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Millionaire Employs Legal Dream Team in Sex Scandal
July 28, 2006 3:16 PM

Maddy Sauer Reports:


Though he's only been charged with solicitation of a prostitute, New
York financier Jeffrey Epstein has a dream team of lawyers working on
his behalf.


A lengthy police probe was conducted in Palm Beach to investigate
allegations that Epstein paid young and underage girls to massage him
and have sex or engage in sexual activity with him. Police had wanted
to arrest him on four counts of illegal sexual activity with minors.
While that investigation was ongoing, Epstein's lawyers were already
hard at work. His defense team includes Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black,
Jack Goldberger, and Gerald Lefcourt.


Roy Black, whose former clients include Rush Limbaugh and William
Kennedy Smith, said that private investigators were used to investigate
the claims made by the young and underage girls who told police they
were paid to massage Epstein.


According to police documents obtained by ABC News, some girls and
their families reported being harassed and followed by private eyes
working for Epstein. One girl's father told police that he had been
"followed aggressively by a private investigator" who was "running
other vehicles off the road in an attempt not to lose sight" of him,
according to police records.


Black said the allegations about the private investigators' behavior
are false and that proof of that was submitted to the state attorney's
office and the grand jury. He also added that the use of private
investigators is not unusual in a case when police allege criminal
activity.


Also on the team is Alan Dershowitz, who defended OJ Simpson and Claus
Von Bulow. It was Dershowitz, according to police documents, who
provided the state attorney's office with a package of damning material
on the main "victims" in the case. That package included images from
myspace.com, in which some of them speak about alcohol and marijuana
use, according to police documents.


Dershowitz has not returned calls from ABC News seeking comment.


Gerald Lefcourt, Epstein's New York-based attorney, who defended
Russell Crowe and Abbie Hoffman, has been engaging in the public
relations spin. He reportedly told the New York Post that: "The
prosecutor didn't want to bring any charges in this case, but because
of the craziness of the police chief, we have the charge of
solicitation." The chief of police in Palm Beach, Michael Reiter, wrote
in a letter to parents of the alleged victims that he does not believe
justice has been served in this case. He also wrote to State Attorney
Krischer urging him to "consider if good and sufficient reason exists
to require your disqualification from the prosecution of these cases."


Lefcourt has not returned calls from ABC News seeking comment.


Jack Goldberger is the local attorney who said yesterday that Epstein
overwhelmingly passed a lie detector test administered by a highly
respected expert.


"This expert is regularly called upon by numerous law enforcement
agencies, including the Palm Beach County State Attorney's office,"
said Goldberger. "Moreover, a 13-month investigation by local law
enforcement, which included a search of Mr. Epstein's home, turned up
absolutely no evidence to support or corroborate these allegations."


The Police Chief does not agree with Mr. Goldberger's assessments. A
spokesperson for Chief Reiter has told ABC News: "We think our
investigation speaks for itself."


With no further action expected from the state attorney's office,
police have turned the case over to the FBI, which is reviewing the
case and could get involved if it is determined that federal statutes
making it unlawful to have sex with minors have been violated.


Meanwhile, the state attorney's office said yesterday that the no
further charges will be brought. He will be arraigned and it could go
to trial on the charge of sollicitation.


It seems that all there is left to do for Epstein is to keep paying his
attorney bills.


Click here to read ABC News' full coverage on the Millionaire Sex
Scandal.


Warrants Were Prepared to Arrest Others in Millionaire Sex Scandal
July 28, 2006 12:24 PM


Maddy Sauer Reports:


Palm Beach police were planning to arrest two women in connection with
their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the New York financier who
has been charged with solicitation, though police say he also engaged
in illegal sexual activity with minors.


According to police investigative documents obtained by ABC News,
police prepared and submitted arrest warrant requests in May for Sarah
Kellen, Epstein's assistant, standing on the right side of the picture,
and Haley Robson, pictured in the middle, who police say was paid by
Epstein to bring over young and underage girls to his house to massage
Epstein.


Kellen was to be arrested as a principal in the first degree on four
counts of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors and as a
principal in the first degree on one count of lewd and lascivious
molestation. Robson's warrant was for lewd and lascivious acts on a
victim under 16 years of age.


According to police documents, some of the girls who massaged Epstein
claimed that his assistant, Kellen, would often prepare the massage
table and arrange the oils before Epstein's massages. Kellen would also
allegedly call the girls when Epstein was in town to see if they wanted
"work." One girl told police, "Work is the term used by Sarah to
provide the massage in underwear," according to police documents.


One girl also claimed that Kellen had attempted to reach her after the
girl had been interviewed by police to talk about the questioning,
according to police documents.


Kellen did not return a call seeking comment.


Robson was interviewed by police in October 2005, and police say she
admitted she brought six girls, ages 14 to 16, to Epstein's house to
massage him. Robson was paid $200 each time she brought a girl over,
according to her statement to police.


Police say Robson told them she wished to assist in their investigation
in hopes of receiving a lesser charge. Police say that as Robson was
being driven home from questioning, she remarked, "I'm like a Heidi
Fliess."


Another woman involved in the scandal was Epstein's girlfriend Nadia
Marcinkova, standing to the left in the above picture. Though the
documents do not mention that any charges were being sought against
Marcinkova, one girl, who began massaging Epstein when she was
16-years-old, told police that she was paid by Epstein to have sex with
Marcinkova as he watched. The girl also told police that "Epstein
bragged he brought her [Marcinkova] into the United States to be his
Yugoslavian sex slave," according to the documents.


Attempts to contact Marcinkova and Robson have not been successful.


The warrants for Kellen and Robson were submitted to the state
attorney's office on May 4. A week later, no arrests had taken place.
One police detective noted in the documents that he asked the assistant
state attorney to take action.


"I asked that she either issue the warrants or direct file, as so much
time has elapsed since the original request to the Grand Jury," he
noted. "I explained that the Palm Beach Police Department had concluded
the case in December of 2005 and has been waiting for the case to go
forward."


About six weeks later, after the state attorney's office had conducted
their own additional investigation into the matter, State Attorney
Barry Krischer decided to send the case to the grand jury.


Earlier this week the grand jury indicted Epstein for solicitation of a
prostitute. No charges were brought against Kellen or Robson. The case
is now closed as far as the state attorney's office is concerned. The
police, meanwhile, have tuned the matter over to the FBI.


Click here to read ABC News' full coverage on the Millionaire Sex
Scandal.

Best regards Bruun