What is document EFTA00024831?

This is an internal Department of Justice email from August 1, 2019, forwarded among federal prosecutors in New York's Southern and Eastern Districts. It alerts colleagues to a significant Second Circuit ruling issued that day in United States v. Boustani regarding bail conditions for wealthy defendants.

What did the Boustani decision establish?

The Second Circuit held that the Bail Reform Act does not permit a 'two-tiered bail system' where wealthy defendants can avoid pretrial detention by paying for private armed security guards when similarly situated defendants without means would be jailed. The court stated that wealthy defendants cannot 'buy their way out' by constructing a 'private jail.'

How did this ruling affect Jeffrey Epstein's case?

This ruling came just two weeks after Jeffrey Epstein's bail was denied on July 18, 2019. Epstein had proposed home confinement with round-the-clock private security guards funded by himself. He had appealed the denial to the Second Circuit, but the Boustani decision substantially diminished his chances of success by establishing that such arrangements create impermissible inequality in the justice system.

Jean Boustani was a Lebanese citizen charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering in an alleged $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme. He sought bail with conditions including a $20 million bond secured by $9 million cash and 24/7 monitoring by private armed security guards, which the court denied.

What exception did the court recognize?

The court noted that private security conditions may be appropriate in limited circumstances—specifically where a defendant is deemed a flight risk primarily because of their wealth. In other words, a wealthy defendant can only use such arrangements where, 'but for his wealth, he would not have been detained.'

What is document EFTA00024831?

This is an internal Department of Justice email from August 1, 2019, forwarded among federal prosecutors in New York's Southern and Eastern Districts. It alerts colleagues to a significant Second Circuit ruling issued that day in United States v. Boustani regarding bail conditions for wealthy defendants.

What did the Boustani decision establish?

The Second Circuit held that the Bail Reform Act does not permit a 'two-tiered bail system' where wealthy defendants can avoid pretrial detention by paying for private armed security guards when similarly situated defendants without means would be jailed. The court stated that wealthy defendants cannot 'buy their way out' by constructing a 'private jail.'

How did this ruling affect Jeffrey Epstein's case?

This ruling came just two weeks after Jeffrey Epstein's bail was denied on July 18, 2019. Epstein had proposed home confinement with round-the-clock private security guards funded by himself. He had appealed the denial to the Second Circuit, but the Boustani decision substantially diminished his chances of success by establishing that such arrangements create impermissible inequality in the justice system.

Jean Boustani was a Lebanese citizen charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering in an alleged $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme. He sought bail with conditions including a $20 million bond secured by $9 million cash and 24/7 monitoring by private armed security guards, which the court denied.

What exception did the court recognize?

The court noted that private security conditions may be appropriate in limited circumstances—specifically where a defendant is deemed a flight risk primarily because of their wealth. In other words, a wealthy defendant can only use such arrangements where, 'but for his wealth, he would not have been detained.'

EFTA00024831 - EFTA00024832

An internal DOJ email circulating the Second Circuit's August 1, 2019 ruling in United States v. Boustani, which held that wealthy defendants cannot use private security to avoid pretrial detention when poorer defendants would be jailed.

This document is an internal email forwarded among prosecutors in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York on August 1, 2019, alerting colleagues to a significant bail decision issued that day. The Second Circuit's ruling in United States v. Boustani established that the Bail Reform Act does not permit a 'two-tiered bail system' where wealthy defendants can pay for private armed guards to monitor home confinement while less wealthy defendants in similar circumstances would be detained. The timing was notable: Jeffrey Epstein had just filed an appeal of his own bail denial after proposing a similar arrangement with private security guards.

Key Highlights

•Second Circuit ruled wealthy defendants cannot create 'self-funded private jails' to avoid detention
•Decision established that private security arrangements are only permissible when flight risk stems primarily from wealth itself
•Ruling directly impacted Jeffrey Epstein's pending bail appeal, which sought home confinement with private security
•Court quoted fundamental principle that law must protect 'interests of rich and poor criminals in equal scale'

Frequently Asked Questions

Books for Further Reading

Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story

Julie K. Brown

Investigative journalism that broke the Epstein case open

Filthy Rich: The Jeffrey Epstein Story

James Patterson

Bestselling account of Epstein's crimes and network

Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein

Bradley J. Edwards

Victims' attorney's firsthand account

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EFTA00024831 - EFTA00024832

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Page 1 - EFTA00024831

From: To: Subject: FW: Second Circuit Bail Decision Date: Thu, 01 Aug 2019 15:05:58 +0000 Attachments: boustani.pdf; ATT00001.htm From: (USANYS) > Sent: Thursday, August 1, 2019 11:05 AM To: (USANYS) < >; (USANYS) < > Cc: (USANYS) < >; (USANYS) < > Subject: Fwd: Second Circuit Bail Decision Begin forwarded message: From: ' (USANYE) 1r <1 Date: August 1, 2019 at 11:01:20 AM EDT To: " (USANYS)" Subject: Fwd: Second Circuit Bail Decision FYI Begin forwarded message: From: ' (USANYE)" < > Date: August 1, 2019 at 10:56:49 AM EDT To: USANYE-Brooklyn_Criminal_Attorneys Cc: "-(USANYE)" < Subject: Second Circuit Bail Decision The Second Circuit today issued an opinion today that will affect bail motions in white collar cases and other cases where wealthy defendants seek to be released to home confinement and monitored by private security companies. Specifically, in United States v. Boustani (copy attached), the court held that the Bail Reform Act does not permit wealthy defendants to be released to "self-funded private jails" in circumstances where poorer defendants would be detained: "We now expressly hold that the Bail Reform Act does not permit a two-tiered bail system in which defendants of lesser means are detained pending trial while wealthy defendants are released to self-funded private jails. It is a fundamental principle of fairness that the law protects 'the interests of rich and poor criminals in equal scale, and its hand extends as far to each.' To interpret the Bail Reform Act as requiring district courts to permit EFTA00024831

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wealthy defendants to employ privately funded armed guards where an otherwise similarly situated defendant without means would be detained would violate this core principle. Such a two-tiered system would 'foster inequity and unequal treatment in favor of a very small cohort of criminal defendants who are extremely wealthy.' Slip op. at 7 The court recognized one potential exception to this principle, i.e., "where the defendant is deemed to be a flight risk primarily because of his wealth. In other words, a defendant may be released on such a condition only where, but for his wealth, he would not have been detained." Id. But it appears that this exception is a narrow one, since the district court in Boustani cited the defendant's wealth as "one of many factors" but "did not rely primarily on Boustani's personal wealth in finding that he posed a flight risk." Slip op. at 9. Thus, because "[a] similarly situated defendant of lesser means surely would be detained pending trial, ... Boustani is not permitted to avoid such a result by relying on his own financial resources to pay for a private jail." I do not expect that this opinion will be the last word on this issue, but it is now the governing law in the Second Circuit. EFTA00024832