A lawsuit brought by six Jeffrey Epstein victims against Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice and without costs against Plaskett, according to a notice filed on the docket Thursday in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The dismissal ends nearly two years of litigation that initially included the Virgin Islands government, past governors and other territory officials that the plaintiffs alleged supported and benefitted from Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.
The Source sought comment from Plaskett and her attorney, Eric R. Breslin of Duane Morris LLP, and Jordan K. Merson, the attorney for the plaintiffs, but had not received a response as of Thursday afternoon.
The complaint alleged negligence and violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPA, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
Plaskett was the sole remaining defendant in the suit — first filed in November 2023 by Jane Does 1-5, amended that December to add a sixth plaintiff, and amended again last May — after Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed the charges against the rest in March. He said in that ruling that the congresswoman was the only defendant the complaint alleged ever traveled to New York or actively solicited funds from Epstein in that city and that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over the other six officials named in the lawsuit.
Because it is voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, the complaint may not be resurrected against Plaskett. However, the plaintiffs previously indicated that they plan to appeal Subramanian’s order dismissing the charges against the other defendants who include former governors John de Jongh Jr. and Kenneth Mapp, former senators Celestino White and Carlton Dowe, former Attorney General Vincent Frazer, and former first lady Cecile de Jongh, who was Epstein’s longtime office manager.
In April the plaintiffs filed a motion for a partial judgment as to the dismissed parties so they could appeal the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, rather than wait for the case against Plaskett to conclude, but last month Subramanian denied that request.
Among the reasons the Jane Does cited in their motion for a partial judgment was that Plaskett was now the lone defendant in a case against six plaintiffs “and a potential class,” meaning more victims could join the suit.
“The likelihood this case will be able to resolve by settlement prior to trial is highly unlikely as she is unlikely to be able to cover near to what the case is worth. However, if the dismissed Defendants in this matter, were [to] reappear in this matter, the likelihood of settlement would increase significantly, presenting an opportunity to expedite resolution of this matter on all claims,” the plaintiffs stated.
Late last week, Plaskett’s attorney Breslin stated in a letter to the judge that both sides had met and conferred, as ordered by the court on July 30, “and the parties believe that this case may be resolved shortly.”
On Thursday, Breslin filed the notice of voluntary dismissal.
Plaskett had strenuously denied the allegations in the suit and last July filed notice with the court that she would seek sanctions against attorney Merson, saying the claims against her amounted to “outright untruth, fiction, and misrepresentation.”
A registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008, Epstein died by apparent suicide in August 2019 at age 66 while in detention in New York on federal trafficking charges. His primary residence was Little St. James, his private island off St. Thomas, where for years he ran a complex web of shell companies registered in the USVI — and was afforded some $300 million in tax breaks through the territory’s Economic Development Commission — that enabled his crimes.
St. Croix Source
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