Jeffrey Epstein 2006 grand jury records released and released by judge

Safia Samee Ali and Xavier Walton

19 hours ago

(NewsNation) — A Palm Beach County judge released grand jury records Monday that included hundreds of documents and audio recordings from the 2006 Florida investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The records have remained sealed for 16 years. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an order to make the records available by July 1, reported the Palm Beach Post, which sued for them in 2019.

Epstein, a millionaire known for his contacts with influential figures, became the subject of a police investigation in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.

Following his arrest, numerous underage girls, many of whom were high school students, came forward to say that Epstein had hired them to perform sexual massages.

Records show interviews, audio recordings of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims

Court documents show that the Palm Beach County prosecutor, who for months has renewed efforts to charge Epstein, portrayed the alleged underage victims as prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves and liars.

In the transcripts, one of Epstein’s housekeepers stated that “hundreds of girls” passed through the home, sometimes three a day. There are also audio recordings and footage of investigators interviewing some of those underage girls, who provided detailed accounts of their interactions with Epstein.

Documents expose holes in 2006 Epstein case

While Palm Beach police charged Epstein with multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor in 2006, then-District Attorney Barry Krischer made the unusual decision to send the case to a grand jury.

The jury heard from only one accuser and indicted Epstein on a single count of soliciting prostitution. Accusations from other victims, many of whom were minors, were not included in the indictment.

According to district attorney documents, Krischer’s office never spoke with any of the victims, and when prominent Epstein defense attorneys became involved in the case, his office stopped communicating regularly with police, the Palm Beach Post reported.

For nearly two decades, questions have been raised about why Epstein was charged with relatively minor charges and why the case went to a grand jury.

Among the documents released Monday were statements from an underage girl who described being allegedly assaulted by Epstein.

He was arrested again in 2019 in New York on sex trafficking charges, but a month after his arrest, he was found dead in his jail cell. He committed suicide.

Why are new details about Jeffrey Epstein coming to light?

Typically, when cases involve sexual assault of minors, the files are sealed, like Epstein’s. But because of a new Florida law that went into effect July 1, those documents and evidence became public.

Investigators knew how Epstein lured young girls to the home under false pretenses. In an effort to regain trust, Palm Beach official Joseph Abruzzo announced the documents were now available to “ensure transparency.”

Many have argued about the wisdom of releasing the documents now that Epstein is dead. But the clerk’s office hopes that making the documents public will provide peace of mind for the community and give Epstein’s victims some closure.

NewsNation’s Urja Sinha and Devan Markham contributed to this article.