Mega Edition: Jeffrey Epstein And The Police Department That Exposed Him (3/27/26)

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What's up everyone and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode we're going to

take a look at the deposition of Joseph Riccari, the detective who was in charge of the investigation

in Palm Beach after the initial claims against Jeffrey Epstein were made. And he goes into detail

about how Jeffrey Epstein was recruiting girls and how he was getting them from the local high school.

So for all the people out there talking about conspiracy theories, my suggestion is you do yourself

a favor and dive into these core documents and learn a thing or two. All right so we have

Joseph Riccari who is going to be questioned by Brad Edwards who is a lawyer for multiple

survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and someone that was engaged in a struggle against Epstein for years.

And the deposition starts right off with Mr. Riccari speaking. I wanted to speak with everyone related

to this home including Miss Maxwell. My contact was through Gus, attorney Gus Fronston at the time

who initially had told me that he would make everyone available for an interview and subsequent

conversations later. No one was available for an interview and everybody had an attorney and I was

not going to be able to speak with them. Edwards okay, during your investigation what did you learn

in terms of Golan Maxwell's involvement if any? Pagliuka, objection to form and the foundation.

Riccari, Miss Maxwell during her research was found to be Epstein's longtime friend.

During the interviews Miss Maxwell was involved in seeking girls to perform massages and work at

Epstein's home. Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Edwards, did you interview?

How many girls did you interview that were sought to give or that actually gave massages at Epstein's

home? Mr. Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation. Edwards, approximately. Pagliuka, same

objection. Riccari, I would say approximately 30, 30 or 33. Mr. Edwards, end of the 30 or 33 or so

girls. How many had massage experience? Pagliuka, objection to the form and the foundation. The witness,

I believe two of them may have been at two of them. Edwards, okay and as we go through this report

you may remember the names. Riccari, correct, let me correct myself. I believe only one had.

Edwards and that was was that one of the similar age to the other girls. Pagliuka, object to form

and the foundation. Riccari, no. Edwards, okay the one with massage experience was older. Mr. Pagliuka,

object to form and foundation. The witness, correct. Edwards, the remainder of the 30 girls that

went to this house for the purpose of massage or recruited for massage, is it my understanding that

they had no massage experience? Mr. Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari,

that's correct. Edwards and were the majority of those girls that you interviewed over or

under the age of 18. Mr. Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, the majority were

under. Mr. Edwards and how was it that Mr. Epstein gained access to that number of underage girls?

Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation. Riccari, each of the victims that went to the home

were asked to bring their friends to the home, some complied and some didn't. Edwards, okay,

so the victim would come to the home and could give a massage and get paid for it, is that right?

Mr. Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation. Riccari, correct. Edwards and at the end of the

massage, if that victim brought other friends, she would get paid for the recruitment of those

Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari, correct. Edwards, additionally did your

investigation reveal that the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein would call and set up for these girls

to come over to the house for the massage. Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari,

correct. Edwards and as well, certain people that were friends or girlfriends or assistance

of Jeffrey Epstein would recruit girls under the pretence of giving a massage.

Mr. Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, correct. Edwards, is that what your

investigation revealed in terms of the system of getting these girls over to the house? Mr. Pagliuka,

object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, yes. Edwards, okay, talking about the

massages, when these the various girls that you interviewed describe the massages,

was there a pattern of what occurred during these massages? Pagliuka, object to the form and the

foundation. Riccari, yes, there was. Edwards, okay, describe for me what the pattern was,

that was told to you by the 30 or so girls that you interviewed. Pagliuka, object to the form and

the foundation. Riccari, initially, when the victims would come into the home and were brought

upstairs to provide the massage, Epstein would lay on his massage table where they would start to

rub his back and the back of his legs. Epstein would either attempt to fondle the girls or touch the

girls inappropriately and at which point he would masturbate. And when he was done, he would get up,

go wash off while the girl would get dressed and go back downstairs and get paid.

Edwards, okay, so did you determine that massage was actually a code word for something else?

Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, when they went to perform a massage,

it was for sexual gratification. Edwards, and when the assistants would call and ask these girls

to work, did you learn the term work met with respect to these girls coming to the house?

Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation. Riccari, work meant to come and provide Epstein a massage.

Edwards, and massage, how often would these massages, based upon your investigation, turn into

something sexual? Mr. Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation. Riccari, during the investigation,

it was determined that he would have multiple massages during the day. He would have some in the

morning and some in the afternoon, sometimes into the evening. Edwards, alright, and so when you

went to speak with the victims, what did these victims say about their experience with Jeffrey

Epstein? Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari, once they were recruited, they were

brought to the home. They were to provide a massage. Some of the victims did not want to be touched,

some of the victims did not want to partake in any of that. So it was, I believe, for a couple of

them, it was only a one-shot deal, but others continued to come. Edwards, okay, and as you interviewed

some of these victims, did you learn that some of these victims also brought additional girls,

Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Edwards, so as you're investigating this case,

as part of your investigation, you're learning information from these victims and then going to

talk to the next person down the line, if you will, Pagliuka, object to form and the foundation.

Riccari, correct, Edwards, and what is the purpose of that? Riccari, to identify further victims

and acquire additional information. Edwards, and in doing that, were you able to corroborate the

accuracy of what the first victim told you? Pagliuka, objection to the form and the foundation.

Riccari, correct, Edwards, okay, and did you learn of Sarah Kellan's involvement with respect

to the various girls? Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari, yes, Edwards, what was her

role? Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari, that is correct. Edwards, and did you turn

all of your files over to either the state attorney's office or the FBI? Riccari, that is correct.

Edwards and through the state's attorney's office was the information contained within the

probable cause of a David and the incident reports a publicly available document,

Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, yes.

Edwards and around the time of your investigation, around the time you ended your investigation

and thereafter were various newspaper articles written about the substance of some of your

investigation? Riccari, yes. Edwards, did it become well known to the public that Jeffrey Epstein

had recruited high school girls to his house for the purpose of some sexually involved massage?

Pagliuka, object to the form and the foundation. Riccari, that is correct.

Edwards, and in fact, haven't you read many of these newspaper articles? Riccari, that is correct.

Edwards, that was not a hidden secret from the public beginning in 2006, right? Riccari, no,

Edwards, and from your overall investigation, kind of just a big picture, what was the criminal

activity as specific as you can that you learned that Jeffrey Epstein and others were involved in?

Pagliuka, object to the form and foundation. Riccari, it was sexual battery and

ludonless, sivious conduct for under the age of 16. Now remember folks, this is Joseph Riccari

giving you his account. This was the lead detective on the case down in Palm Beach.

And if you wonder where I get my receipts from, well you have now cracked the case.

These court documents are a treasure trove of information and not just these, but the ones that

came previously. Edwards, and what was the specific system of engaging in this type of activity?

Pagliuka, object to form and foundation. Riccari, as to Edwards, interrupts them,

from the recruitment to the, how did you get them? What did you do? How did you keep it going?

Riccari, once the, he's interrupted by Pagliuka, object to the form and foundation, sorry.

Riccari, no, no. As it became known to us that the victims were recruited, brought to the home,

provided the massage was paid, whether there was inappropriate touching, whether there was sexual

activity, whether there was actually intercourse, all of that was documented and was asked whether

they brought anyone to the home, whether they had any formal training in massage therapy,

and once, once additional victims were identified, we continued the same, the same method of

investigation. President Barack Obama, Virginia, we are counting on you. Republicans want to steal

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And this is a big hole in Maxwell and Epstein's stupid ass plot. There's no 15 or 16 or 17-year-old

girl that's giving you the quality of a massage that you'd get from a professional.

These people are rich. They have all the money in the world. They could get the best massage

therapist going to come over and get them worked on, but that wasn't what they were looking for.

Edwards, okay. And one of the earliest victims in terms of the chronology of the pyramid of

girls for lack of a better word. You understand what I mean by that, right? Mr. Pagliuka,

object of the form and the foundation. Recari, yes. Edwards, that's theirs. There's one of the

earliest victims that you interviewed was Haley Robson. Is that right? Pagliuka, object of form

and foundation. Recari, it was actually SG. I think was the first one that was interviewed.

And then HR was the one that I interviewed. Edwards, okay. My question was bad. I know that the

first person interviewed that kind of kicked off the investigation was SG, but and just to create

a picture of what we have here. This is and tell me if I characterize it wrong. A scheme that

Jeffrey Epstein engaged in by using assistance to recruit girls, right? Recari, correct.

Edwards, under the Pagliuka, object of form and foundation. Edwards, under the pretence of

giving a massage, Pagliuka, object of form and foundation. Recari, correct. Either a massage and

or become a model for a victorious secret and or connections. So when you hear people talking

about, oh, well, they were just hanging around Epstein. That's not that big of a deal. Yes,

it is. They enabled this bullshit and anybody saying any different has no idea what they're talking

about. Edwards, and when he was able to get these girls to his home, he would then offer them

money to also become recruiters for him. Pagliuka, object of form and the foundation.

Recari, correct. Edwards, and that created this if you mapped it out kind of a spider web or a

pyramid of girls bringing girls to Jeffrey Epstein's house. Pagliuka, object of the form and the

foundation. Mr. Edwards, right? Recari, correct. Edwards, all right. So when I say one of the first,

I mean the top of the pyramid, one of the earliest people that you interviewed that brought

girls to Jeffrey Epstein's house was HR. Recari, correct. Pagliuka, object of form and the

foundation. Edwards, and I think that you testified that Molly and Tony drove HR to Jeffrey Epstein's

house the first time, right? Pagliuka, object of the form and the foundation. Recari, correct.

Edwards, did you ever trace all the way up to the highest level to determine who it was that

started this particular chain of Palm Beach girls coming over to Jeffrey Epstein's home?

Pagliuka, object of form and foundation. Recari, I did not. And that's where the document cuts off,

but from that little brief exchange, you can see what Recari is saying here and you can see just

how disgusting Jeffrey Epstein's bullshit was. And this is before we're even talking about the

highly publicized cases. These are the high school girls in Palm Beach. And if you want to hear

it right from the horse's mouth, I think that detective Recari and his account here in this

deposition is a good place to start considering this man was the lead investigator on the original

case down in Florida. So this was the original investigation that we're talking about. And this

mainly had to do with girls from Palm Beach High School. So keep that in mind when you're listening

to this or you hear anything from detective Recari. All right folks, that's going to do it for

this one. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.

What's up everyone and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles. In this look back episode,

we're going to hear from former police chief Michael Ryder of the Palm Beach Police Department.

This article was published by NBC News and it was published on September 20th of 2019.

The authors of this piece, Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Shapiro.

Former Palm Beach police chief Michael Ryder spent years trying to convince state

and federal prosecutors in Florida to bring serious charges against Jeffrey Epstein.

Now the retired lawman wants to tackle a new mission to persuade lawmakers to take action to

prevent the next Jeffrey Epstein from perverting the criminal justice system. Now Michael Ryder

was one of the only good guys if there were any good guys if you will in the whole entire Epstein

saga. This guy listened to what these girls said compiled a whole bunch of evidence and then

turned that evidence over to the prosecutors. Now once the prosecutors have that evidence,

it's up to them to do the right thing with it, right? It's up to them to make sure that they get

indictments and then after they get the indictment, it's up to them to make sure that these people

are convicted. So they failed. The prosecutors in Florida failed. The police officers in Palm Beach

who worked this case originally, they did great work. The investigators were all over this,

they compiled all kinds of evidence. When it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, it was the prosecutors

once again who decided not to pursue it. Epstein found every loophole, Ryder told NBC News as part

of a month's long date line investigation. I want some system in the future that this can happen

again. He's not wrong. One of the ongoing conversations we've had about these people,

all of them is how they navigate loopholes, how they navigate technicalities and somehow harness

them always to work in their favor. Now I guess that's what they were put into these laws for in

the first place, right? So the rich people can navigate them and not get in trouble when they're

the ones who get slapped with them. Like we said previously several times, it's like when you have

a computer programmer who creates software, they leave themselves a little back door so they can

access it, right? Same thing here. They know that the small folk us are going to be the ones who

have to live up to these laws, not them, not their friends. Ryder said he believes the state and

federal prosecutors handling of the Epstein case amounts to the worst failure of the criminal

justice system in modern times. Look, he's not wrong. It's the reason we're still talking about this

right now. It's that impactful. It's that important about how the criminal justice system is conducted

moving forward. We need something that provides equitable law for everybody. If you're a girl from

quote-unquote, other side of the tracks and you say you were abused by a rich and powerful man

and there's evidence to pack that up, you should be listened to. And for way too long, these guys had

all of their loopholes, all of their technicalities, and they were able to navigate the criminal

justice system by using those and harnessing the relationships that they built with the other

so-called elite and that amounted to get out of jail free cards.

The story begins in March of 2005 when the Palm Beach Police Department received a call from

the distraught mother of a 14-year-old girl. Now, imagine being the cop on the other end of that

phone call. Yeah, this is the Palm Beach Police Department. Sergeant Stanton speaking.

Oh my god, my daughter has been abused, but okay, hold on, ma'am, slow down and then you start

processing the details and the name that's being dropped and all of a sudden you know right away.

You have yourself a big problem. Because when rich people are accused of stuff like this,

they automatically strike back and there's, you know, problems for the people who bring this stuff

up. So I'm sure the cops weren't too happy to hear the name Jeffrey Epstein.

But what I will say about the Palm Beach Police Department, they didn't shy away from it.

They did their job. They did their duty.

The woman, writer recalled, said her underage daughter was having sex with an adult who lives

in a mansion in Palm Beach. Palm Beach Police detectives immediately launched an investigation.

Yeah, that's probably the right thing to do. You got some guy living in a mansion

and he's having a relationship with a 14 year old girl. He's probably a good idea to launch an

investigation and I don't care who that person is in the mansion. I don't care if it is the most

famous person in the world. You can't be abusing children, okay? So the Palm Beach Police Department,

they started going hard and if you know the story, well you know that they really were kicking

in some doors and asking some very uncomfortable questions. Do you think it's just a shock,

just a coincidence that this got kicked away to the feds and then back down to the state level?

They wanted it to look like, oh yeah, we're going to take action. We're going to kick it up to

the feds. But really, they never had any intention of the feds prosecuting this case.

They said this is credible. This is believable, said writer, speaking in his first in-depth TV

interview. Our sense just from sitting in the room with the first survivor was that this is

something we've absolutely got to get on. So right from Jump Street, the Palm Beach Police

Department knew that this was something way bigger. And Michael Ryder, the chief here, he didn't

spare any expenses, right? He was all over this. He had his investigators looking into it,

chasing down leads, and what they uncovered, what they found, was terrifying.

The interview with the initial young girl led to another and another. I have no problem telling

you everything that I know one of the girls told the police in a video taped interview obtained

by NBC News. Another told police that Epstein pulled out this vibrator thing and he pulled down

my panties. Now remember, they only listened to had one girl speak in front of the grand jury. Why?

If all of these girls came forward with all of these credible allegations, why only have the one

girl speak in front of the grand jury? That does not make sense. The investigators were immediately

struck by the consistency of the accounts, Ryder said. The stories were all the same. He said,

they all could describe the house in detail. They could describe what happened and they didn't

know each other. It wasn't like all these girls got together and said, all right, we're going to

take down Jeffrey Epstein, the guy who lives in the mansion down the block. Nobody even knew Epstein

really was at this point. He wasn't a celebrity. So that whole line of thinking has always been

garbage to me. These were just young kids, high school kids, younger in some cases.

But the detectives also observed that the accounts weren't perfectly aligned.

That would have been a red flag that the stories were coordinated, Ryder said.

The investigators also noted something else of significance. Many of the survivors didn't know

each other. So there was a little chance that they would have come together to concoct false

allegations. And that of course was the bedrock of Epstein's defense, right? This is all fake.

Everyone's looking for a payday. I'm like a piggy bank blah, blah, blah, blah.

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President Barack Obama. Virginia, we are counting on you. Republicans want to steal enough seats

in Congress to raid the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,

but you can stop them by voting yes by April 21st. Help put our elections back on a level playing

field and let voters decide not politicians. Vote yes by April 21st. Paid for by Virginians for

fair elections. Within those first few weeks the investigation was already bearing fruit.

We realized this was basically a way of life for Epstein writer said,

and it didn't take long to realize that a lot of people were involved in this. This was a very

prolific sexual predator. Now listen to what the chief of police is saying here, okay?

And this is what I always tell you to do. Don't listen to me. Don't listen to Joe Schmo,

who has the other podcast. Listen to what these policemen say. Listen to what these investigators say.

Listen to what the survivors say. There were a lot of people that were involved in this.

This was a very prolific sexual predator. That's not so in making up a story. That's not some guy

who just got involved in the case yesterday. That's Michael Ryder, the man who investigated this

as the police chief in Palm Beach, who blew this shit open. He even knows how much more

and how deeper this goes. Detectives picked through Epstein's trash and discovered

incriminating messages on scraps of paper documenting phone calls. She is wondering if 230 is okay.

She needs to stay in school, red one. Imagine. And whoever took that note down is another piece of

shit. What do you mean she needs to stay in school? Why are any school-aged girls calling

Jeffrey Epstein in the first place? The note it was clear to police were about massages and

sex, Ryder said. And it just wasn't phone messages, Ryder said. Epstein had flowers delivered to

one of the survivors who was in a performance at her high school congratulating her at the end

of the performance. Now imagine how brazen you must be. This high school-aged girl that you're

sexually abusing. She has this high school performance and you send her flowers?

Now I know if I was the dad of that girl, there would be problems. Conversations would be had.

This dirty son of a bitch was so brazen in his behavior, so brazen in his activity

that he would send flowers to a girl after her performance. NBC News has spoken with nearly two

dozen women who alleged that Epstein didn't operate alone. Ryder said the investigation identified

adult women who had sexual contact with underage girls, and in some cases performed sexual

battery on children. This was a financially successful, smart, capable, well-networked,

and well-financed individual who built an organization around him that supported his criminal

enterprise, Ryder said. Now if you're wondering why I always talk about Rico and how this isn't a

Rico case, folks, what more do you need? I mean, honestly. And again, this is another reason why I've

chosen the format that I have chosen to follow along with these articles. That way everything is

uniformed. It's not me making this stuff up, right? Or, oh, this is just a guess by me.

This is from curating all of these articles and following all of this evidence and listening

to what the key players had to say. For me, survivors, lawyers, and the law enforcement agents on

the ground, not the jerk-offs in the back room, not the Acostas of the World, guys like Michael

Ryder. And when you listen to what they have to say, it is rather obvious that this was a criminal

enterprise that should have been re-coated and everybody involved should have seen a prison cell.

But as the months wore on with police building their case,

odd things began to happen. When detectives armed with a search warrant entered his home with a

video camera, what they found made them suspect he had been tipped off. The place had been cleaned

up, Ryder said. It wasn't completely the void of evidence, but a computer that contained

all of the home surveillance camera footage was gone. And all the wires were left hanging

there, Ryder said. So they did a dump and pump. Came in, ripped everything out real quick,

all of the monitoring equipment, because somebody in the government tipped them off.

One of their buddies, but nah, Jeffrey Epstein wasn't connected. He wasn't an asset.

After six months of investigation, Ryder said, the local police department noticed a shift in

attitude from the state prosecutors. Ryder said the prosecutors told him the witnesses were not

credible. The prosecutors, Ryder, said suddenly seemed dismissive of the case. And were uncooperative

in approving critical investigative techniques that hindered the Palm Beach Police Department's

investigation. No shit. No shit they were. These guys were working behind the scenes with Epstein's

lawyers to make sure this went nowhere, or at the very least make sure Epstein got just a little

smack on the ass. No real jail time, 13 months in a stockade. Are you kidding me right now?

I've had punishments from my parents that were worse than that.

Epstein, who had a massive bankroll and extensive connections, had assembled a high-power

team of lawyers, including Kenneth Star, Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger, and J. Leftquits.

Around this time, Ryder said, the investigation took another strange turn.

Epstein's defense team seemed to know details about the probe before they were made public.

Just take your pick from Ken Star, Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger, or J. Leftquits,

about who could have manipulated their influence, their relationships behind the scenes,

to turn it into something like this. Folks, we talk about it all the time. When you go to Harvard,

and you get your law degree, and then you're practicing law, people aren't really paying you

because you went to Harvard, per se. They're paying you because now you have access to all

of the other scoundrels who went to Harvard, so you have inside connections, you have access,

and that's what you're paying for when you get a high-profile lawyer. Your lawyers are going out to

eat and dinner, and who knows what else, with these prosecutors down here in Florida, at least,

and at the federal level, when we're talking about Moucazi and the others,

and then we wonder why Epstein doesn't get punished like the rest of us would. How many of you

gotten an invite to go play around the 18 with insert federal official here?

We believe that the content of our probable cause affidavit eventually, sometime after we

presented it to the state's attorney's office, ended up with the defense attorney's writer said,

because minute details that nobody else knew that were in those documents were being refuted,

and country information provided by the defense. This writer said, never happened to me before

in my career, and this is a guy again, he's in Palm Beach dealing with rich, powerful people,

never in his life as he dealt with something like this, however. But no, continue to tell me that

Epstein wasn't getting hooked up, that nobody was there, helping him make sure that the walls don't

fall in, and then tell me that this wasn't a rico case.

Writer was so frustrated that he took the unusual step of asking the state attorney,

Barry Krischer, to remove himself from the case, citing the office highly unusual treatment

of the investigation. When that didn't work, the police chief turned his evidence over to the

FBI, and you would think, right, the G-men are coming, this is awesome. All right, perfect,

the FBI, they're going to save the day. And look, don't get it twisted again, folks,

I'm not talking about your average agent that's working his tail off or her tail off to try and

keep us safe. There's a lot of those people that are going after some horrible fucking criminals.

My problem isn't with them. My problem is with the command structure, the bureaucracy that runs

this whole entire monolith. They look at us like we're just numbers, like we don't matter,

as far as, you know, the citizens of this country. And they feel like they've been given the

charter to do as they wish. And how many times do we see good agents like, or good cops in this

instance, like Mike Ryder gets screwed by prosecutors and these federal minions at the Department of

Justice. Those are the people I have a problem with, not the rank and file.

And they said, this is an easy case. This is a horrific situation. We'll put them away for

the rest of his life, Ryder recalled. That's what the US Attorney, Assistant US Attorney told us as

well. But Ryder's renewed enthusiasm didn't last long. In time, it became clear that the federal

probe was stalling, though he believes the FBI agents were invested in the case. Ryder arranged

to meet face-to-face with the prosecutor in charge of the case. US Attorney, Alex, I have no

spine. Bitch ass Acosta. Acosta would go on to be named US labor secretary under President Donald

Trump. Another brilliant move by old Trump, he huh? Alex Acosta, I mean, you don't have this conversation

with them. And then even if you do, you still go through with it. There's not a better person

in the whole entire country that could have been labor secretary, huh? But I have to say,

this, I'm thankful that Trump in a weird way put him there because if Alex Acosta wasn't in this

position and there weren't, you know, a bit of politicism happening around this, we probably

would have never had the second arrest of Epstein because with Julie Brown really been as interested

if this didn't have the political bend to it. If it wasn't a Trump appointee, again, maybe.

I don't know. We can't tell one way or the other, the future was what it was. But I have a funny

feeling that if it wasn't for Trump appointing Alex Acosta as labor secretary, in a weird way,

we would have never been at the point we are now. The conversation writer said did not get off

to a promising start. He basically said in a very measured manner that the defense in the case

has successfully delayed and frustrated their investigation and their prosecution of the case,

writer said. So once the last time the federal government has been frustrated and had their case

delayed zero chance, it doesn't happen unless they wanted to happen. But writer left Acosta's office

hoping for the best. After the prosecutor told him they were moving forward with the investigation.

I left that meeting thinking, this guy hopefully is going to do his job, writer said. It didn't turn

out the way writer had hoped. In 2007, Acosta made the decision not to charge Epstein in federal court.

Instead, he sent the case back to the local prosecutors. Now again, I don't think this was Acosta

on his own. You can't make this decision as a mid-level bureaucrat. This was a decision that was made

on high and Acosta was just the trigger man. Writer was crushed. The same office that seemingly

refused to pursue Epstein aggressively was now back in charge. And again, you could say,

oh, this is a coincidence. It's just, you know, the way things happen sometimes. But there sure

are a lot of coincidences around Jeffrey Epstein, isn't there? The cameras, the missing emails,

all of this nonsense. At what point? Is it not coincidence? And is it just what it is?

Acosta agreed to sign a non-prosecution deal that ended the federal sex crimes investigation

and spared Epstein the prospect of serving several years in prison. Instead, Epstein pleaded guilty

to state charges for soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months at Palm Beach County

jail. Epstein was also required to register as a sex offender and pay his restitution to his

survivors. Eh, didn't have to register in New Mexico, huh? I've never seen anything like it,

Writer said. It was extremely unusual and disappointing. Writer said he believes the result would

have been different had the victims been underage boys. That would have shocked the census more,

Writer said. Somehow, this hits in a different place that they were young women on the way to being

women. And he's not really wrong about that. How many people have set these girls up as prostitutes?

Or why do they keep coming back? The brain-dead narrative that they wanted this to happen. You know,

the same folks that will say, oh, well, she was wearing a mini skirt, so...

Way more nuanced than that. When you have all of the different things that went in to grooming

these girls and normalizing all of this, it's a whole different ballgame. But he's not wrong.

Boys would have really shocked the emotions and shocked the census.

Epstein was released from jail in the summer of 2009. The case scene behind him until

2018, when the Miami Herald published an exposé highlighting the government's kid glove

treating of a man accused of praying on dozens of underage girls. Acosta defended the way his office

handled what he described as a complicated case. We believe we proceeded appropriately. Acosta said

during a July 2019 press conference. We did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail,

so you mean to tell me the federal government couldn't have done that? If you really wanted to,

and again, let me back up, you wanted to want to see him go to jail, we want to see him go to prison,

okay? And you not running the federal charges, you and your bosses taking the step back,

that made sure that Epstein was never going to federal prison.

But Acosta resigned as li... Oh, excuse me. Acosta defended the way his office handled what he described

as a complicated case. We believed we proceeded appropriately. Acosta said during a July 2019 press

conference, we did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail. But Acosta resigned as

labor secretary two days later amid mounting criticism. Krischer, the former state attorney,

didn't return a request for comment from MDC News, but he released a statement in July defending

his office and pushing back against Acosta suggesting that state prosecutors were driving the case.

Nobody wants to take responsibility ever, right? It's always somebody else's fault. It's always

someone else who did something wrong. In reality, the feds fucked up and the state fucked up.

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If Mr. Acosta was truly concerned with the state's case and felt he had to rescue the matter,

he would have moved forward with the 53-page indictment that his own office once drafted.

Krischer said, Epstein was arrested on fresh charges in July. New York federal prosecutors

charged him with sex trafficking and conspiracy in a case that featured similar allegations to those

a decade earlier. Never far enough, right? How, again, how isn't this Rico considering not what I

said to you but what Michael Ryder laid out to you just previously in this article? Epstein

pleaded not guilty, but he committed suicide in his federal jail cell last month.

The death left Ryder thinking about the survivors, and their lost chance to see him held accountable.

I feel so badly for the survivor's Ryder said, I realize that there's a catharsis in confronting

Epstein, and they'll never have that opportunity. But he hopes that the entirety of the case will

lead to systemic change. The criminal justice system needs to learn from this, and make sure it

can't happen again, said Ryder, who still lives in Palm Beach where he runs a security consulting firm.

Ryder wants to see legislation that bars minors from being labeled as prostitutes in the justice

system. He also called on Florida lawmakers to close loopholes that allow people like Epstein

to get away with misdemeanors for child sex crimes. I mean, is he wrong? Does a cop, a former cop

have to call for this? Why wouldn't our politicians, the ones who make the laws, do it themselves?

Oh, they're the ones who put this law on the books. Oh, that's right.

If you look at the first dozen victims and their accounts of what happened to them,

it's clear to me he was coached by a lawyer on how to only commit a misdemeanor writer, said,

if you're a member of the legislature and you're listening to this right now, fix this. It needs

to be fixed. And I'm guessing that lawyer, I don't have proof of this, but I'm guessing it was

Darren Indyke. Ryder also delivered a message to all of those girls whose lives were upended by

a middle-aged sexual predator with endless resources available to him. I don't have any contact

with the survivors, and if they're listening now, I'm embarrassed for the way the criminal

justice system treated them back then in Florida, Ryder said, but I want them to know that not

every part of the system failed them. We did our job in Palm Beach and at the Palm Beach Police

Department and everything that happens here should lead to in the future if any of these things

happen again to some other victim that the system won't fail them. And I'd like to believe that,

but man, I have a hard time believing it folks. I am very cynical about our justice system

as you all know. And the more I see, the more cynical I become. So while I hope that Michael

Ryder's plea will find its way to the ears of our legislators, for some reason, I still have my doubts.

If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at Bobby Capucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I

at protonmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y-U-C-A-P-U-C-C-I.

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