UPDATE (07/12/19): Secretary Acosta has announced he will resign effective next Friday, July 19th.
UPDATE (07/07/19): On July 6th, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested upon returning to the United States and charged with sex trafficking of dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida. The arrest comes just two weeks after the Department of Justice refused to throw out the non-prosecution agreement that then Assistant US Attorney Alex Acosta put in place to grant Jeffrey Epstein immunity from prosecution.
In November of 2018, the Miami Herald published a damning story describing how former US prosecutor and current US Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta struck a deal to protect alleged serial sexual predator and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. In 2007, Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting dozens of underage girls, some of whom were allegedly victims of international sex trafficking. Despite the scope and severity of Epstein’s crimes, Acosta approved a plea deal that let Epstein off with just two prostitution-related convictions and a mere 13 month prison stay, during which Acosta was given work-release privileges normally not granted to sex offenders. The deal also granted federal immunity to Epstein’s accomplices and any unindicted co-conspirators, thus offering sweeping protections to an unknown number of other sexual predators. In an apparent violation of the 2004 Crime Victims Act, the alleged victims of Epstein’s predatory behavior never had the chance to face their abuser in court and were not informed of the plea deal before it was approved.
The deal’s ostensible violation of the 2004 Crime Victims Act, blanket protection of unknown numbers of other predators, and bizarrely lenient terms for Epstein necessitate robust investigation and call into question Acosta’s professional judgment and integrity. Congress must demand Acosta’s resignation and join House Democrats and senators from both sides of the aisle in calling for a full investigation of the Acosta-Epstein plea deal.