EFTA00013555
This is a June 23, 2008 letter from the Department of Justice declining to intervene in the U.S. Attorney's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, despite complaints from Epstein's legal team.
This official DOJ letter, addressed to Epstein's high-profile attorneys Ken Starr and Jay Lefkowitz of Kirkland & Ellis, represents the Department of Justice's formal decision not to override U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta's handling of the Epstein prosecution. The letter reveals that Epstein's legal team had submitted multiple complaints alleging prosecutorial misconduct to both the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney's Office, and had escalated the matter high enough that the Deputy Attorney General was briefed. Despite this review, DOJ found no basis to intervene, stating that "federal prosecution of this case is appropriate" and finding no prosecutorial misconduct that would warrant intervention.
Key Highlights
- •DOJ reviewed multiple letters from Epstein's lawyers (May 19, June 3, and June 19, 2008) complaining about prosecutorial handling
- •The Deputy Attorney General was personally briefed on the Epstein case due to the high-profile nature of the complaints
- •DOJ explicitly rejected allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta's office
- •Despite DOJ's endorsement of federal prosecution, Acosta's office proceeded with the controversial non-prosecution agreement just weeks later
- •Legal team included Ken Starr (former independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton) and Jay Lefkowitz from elite firm Kirkland & Ellis
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EFTA00013555
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U.S. Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20530 June 23, 2008 Jay Lefkowitz, Esq. Kenneth Starr, Esq. Kirkland and Ellis LLP 777 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90017 Gentlemen: This Office has completed a thorough review of the U.S. Attorney's handling of the matter involving your client, Jeffrey Epstein. We have received and reviewed your letters of May 19, June 3 and June 19, 2008, the attachments to the June 19 letter, as well as your submissions to the Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office. Additionally, we have reviewed an extensive set of materials provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office and conferred with a number of highly experienced Department attorneys about this matter. The Deputy Attorney General has also been briefed. As you know, the Department of Justice vests considerable discretion in its U.S. Attorneys, and the Deputy Attorney General will intervene in only the most unusual of circumstances. We do not believe such intervention is warranted here. Even if we were to substitute our judgment for that of the U.S. Attorney, we believe that federal prosecution of this case is appropriate. Moreover, having reviewed your allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and the facts underlying them, we see nothing in the conduct of the U.S. Attorney's Office that gives us any reason to alter our opinion. Sincerely, Itm Senior Associate Deputy Attorney General cc: Alex Acosta EFTA00013555
Entities Mentioned
Alexander Acosta
PERSON • 2 mentions
American attorney and politician
Jay Lefkowitz
PERSON • 2 mentions
American lawyer
Jeffrey Epstein
PERSON • 3 mentions
American sex offender and financier (1953–2019)
Ken Starr
PERSON • 2 mentions
American judge and educational administrator (1946–2022)
Criminal Division
ORGANIZATION
Department of Justice
ORGANIZATION
Kirkland and Ellis LLP
ORGANIZATION
U.S. Attorney's Office
ORGANIZATION
Statistics
Pages:1
Entities:8
Avg. OCR:0.9%
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