The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public.
The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.
As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted.
The payments became public after Epstein was indicted and arrested in New York in 2019 and asked to be released on bail. Federal prosecutors in New York filed a memorandum on July 16, 2019, that argued Epstein should remain in jail to prevent him from tampering with witnesses.
They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, which began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing its stories on Epstein’s plea deal, also known as a nonprosecution agreement, or NPA.
Prosecutors wrote that on Nov. 30, 2018, Epstein “wired $100,000 from a trust account he controlled, to an individual named as [REDACTED] a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein obtained protection in — the NPA.”
Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also named and featured prominently in the Herald series.”
Prosecutors added that “the same records show that just three days later, on or about December 3, 2018, the defendant wired $250,000 from the same trust account to [REDACTED], who was also named as a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein also obtained protection in — the NPA.”
The prosecutors continued: “This individual is also one of the employees identified in the Indictment, which alleges that she and two other identified employees facilitated the defendant’s trafficking of minors by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with the defendant at his residences in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.”
Prosecutors said in the filings that Epstein’s payments may be evidence of “efforts to influence witnesses.”
“This course of action, and in particular its timing,” they said, “suggests the defendant was attempting to further influence co-conspirators who might provide information against him in light of the recently re-emerging allegations.”
Last month, NBC News sent a letter asking U.S. District Judge Richard Berman to unseal the redacted names because Epstein is deceased, the criminal proceedings have ended, and the Justice Department said in a memo in July that there would be no additional charges filed against uncharged third parties.
Berman gave federal prosecutors until Sept. 5 to respond.
In a Sept. 5 reply letter, Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote, “Individual-1 and Individual-2 are uncharged third parties who have not waived their privacy interests; indeed, both Individual-1 and Individual-2 have expressly objected to the unsealing of their names and personal identifying information in the July 2019 Letter.”
Clayton said the two unnamed individuals sent letters to the U.S. attorney’s office expressing their concern but that those letters are under seal.
The judge has given NBC News until Sept. 12 to respond to the Justice Department’s request that the names remain secret.
It is not known when Berman will make a ruling on NBC News’ request.
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