The "original sin" in the probe of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was the way that the federal prosecutor at the time, Alex Acosta, first handled the case in 2006, FBI Director Kash Patel said during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Axios reported.
Patel told the committee that "the original case involved a very limited search warrant, or set of search warrants, and didn't take as much investigatory material it should have seized," emphasizing that if he were the FBI director then, "it wouldn't have happened."
In 2008, as a federal prosecutor, Acosta oversaw a highly controversial non-prosecution agreement by which Epstein was eventually sentenced to serve 18 months in a Florida state prison, according to Axios.
Patel pointed out that "Acosta allowed Epstein to enter, in 2008, a plea and non-prosecution agreement, which then the courts issued mandates and protective orders, legally prohibiting anyone from ever seeing that material ever again without the permission of the court."
Acosta, who later served as President Donald Trump's labor secretary during his first term before resigning in 2019 amid scrutiny over his handling of the case, is due to appear before a House panel on Friday.
This became known last month when House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., announced that Acosta would appear voluntarily for a transcribed interview on that date.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.