Julie K. Brown

Career Background

Julie K. Brown is an investigative journalist who has spent the majority of her career at the Miami Herald, where she has reported on public corruption, trafficking, and criminal justice stories throughout Florida and nationally.

The Perversion of Justice Investigation

Beginning in approximately 2017, Brown began investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s case — spurred by what she saw as an extraordinary miscarriage of justice in how the 2008 federal NPA had been handled and how it had been concealed from the public.

Over more than a year, Brown:

• Tracked down and interviewed more than 80 survivors of Epstein’s abuse
• Obtained court records, police reports, and the text of the NPA itself
• Interviewed law enforcement investigators who had worked the original Palm Beach case
• Documented the work-release program that allowed Epstein to effectively serve his jail sentence outside the facility

The resulting series, “Perversion of Justice,” was published in three parts beginning November 28, 2018. It was the first time a major American media outlet had told the full story of Epstein’s crimes and the government failure that had allowed him to escape serious consequences.

Impact

The impact of the series was immediate and sweeping:

• Renewed public awareness and Congressional attention to the case
• Calls for a DOJ Inspector General review of the NPA
• Sustained political pressure on Alexander Acosta, who resigned as Labor Secretary in July 2019
• Attention by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, who filed charges against Epstein in July 2019
• Accolades including the George Polk Award, Goldsmith Prize, and other major journalism honors

Brown published a book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story, in 2021 — a comprehensive account of both her investigation and the broader case.

Significance

Brown’s work is one of the clearest examples in contemporary American journalism of investigative reporting that directly changed legal and political outcomes. Without the Herald series, Epstein may never have been re-arrested; Acosta would likely have remained in government; and the global public reckoning with Epstein’s network might never have occurred.