Barry Krischer and the Epstein Case
Barry Krischer served as the elected State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida from 1993 to 2008. His office’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, which began in 2005, became one of the defining controversies of his career and a central element in understanding how Epstein avoided serious punishment for years.
The Original Investigation
Palm Beach Police Department Detective Joseph Recarey led the investigation that began after the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported that their daughter had been paid to perform sexual acts at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Over the course of 2005 and 2006, Recarey documented abuse involving more than a dozen underage girls.
PBPD Chief Michael Reiter was so frustrated with Krischer’s office’s reluctance to aggressively prosecute that he took the extraordinary step of personally writing to the FBI and to the U.S. Attorney’s office to request a federal investigationin essence going around his own county’s state attorney.
The Controversial Decision
Krischer’s office filed a single charge of solicitation of prostitution against Epsteina misdemeanorrather than the multiple felony counts that the police investigation supported. Critics, including crime victims’ advocates and legal scholars, argued this amounted to a profound miscarriage of justice that treated Epstein’s victims as prostitutes rather than as the minors they were.
Krischer himself faced accusations that his proximity to Palm Beach’s wealthy social world had influenced the decision. He denied any improper influence.
Legacy and Congressional Scrutiny
Years later, during Congressional hearings prompted by Julie Brown’s Miami Herald reporting, Krischer’s handling of the original case was revisited. His decisions helped set the stage for the controversial federal non-prosecution agreement negotiated by U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta in 2008.