tuesday [September 25] and I will not budge from that date."Source
— Villafaña
(Stating her firm position on the deadline for charging the case if no agreement is reached.)
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Quote #5
"He wants to get out of [sexual offender] registration which we should not agree to."Source
— Lourie
(In an email to Acosta, explaining the defense's primary motivation for preferring a state-only deal.)
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Quote #6
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (3,140 characters)
Case 22-1426, Document 77, 06/29/2023, 3536038, Page106 of 258
SA-104
Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 104 of 348
SA-104
Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 204-3 Filed 04/16/21 Page 104 of 348
I. The Defense Rejects the Federal Plea Agreement, Returns to the NPA “State-Only” Resolution, and Begins Opposing the Sexual Offender Registration Requirement
After having spent days negotiating the federal charges to be included in a plea agreement, by the afternoon of September 20, 2007, the defense rejected the federal plea option, and the parties resumed negotiations over the details of an NPA calling for Epstein to plead to only state charges. Through multiple emails and attempts (some successful) to speak directly with Acosta and other supervisors, defense attorneys vigorously fought the USAO’s insistence that Epstein plead to a state charge requiring sexual offender registration.
After receiving the federal plea agreement, Lefkowitz spoke with Villafaña. She reported to Acosta and Lourie that Lefkowitz told her the defense was “back to doing the state-charges-only agreement” and wanted until the middle of the following week to work out the details, but that she had told defense counsel that “we need a signed agreement by tomorrow [Friday] or we are [filing charges] on Tuesday.”
Lefkowitz emailed Villafaña about the draft NPA that she had sent to him, pointing out that it called for a 20-month jail sentence followed by 10 months of community control, rather than 18 months in jail and 12 under community control, and to ask if the USAO had “any flexibility” on the § 2255 procedure. Villafaña responded:
The 18 and 12 has already been agreed to by our office, so that is not a problem. On the issue about 18 [U.S.C. §] 2255, we seem to be miles apart. Your most recent version not only had me binding the girls to a trust fund administered by the state court, but also promising that they will give up their [§] 2255 rights.
I reviewed the e-mail that I sent you on Sunday with the comments on some of your other changes. In the context of a non-prosecution agreement, the office may be more willing to be specific about not pursuing charges against others. However, as I stated on Sunday, the Office cannot and will not bind Immigration.
Also, your timetable will need to move up significantly. As [State Attorney] Barry [Krischer] said in our meeting last week, his office can put together a plea agreement, [and an] information, and get you all before the [state] judge on a change of plea within a day.
Villafaña alerted Krischer that evening that negotiations were “not going very well” and that defense counsel “changed their minds again, and they only want to plead to state charges, not concurrent state and federal.” She added, “If we cannot reach . . . an agreement, then I need to [charge] the case on Tuesday [September 25] and I will not budge from that date.”
In response to Villafaña’s report of her conversation with Lefkowitz about the defense preference for a “state-charges-only agreement,” Lourie alerted her that, “He wants to get out of [sexual offender] registration which we should not agree to.” Lourie emailed Acosta:
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