DOJ Asks Judge to Keep 2 Epstein Associates Secret

The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public.

The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.

They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, which began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing its stories on Epstein’s plea deal, also known as a nonprosecution agreement, or NPA.

Prosecutors said in the filings that Epstein’s payments may be evidence of “efforts to influence witnesses.”

“This course of action, and in particular its timing,” they said, “suggests the defendant was attempting to further influence co-conspirators who might provide information against him in light of the recently re-emerging allegations.”