Collaboration or Capitulation: The DOJ’s Colloquy With Epstein’s Lawyers Exposed (Part 2) (3/31/26)

0:00What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode we're going to pick up where we left off with the emails that were sent by the Southern District of Florida's Prosecutor's Office to each other and to Epstein's lawyers as they were trying to hammer out the plea deal. Message from Matthew Menchal to Marieville, August 1st, 2007 Just letting you know that we didn't receive anything from the defense today, Lily Sanchez called late in the afternoon to say it'll be coming tomorrow. Response to that message by Marieville, I'm at thanks. I think I just figured out a way to do a federal plea with a two-and-a-half-year cab. It's a little funky, but it matches the facts. Next correspondence is a letter sent by Marieville, to Lily Sanchez, who's one of Epstein's attorneys.

1:01This letter was sent on August 3rd, 2007. Dear Lily, thank you for your letter of August 2nd regarding your proposal on how to resolve the Epstein matter. As we explained at our meeting on July 31st, 2007, the office believes that the federal interest will not be vindicated in the absence of a two-year term of state imprisonment for Mr. Epstein. That offer was not meant as a starting point for negotiations. It's the minimum term of imprisonment that will ovulate the need for federal prosecution. The office has never agreed that a state prison sentence is not appropriate for Mr. Epstein. Rather, we simply stated that if Mr. Epstein preferred to serve his sentence in a federal penitentiary, we would be willing to explore a federal conviction that may allow that in lieu of any state resolution. Further, as I made clear, in our follow-up telephone conversation after the meeting, a plea to two federal misdemeanors was never extended or meant as an offer.

2:04We also would reiterate that the agreement to section 2255 liability applies to all of the minor girls identified during the federal investigation, not just the 12, that form the basis of an initial plan charging instrument. As you know, the ability to engage in flexible, plea negotiations is dramatically changed on the return of an indictment. Once an indictment is returned, the office does not intend to file a superseding information containing a lesser charge or to dismiss the case in favor of state prosecution. Please let us know your client's decision by no later than August 17th. I've conferred with U.S. Attorney Acosta, who has asked me to communicate that the two-year term of incarceration is a non-negotiable minimum to vindicate a federal interest, and at this time, he's not inclined to meet with counsel for Mr. Epstein. Sincerely, Alex Acosta, but I was signed by Matthew Menchal. All right, moving on to the next

3:06correspondence, this one was sent by Marie Villafana to Cindy Campos and Frederica Devlin. Hi Cindy and Freddie, I need to check on whether Matt sent something out before he left. Jeff doesn't know if it went out, and he suggested that I try him out on his cell. I call the cell number on the roster, but it seems to be disconnected. Do you have a contact number for him? Thanks. Next correspondence by Marie Villafana to Jeff Sloman, and this was on August 6th, 2007. Hi Jeff, sorry to bother you when you're away. Do you know if the letter to Lily went out on Friday? Thanks. The next correspondence we have is Alex Acosta sending an email to Jeff Sloman, and this was sent on August 7th, 2007. Just tried to call yourself, no need to call back. I would really appreciate if you could loop him and Marie in as appropriate. I'll have Cindy set up a meeting. Sorry again to bother you, but everyone seems to be out this weekend.

4:13Next message was from Andrew from Jeff Sloman, excuse me, to Andrew Osterban with Marie Villafana, C. Seed. Marie and Drew, the chain of emails, is self-explanatory. Next email sent by Marie Villafana on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007. FYI, PS, Matt's letter gave them a deadline of August 17th. Next correspondence was August 7th, 2007, and it was sent from Alex Acosta to Jeff Sloman. Jeff apologies for the email in the middle of your vacation, with Matt Gone and Andy out. I'm not sure who is speaking with CEOs on the Epstein matter. His attorney want to go to D.C. on the case on the grounds of Process Fell, i.e. that I have not met with him. I'm concerned that this will delay matters. I'm thinking of heading this off by one, agreeing to meet, to discuss general legal policy only, the only matter in which D.C. has arguable jurisdiction,

5:16while asking, or while making it clear, that we are not talking about the details of the case. And two, asking the Drew Osterban to participate by teleconference, thereby intercepting the D.C. meeting. Thoughts? Next correspondence is from Marie Villafana, August 7th, 2007. This one's to Andrew Osterban. Hi Drew, I don't know how much Jeff and Andy have been keeping you in the loop, so let me know if you need any info, or if you just want to talk before the meeting. Next email was sent by Marie Villafana on Tuesday, August 7th, once again, and this email was sent to Andrew Laurie. Hi Andy, FYI, apparently the defense is displeased with Matt's letter, which set a deadline of 817, and said that Alex would meet with them, so they're demanding a meeting with CEOs. Alex and Drew are going to try to do a conference call with the defense to avoid the truth going to D.C. Has Drew been kept in the loop? Is there anything I should send

6:18them? And the agents just interviewed another girl who started going when she was 14. Next correspondence is from Marie Villafana, on August 8th, 2007, to Andrew Osterban. Hi Drew, I've attached the plea term sheet and the guidelines calculating that was given to Mr. Epstein's attorneys on July 31st. Lily's letter of August 2nd is sort of in response to that. Several months ago, when the prosecution memo was first sent to you, you mentioned adding a CEO's attorney to the team. We probably should wait until this attempt at plea negotiations is finished, but I hope to have a few motions responses in the bag before I indict. The two that spring to mind, most readily, are an appeal to the district court if he's released on bond and my response to emotion to dismiss the indictment on the basis that one or all of the statutes are unconstitutional. Maisha Braden and I have spoken about the case a few times when I was doing research and she's been wonderful. But if there is someone else that you think would be

7:22better, I'm all up for the help. Thank you, signed Marie Villafana. Next correspondence from Marie Villafana to Alex Acosta, Cindy Campos, with Jeff Slomin and Andrew Lowry and Andrew Osterbond, C. Seed. Alex and Cindy, I just got off the phone with Drew, he's gone from August 10th through August 20th and he'll be back in his office on August 21st. He's willing to participate by telephone if we want to stay firm on our August 17th deadline, if the call is going to wait until after then. He's also willing to travel to Miami to attend the meeting in person, but if we do that, we should probably not have the meeting until August 23rd to give Drew some time to recover and catch up on his work before he hops on a flight down here. The agents and I were planning to go to New York, for August 20th, 21st, 22nd to serve target

8:22letters on the assistants and to interview some of Epstein's colleagues and former employees, whom we know were around the girls. I would like to still do this trip, but I know there was some concern about serving target letters while we were trying to negotiate a plea. Can you give some guidance? Thank you. Next correspondence from Alex Acosta, to Marie Villafana, Cindy Campos, with Jeff Slomin, Andrew Lowry, and Andrew Osterbond C-Cede. Marie, I'll leave the target letter issue to Andy and Jeff. The meeting Cindy Campos will try to schedule it. There are several vacations going on next week, so Drew is not the only conflict. If Drew can come to Miami, that would be great. If not, we can VTC. Drew, I appreciate you're doing this. The meeting is to focus on constitutional and policy issues only. You're being part of it, will I hope intercept an eventual appeal to D.C.? Maybe we can even interest you on joining the trial

9:22team. Next correspondence from Andrew Osterbond to Alex Acosta, Marie Villafana, Cindy Campos, and Jeff Slomin, and Andrew Lowry or C-Cede. I'm more than happy to help Alex. It doesn't take much of a reason to get me on a plane to Miami, and this meeting is certainly reason enough. If it's at any day after the 20th, I'll be there. As for joining the trial team, I'm even rustier than Slomin and Lowry. But if Marie would stand for it, count me in. Thanks very much. Next correspondence was from Marie Villafana, to Jeffrey Slomin, on September 6, 2007. Hi, Jeff. Funny you should ask. I've been wondering. The same thing. Here's the term sheet and the guideline calculation that we provided the last meeting. You and Matt and I also discussed possible federal plea to an information charging a 371 conspiracy with a Rule 11 plea with a two-year cap, but I think Matt must have asked Alex about it, and it was next. Just to be prepared for tomorrow, I was just starting to draft a

10:27Rule 11 plea agreement in case Alex changes his mind and a formal non-prosecution agreement containing the state plea terms. As soon as those are ready, I will email them to you. There are three concerns that I hope we can address tomorrow. First, that there is an absolute drop-dead date for accepting or rejecting because it's strategically important that we indict before the end of September, which means presenting the indictment on September 25. Second, the agents and I have not reached out to the victims to get their approval, which, as Drew politely reminded me, is required under the law. And third, I do not want to make any promises about allowing Epstein to self-surrender because I still believe that we have a good chance of getting him detained. On another note, junior OT called today from Palm Beach Police because he got information that there will be an article released tomorrow about our meeting, and that Epstein

11:28is going to plead to a state charge and the chief wanted to know if the victims had been consulted about the deal. There has been some coverage in New York Press about Ken Star, but I haven't seen anything local yet. All right folks, we're going to wrap this one up right here, and in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're going to pick up where we left off. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.