Segments Record

9790

15

30

Page 31

 

 

Q And why did you decline? A Well, I had no interest in being involved in that defense. Q And why is that? A At that time, I had now seen the indictment. The charges were -- the charges covered the timeframe 2002 to 2005, so a good, you know, decade-plus since I had met him. So it covered, you know, a period of time that I believed had been investigated thoroughly by the State and Federal prosecutors in Florida. And, again, my understanding is that the conclusion reached as a result of that investigation was that Mr. Epstein did not intentionally recruit minors for commercial sex. And the Southern District of New York indictment specifically alleged that he had intentionally enticed and recruited minors, that this was something that they had evidence that they had presented to a grand jury. And that was a wholly different, worse, and more sinister conduct than I had understood. I had no interest in being involved in the defense. Q And you mentioned you saw the 2019 indictment. You had re-seen facts of the 2002-2005 timeframe, the State investigation in Florida, the Federal investigation then, which led to his incarceration in Florida. You had talked to him about his previous legal issues, as you mentioned earlier. What did Mr. Epstein convey to you about what happened in his first Florida legal issues? What were your impressions of what had happened? A Well, I can tell you what he told me, and then I can tell -- well, let me tell you what he told me. And, again, this is something that he told me, to the best of my recollection, within -- I don't believe it was the first meeting, but it was certainly the second or third meeting. He told me that he had -- at his home in Palm Beach, that he had arranged for women to come to his home and provide massages to him and that some of those massages were sexual in nature and that he had -- that he, you know, had paid for each of these massages, he paid cash for