DOJ to Probe Labor Secretary’s Role in Sex Abuse Plea Deal (2)

The Justice Department is launching an investigation into a decade-old plea deal in which critics say Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta as a federal prosecutor allowed hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, who was facing sex abuse and trafficking allegations, to avoid harsh punishment.

The DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility “has now opened an investigation into allegations that department attorneys may have committed professional misconduct in the manner in which the Epstein criminal matter was resolved,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said in a Feb. 6 letter to Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).

Boyd was responding to Sasse and other lawmakers’ calls to ...