Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire hedge fund manager, settled in court Tuesday more than a decade after his saga of sexual exploitation of underage girls was revealed by the Palm Beach police in 2005.

According to an investigation by the Miami Herald, from at least 2001 to 2005, Epstein lured underage girls to his Palm Beach mansion to partake in a network of sexual exploitation.

From 1989 up until 2003, Epstein donated more than $139,000 to Democratic federal candidates and committees and over $18,000 to Republican candidates and groups, according to data from OpenSecrets. Notable recipients include former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Bob Packwood, a Republican. In 2003, a couple of years before a full-scale investigation into the allegations of sexual exploitation of underage girls, his political giving abruptly stopped.

From 1999 to 2003, Epstein donated $77,000 to Democrats John Kerry, Richard Gephardt, Chris Dodd, and other high-profile politicians and committees. Dodd received a $1,000 contribution from Epstein during his reelection campaign in 2003, however, the contribution was returned in 2006.

After a hiatus in political giving during the investigations into his sexual abuse, Epstein gave to independent Connecticut House candidate Gwendolyn Beck in 2014 and U.S. Virgin Islands Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett both in 2016 and the most recent midterms (Epstein owns a private island in the Virgin Islands called Little Saint James).

Most recently, Epstein contributed $10,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in October 2018. It was swiftly returned by the committee four days later.

Epstein was one of the largest investors in the hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns and a key federal witness in the criminal prosecution of two of Bear Stearns’ top executives in 2008 — the same year a non-prosecution agreement between federal prosecutors and Epstein’s legal team was negotiated. It isn’t clear if Epstein’s involvement in the Bear Stearns case played a role in his plea deal.

The Herald’s look into the plea negotiations revealed “an unusual level of collaboration between federal prosecutors” led by Alexander Acosta, President Donald Trump’s current Secretary of Labor, and Epstein’s legal team of political powerhouses — Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr, Jay Lefkowitz, Roy Black and Jack Goldberger.

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A series of stories in the Miami Herald revealed the terms in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office under Acosta negotiated with Epstein’s lawyers to hide the details of the agreement from the victims, to keep the terms of the deal under seal, and to cancel the grand jury subpoenas.

As part of the non-prosecution agreement from 2008, Epstein served 13 months in the Palm Beach County stockade after pleading guilty to two minor prostitution-related charges.

Tuesday’s trial, which was settled out of court, was the result of a complex dispute between Edwards — the lawyer who represented several of the victims — and Epstein. The settlement was connected to the litigation that sought to undo the controversial non-prosecution agreement.

The Palm Beach trials were expected to be a rare opportunity for the dozens of women connected to Epstein to make public their accounts of how they were sexually exploited.

The decades of lawsuits ended with an apology from Epstein, not to the women who were sexually exploited by Epstein, but to the lawyer who represented them.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated the time frame and context of Jeffrey Epstein’s interaction with federal prosecutor Alex Acosta. It also did not note that Sen. Chris Dodd returned Epstein’s contribution.

Research contributions were made by Kaitlin Washburn.



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