Alexander Acosta

Early Career

Alexander Acosta was born in 1969 in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for Samuel Alito on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He held senior positions at the Department of Justice before being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida by President George W. Bush in 2005.

Role in the 2008 Non-Prosecution Agreement

As U.S. Attorney for the SDFL, Acosta oversaw the federal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein — originally arising from the Palm Beach Police Department’s 2005 investigation. FBI agents had built an extensive case pointing to federal sex trafficking charges.

Rather than pursuing the full indictment the evidence supported, Acosta’s office negotiated a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with Epstein’s defense team. Under the NPA, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges and served 13 months in Palm Beach county jail — with a work-release program allowing him to leave 12 hours per day, six days a week.

The NPA was extraordinary in that:

• It granted Epstein immunity from all federal sex crime charges
• It extended immunity to unnamed co-conspirators (including, potentially, Ghislaine Maxwell)
• It was deliberately concealed from victims — a violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act confirmed by a federal court in 2019

Acosta later stated he had been told Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and was instructed to “leave it alone.” This claim has never been independently verified or officially confirmed.

Secretary of Labor

In 2017, President Trump nominated Acosta as U.S. Secretary of Labor. Despite controversy over the NPA during his confirmation, he was confirmed by the Senate.

Resignation

Following the Miami Herald’s November 2018 “Perversion of Justice” series by Julie K. Brown — and especially after Epstein’s July 2019 federal arrest — Acosta faced intense public and Congressional pressure. He resigned as Labor Secretary on July 12, 2019. At a press conference before his resignation, he defended the NPA as the best outcome achievable at the time given the evidence and legal landscape.

A subsequent DOJ Inspector General investigation into the handling of the Epstein NPA was announced but its findings have not been published as of 2026.