Federal prosecutor who wanted to charge Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 steps down: report

On Thursday, the Miami Heraldreported that A Marie Villafaña, a longtime federal prosecutor in South Florida who led wealth manager Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking case in 2008, has submitted her resignation to the Justice Department.

Investigators are currently looking into the role that federal prosecutors played in that case, which ended with Villafaña's boss Alexander Acosta cutting a sweetheart deal to Epstein that let him serve just 13 months in a minimum-security prison for soliciting prostitution. Villafaña reportedly disagreed with Acosta's deal and wanted to pursue Epstein for the full scope of his crimes.

Sources say that Villafaña has long been planning the departure, to transition into the health care sector. Prosecutors told the Herald that it is unlikely she is leaving because of the investigation, and that her departure is unlikely to impact it.