Florida Passes Bill to Release Epstein Transcripts

The transcripts of a 2006 grand jury that investigated Jeffrey Epstein 's sexual assaults of underage girls will be released to the public under a bill heading to Florida's governor after it was unanimously passed by the Legislature. The bill, which passed the Senate on Wednesday after earlier passing the House, will take effect July 1 if signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, although a South Florida circuit judge might release the transcripts sooner as part of a lawsuit filed by the Palm Beach Post, the AP reports. The Post sued the Palm Beach County state attorney and the court clerk in 2019 to obtain a court order to unseal the grand jury proceedings and reveal why the grand jury returned only minimal charges.

Florida's treatment of Epstein came under scrutiny in 2018 following a series of Miami Herald articles. They detailed the disagreements that surfaced beginning in 2005 among law enforcement officials after teenage girls and young women told Palm Beach police investigators that Epstein had sexually assaulted them. They had agreed to give him massages while semi-nude or fully nude in exchange for money, but they said he would then molest them without their consent. Palm Beach police, meanwhile, took their evidence to federal prosecutors, who threatened to bring charges until an agreement was reached in June 2008. Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution.

He was sentenced to 18 months in the Palm Beach County jail system, followed by 12 months of house arrest. While in Palm Beach sheriff's custody, Epstein was allowed to stay in an isolated cell at the county's minimum-security stockade, where he roamed freely and watched television. Epstein was also soon allowed into the county's work-release program. During that time, he was taken to his office, where he claimed to be running his financial consulting business and his foundation. By the time of his release, he was spending six days a week and 18 hours a day at his office. A woman who was then 17 and another woman, who was then an adult, have said they were trafficked to Epstein's office during that time to have paid sex with him. (More Jeffrey Epstein stories.)