Justice Department probing how it handled serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein

Justice Department probing how it handled serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into its own possible misconduct in the wrist-slap prosecution of multimillionaire serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The investigation is being conducted by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, according to MSNBC.

“OPR has now opened an investigation into allegations that Department attorneys may have committed professional misconduct in the manner in which the Epstein criminal matter was resolved,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd said in a Feb. 6 letter to Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).

“OPR will thoroughly investigate the allegations of misconduct that have been raised and, consistent with its practice, will share its results with you at the conclusion of its investigation as appropriate,” he wrote.

Sasse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, had asked last month for an investigation into Justice’s treatment of Epstein, citing a Miami Herald series on the pervy hedge fund manager’s crimes and the sweetheart deal that let him off the hook.

Such an investigation has bipartisan support; 15 Democratic members of Congress have also asked Justice to look into the Epstein plea deal.

Epstein, who palled around in Palm Beach, Manhattan and at his Caribbean island retreat with high-powered friends including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was accused in a 53-page, 2007 federal indictment of assembling a harem of underage girls whom he paid and coerced into having sex with him at private parties.

In 2008, he was allowed to plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution with just one minor under the age of 18, and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. Under the plea agreement, the federal investigation ended.

The plea deal, struck by Miami’s then-top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta — now secretary of Labor — stated that the victims would not be notified and that the matter would be kept under seal, the Herald reported.

The next year, Epstein’s butler would be busted trying to sell Epstein’s “black book” journal. The book, which would become public via victim civil cases, names hundreds of girls and young women who were allegedly procured for sex and massages.

Epstein — who had faced as much as life in prison under the original federal indictment — ultimately spent just 13 months in the county jail. Since then, the registered sex offender has been settling victim lawsuits, sometimes on the brink of trial.