NEW YORK (NY)
Huffington Post
July 9, 2019
By Dominique Mosbergen
Democratic lawmakers and sexual abuse survivors have called for President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Alex Acosta, to resign from his Cabinet post over a controversial 2008 plea deal he made with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The deal, approved by Acosta while he was serving as Miami’s top federal prosecutor, allowed Epstein ― who was accused of sexually assaulting dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion ― to avoid federal prosecution and a possible life sentence. The financier ended up serving only 13 months in prison, a large chunk of which was spent in an office as part of a work-release program.
The plea deal ― and the role Acosta played in it ― has come under renewed scrutiny in recent days following the decision by federal prosecutors in New York to revive the sex crimes case against Epstein.
Epstein, 66, who was arrested in New Jersey on Saturday, faces new charges accusing him of operating a sex trafficking scheme in Manhattan and Palm Beach between 2002 to 2005. Prosecutors claim Epstein “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls,” some as young as 14, by “enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money.” Epstein, they said, “perpetuated this abuse in similar ways” in both New York and Florida.
Following the unsealing of the new charges, to which Epstein pleaded not guilty on Monday, several Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), called for Acosta to step down.
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