Manhattan prosecutor knew Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile — but argued for leniency anyway: report

According to the New York Post, the Manhattan District Attorney's office had detailed and damning evidence that billionaire wealth manager Jeffrey Epstein was a dangerous sexual predator, but still argued for leniency during a 2011 sex offender registry hearing.

Confidential state assessments sealed until recently reveal that the state Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders had determined he was likely to continue preying on young girls; that he had scored 130 for risk assessment, which is well above the threshold to register as a level three sex offender; and that all of this information was made available to then-deputy Sex Crimes chief Jennifer Gaffney.

The judge in Epstein's case ultimately ruled against Gaffney and designated Epstein a level three offender. But the episode is yet another case of the bizarre unwillingness of legal officials up and down the country to hold Epstein accountable for his crimes.

Epstein has been accused of trafficking girls aged 14 to 17 between sex parties at his estates. Palm Beach police found that he paid these teenagers $200 to $1,000 for erotic massages, often raping them.

The federal investigation of Epstein was suppressed by then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, now President Donald Trump's Secretary of Labor. Acosta gave Epstein a bizarrely lenient deal that allowed him to plead guilty to soliciting prostitution, an extremely mild offense given the severity of his alleged crimes. A federal judge recently ruled that Acosta violated the Crime Victims Rights Act by not disclosing the details of this deal to Epstein's victims.