On Friday, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge to supervise the case of the deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein who denied an application for NBC News to reveal the names of two associates who received great payments of it in 2018, as shown by the judicial documents. The Department of Justice cited privacy concerns expressed by the two people as the reason not to make their names public.
The first associate received a payment of $ 100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $ 250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigation stories where the victims criticized a guilt agreement he received in Florida in 2008.
As part of the guilt agreement, Epstein assured a declaration of federal prosecutors in Florida that the two people would not be processed.
Payments were made public after Epstein was accused and arrested in New York in 2019 and were asked to be released on bail. Federal prosecutors in New York presented a memorandum on July 16, 2019, which argued that Epstein should remain in jail to prevent witnesses.
They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, who began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing their stories in Epstein’s guilt agreement, also known as a non -disqualification agreement, or NPA.
Prosecutors wrote that on November 30, 2018, Epstein “connected $ 100,000 from a fiduciary account that controlled an individual appointed as [REDACTED] A possible co-conspirator, and for whom Epstein obtained protection in the NPA. “
Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also appointed and appeared prominently in the Herald series.”
Prosecutors added that “the same records show that only three days later, around December 3, 2018, the defendant connected $ 250,000 of the same fiduciary account to [REDACTED]who was also appointed as possible co-conspirator, and for whom Epstein also obtained protection in the NPA. “
Prosecutors continued: “This individual is also one of the employees identified in the accusation, which alleges that she and two other identified employees facilitated the traffic of minors of the accused to, among other things, contact the victims and schedule their sexual encounters with the defendant in their residences in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.”
Prosecutors said in the presentations that Epstein payments can be evidence of “efforts to influence witnesses.”
“This course of action, and in particular their moment,” they said, “suggest that the defendant was trying to influence the conspirators who could provide information against him in the light of recently resurrect accusations.”
Last month, NBC News sent a letter asking the United States district judge, Richard Berman, to review the names written because Epstein has died, the criminal procedures have ended and the Justice Department said in a memorandum in July that there will be no additional charges presented against third parties.
Berman gave federal prosecutors until September 5 to respond.
In a response letter on September 5, Jay Clayton, the United States prosecutor for the Southern New York district, wrote: “The individual-1 and the individual-2 are not loaded third who have not renounced their privacy interests; in fact, both the 1 and the individual-2 have expressly opposed the lack of their name and personal identification information in the letter of July 2019”.
Clayton said that the two unidentified people sent letters to the United States prosecutor’s office expressing their concern, but that those letters are under stamps.
The judge has given NBC news until September 12 to respond to the request of the Department of Justice that the names remain secret.
It is not known when Berman will make a decision on the NBC News request.
