THE FIRST POST
The alleged crimes of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein make Polanski look small-time
LAST UPDATED 5:51 PM, JULY 21, 2010
While commentators in America have fixated on the fortunes of director and self-confessed sex offender Roman Polanski over the past weeks, an alleged billionaire paedophile who makes Polanski look small-time has been looking forward to his own freedom.
Today hedge-funder Jeffrey Epstein walks free from a year-long house arrest in Florida, which he served after a previous 13-month sentence at the Palm Beach Stockade, a county jail.
Given his alleged crimes, Epstein seems to have been fortunate to say the least. The Daily Beast carries a detailed investigation by Conchita Sarnoff which claims Epstein is a predatory paedophile and child sex trafficker who has used his vast wealth to silence his victims and escape the retribution he deserved.
Epstein is alleged to have paid a Florida teenager, who described herself as "like a Heidi Fleiss", to bring teenage girls to his Palm Beach home two or three times a day. Epstein is said to have told
her: "The younger the better."
her: "The younger the better."
Each girl would then be pressured, the Daily Beast reports, "to remove her clothes, submit to fondling and a large vibrator, and sometimes lured into more invasive sexual contact". The girls were allegedly paid at least $200 for their time.
Police identified 17 underage local girls who had contact with Epstein - the youngest of whom was 14. The FBI later turned up roughly 40 girls who it claimed had been victims of Epstein's attentions over the past decade.
Epstein is said to have referred to one of the girls, Nadia Marcinkova, as his "Yugoslavian sex slave" because he had imported her from the Balkans at age 14. She later became part of the household.
Allegations in a later civil suit claim that for Epstein's birthday one year, three 12-year-old girls were flown over from France and molested before being sent back home the following day. Girls from South America and former Soviet republics were also alleged to have been sourced for Epstein.
Epstein's alleged crimes were eventually brought to the attention of police by the parents of a 14-year-old girl in March 2005. The case never really got off the ground, with State Attorney Barry Krischer saying the victims were not credible witnesses. Former chief of Palm Beach police Michael Reiter later wrote to Krischer to complain of the state's "highly unusual" conduct and asked him to remove himself from the case - a request Krischer ignored.
When the FBI got involved, a non-prosecution agreement was eventually signed, which showed Epstein was investigated for child sex trafficking - a crime that carries a sentence of 20 years. He eventually pleaded guilty to two less serious state crimes, soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor child for prostitution.
As for the underage girls, only last week, seven of them were reportedly silenced with million-dollar pay-offs after they brought a civil suit against Epstein. It seems he is finally safe unless new alleged victims come forward.
Reiter is convinced Epstein was afforded special treatment because of his connections. Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Ehud Barak are all among the passengers who have flown on Epstein's private jet. 
Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/66172,people,news,jeffrey-epstein-another-well-connected-alleged-paedophile-walks-free#ixzz0uQQfXgkJ
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