Thread by @TheViewFromLL2

Yesterday, Acosta claimed his office intervened in the Epstein case only when they realized Epstein wouldn't receive jail time for the pending Florida charges.

The Palm Beach State Attorney has refuted that claim. Also, that's just not how things work.

https://twitter.com/MikeDelMoro/status/1149078203614580736

And the FBI's own case file show that Acosta's explanation was not true. In late 2006, his office had set a target date for indicting Epstein – and that decision had been made, in part, due to the fact that the DOJ *didn't know what was going to happen with the State case.*

In May 2007, the FBI prepared for arrests and detention hearings for multiple defendants in the case. It wasn't just Epstein.

How could the DOJ's decision about whether to indict other defendants have depended upon whether Epstein faced jail time for state charges?

The DOJ was contemplating its own case and its own charges for a child prostitution conspiracy. Plus they had an ongoing civil forfeiture investigation, probably to try and seize Epstein's property involved in the child sex trafficking.

Acosta said yesterday that under DOJ policy, his office was not required to notify victims about a NPA. But did he ever explain why, even though he thought it wasn't required, he didn't choose to keep them notified anyway? He knew the victims wanted updates. They'd asked before.

And Acosta wouldn't give an answer yesterday when he was asked about whether Epstein was an "intelligence asset," but the docs in the public record already confirm it: as part of his Non-Prosecution Agreement with Acosta's office, Epstein agreed to give information to the FBI.

And the information Epstein gave the FBI that was apparently worth him not being charged federally for child sex trafficking? It was about how he lost $57 million in the subprime market after a Bear Stearns hedge fund manager talked him out of selling his shares in April 2007.

Epstein's information about the Bear Stearns subprime fund ended up in an indictment against two fund managers. Epstein was in the indictment as "Major Investor #1", but he never even testified at the trial... and DOJ ended up losing the case. Both the managers were acquitted.

The Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were indicted on June 18, 2008, and twelve days later Epstein's plea deal was entered in Florida. That would seem to explain why, after months and months of indecision and stalling, the plea deal could suddenly come together on all sides.

Seems like losing $57M was an incredibly lucky break for Epstein. In May 2007, the FBI was gearing up to arrest him. At that same time he was talking to Bear Stearns and trying to sell his subprime investment.... and in doing so, became an informant in a securities fraud case.