Why the Epstein files haven't resulted in more charges

Only Jefferey Epstein and his longtime confidant and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell have ever been prosecuted in the U.S. in connection with the sexual abuse of underage girls. However, the recent release of millions of documents related to the Epstein files has raised questions about why no one else has been charged.

Some legal observers say any allegations of criminality in these documents, including allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of individuals other than Epstein, aren't necessarily enough to spark a prosecution or prove a crime occurred.

"The issue is that the Epstein files, they're hearsay. They're not admissible in court," Neama Rahmani, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, told CBC News in a phone interview.

Rahmani says that unless prosecutors have access to witnesses willing to testify against someone else, there's no case.

"Cases aren't built on documents," he said. "They're based on witness testimony."

According to the rules of evidence, a witness declaration or affidavit is not considered admissible in court, Rahmani said, and that includes the affidavits in the Epstein files.

A sworn statement by itself is not enough for a criminal prosecution, Rahmani said, unless that accuser is willing to testify.

On the social media platform Bluesky, Democratic Congressman James McGovern cited a document that includes "sworn testimony, under penalty of perjury" from someone who said she witnessed Epstein and Trump, before he was president, sexually abuse underage girls.

The individual, who uses the pseudonym "Tiffany Doe" in the files, also said in the document that she and someone referred to as "the Plaintiff" were threatened with death by Epstein and Trump if they exposed the abuse.

"This isn't some anonymous tip," McGovern said in his Bluesky post.

But Rahmani says that in that particular case, prosecutors would want to have the actual alleged victims. The Confrontation Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives any accused criminal defendant the right to cross examine their accuser, he said.

"It's possible to move forward with a prosecution, but in that case, without the [alleged] victims themselves corroborating the testimony, that's going to be a very, very difficult case to prove."

Epstein served jail time in Florida in 2008 and 2009 after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He died by suicide in a New York Jail in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell of sex trafficking for her role in recruiting some of his underage victims. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.