After Acosta's explanation today, I am of two minds. First, as I suspected, the Palm Beach County State prosecutor misled Acosta's office as to the terms of the minimum plea deal they would accept with Epstein. He was assured a minimum of 18 months prison, registering as a sex offender and restitution to his identified victims.
OTOH, the feds had a 53 page information ready with which to charge him. Since the Statute of Limitations for federal child trafficking had been removed in 2002, there was no looming limitation problem. So what was the problem with the feds proceeding themselves and telling the state of Florida to sod off, we've got this?
Granted, the risks of trials are always daunting. And we are still talking about young girls and women at that point. The trauma of testifying, being destroyed on cross, the publicity, etc, certainly weighed into the decision but this wasn't a one or two victim crime. IIRC, they had identified 60 victims. Not all of them would be deemed to be non-credible by a jury. And there is always the repetition factor. Jury hears from 10-20 girls and women saying essentially the same thing, bolsters the overall credibility rather than detracts from it.
Then there is the matter of Epstein's girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein's employees who were the recruiters and assisted in the trafficking. Indict them, or offer a plea deal to them in exchange for their testimony. One of them would likely have turned state's evidence, making the case much stronger.
Bonus to that approach was that the feds could have gotten her to tell them what happened to all of Epstein's computers. When the Palm Beach residence was searched, this hedge fund manager and frequent trader didn't have a computer inside the entire house. Imagine that! There was also a large shredding machine that had been shipped from the Virgin Islands to Palm Beach while Epstein was under investigation. Ask the turned employee for what was it used and how often?
And if Epstein managed to take off and disappear before trial? He would have still been under indictment. He wouldn't be back. He's abusing children in some other country for the rest of his life. Not quite a win-win but close enough.
For US Attorneys, this was a career making case. Think Guiliani and Gotti. To walk away and leave it to the state of Florida, there either had to be major threats and intimidation happening, or Main Justice had passed the word down from the get go. Rattle some sabers but leave it to the state.
Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey have some explaining to do.