Thanks Skippyboo. I am sorry that I didn't explain my question fully. Why did the states go along with the deal?
I understand that the Jane Does are not suing the state prosecutor because state laws don't allow it. This suit is a result of a federal law regarding federal victims' rights.
It just seems odd to me that so many people went along with this plea bargain. And not just Florida, apparently several states could have brought charges.
I know there is no statute of limitations for the Mann Act but that is so they can prosecute people if crimes are discovered after years and years. Can the prosecutor know about the crime at the time and then file charges 10 years later?
To initiate a prosecution criminal conduct must occurr in that state and it must be reported to investigative agencies in that state. So for example, there are allegations that Epstein and co-conspirators engaged in criminal acts at his ranch in New Mexico, but unless one of the minors reported this to New Mexican authorities or, as a result of their investigation the FBI alerted New Mexico, New Mexico would have been unaware that Epstein and cronies were having sex with minors in their jurisdiction. So, it's possible that other named states (New York and California are mentioned in the pleadings) didn't even know crimes had been committed in their states. One of the allegations is that a group of 12 year old girls where flown from France to Florida for sex as a birthday present for Epstein, I don't know, but it might be a crime to procure 12 year olds from France for sex with billionaire pedophiles, but unless someone reports this crime to France, no prosecution will happen. And obviously those states & France didn't go along with a deal that they probably didn't know about.
My recollection is that what started the whole investigation was a 14 year old's stepmother telling Florida authorities. They initiated a prosecution and obtained a conviction. Florida may have kept the victims they knew about fully advised and involved in the plea negotiations which resulted in Epstein's prison sentence. As a result of this initial state investigation the FBI initiated it's own investigation - the Florida investigators might have gone to the FBI if one of their victims said Epstein flew them out of Florida for sex (a federal crime) for example. The FBI may have uncovered the 38 + additional victims but not shared their results with Florida investigators and prosecutors. Indeed the only time a local prosecutor tends to see FBI reports is if the U.S. Attorney's office decides not to take it federally and the FBI shows up at the local prosecutor's office asking if they'll file state charges on the case.
It is also likely that Florida prosecutors were not given the reports from the FBI investigation, thus they may not have known of the number of victims - they knew their case and their victims, but the Feds keep things very close to the vest.
The Florida prosecutors may not have even been aware that the U.S. Attorney's office was negotiating a deal to drop charges based on Epstein's plea to the state charges. Even if the Florida prosecutors knew the Feds were agreeing to drop the Fed charges in exchange for the state plea I doubt that the Feds let the local prosecutors know any specifics about the deal they negotiated with Dershowitz & Epstein's other lawyers - remember this was a pre charging deal worked out by the Feds, so there was no public record, only the FBI investigation reports and evidence seized and the U. S Attorney's file, neither of which the Florida prosecutors would normally see, nor would they normally take part in the plea negotiations between the U.S. Attorney and Epstein's team. The Feds don't play that way, and they are pretty much 'need to know' and in their world local prosecutors just don't need to know what the U.S. Attorney has evidence wise or is or is not prosecuting.
On an unrelated note - there's claims that Epstein videotaped his 'friends' with his girls, and that the FBI seized at least some of those tapes - so even though these crimes occurred before every cell phone became a camera, there may be videos and photos. For some reason pedophiles love having stashes of nasty home movies and of course the allegation is that Epstein filmed his friends for blackmail in case he should need to 'influence' them.
