HOUSE OVERSIGHT 012165 (c) KIRKLAND &ELLIS LLP Tab 18, December 13, 2007 Letter from M. Villafana (admitting that the notification occurred "shortly after the signing"). AUSA Villafana Misleads Mr. Epstein In An Attempt To Refer Plaintiffs to Her Boyfriend's Close Friend 25. On September 25, Ms. Villafana recommended a local products-liability defense attorney, Humberto "Bert" Ocariz, Esq., for the highly lucrative post of attorney representative for the government's list of as-yet-undisclosed "victims."4 (a) Ms. Villafana wrote to the defense, "I have never met Bert, but a good friend in our appellate section and one of the district judges in Miami are good friends with him and recommended him." See Tab 28, September 25, 2007 Email from M. Villafana to J. Lefkowitz (bottom email) (emphasis added). (b) Ms. Villafana failed to disclose that this "good friend in our appellate section" was her live-in boyfriend. See Tab 18, December 13, 2007 Letter from M. Villafana (conceding the "relationship" with "my boyfriend"). Beyond her clear conflict-of-interest and affirmative effort to conceal it, it is unimaginable that AUSA Villafana would have engaged in an ex-parte communication with a United States District Judge in the same district about the details of a pending grand-jury investigation without prior disclosure and supervisory approval. (d) Later, it became clear that Ms. Villafana also had at least one other ex-parte communication with that same United States District Judge about the grand jury's investigation. See Tab 29, October 5, 2007 Email from M. Villafana to J. Lefkowitz (stating that "one of the District Judges in Miami mentioned [retired Judge Joseph Hatchett] as a good choice" to decide any fee disputes concerning Epstein's paying for a lawyer to represent the unnamed women in claims against Epstein). 26. The next day, AUSA Villafana advised the defense that she was removing one of the alternatives to Mr. Ocariz from our cons