The Investigation
In November 2018, the Miami Herald published a landmark investigative series titled “Perversion of Justice”, reported by veteran investigative journalist Julie K. Brown. The series ran across multiple installments and included dozens of interviews with women who said they had been sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein as teenagers. The reporting was built on years of document review, including court records, police files, and the non-prosecution agreement—many of which the Herald had fought to unseal as part of the investigation itself.
Key Findings
The series documented several findings that became central to the renewed federal case against Epstein. It showed in detail how Epstein’s 2007–2008 NPA had been negotiated in secret, that victims had been deliberately kept in the dark in violation of federal law, and that the sweeping immunity granted to co-conspirators was far broader than had been publicly understood. The reporting also identified by name—with their consent—dozens of victims who described the long-term psychological harm caused by both the abuse and the perceived injustice of the 2008 resolution.
Public and Legal Impact
The Herald series produced immediate political consequences. It forced Alexander Acosta to defend his handling of the NPA at a press conference in July 2019, just days after Epstein’s arrest. Acosta’s explanation—that Epstein had connections to intelligence and the matter was above his pay grade—raised more questions than it answered and dramatically accelerated his resignation. The reporting was credited with directly prompting the FBI and the Southern District of New York to reopen and intensify their investigations of Epstein. It is widely acknowledged as the single most important piece of journalism in exposing what had previously been a relatively obscure legal controversy.
Awards and Recognition
Julie K. Brown and the Miami Herald received numerous awards for the series, including recognition from the George Polk Awards and the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. Brown published a book expanding on the investigation—Perversion of Justice (2021)—which became a bestseller and was adapted as a documentary.
Significance for Press Freedom
The Herald’s investigation also required prolonged legal battles to unseal court records. The newspaper’s persistent litigation to open sealed records set precedents about public access to court documents in high-profile criminal matters and empowered other media organizations to pursue similar efforts. The unsealing of the Giuffre v. Maxwell files in 2024 was in part an outgrowth of the journalistic and legal groundwork laid by the Herald years earlier.