By Ann Diener for Veterans Today

Flash Back: Department of Labor Secretary Pick, R. Alexander Acosta, was been pressured by attorneys to keep victims in the dark about a plea deal which has implications for US National Security due to the lack of investigation of potential criminal underage sex-blackmail of prominent US and international public officials and celebrities.

The hearing for Cabinet Labor Secretary nominee R. Alexander Acosta has been rescheduled for March 22. Why is this hearing significant? For one, his involvement in the potential cover-up of sex-blackmail of officials, which apparently resulted in him and other responsible persons turning a blind eye to multiple crimes due to pressure from attorneys of the alleged perpetrator, whose potential accomplices escaped prosecution.

It seems odd that no one has even been questioned about the National Security implications of what appears to be potential blackmail of powerful and influential people involving sex crimes with underage girls at Jeffrey Epstein’s properties.

What sorts of decisions could have been influenced and altered using blackmail operating in the background? Election recounts? Foreign policy and economic decisions? Decisions promoting war and oil? Even now, governmental budgets, regulations, and the very air we breathe and water we drink?

It comes as no surprise that President Donald “Trump picked former Bush administration prosecutor R. Alexander Acosta Feb. 16 to lead the Labor Department despite his multiple legal controversies involving sex predators, corrupt bankers and billionaire tax cheats. Their crimes largely escaped prosecution from Acosta and his law enforcement colleagues. Most dramatic was Acosta’s confidential plea agreement in 2008 not to prosecute Epstein for operating what police described as massive sex trafficking ring that allegedly involved Trump in the rape of a 13-year-old in 1994, according to a recent lawsuit withdrawn last year,” said Andrew Kreig of the Justice Integrity Project.

The document which is found here details the alleged rape of “Jane Doe” at the then New York home of Leslie Wexner which was allegedly used for parties by Epstein who’s alleged guest Donald Trump with Epstein raped her when she was 13 years old.

“Plaintiff was subject to acts of rape, sexual misconduct, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, forcible touching, assault, battery, intentional and reckless infliction of emotional distress, duress, false imprisonment, and threats of death and/or serious bodily injury by the Defendants that took place at several parties during the summer months of 1994. The parties were held by Defendant Epstein at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Epstein at 9 E. 71st St. in Manhattan. During this period, Plaintiff was a minor of age 13 and was legally incapable under New York law of consenting to sexual intercourse and the other sexual contacts detailed herein. NY Penal L § 130.05(3)(a).”

A recent video appeared online recently identifying the victim in the California complaint as Katie Johnson who told more of her story here:

Though the complaint in California was withdrawn, the website justiceforkatie.com contains more of Johnson’s story which may soon be made into a film.

Another identified victim, one of the key plaintiffs against Epstein, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, whose graphic story was told here.

She received a letter informing her of the plea deal from Acosta which was included in the document below, dated Sept 3, 2008, signed by the Assistant US Attorney A. Marie Villafana, who was working under Acosta.

According to the letter “On June 30, 2008 Jeffrey Epstein (hereinafter referred to as “Epstein”) entered a plea of guilty to violations of Florida Statues Sections 796.07 (felony solicitation of prostitution) and 796.03 (procurement of minors to engage in prostitution) in the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County (Case Nos 2006-cf-009454AXXXMB and 2008-cf-009381AXXXMB) and was sentenced to a term of twelve months’ imprisonment to be followed by an additional six months’ imprisonment, followed by twelve months of Community Control 1, with conditions of community confinement imposed by the Court.”

The letter then went on to state, “An independent Special Master was assigned the task of selecting an attorney representative to the agreement to represent the victims, including you, in connection with civil actions between the victims and Mr. Epstein. The Special Master selected Robert Josefsberg, Esq. of the firm Podhurst Orseck, P.A., a highly respected and experienced attorney. You are not obligated to use Mr. Josefsberg, but, as explained in greater detail below, Mr. Josefsberg’s services will be provided at no cost to you because Mr. Epstein is obligated to pay the costs and fees of the attorney-representative. Also Mr. Epstein and his attorneys can only contact you via Mr. Josefsberg, assuming that you would like Mr. Josefsberg as your attorney.

“If you elect to file suit against Mr. Epstein pursuant to Title 18, United Stated Code, Section 2255, Mr. Epstein will not contest the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida over his person and/or the subject matter, and Mr. Epstein waives his right to contest liability and also waives his right to contest damages up to an amount that is agreed between you and Mr. Epstein, so long as you elect to proceed exclusively under 18 U.S.C. 2255 and you waive any other claim for damages whether pursuant to state, federal, or common law. Notwithstanding this waiver, Epstein’s agreement with the United States, his waivers and failure to contest liability and such damages in any suit are not to be construed as admission of any criminal or civil liability.”

Meaning, the victims were deprived of the ability to bring further criminal charges against Epstein by this plea deal, under which he accepted no guilt other than the charges agreed upon by the court. The deal contained no mention of Ghislaine Maxwell or Leslie Wexner, who had facilitated Epstein’s crimes, one as a recruiter of underage girls and the other potentially partnering to procure the real estate venues where the incidents took place. It also made no reference to photos and evidence of celebrities and politicians abusing these underage girls. Based on the testimony accepted and the evidence found, one can assume there are photos and further evidence concerning other participants.

According to Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s deposition, “Epstein and Maxwell also told me that they wanted me to produce things for them in addition to performing sex acts on the men. They told to me to pay attention to the details about what the men wanted, so I could report back to them.

“Epstein specifically told me that the reason for him doing this was so that they would ‘owe him,’ they would ‘be in his pocket,’ and he would ‘have something on them.’ “

With such victim testimony, which clearly suggests that underage sex-blackmail was being used against some of the most powerful people in the world, why would there be no other prosecutions or investigations?

A lawsuit filed in February 2016, “paints a picture of then – U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta and then-State Attorney Barry Krischer bowing to pressure by Epstein’s powerful cadre of attorneys to keep the victims in the dark about the deal until after Epstein pleaded guilty to two minor state charges,” according to an article in the Palm Beach Daily News.

Knowing that Epstein’s clients and ”friends/guests” were listed in a little black book, it would seem to be misconduct to ignore the testimony of Giuffre, if one was sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Could a US Attorney be ignorant of the ramifications of using underage girls, such as those found in the many photos identified as belonging to Epstein, to blackmail officials? Were any questions asked of those listed in the black book. such as did they participate with the girls? It seems extraordinary to let something that could pose a National Security threat slip through the cracks because of pressure from attorneys.

Epstein was not operating alone. You can’t run a ring without some help. So Acosta needs to be asked why Epstein was the only one charged? Is American Justice being held hostage by sex-blackmailers with connections?

The interesting thing is that people, including those involved with outing the so called “Pizzagate” story, keep aligning Hilary and Bill Clinton with Epstein, while it was Leslie Wexner, the founding chairman of the Limited Inc. who purchased and owned the home at the time that was allegedly used in the rape of the underage girl, Johnson, that was sited in her deposition. Ghislaine Maxwell, who according to numerous accounts, recruited the underage girls, and quite possibly Donald Trump who participated at least in the beginning based on Johnson’s personal account.

Is Pizzagate their tool, by design, to use the blackmail they gathered on the elite guests brought to the homes and procured young girls for as a threat? It would have been very easy to circulate blackmail evidence with the simple hashtag #Pizzagate. In effect, they could have used the highly publicized “conspiracy theory” as a vehicle to threaten those blackmailed into submission during the 2016 election.

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How it began

In 1989, Wexner purchased the Birch Wathen School for $13.2 million according to an article found here. This was the New York home, 9 East 71st St, New York, NY was identified in the victims’ testimonies, including that of the woman who withdrew her suit, now known as Johnson. The home did not change hands until 2012 when Epstein transferred the home to an off shore company located in the Virgin Islands. The signature match on the document that was recorded. The home was owned by a corporation, NINE EAST 71ST STREET CORPORATION, so it is unclear if Wexner ever released his interests in the corporation. It is also unknown if Wexner held an interest in the other properties including the private island in the Virgin Islands and the ranch owned in New Mexico which were mentioned in the victim’s testimonies.

“In 1995, Wexner turned the home over to Epstein, who was his protege and financial adviser (and much more, if you believe Gawker CEO Nick Denton’s argument) because, on the face of it, his new wife ‘expressed greater enthusiasm for bringing up their two young children in Columbus, Ohio,’ ‘ according to the article, “Every Property Owned by Sleazy Financier Jeffrey Epstein” in Curbed.

Tax assessor documents recorded on September 11, 1989 show that the home was sold by the Birch Wathen School to NINE EAST 71ST STREET CORPORATION for “$10 and other valuable consideration”.

Around the same time, in 1989, Trump was being hosted by Robert Maxwell and his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell on the yacht, “Lady Ghislaine”.

Robert Maxwell was owner of the Mirror Group Newspapers. He died in 1991, and left Ghislaine with many valuable contacts, according to the Guardian article, “Captain Bob and the spooks,” Robert served as a direct conduit for foreign intelligence.

From the article, “His American acquisitions were a crushing debt burden. He had rifled the entire pension funds of Maxwell Communications to try to ease that debt burden, and he mortgaged virtually all his wealth on a huge gamble with fate. There was no one left to rescue Bob Maxwell – except one possible saviour. He still had friends in very high political places. If they failed him then commercial disaster would swiftly turn to criminal investigations. So what happened to those political friends in high places?

“Maxwell built up a tremendous catalogue of politically-influential contacts with wide commercial implications. For over 20 years he had established a network of commercial and political interests in the communist countries of Eastern Europe, which was a linchpin of his Pergamon Press Company. His biographies – or to be accurate, bland hagiographies – of virtually all the Communist leaders were a lucrative earner.

“Yet this extraordinary quilt of commercial contacts with the East European communist world concealed something else – Maxwell was also involved in passing intelligence to the west about the communist rulers. In fact, he was almost certainly being used as – and using himself as – a two-way intelligence conduit. This arrangement included passing intelligence to the Israeli secret forces, with whom he became increasingly involved towards the end of his life.

“Maxwell was highly regarded by the Israeli government. He was certainly used by them to help in the process of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union and, in return, he was seen by the Soviet government as an important contact in dealings with Israel. This involved commercial interests as well that linked Maxwell with secret defence deals between Israel and the countries of Eastern Europe. Maxwell had important investments in the Israeli defence industry, especially in the trading park at Haifa. ”

A few years after her father’s death Ghislaine Maxwell would team up with Jeffrey Epstein and form a partnership which would last for more than fifteen years and damage hundreds if not thousands of young women’s lives, and leave millions of other lives impacted by what they potentially created together.

Ghislaine and Epstein were “seen” together aboard another yacht in 1995 in Sydney, Australia onboard the yacht of trucking magnate Lindsay Fox for a Christmas cruise during the couple’s “fleeting visit to Sydney after stopping of at Melbourne and spending some time with the Fox family.

In 1995, Epstein was also developing new real estate in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the ranch later be known as Zorro Ranch.

Giuffre claimed in her sworn statement, “I also had sex with Dershowitz at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico in the massage room off of the indoor pool area, which was still being painted.” This claim was later denied by Dershowitz, who threatened the attorneys with disbarment.

According to Business Insider, “Dershowitz promised to start disbarment proceedings against the two lawyers who filed the motion, Cassell and Edwards. For their part, Cassell and Edwards told Business Insider in a statement that they ‘carefully investigate’ claims in all of their pleadings before filing them.

The attorneys replied in a statement to Business Insider, “We have also tried to depose Mr. Dershowitz on these subjects, although he has avoided those deposition requests. Nevertheless, we would be pleased to consider any sworn testimony and documentary evidence Mr. Dershowitz would like to provide which he contends would refute any of our allegations.”

The post on Business Insider was not updated with a reply from Dershowitz.

Epstein’s little black book was published by Gawker when it turned up in court proceedings after Epstein’s former house manager Alfredo Rodriguez had tried to sell it in 2009. About 50 of the entries, including those of many of Epstein’s suspected victims and accomplices as well as Trump, Love, Barak, Dershowitz, and others, The people of interest had been circled by Rodriguez.

Considering the number of people circled in the book and not questioned publicly, and those implicated but never charged such as Ghislaine Maxwell, we really have to wonder about Acosta. Will this case ever lead to a thorough investigation and questioning of everyone circled in the black book, as justice demands that it should?

Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel. This summer, “President Donald Trump is on a list of witnesses for trial in a Palm Beach lawsuit that pits billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein against a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents Epstein’s victims,”according to Dan Christensen at FloridaBulldog.org.

But why wait until summer to ask questions — Acosta’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 22? Perhaps the Senate can finally get some more answers to the plea deal that could be concealing sex-blackmail of many important people, including some very prominent politicians.

Freedom comes from truth and justice. We need to ask some questions on March 22.

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Biography



Biography Gordon Duff, Senior Editor Senior Editor , VT



Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.



Gordon’s Archives – 2008-2014 Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a disabled veteran and has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades. Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.