HOUSE OVERSIGHT 010724 Honorable Mark Filip May 19, 2008 Page 2 By way of background, we were informed by Mr. Acosta that, at his request, CEOS would be conducting a review to determine whether federal prosecution was both appropriate and, in his words, "fair." That is not what occurred. Instead, CEOS has now acknowledged that we had raised "many compelling arguments" against the USAO's suggested "novel application" of federal law in this matter. Even so, CEOS concluded, in minimalist fashion, that "we do not see anything that says to us categorically that a federal case should not be brought" and that the U.S. Attorney "would not be abusing his prosecutorial discretion should he authorize federal prosecution of Mr. Epstein" thus delegating back to Mr. Acosta the decision of whether federal prosecution was warranted (emphasis added). Rather than assessing whether prosecution would be appropriate, CEOS, using a low baseline for its evaluation, determined only that "it would not be impossible to prove . . ." certain allegations made against Mr. Epstein. The CEOS review failed to address the significant problems involving the appearance of impermissible selectivity that would necessarily result from a federal prosecution of Mr. Epstein. We respect CEOS 's conclusion that its authority to review "misconduct" issues was precluded by Criminal Division practice. We further respect CEOS 's view that it understood its mission as significantly limited. Specifically, the contemplated objective was to determine whether the USAO would be abusing its discretion by bringing a federal prosecution rather than making its own de novo recommendations on the appropriate reach of federal law. However, we respectfully submit that a full review of all the facts is urgently needed at senior levels of the Justice Department. In an effort to inform you of the nature of the federal investigation against Mr. Epstein, we summarize the facts and circumstances of this matte