Thread by @gumby4christ

As @teddyfenton1 stressed to me, perhaps too few people know the following astonishing fact about Ghislaine Maxwell's legal team: One of her attorneys, Bobbi Sternheim, is also representing Jeffrey Epstein's former cellmate, "killer cop" Nicholas Tartaglione. THREAD

Tartaglione was Epstein's cellmate in MCC when JE was mysteriously attacked, an incident that got JE put on suicide watch. Oddities about the story abound, incl. fact that Tartaglione had a contraband phone & conflicting stories re: whether Tartaglione was JE's attacker or savior

One report even claims that Epstein was so grateful to Tartaglione for saving him that he left him $2 million in his will. Tartaglione's lead counsel denies this. nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-ep…

As Julie K. Brown writes, surveillance video of the attack on Epstein disappeared, the contents of Tartaglione's cell phone have never been released, and Tartaglione claims (laughably IMO) that he was being set up for protesting conditions at MCC. miamiherald.com/news/local/cri…

11 days after Epstein's death, high-profile criminal lawyer Bobbi Sternheim (who holds a Top Secret/SCI clearance) was assigned to Tartaglione's legal team in his murder case. This was in addition to the 9(!) lawyers already representing him. 4 more have joined since!

Sternheim was appointed for the very specific purpose of representing Tartaglione in a Curcio hearing, a secret (even from the prosecution) proceeding that dragged on for 20 months to determine whether there are conflicts within Tartaglione's legal team.

The Curcio decision was made in July. It's sealed, and the nature of the potential conflict hasn't been disclosed. Tartaglione's lead counsel, Bruce A. Barket, was potentially conflicted but was waived. However, another attorney, John Weider, was DQ'ed. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

It's not clear what Weider was even doing on the case—he was never listed on PACER and seems to be primarily a bankruptcy attorney. Also, he appears to be dead. tributearchive.com/obituaries/211…

It's worth noting that Sternheim is a CJA appointment, which, I believe, means the court pays for her representation, not the defendant. I think it would also mean that Tartaglione had no role in selecting her. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here.)

But even as Curcio counsel, Sternheim is still on the case, and maintains access to all filings and evidence—she's in the loop even as she represents Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. And there are interesting things happening in the Tartaglione case right now.

Namely, the court just granted Tartaglione access to MCC (including the SHU, where he was roomies with Epstein) to take photos. Tartaglione motioned for this in Jan 2020 to counter alleged infractions incurred during incarceration—possibly referencing the attack on Epstein.

Here we should note another overlap between the Ghislaine Maxwell case and Tartaglione's: They share a prosecutor, AUSA Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI director James Comey.

Presumably because she's been focused on the Ghislaine prosecution, Comey hasn't signed a filing in the Tartaglione case since Sept 2020, when she responded to a motion to move Tartaglione out of MCC because his toilet was broken.

So...does the overlap between Maxwell's and Tartaglione's cases mean "the fix is in"? I don't really think so tbh. Legal practice always tends to be smaller than people imagine. Even fed crim practice in SDNY is not that big a pool, I expect.

However, I do think it's worth keeping all this in mind as one follows the Ghislaine case. It's notable, for example, that both Comey and Sternheim may soon have access to Tartaglione's photos of MCC, which could shed light on his role in Epstein's death.

Something I forgot to add: Someone is pretty clearly funding Tartaglione's defense and has been since before Epstein was even arrested. That would be a thread very much worth pulling at if anyone has leads.

Another point: The biggest issue with the Ghislaine case, as I see it, is the very circumscribed nature of the prosecution. The charges are limited in scope, and DOJ rested their case shockingly fast, all of which basically ensures that broader issues were going to be kept out.