Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett and six Jeffrey Epstein victims who are suing her in Manhattan federal court have until Aug. 28 to submit three proposed weeks for trial this year — unless they resolve the civil complaint before that deadline, the presiding judge ordered Friday.
Plaskett is the sole remaining defendant in the class action suit that was first filed in November 2023 by Jane Does 1-5, amended that December to add a sixth plaintiff, and amended again last May.
The complaint alleged negligence and violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPA, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, claiming territory officials actively conspired with Epstein to perpetuate his sex-trafficking scheme for their own gain.
It named the V.I. government, former governors John de Jongh 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.
However, Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed the charges against all but Plaskett in March, noting she “is the only defendant that the [second amended complaint] alleges ever traveled to New York and the only defendant alleged to have actively solicited funds from Epstein in New York.”
While he dismissed the RICO claims against Plaskett in her official capacity as “an alleged USVI employee,” he denied her motion to dismiss the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and negligence charges.
The plaintiffs subsequently 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 Subramanian denied that request last month.
Among the reasons the Jane Does cited in their motion for a partial judgment was that Plaskett is 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.
However, on Thursday Plaskett’s attorney, Eric R. Breslin of Duane Morris LLP, stated in a letter to the judge that both sides have met and conferred, as ordered by the court on July 30, “and the parties believe that this case may be resolved shortly.”
Should a resolution be out of reach, he said the parties would submit dates for trial by Aug. 28.
Plaskett has strenuously denied the allegations in the suit and last July filed notice with the court that she would seek sanctions against Jordan K. Merson, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, saying the claims against her amount 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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