Emails reveal Epstein's bid for clemency from former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

In late 2010, Jeffrey Epstein had finished serving a 13-month sentence and one year of house arrest in connection with sexually abusing a minor at his mansion in Palm Beach. As part of a sweetheart deal his lawyers negotiated with federal prosecutors in South Florida, Epstein was able to walk free despite the fact that he was accused of raping and molested nearly three dozen girls.

Now Epstein wanted to fully clear his name.

New records released by the Department of Justice show the deceased financier’s full court press to win clemency from outgoing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

The records show that Epstein sought a direct conversation with Crist in the final months of Crist’s time as governor in 2010.

Crist, who had been elected as a Republican, had opted not to run for re-election as governor and lost his bid for a Senate seat to Republican Marco Rubio after Crist ran as an independent.

E-mails show that Epstein was expecting a call from Crist in early December and tried to enlist the help of then-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, when the call from Crist never came.

While Epstein would later imply in an undated conversation that he and Crist had spoken, Crist said no such conversation ever happened.

“I had no involvement with the man,” the former governor said.

Crist, who is now exploring a run for mayor in St. Petersburg, said he didn’t speak with Richardson, either, despite e-mails suggesting that Richardson had reached out to him on Epstein’s behalf.

Crist said he was only aware of Epstein’s efforts to win clemency from reading stories in the newspaper.

Epstein first tried to enlist the help of his attorneys in his bid for clemency, but that quickly fell flat.

His attorney Lilly Ann Sanchez, emailed him in mid-November 2010 that their office had “extended conversations with the governor’s office.” Sanchez, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, said in the e-mail that the chances of clemency from Crist were “slim to none.”

Epstein then turned to Richardson for help.

In a late November e-mail thread titled “Governor Richardson,” Epstein and someone whose name and e-mail addresses are redacted, appear to discuss travel plans for Richardson to join Epstein for lunch at Epstein’s Little St. James private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The unnamed associate adds, “He has spoken to Governor Krist/Crist but doesn’t have an answer yet.”

On Dec. 3, 2010, Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff sent the financier a message saying that he was scheduled to receive a call from Crist that day.

But one week later, an e-mail between Groff and Epstein suggested that the financier had yet to hear directly from Crist.

Richardson, a former diplomat, was deployed to North Korea later that month amid tensions between the Obama administration and the Asian nation.

But when he returned to the U.S., he checked in on the status of Epstein’s attempted negotiation.

When Richardson returned on December 22, his deputy chief of staff, Janis Hartley, immediately emailed Groff asking about the status of the Epstein conversation with Crist.

“The Governor just returned from North Korea and is wondering if anything happened with Governor Crist,” Janis Hartley, Richardson’s deputy chief of staff, wrote to Groff in a Dec. 22 e-mail.

A day later, Hartley again messaged Groff, saying Richardson planned to talk to Crist on Dec. 27.

Crist said no such conversation occurred.

Richardson died in 2023.

The records showing Epstein’s bid for clemency were released by the Justice Department in response to the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in November. The most recent batch of files, which the department said would total 3 million pages, were released on Friday, Jan. 30, one month after the deadline the new law set for all of the files to be released.

An undated transcript included in the most recent batch of files appears to include a conversation between Epstein and Nobel laureate and Columbia University professor Richard Axel, who was known to have a relationship with Epstein, in which Epstein implied that he and Crist had spoken.

The conversation, between Epstein and someone named Richard, largely focused on biology, Axel’s expertise, but Epstein also mentioned his bid for clemency.

Epstein expressed doubts that Crist would grant it, recounting that the Florida governor told him the issue was politically sensitive.

“He said it’s just so hot,” Epstein said.

Axel didn’t respond to a request for comment and to confirm that he is the Richard referenced in the conversation.

In the same transcript, Epstein referenced communications between Crist and former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer.

Epstein, who was known to exaggerate and even lie to impress people, alleged that Krischer told Crist that “Epstein’s behavior was inappropriate but not criminal.”

According to Epstein’s recollection of their conversation, Crist was shocked at what the prosecutor said. He said to Epstein, “No one is going to believe that you haven’t gotten to this guy.”

Epstein’s assistant Groff had earlier provided Krischer’s phone number to Richardson’s deputy chief of staff for Richardson to speak with.

It isn’t clear if they ever spoke.

Krischer did not respond to emails requesting a comment.

Epstein’s lenient plea deal with federal prosecutors was the subject of the Miami Herald’s 2018 ‘Perversion of Justice’ series. Following the Herald’s reporting, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York brought new sex charges against Epstein in July 2019. He died in federal custody one month later, in what has been ruled a suicide.