Fittuy Ricw school females to provide him sexually lewd and erotic massages. Police sought felony charges that would have resulted in a term of imprisonment. According to press ; reports, however, in 2006 the State Attorney, in part due if to concerns regarding the quality of the evidence, agreed 4 to charge Epstein only with one count of aggravated R 55 j : assault with no intent to commit a felony. That charge CHAPTE 4 a would have resulted in no jail time, no requirement to E ql register as a sexual offender and no restitution for the a 4 underage victims. q 4 Local police were dissatisfied with the State Attor- . a q ney’s conclusions, and requested a federal investigation. er to the general public, 3 7 Federal authorities received the State’s evidence and = engaged in additional investigation. Prosecutors weighed 4 4 the quality of the evidence and the likelihood for success x ‘ i at trial. With a federal case, there were two additional a 4 considerations. First, a federal criminal prosecution . 3 q requires that the crime be more than local; it must have the Southern District of Florida 4 a an interstate nexus. Second, as the matter was initially Ser the past weeks, I have read = q charged by the state, the federal responsibility is, to some ey Epstein. Some appears tue, a q extent, to back-stop state authorities to ensure that there thought it appropriate to provide q q is no miscarriage of justice, and not to also prosecute fed- 9 caveats: (i) under Justice Depart ‘ __ erally that which has already been charged at the state discuss privileged internal com- q | level. ment attorneys and (ii) Ino longer q : After considering the quality of the evidence and the | documents, and as the matter is 4 q additional considerations, prosecutors concluded that . precision of memory is reduced. a 7 the state charge was insufficient. In early summer 2007, was originally presented to the j q the prosecutors and agents in this case met with te Attorney. Palm Beach Police q