In Conversation: On Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story

Julie K. Brown is an investigative reporter with the Miami Herald. During her 30-year career she has worked for a number of newspapers, focusing on crime, justice, and human rights. Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story (Dey Street Books) shines a spotlight on Epstein’s crimes and longtime avoidance of any real consequences – legal, financial, and personal – and is an in-depth look at a gross miscarriage of justice. Epstein’s penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in high society circles for years, and when he was finally charged with soliciting prostitution from minors in 2008 he benefited from unheard of leniency, dictating the terms of his non-prosecution. The media virtually ignored the matter; Epstein’s friends and business partners brushed the allegations aside. But when U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who approved Epstein’s plea deal, was chosen by Donald Trump to serve as Secretary of Labor, Brown was compelled to ask questions. After tracking down dozens of Epstein’s victims, poring over thousands of redacted court documents, and chasing down information in difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances, Brown’s resulting three-part series in the Herald led to Epstein’s final arrest; the arrest of his closest accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell; and Acosta’s resignation. Slate observed that “class, as much as the dismal state of journalism, is the great undercurrent in Perversion of Justice, and gives this scrappy book its heart.”

Karen Burkett Rundlet is a director of journalism at Knight Foundation, where she manages a portfolio of investments that support the future of journalism, including grants to Report for America, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Howard University, and NewsMatch. Before entering the field of philanthropy, Burkett Rundlet worked as a journalist at the Miami Herald.