Jeffrey Epstein had a little black book filled with the names and personal phone numbers of some of the world's wealthiest and most influential people, from Bill Clinton and Donald Trump to actors, actresses, scientists and business tycoons. For years, Epstein lured an endless stream of teenage girls to his Palm Beach mansion, offering to pay them for massages. Instead, police say, for years he coerced middle and high school girls into engaging in sex acts with him and others. As evidence emerged that there were victims and witnesses outside of Palm Beach, the FBI began an investigation in 2006 into whether Epstein and others employed by him were involved in underage sex trafficking. But in 2007, despite substantial evidence that corroborated the girls' stories of abuse by Epstein, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, signed off on a secret deal for the multimillionaire, one that ensured he would never spend a day in prison. Acosta, now President Donald Trump's secretary of labor, agreed to seal the agreement so that no one not even Epstein's victims " would know the full extent of his crimes or who was involved. The Miami Herald obtained thousands of FBI and court records, lawsuits, and witness depositions, and went to federal court in New York to access sealed documents in the reporting of "Perversion of Justice." The Herald also tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims, some of whom had never spoken of the abuse before.
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