Update per McClatchy: Trump labor secretary out of running for attorney general after Miami Herald report.
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta allegedly orchestrated a “sweetheart deal” for multimillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in exchange for testimony in a case involving now-defunct Bear Stearns.
Acosta, ultimately in charge of the nation’s 401k regulation, 5500 filings, and a revamped fiduciary rule—who also recently joined President Trump in announcing the latter’s MEP executive order—signed off on a 13-month prison sentence, according to a bombshell report from the Miami Herald.
The number of female victims and their ages, 13 through 16, could have sent Epstein to jail for life, but then federal prosecutor Acosta “didn’t just buckle under pressure from Epstein’s lawyers; he and other prosecutors worked *with* them to contain the case—even as the FBI was uncovering evidence of a wider sex trafficking operation.”
The paper adds that the “pact Epstein negotiated was sealed so that no one—not even his victims—could know the full scope of his crimes. Court records, letters, and emails show that the deal was negotiated, signed and executed behind the victims’ backs.”
On the day of sentencing, none of Epstein’s victims were in the courtroom, something the Herald claims was by design, so their impact statements would not raise objections nor influence the judge to impose a harsher sentence.
Acosta was mentioned as a possible replacement for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions after President Trump asked for Sessions’ resignation just after the midterm elections. As labor secretary, he would also essentially mandate ethical behavior on the part of 401k advisors if a fiduciary rule were to pass.
Epstein is friends and acquaintances with some of the country’s most rich and powerful people, including Bill Clinton and Trump. In 2015, charges were also leveled against Prince Andrew by one of Epstein’s victims, who claimed sexual contact with the royal occurred at one of Epstein’s estates when she was 17 years old.
Acosta was asked about the details of the case in his confirmation hearing for his current post.
“As part of any plea, it is not unusual to have an indictment that says these are all the places we can go, yet at the end of the day, based on the evidence, professionals within a prosecutor’s office decide that a plea that guarantees that someone goes to jail, that guarantees that someone register generally, and that guarantees other outcomes is a good thing,” he said at the time.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.