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Also see: Department of Labor; sexual allegations;
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Undated: Rene Alexander Acosta (born January 16, 1969)[1] is an American attorney, academic, and politician who is the 27th and current United States Secretary of Labor.[2] On February 16, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Acosta to be United States Secretary of Labor. Acosta is the first, and as of January 2019 the only, Hispanic person to serve in Trump's cabinet.[3][4][5][6] A Republican, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Labor Relations Board and later served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida. He is the former dean of Florida International University College of Law.
In late 2018, a Miami Herald report on a controversial plea agreement with billionaire hebephile Jeffrey Epstein, which had been approved by Acosta a decade earlier while he was serving as US Attorney for Southern District of Florida, became a focus of Congressional concern and led to calls for an independent investigation and for Acosta's resignation from the Trump Administration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Acosta
Undated: President Donald J. Trump nominated Alexander Acosta to be the 27th United States Secretary of Labor. He was sworn in on April 28, 2017.
Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Following law school, he worked as a law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then worked at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis and went on to teach at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Secretary Acosta has served in three presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions. In 2002, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, where he participated in or authored more than 125 opinions. In 2003, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 2005 to 2009 he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Secretary Acosta has twice been named one of the nation’s 50 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business magazine. He was also named to the list of 100 most influential individuals in business ethics in 2008. In 2013, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with the Chairman’s Higher Education Award in recognition of his “outstanding achievements, leadership and determination throughout a lifetime of caring and giving back to the community.”
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/osec
-- 2017 --
April 28: Secretary Acosta is the son of Cuban refugees, a native of Miami, and first-generation college graduate. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
Most recently, Secretary Acosta served as the dean of the FIU College of Law.
Secretary Acosta and his wife enjoy spending time together as a family, raising their two daughters.
https://fedsoc.org/contributors/r-alexander-acosta
-- 2018 --
November 28: Jeffrey Epstein had a little black book filled with the names and personal phone numbers of some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people, from Bill Clinton and Donald Trump to actors, actresses, scientists and business tycoons.
A money manager for the super-rich, Epstein had two private jets, the largest single residence in Manhattan, an island in the Caribbean, a ranch in New Mexico and a waterfront estate in Florida.
But Epstein also had an obsession.
For years, Epstein lured an endless stream of teenage girls to his Palm Beach mansion, offering to pay them for massages. Instead, police say, for years he coerced middle and high school girls into engaging in sex acts with him and others.
As evidence emerged that there were victims and witnesses outside of Palm Beach, the FBI began an investigation in 2006 into whether Epstein and others employed by him were involved in underage sex trafficking.
But in 2007, despite substantial evidence that corroborated the girls’ stories of abuse by Epstein, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, signed off on a secret deal for the multimillionaire, one that ensured he would never spend a day in prison.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221897990.html
November 28: Epstein had no shortage of powerful friends, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Alan Dershowitz — all of whom, at various points, frequented planes and properties that Epstein allegedly used for sexually abusing girls, sometimes with other men.
Generally speaking, American prosecutors do not take corporate securities fraud more seriously than serial child molestation and sex trafficking. But whatever the motivation behind Acosta’s decision, his acceptance of Epstein’s plea agreement surely disqualifies him from leading a federal agency responsible for combating sex trafficking.
[Epstein's punishment was apparently just a] 13-month sentence, to be served in a private wing of a county jail – except for the six days a week when the suspect works. On those days, he will be allowed to commute to his private office, and “work” for 12 hours.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/epstein-plea-acosta-miami-herald-investigation-sex-crimes-trump-clinton.html
November 30: Lawmakers call for investigation of Labor Secretary Acosta after scathing report
A Democratic group of lawmakers is calling for a Justice Department investigation into Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta after a scathing report revealed decade-old allegations that he granted an alleged serial pedophile the “deal of a lifetime’’ while serving as a U.S. attorney in South Florida.
The still-growing group, led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., called on Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate Acosta's role in a plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein, a multimillionaire financier. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, but a Miami Herald investigation this week said the allegations against him were originally much broader, accusing him of coercing dozens of underage girls into sex acts.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/30/lawmakers-labor-secretary-alexander-acosta-should-investigated/2156355002/
December 3: President Trump won’t be testifying, though lawyers in the case tried to depose him. President Bill Clinton won’t be there either, though he, like Trump, was an occasional guest of the man at the center of the trial, billionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
Don’t expect to find Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta in the courtroom in West Palm Beach, Fla., though his decision not to prosecute Epstein was a milestone in the twisting path toward the courtroom showdown that is finally supposed to begin Tuesday after nearly nine years of byzantine bickering.
Even Epstein himself, the prime figure in the legal battle, isn’t expected to show up; he’ll deliver his version of this epic by affidavit. Though the trial mainly will feature battalions of lawyers fighting over the actions of another set of lawyers, the case could offer a window into a sordid saga of sexual exploitation that includes many big names in American politics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/palm-beach-trial-could-reveal-details-of-billionaires-alleged-abuse-of-teen-girls/2018/12/03/f42e0c4e-f4d0-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.defe0f502e58
December 4: Lawmakers call for investigation into Labor Secretary Acosta for sex offender plea deal
The lawmakers, which include 10 representatives from Florida, are asking the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General to investigate the "circumstances" surrounding the nonprosecution agreement Acosta entered into with Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy Florida investor who was convicted on two counts of prostitution in 2007.
December 11: Trump’s labor secretary once helped a sex offender stay out of prison. The Senate wants answers.
Accused of molesting girls, the wealthy and well-connected Jeffrey Epstein got the “deal of a lifetime” from Alexander Acosta. Senators from both parties want to know why.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/11/18134325/jeffrey-epstein-miami-herald-alex-acosta-trump
November 30: Lawmakers call for investigation of Labor Secretary Acosta after scathing report
A Democratic group of lawmakers is calling for a Justice Department investigation into Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta after a scathing report revealed decade-old allegations that he granted an alleged serial pedophile the “deal of a lifetime’’ while serving as a U.S. attorney in South Florida.
The still-growing group, led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., called on Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate Acosta's role in a plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein, a multimillionaire financier. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, but a Miami Herald investigation this week said the allegations against him were originally much broader, accusing him of coercing dozens of underage girls into sex acts.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/30/lawmakers-labor-secretary-alexander-acosta-should-investigated/2156355002/
-- 2019 --
February 22: Federal prosecutors broke law in Jeffrey Epstein case, judge rules
Federal prosecutors, under former Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, broke the law when they concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by wealthy New York hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
While the decision marks a victory for crime victims, the federal judge, Kenneth A. Marra, stopped short of overturning Epstein’s plea deal, or issuing an order resolving the case. He instead gave federal prosecutors 15 days to confer with Epstein’s victims and their attorneys to come up with a settlement. The victims did not seek money or damages as part of the suit.
It’s not clear whether the victims, now in their late 20s and early 30s, can, as part of the settlement, demand that the government prosecute Epstein. But others are calling on the Justice Department to take a new look at the case in the wake of the judge’s ruling.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article226577419.html
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