section_path: Legal issues/First criminal case (2005–2011)/Non-prosecution agreement (NPA) (2006–2008)
section_name: Non-prosecution agreement (NPA) (2006–2008)
paragraph_text: Non-prosecution agreement (NPA) (2006–2008)
  
  In July 2006, the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein, nicknamed "Operation Leap Year". It resulted in a fifty-three page indictment in June 2007. Alexander Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed to a plea deal, which Alan Dershowitz helped to negotiate, to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed "potential co-conspirators". According to the Miami Herald, the non-prosecution agreement "essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes". At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. The Miami Herald said: "Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims."
  
  Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence", was "above his pay grade" and to "leave it alone". Epstein agreed to plead guilty in Florida state court to two felony prostitution charges, serve eighteen months in prison, register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI. The plea deal was later described as a " sweetheart deal ".
  
  A federal judge later found that the prosecutors had violated victims' rights by concealing the agreement from the victims and instead urging them to have "patience". According to an internal review conducted by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, released in November 2020, Acosta showed "poor judgment" in granting Epstein a non-prosecution agreement and failing to notify Epstein's alleged victims about the agreement.
  
  In July 2006, the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein, nicknamed "Operation Leap Year". It resulted in a fifty-three page indictment in June 2007. Alexander Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed to a plea deal, which Alan Dershowitz helped to negotiate, to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed "potential co-conspirators". According to the Miami Herald, the non-prosecution agreement "essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes". At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. The Miami Herald said: "Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims."
  
  Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence", was "above his pay grade" and to "leave it alone". Epstein agreed to plead guilty in Florida state court to two felony prostitution charges, serve eighteen months in prison, register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI. The plea deal was later described as a " sweetheart deal ".
  
  A federal judge later found that the prosecutors had violated victims' rights by concealing the agreement from the victims and instead urging them to have "patience". According to an internal review conducted by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, released in November 2020, Acosta showed "poor judgment" in granting Epstein a non-prosecution agreement and failing to notify Epstein's alleged victims about the agreement.