‘Grateful For His Support’: Dem Congresswoman Courted Epstein To Attend Fundraiser, Emails Show
Jake Smith on June 22, 2023
Democratic Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett asked for now-deceased sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein to attend a fundraising event for her campaign, according to court documents released last week.
Emails from new court documents show that Plaskett asked to have Epstein attend a fundraising event in 2018, while an associate of Epstein’s asked the sex offender to donate to Plaskett, according to emails unsealed last week and reported on by The Washington Free Beacon. The emails were released as part of a lawsuit against JPMorgan – where Epstein was a client– by the Virgin Islands, which alleges that the bank failed to report Epstein’s suspicious activity.
During an interview with The Virgin Islands Consortium last month, Plaskett called Epstein “a reprehensible person” and said she was “truly disgusted by his actions.”
“I regret accepting that campaign contribution, but at the time I was unaware that my campaign had received it,” she insisted.
However, an email unearthed in court filings show that Plaskett instructed Epstein associate Lesley Groff to invite Epstein to her 2018 fundraising event.
“If you’d share this invitation with Jeffrey I’d be much appreciative. I would be grateful for his support and the support of those he may direct to assist me,” Plaskett wrote to Groff.
Epstein responded and told Groff to “get max [amount]” for Plaskett.
Another email shows that Cecile de Jongh, the former Virgin Island’s First Lady and ex-employee of Epstein, asked the pedophile financier to contribute to Plaskett’s 2014 campaign.
“Your help is needed. We are trying to get Stacey Plaskett elected to Congress,” reads de Jongh’s email to Epstein. “We would have a friend in Stacey.”
During a deposition last month, Plaskett said she had met with Epstein multiple times, several years after Epstein was publicly convicted of child sex crimes. She also said she met with Epstein at his home in New York City.
Del. Plaskett did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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