Following the completion of a Justice Department investigation, no action will be taken against the federal prosecutors who oversaw a controversial 2008 non-prosecution deal with Jeffrey Epstein, NBC News reports.
The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility ended a probe into the non-prosecution deal with the late financier and convicted sex offender by concluding that the prosecutors involved exercised "poor judgment" but didn't violate the law or engage in "professional misconduct," according to the report.
Under the non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting underage girls and served 13 months in jail, avoiding a life sentence. The deal that resulted in a light sentence for Epstein received renewed criticism after he was arrested on new sex trafficking charges in 2019. Alexander Acosta, who oversaw the deal when he was a Florida prosecutor, resigned as President Trump's Labor secretary in July 2019 amid the controversy. Epstein in August 2019 hanged himself in prison while awaiting trial.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) was highly critical of the Justice Department's conclusion, saying in a statement on Thursday, "Letting a well-connected billionaire get away with child rape and international sex trafficking isn't 'poor judgment' — it is a disgusting failure. Americans ought to be enraged."
Adam Horowitz, an attorney representative Epstein victims, also told The Washington Post, "Alex Acosta's actions caused emotional trauma for countless minors who deserved to be protected by the U.S. Attorney's office and allowed a serial molester to escape accountability. He and his office failed to give notice to victims, misled victims, misinterpreted the law, and did not treat the abuse survivors with decency and respect. The mountain of mistakes was not just poor judgment. It was reckless."