Fears paedo celeb Jeffrey Epstein may be a SPY as sources claim soft plea deals and cushy police treatment were because he ‘belonged to intelligence’
PAEDOPHILE Jeffrey Epstein was given a “sweetheart plea deal” in 2008 because he may have been a SPY, sources have sensationally claimed.
Billionaire financier Epstein, accused of abusing girls as young as 14, this week pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges in New York.
The Trump administration’s Secretary of Labour Alex Acosta today dodged a reporter’s question about the explosive claims that the financier may have been an “intelligence asset.”
Acosta was Florida's top federal prosecutor in 2008 when Epstein cut a plea deal which meant he spent just 13 months in jail for child sex trafficking.
According to the , President Donald Trump’s transition team asked Acosta, while vetting him for his role in the White House, about the lenient treatment of the paedo.
One source claims that the attorney-turned politician said he had “been told” to go easy on the billionaire banker because he “Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”
Prosecutors in New York this week said they were not bound by the plea deal which a Palm Beach judge this year ruled was illegal because the victims were not informed or consulted.
Acosta defended his handling of the sex trafficking case insisting he got the toughest deal he could at the time.
He insisted that "in our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims."
"We did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail," he said. "He needed to go to jail."
Pressed on whether he had any regrets, Acosta repeatedly suggested that circumstances had changed since the case arose.
"We now have 12 years of knowledge and hindsight and we live in a very different world," he said. "Today's world treats victims very, very differently."
Democratic presidential contenders and party leaders have been calling for Acosta to resign or be fired, and he has been called to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee on July 23.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours