- + Jeffrey Epstein, Billionaire eo’ Goes Free - The Daily Beast @ Page 4 of 4 private investigators who were then linked to local attorneys in Epstein’s employ. In one reported instance, the private investigator claimed to be a police officer, and Reiter considered filing witness-tampering charges. The credibility of the victims was also an issue; they had never complained of their treatment by Epstein until they were contacted by police, and they may have voluntarily returned to the Palm Beach mansion several times. Many of the girls came from disadvantaged backgrounds or broken homes, and they were susceptible to Epstein’s cash, intimidation, and charm. Those who were 16 when they went to El Brillo Way would have been in their 20s by the time | they took the stand, and Epstein’s investigators had dredged up every instance of bad behavior in their pasts. According to an exchange in the Reiter deposition, a few of the victims had worked in West Palm Beach at massage parlors known as “jack shacks.” Each new compromising detail was immediately forwarded to the State Attorney's Office, where staff met frequently with Epstein’s lawyers. | : The Florida statutes are clear: Any person older than 24 who engages in sexual contact with someone under the age | of 18 commits a felony of the second degree. The victim’s prior sexual conduct is not relevant; ignorance of her age is | no defense. She needn't resist physically to cast doubt on the issue of “consent.” For a child under 16, even lewd : behavior short of touching is a felony of the second degree. But convincing a jury that a sexual encounter is a heinous | crime is difficult if the victim can be made to appear willing and unharmed, not to mention vulgar and mercenary. It 7 wasn’t hard to imagine some of the victims quickly being discredited in court by Epstein’s crack legal team, who repeatediy noted that the age of consent is lower in many other states. But that doesn’t quite explain why the Department of Justice w