State Attorney for Palm Beach County who was responsible for the state-level prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. Despite Palm Beach PD presenting evidence of sexual abuse of dozens of minors, Krischer's office presented a single felony solicitation count to the grand jury on July 19, 2006. Initially pursued pretrial diversion on a misdemeanor, which prompted the FBI referral and federal investigation. Dershowitz provided Krischer's office with material attacking victim credibility. After the NPA was signed, Krischer wrote to Villafana: 'Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing.'
Key Findings
EFTA00011475, EFTA00013359 (Jul 19, 2006): Despite police evidence of dozens of victims, Krischer's office presented only a single count of felony solicitation of prostitution to the Palm Beach County grand jury. PBPD Chief Reiter and lead Detective Recarey were 'dissatisfied' with the outcome
EFTA00009229: Acosta testified that Krischer was pursuing 'pre-trial diversion, which is code for no jail time' - this was the trigger for federal intervention. The USAO stepped in because Krischer 'was actually going to do pretrial diversion with Epstein on a misdemeanor charge' (EFTA00206173)
EFTA00007157: Dershowitz provided Krischer's office with package attacking victim credibility, including MySpace profiles of underage victims. The State Attorney's office 'implied that their credibility was an issue when it decided not to charge Epstein directly' (EFTA00013769)
EFTA00010507, EFTA00027666 (Sep 21, 2007): After NPA was signed, Krischer wrote to Villafana: 'Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing. After this is resolved I would love to buy you a cup at Starbucks and have a conversation'
EFTA00214643 (Jul 24, 2006): Palm Beach Police Chief Reiter took the extraordinary step of hand-delivering letters to victims' parents because he did not believe 'justice has been sufficiently served by the indictment that has been issued' - a direct rebuke of Krischer's office
EFTA00193199 (Jun 13, 2008): Krischer left a 'strange voice mail' to a federal prosecutor claiming the plea deal was '60 days.' Karen Atkinson (USAFLS) reported this to Villafana, who responded: 'Someone really needs to talk to Barry.' The federal team said 'that is not the deal and the defense knows the deal as does his ASA.' Acosta was on the read receipt list for this email chain.
OPR Report: AUSA Lourie's email stated the state attorney "intentionally torpedoed it in the grand jury so it was brought to us." Krischer told Villafaña he wasn't communicating with her because "the defense blocked the channels." Discussed a possible 90-day deal with Jeffrey Epstein's local counsel while the DAG review was ongoing.