HOUSE OVERSIGHT 010729 Honorable Mark Filip May 19, 2008 Page 7 Government's confidential "list of victims." Most of these lawsuits seek $50 million in money damages.4 • Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weinstein spoke about the case in great detail to Landon Thomas, a reporter with the New York Times, and revealed confidential information about the Government's allegations against Mr. Epstein. The Assistant U.S. Attorney also revealed the substance of confidential plea negotiations. • When counsel for Mr. Epstein complained about the media leaks, First Assistant Sloman responded by asserting that "Mr. Thomas was given, pursuant to his request, non-case specific information concerning specific federal statutes." Based on Mr. Thomas' contemporaneous notes, that assertion appears to be false. For example, Mr. Weinstein told Mr. Thomas that federal authorities believed that Mr. Epstein had lured girls over the telephone and traveled in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in underage sex. He recounted to Mr. Thomas the USAO's theory of prosecution against Mr. Epstein, replete with an analysis of the key statutes being considered. Furthermore, after Mr. Epstein's defense team complained about the leak to the USAO, Mr. Weinstein, in Mr. Thomas' own description, then admonished him for talking to the defense, and getting him in trouble. Mr. Weinstein further told him not to believe the "spin" of Mr. Epstein's "high-priced attorneys," and then, according to Mr. Thomas, Mr. Weinstein forcefully "reminded" Mr. Thomas that all prior conversations were merely hypothetical. We are constrained to conclude that the actions of federal officials in this case strike at the heart of one of the vitally important, enduring values in this country: the honest enforcement of federal law, free of political considerations and free of the taint of personal financial motivations on the part of federal prosecutors that, at a minimum, raise the appearance of