Epstein Survivors Amend Their Lawsuit Filed Against The U.S. Government (Part 4)

D, the FBI negligent investigates Epstein in 2006 and misleads victims about the investigation.

The FBI did not open a case until July 24th, 2006.

The file number assigned was 31E-MM-108062-1A98.

The date received indicates various.

When the FBI opens its case, it failed to interview or contact all the victims, even though the FBI had their names and telephone numbers.

The victim's names and contact information was included in the important messages turned over by the Palm Beach Police Department.

FBI protocol required agents to speak to each victim.

As explained in greater detail below, the FBI manual explains that the primary step in any sex trafficking case is to secure a signed statement from the victim showing the interstate transportation for prostitution or any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal office.

After the primary step, the FBI manual instructs agents to secure all possible evidence to corroborate statements of the victim by interviewing that individual's relatives and associates and other persons in a position to give pertinent information, and secure all possible documentary evidence to corroborate the statement of the victim.

When securing that evidence in a child sex trafficking case, the manual also instructs agents about the essential facts to obtain.

Specifically, it's essential for agents to obtain names with aliases, descriptions, brief personal histories, reputation, marital status, and identification records of subject and victims.

It's also essential to obtain previous acquaintances and attendant relations between subject and the victim.

The FBI violated those policies.

For instance, despite cell phone numbers listed on the seized important messages, the FBI declined to contact most of the victims.

And when they did speak to the victims, the FBI was negligent in its investigation.

For instance, as Marcy Hamilton, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in crimes against children explained, federal authorities were uninformed about how to deal with the victims of sex crimes.

They clearly had no awareness about sex trafficking, how it starts, and how it flourishes.

Epstein was not engaging in individual sex abuse.

He was creating an entire system.

The FBI agents tailored their questions so narrowly that it seemed as if they didn't wanna know how deep the crimes were and who was involved.

Moreover, several victims explained that when they were questioned by the FBI, they said that they said, "Look, I almost felt like I had done something wrong." And they were very scared.

The FBI was making them feel like they perhaps had broken the law.

And at the time that this case happened, there was still a law on the books in Florida that child prostitution was illegal, not on the part of the pimps, but the girls that were involved and the boys.

What they were doing was illegal.

So part of the thing that the prosecutors used to excuse the fact that they weren't going after the case was that they would tell the girls, "Look, you understand what you did was illegal." And in a way, they sabotaged their own case because they made the victims feel like they could get in trouble.