Speaker 1: 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 Riccary, 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 Riccary, 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 mister Riccary speaking. I wanted
to speak with everyone related to this home, including miss Maxwell.
My contact was through Gus attorney Gus Fronsten 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 Glene Maxwell's involvement, if any? Pagliuca
objection to Form and the Foundation, Riccary. 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. Pakliuka 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? Mister Pakliuka
object to form and the Foundation? Edwards? Approximately Pagliuca, same objection, Riccary,
I would say approximately thirty, thirty or thirty three, mister Edwards.
And of the thirty or thirty three 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, Ricary. 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 objective form and the foundation ricary? No, Edwards, okay,
the one with massage experience was older, mister Pagliuka, objective
form and foundation the witness correct Edwards. The remainder of
the thirty 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? Mister Pagliuka object
to the form and the foundation ricary. That's correct Edwards.
And were the majority of those girls that you interviewed
over or under the age of eighteen? Mister Pakliuka object
to the form and the foundation ricary? The majority you
were under, mister Edwards. And how was it that mister
Epstein gained access to that number of underage girls? Pagliuka
object a form and the foundation ricary. 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?
Mister Pagliuka object a form and the Foundation ricary correct Edwards.
And at the end of the massage, if that victim
brought other friends, she would get paid for the recruitment
of those friends. Pagliuka objective form and Foundation ricary 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 ricary correct Edwards. And as well, certain
people that were friends or girlfriends or assistants of Jeffrey
Epstein would recruit girls under the pretense of giving a massage.
Mister Pagliuka object to the form and the Foundation ricary
correct Edwards. Is that what your investigation revealed in terms
of the system of getting these girls over to the house,
Mister Pagliuca object to the form and the Foundation ricary. Yes. Edwards, Okay,
talking about the massages, when when these the various girls
that you interviewed describe the massages, was there a pattern
of what occurred during these massages? Pakluka object to the
form and the Foundation ricary, Yes, there was, Edwards Okay,
describe for me what the pattern was that was told
to you by the thirty or so girls that you interviewed.
Pakliyuka object to the form and the found riccary. 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 riccary. 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 meant with
respect to these girls coming to the house, Pakluka object
to form and the foundation riccary. 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 mister Pagliuka objective Form and the Foundation Ricari. 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,
all right, And so when you went to speak with
the victims, what did these victims say about their experience
with Jeffrey Epstein Pagliuka objective form and Foundation ricary. 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 objective Form and Foundation Edwards, So, as you're investigating
this case, as part of your investortation, you're learning information
from these victims and then going to talk to the
next person down the line, if you will, Pagliuca objective
form and the foundation ricary correct Edwards And what is
the purpose of that ricary 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
ricary correct Edwards, Okay? And did you learn of Sarah
Kellen's involvement with respect to the various girls Pakliuka objective
form and foundation ricary? Yes, Edwards. What was her role
Pakliuka objective form and foundation ricary that is correct Edwards
And did you turn all of your files over to
either the State Attorney's office or the FBI ricary that
is correct Edwards and through the State's Attorney's office. Was
the information contained within the probable cause Avid, David and
the incident reports a publicly available document? Pagliuka object to
the form and the foundation ricary, Yes, Edwards. And around
the time of your investigation, Around the time you ended
your investigation and thereafter, were of various newspaper articles written
about the substance of some of your investigation, Ricary, 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? Rocary? That is correct Edwards.
And in fact, haven't you read many of these newspaper articles, Ricary,
that is correct Edwards. That was not a hidden secret
from the public beginning in two thousand and six, right Ricary, 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 Pagliuca Objection to Form and Foundation Roccary, it was
sexual battery and loudon lascivious conduct for under the age
of sixteen. Now remember, folks, this is Joseph Roccari 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 disease, but the ones that came previously, Edwards,
and what was the specific system of engaging in this
type of activity. Pagliuka objective form and foundation. Roccary 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? Roccary once the he's interrupted by
Pagliuca object to the forum and foundation, Sorry, Rocary, 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 inter course, 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. And this is a big
hole in Maxwell and Epstein's stupid ass plot. There's no
fifteen or sixteen or seventeen 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
therapists going to come over and get them worked on,
but that wasn't what they were looking for, is it? 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,
mister Pagliuca object to the form and the foundation Riccari, Yes, Edwards,
there's one of the earliest victims that you interviewed, was
Haley Robson, Is that right? Pagliuka objective form and foundation Ricary?
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
Ricary correct Edwards under the Pagliuca objective form and foundation.
Edwards under the pretense of giving a massage Pagliuka objective
form and foundation. Ricary correct either a massage and or
become a model for Victoria's 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 his 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 objective form and the Foundation, Ricary 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 to the form
and the foundation, mister Edwards, right, Ricary 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 Rocary correct Pagliuka, objective 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 to the form and the Foundation. Rocary correct edwards,
did you ever trace all the way up to the
high level to determine who it was that started this
particular chain of pom Beach girls coming over to Jeffrey
Epstein's home Pagliuca Objective form and foundation. Riccary, I did not,
And that's where the document cuts off. But from that
little brief exchange, you can see what Riccari 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 Roccari 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 Racari. 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 discrete 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 Rider of the Palm Beach Police Department.
This article was published by NBC News and it was
published on September twentieth of two thousand and nineteen. The
authors of this piece Sarah Fitzpatrick and rich ship Heiro.
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, Mike 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 turn 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. Rider told NBC News as part
of a month's long Dateline investigation, I want some system
in the future that this can't 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 gets 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. Writer
said he believes the state and federal prosecutors handling of
the Epstein 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 the
quote unquote other side of the tracks, and you say
you were abused by a rich and powerful man, and
there's evidence to back 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 it amounted to get out of jail
free cards. The story begins in March of two thousand
and five, when the Palm Beach Police Department received a
call from the distraught mother of a fourteen year old girl.
Now imagine being the cop on the other of the
other end of that phone call. Uh yeah, this is
the Palm Beach Police Department, Sergeant Stanton speaking, Oh my god,
my daughter has been abused by Okay, hold on, man,
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 set 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 fourteen year old girl,
it'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 pom 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 gonna take action,
We're gonna 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 Ryder,
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 videotaped interview obtained by NBC News. Another
told police at 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. Writer 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 gonna take down Jeffrey Epstein, the guy
who lives in the mansion down the block. Nobody even
knew wh 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, were coordinated,
writer said. The investigators also noted something else of significance.
Many of the survivors didn't know each other, so there
was 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 pay day. I'm like a piggy bank. Blah blah,
blah blah. 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 Schmoe, 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 someone 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
two thirty is okay? She needs to stay in school?
Read 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 age girls
calling Jeffrey Epstein in the first place. The note, it
was clear to police, were about massages and sex, writers said.
And it just wasn't phone messages, writer said. Epstein had
flowers delivered to one of the survivors who was in
a performance of performance at her high school, congratulating her
at the end of the performance. Now, imagine how brazen
you must be this high school age 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. Writer 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. Writer 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 guest
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 accostas 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
recoed 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. Riders said it wasn't
completely devoid of evidence, but a computer that contained all
of the home surveillance camera footage was gone and all
the wires were left hanging there. A rider 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, Riders said, the local police
department noticed a shift in attitude from the state prosecutors.
Riders said the prosecutors told them the witnesses were not credible.
The prosecutor's, Rider 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, thirteen months
in a stockade. Are you kidding me? Right now? I've
had punishments for my parents that were worse than that. Epstein,
who had a massive bankroll and extensive connections, had assembled
a high powered team of lawyers, including Kenneth Starr, Alan Dershowitz,
Jack Goldberger, and Jay left Kuwitz. Around this time, Ryder
said the investigation took another strange turn, Epstein's defense team
seem to know details about the probe before they were
made public. Whoa what do you know? Just take your
pick from Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger, or Jay
left Quitz 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 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 Muqia 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 to eighteen with insert federal official here.
We believe that the content of our probable cause Affidavid. 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 contrary 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 Krisher,
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
tailoff 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. Writer recalled, that's
what the US Attorney assistant US attorney told us as well.
But writers 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 writer
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. Huh, alex Acosta, I mean, you don't have
this conversation with him, 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 would Julie Brown really been as interested if this
didn't have the political been 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 Rider 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, when's 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 Rider 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 a writer had hoped. In
two thousand and seven, 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 a costa 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. Ryder 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 thirteen 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. Ryder said it was extremely unusual and disappointing.
Ryder said he believes the result would have been different
had the victims been underage boys. That would have shocked
the senses more. A 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. Yeah,
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 senses. Epstein
was released from jail in the summer of two thousand
and nine, the case scene behind him until twenty and eighteen,
when The Miami Herald published an expose 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 twenty nineteen
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 see and again, let me back up,
you might 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 lit 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 twenty nineteen 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. Krisher, the former state attorney,
didn't return her request for comment from MDC News, but
he relates 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. If mister Acosta was truly concerned with
the state's case and felt he had to rescue the matter.
He would have moved forward with the fifty three page
indictment that his own office once drafted. Chrisher said. Epstein
was arrested on fresh charges in July. New York federal
prosecutors charged him with its 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 Rider thinking
about the survivors and their lost chance to see him
held accountable. I feel so badly for the survivors, writers 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.
Rider wants to see legislation that bars miners 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 in the books. Oh
that's right. If you look at the first dozen victims
and there are 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 endyke Ryder also delivered
a message 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. And Florida
writer 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 believe
in 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
Rider's plea will find its way to the ears of
our legislators, for some reason, I still have my doubts. Yes,
if you'd like to contact me, you can do that
at Bobby Kapuchi at ProtonMail dot com. That's b O
B B Y c A p U C c I
at ProtonMail dot com. You can also find me on
Twitter at b O B B y underscore C a
p U c c I. The link that we discussed
can be found in the description box.