A federal judge ruled Thursday that US Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta broke the law when giving a plea deal to accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Miami Herald reported that U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra wrote in his opinion that Acosta's plea deal with Epstein, which was executed when the labor secretary was US attorney in Miami, unlawfully concealed the agreement from "more than 30 of his underage victims."
Marra also enumerated Epstein's alleged crimes, noting that the billionaire connected to Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton "used paid employees to find and bring minor girls to him" and "worked in concert with others to obtain minors not only for his own sexual gratification, but also for the sexual gratification of others."
Acosta's plea deal with Epstein has in recent months come under scrutiny for what many believe was a "slap-wrist" punishment for the politically-connected billionaire's sex crimes.
"Instead of prosecuting Epstein under federal sex trafficking laws," the report noted, Acosta "helped negotiate a non-prosecution agreement that gave Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity from federal prosecution."
Epstein instead pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges and served a mere 13 months in prison.
"Acosta agreed to seal the deal," the Herald noted, "which meant that none of Epstein’s victims, who were mostly 13 to 16 years old at the time of the abuse, were told about it until it was too late for them to appear at his sentencing and possibly reject the deal."