HOUSE OVERSIGHT 013417 Local News: West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Martin & St. Lucie Counties I The Palm Beach Post 4/6/11 1:3 8 PM "It's very, very rare. I've never seen or heard of the procedure that was set up here." said McCabe, who has no involvement in any Epstein litigation and is now a securities litigation attorney. "He's essentially avoiding federal prosecution because he can afford to pay that many lawyers to help those victims review their cases.... If a person has no money he couldn't be able to strike a deal like this and avoid federal prosecution." The back-room deal with federal prosecutors all the more interesting in light of the legal heavyweights who have worked for Epstein, including Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr of Clinton impeachment fame. Lefcourt is a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Epstein's local defense attorney, Jack Goldberger, issued a statement Friday saying he had fought the release of the sealed agreement to protect the third parties named there. "Mr. Epstein has fully abided by all of its terms and conditions. He is looking forward to putting this difficult period in his life behind him. He is continuing his long standing history of science philanthropy..." Epstein ended up avoiding federal charges, and pleaded guilty in state court to felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. In July 2008, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail, and later allowed out up to six days a week on work release. Epstein left the jail in late July 2009 after serving not quite 13 months of the sentence, having earned gain time for good behavior. Palm Beach Police began investigating the "international moneyman of mystery," as the New York magazine dubbed him, after they received a complaint from a relative of a 14-year-old girl who had given Epstein a naked massage at his home on the Intracoastal Waterway. Police so