Julie Brown - Perversion of Justice: the Jeffrey Epstein Story

I have many people to thank for supporting me in this project and others Ive tackled throughout my career. First and foremost: Casey Frank, the investigations editor at the Miami Herald , without whom I would not have been able to do this story and so many others exposing the cruelties and injustices in Floridas criminal justice system. His relentless passion for journalism and his empathy for the common man and woman have made him the quiet force behind stories that have helped countless vulnerable people and held corrupt and negligent leaders accountable.

I also could not have done this book without the support of our former CEO at McClatchy, Craig Forman; our former executive editor and publisher, Mindy Marqus Gonzlez; McClatchys vice president of news, Kristin Roberts; our managing editor, Rick Hirsch; and our lawyers, Sandy Bohrer, Scott Ponce, and Steve Burns. Thanks also to McClatchys Jeanne Segal and Melanie Jensen.

I am grateful to the brilliant team of graphic artists, copy editors, and journalism magicians who helped me with my Miami Herald series on Epstein: Aaron Albright, Eddie Alvarez, Mary Behne, Marta Oliver-Craviotto, Jessica Gilbert, Noel Gonzalez, Monika Leal, Brittany Peterson, Pedro Portal, and Adrian Ruhi.

Thanks to my former Herald colleagues who lifted my spirits, let me cry on their shoulders, and made me believe I could do it: Michael Sallah, Audra D. S. Burch, and Sergio Bustos.

I would be remiss if I didnt recognize the countless other talented journalists from all over the world who covered aspects of the Epstein story over the past decade, many of whom are cited in this book. In particular, I want to acknowledge the work of Michele Dargan of the Palm Beach Daily News , investigative journalist Vicky Ward, and Fred Grimm, whose columns in the Miami Herald inspired me to reexamine this case.

There have been other relentless reporters who contributed to the Miami Herald s coverage of this case over the past two years, including Nick Nehamas, Sarah Blaskey, Jay Weaver, and Linda Robertson, as well as McClatchys Ben Wieder and Kevin G. Hall.

A long list of people gave generously of their time to help further my understanding of this case. They sat for interviews, took my phone calls, and pointed me in the right direction. Among them: Michael Reiter, Sigrid McCawley, Brad Edwards, Jack Scarola, Paul Cassel, David Boies, Marci Hamilton, Francey Hakes, Jose Lambiet, Kenneth Lanning, Jessica Arbour, Adam Horowitz, Spencer Kuvin, Bob Josefsberg, Bill Berger, Kevin DAmour, Dr. Michael Baden, Sloane Veshinski, and Jennifer Recarey.

To Geoffrey Berman, Maurene Comey, and Alex Rossmiller: thank you for having the courage to do what weaker prosecutors would not.

Thanks to all my former colleagues at the Philadelphia Daily News who made me the reporter I am today. Ive been fortunate to have editors who believed in me over the years: Patricia Andrews, Manny Garcia, Brian Toolan, Michael Days, Kurt Heine, Jack Morrison, and Tony Rhodin.

Special thanks to Carol McKenna for not kicking the kids and me out of our home when I couldnt pay the rent.

Thanks to Eileen Soler and Lynn Occhiuzzo for their help with the book cover.

I am most grateful to my agent, Laurie Liss, who saw this book as a story of triumph over evil and helped shield me from all the slings and arrows that I faced writing it. To my editor at Dey Street Books, Carrie Thornton: thank you for your steady hand and patience. Thanks also to my copy editor, Greg Villepique; my lawyer, George Sheanshang; my assistant, Chandler Plante; my accountant, Isabel Lago; and my life coach and dear friend, Lois Kirn.

Telling the Jeffrey Epstein story would not have been possible without the fierce determination of my friend and collaborator, the great visual journalist Emily Michot, who kept me sane, delivered me from the Epstein darkness, and captured in photographs and video what I could never do in words.

Lastly, I would not have been able to navigate the challenges Ive faced without the three loves of my lifemy children, Amelia and Jake, and my best friend of forty years, Nancy Morgan.

JULIE K. BROWN is an investigative reporter with the Miami Herald . During her forty-year career, she has worked for a number of newspapers, focusing on crime, justice, and human rights issues. As a member of the Herald s Investigative Team, she has won dozens of awards, including two George Polk Awards, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Hillman Prize for Journalism in the Common Good. In 2020, she was named as one of Time magazines 100 Most Influential People of the Year. Her 2018 Miami Herald series Perversion of Justice led to the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein and his former partner Ghislaine Maxwell; the resignation of President Trumps labor secretary Alex Acosta; two federal investigations; a compensation fund for Epsteins victims; and national reforms in the way victims are treated by the criminal justice system.

Brown previously won acclaim for a series of stories about abuses and corruption in Florida prisons. The stories led to the resignations of top agency officials, firings of corrupt corrections officers, and an overhaul of the treatment of women prisoners and inmates with mental and physical disabilities. Born in Glenside, Pennsylvania, she grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism from Temple University. She lives in Hollywood, Florida.

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Unless otherwise noted, all the information contained in this book is from my own reporting and interviews or court or government records. The names of some of the victims in this story have been changed to protect their privacy.

The old police report was typed, single-spaced. Case Number 1-05-000368 was categorized as a closed sexual battery case. There were eighteen girls, ranging in age from fourteen to eighteen, listed as possible victims. All of their names were blacked out. There were witnesses, too, their names also blacked out. The evidence was difficult to discern, except through the trained eye of a police detective.

I had probably read thousands of police reports in my long journey through journalism. When youre covering a story, the police report often forms the backbone of your work, and you can count yourself lucky when you get a cop who knows how to write, does so legibly, and sneaks in scraps of life that make your story more vivid, helping readers understand the human part of tragedya teddy bear found in the back seat of a wrecked car; a yellowed photograph in a dead mans wallet; the words of a father, mother, or son upon learning they had lost a loved one. A writer treasures the smallest of details. They dont come often, so when you are given them, they are gold.