EFTA00212841

THE PALM BEACH POST 
• 
WEDNESDAY. UNE 10, 2009 
Women 
want sex 
plea deal 
unsealed 
Their attorneys will ask a judge 
to open Jeffrey Epstein's records. 
By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL 
Palm Beach Post SteWriter 
WEST PALM BEACH - 
When wealthy 
money manager Jeffrey Epstein of Palm 
Beach pleaded guilty last year to pro-
curing teens for prostitution, his case 
detoured around local and 
state rules regarding the 
sealing of court documents. 
At a plea conference on 
the state charges, a judge, 
a defense lawyer and a pros-
ecutor huddled at the bench 
and decided that a deal EIntsla 
Epstein had struck with federal prosecip 
tors to avoid charges should be sealed, 
according to a transcript of the hearing. 
And so it was. 
But Florida rules of judicial admin-
istration, as well as rules of the Palm 
Beach County court system, require 
public notification that a court document 
has been or will be sealed, meaning kept 
from public view The rules also require a 
judge to find a significant reason to seal, 
See EPSTEIN, 4A O. 
See past coverage of Jeffrey Epstein's sex 
scandals. PalmBeachPost.com/epsteln 
EFTA00212841

Public has right to know details 
of deal, Post attorney will claim 
► EPSTEINfrons 111 
such as protecting a trade 
secret or a compelling gov-
ernment interest. 
Yet 
no 
notification 
or reason occurred in 
Epstein% case, according 
to court records. 
Epstein% own attorneys, 
in federal filings, have 
referred to his confiden-
tial deferred prosecution 
agreement with the US. 
attorney's office, struck in 
September 200.1 as "un-
precedented" and "highly 
unusual." And it was "a 
significant 
inducement" 
for Epstein to. accept the 
state% deal, observed the 
state judge who accepted 
his plea, County Judge 
Deborah Dale Pucillo. 
Epstein now faces at 
least a dozen civil lawsuits 
in federal and state courts 
filed by young women who 
said they had sex with 
him and now are seeking 
damages. 
Attorneys for some of 
those women want his 
agreement with federal 
prosecutors unsealed and 
will ask Circuit Judge Jef-
frey Colbath to do so today 
"It is against public 
policy for these documents 
to be have been sealed and 
hidden from public scrutiny. 
As a member of the public, 
E.W. has a right to have 
these documents unsealed," 
wrote former Circuit Judge 
Bill Belzer, now in private 
practice and representing 
one of the women. 
The Palm Beach Post also 
will ask Colbath to unseal 
the agreement. Post attor, 
ney Deanna Shullman will 
argue that the public has a 
right to know the specifics 
of Epstein's deal. 
According to various 
media accounts, Epstein 
moved in circles that in-
chided President Clinton, 
Donald Trump and Prince 
Andrew 
"International 
Moneyman of Mystery" de-
clared a 2002 New York mag-
azine profile of Epstein. 
Epstein, 56, is in the 
Palm Beach County Stock-
ade, serving an 18-month 
sentence after pleading 
guilty nearly a year ago 
to felony solicitation of 
prostitution and procuring 
teenagers for prostitution. 
He is allowed out from 7 
am. to 11 p.m., escorted by 
a deputy, said Palm Beach 
County 
Sheriff% 
Office 
spokeswoman Teri Barbera. 
During a Palm Beach 
Police 
Department in-
vestigation, five victims 
and 17 witnesses gave 
statements. They told of 
young women brought by 
his assistants to Epstein% 
mansion on El Brillo Way 
for massages and sexual 
activity, and then being 
paid afterward. 
At Epstein's plea confer-
ence last year, his attorney, 
Jack 
Goldberger, 
and 
then-Assistant State At-
torney Lanna Belohlavek 
approached 
Pucillo in 
a 
sidebar 
conference. 
Pucillo, who had left the 
bench nine years earlier, 
was filling in temporarily 
as a senior judge. 
According toa transcript, 
Goldberger told Pucillo that 
Epstein had entered a con-
fidential agreement with 
the US. attorney% office 
in which federal prosecu-
tors brokered not pursuing 
charges against him if he 
pleaded guilty in state 
court. Pucillo then said she 
wanted a sealed copy of the 
agreement filed in his case. 
and Goldberger concurred 
that he wanted it sealed. 
Belohlavek later signed off 
on it. 
The Florida Supreme 
Court has expressed "seri-
ous concern" and launched 
an all-out inquiry into seal-
ing procedures across the 
state following media re-
ports in 2006 of entire cases 
being sealed and disappear. 
ing from court records. 
"The public% constitu-
tional right of access to court 
records must remain invio-
late, and this court is fully 
committed to safeguarding 
this right," justices wrote in 
their final report 
Epstein's 
office 
on 
Tuesday 
referred 
any 
questions to Goldberger. 
who declined to comment. 
Pucillo also has declined 
to comment. 
• 
Osusan_spencer..wendeiSPblvacorn 
EFTA00212842