The police finally have an ironclad case. Dozens of victims, flight logs, and hard evidence point to a sprawling sex trafficking operation. The FBI prepares a 53-page indictment, and it seems justice is inevitable. Then, the system intervenes.

This episode follows the secret, closed-door negotiations that produced one of the most corrupt plea deals in American history. A deal that shut down the federal investigation, granted blanket immunity to every single one of Epstein's co-conspirators without naming them, and re-framed the trafficking of children as simple prostitution.

Why would prosecutors agree to such an unprecedented terms? The answer may lie in a single, explosive claim made years later: that the prosecutor was told Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to back off. This is the story of how the machine, once exposed, activated its ultimate defense mechanism to protect the powerful at the expense of the victims.

Find the full written report, with all source documents and footnotes, at kaitjustice.com.