Alexander Acosta

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has been one of the more low-profile members of Donald Trump’s Cabinet … so renewed attention to Acosta’s role in a sweetheart deal for a billionaire pedophile is a reminder of what a collection of nightmares that Cabinet is. Acosta is one of a group of federal prosecutors who broke federal law in their handling of a plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago, a judge ruled Thursday.

Acosta, as the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, negotiated a non-prosecution deal with Epstein that allowed him to serve just 13 months in county jail after pleading guilty to two state-level prostitution charges, despite evidence that he was breaking federal law by running an international sex-trafficking operation with underage victims. Not only did the billionaire pedophile get off with an incredibly light sentence, but—and this is the part where Acosta and his associates acted illegally, according to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra—Epstein’s victims weren’t notified of the deal, so they didn’t have the opportunity to call for its rejection.

Two of Epstein’s victims sued in 2008, citing their rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, and 11 years of litigation later, they have won, with Marra writing that “Particularly problematic was the Government’s decision to conceal the existence of the [agreement] and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility.’’ Federal prosecutors, led by Acosta, gave Epstein a voice they denied his victims: “While the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the [agreement] with Epstein’s attorneys, scant information was shared with victims.’’

It’s unlikely that Epstein will go back to jail a decade after his release, but the judge gave prosecutors and the victims 15 days to agree on a remedy.