--- alias: - Barry E. Krischer - State Attorney Barry Krischer category: Law Enforcement & Legal created: 2026-09-25 location: Palm Beach County, Florida relations: - end: 2009 fn: 1 role: State Attorney, 15th Judicial Circuit start: 1993 type: head_of with: '[[Palm Beach County State Attorney''s Office]]' - end: 1983 fn: 1 role: assistant state attorney start: 1973 type: employed_by with: '[[Palm Beach County State Attorney''s Office]]' - end: 2008-06-30 fn: 2 start: 2006-07-19 type: prosecuted with: '[[Jeffrey Epstein]]' - end: 2021-05 fn: 14 reverse: true start: 2019-08 type: investigated with: '[[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]]' summary: Barry Krischer was the Palm Beach County State Attorney from 1993 to 2009 whose office took the 2006 Epstein case to a grand jury that returned a single solicitation count. tags: - Person - BarryKrischer - JeffreyEpstein - PalmBeach - StateAttorney - GrandJury - NonProsecutionAgreement updated: 2026-09-25 --- Barry Krischer is an American lawyer who served as State Attorney for [Florida](/places/florida/)'s 15th Judicial Circuit, covering Palm Beach County, from 1993 to 2009. His office received the [Palm Beach Police Department](/organizations/palm-beach-police-department/) investigation of [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) in 2006 and presented it to a grand jury, which returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution against a police recommendation of five second-degree felony counts. In September 2007 he congratulated a federal prosecutor on the [Epstein non-prosecution agreement](/events/epstein-non-prosecution-agreement/) "for reasons I won't put in writing." A [Florida Department of Law Enforcement](/organizations/florida-department-of-law-enforcement/) review ordered in 2019 found no evidence that he committed any crime.[^1][^2][^3] ### Career Krischer was a prosecutor in Kings County, New York, from 1970 to 1973. He moved to Palm Beach County and joined the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, where he served for ten years as an assistant state attorney under State Attorney David Bludworth. He then entered private defense practice as a partner of the defense attorney Michael Salnick.[^1] As a defense lawyer Krischer represented William Morser, the driver in a fatal hit-and-run that killed Mark Baltes, a 28-year-old Lake Worth electrician. A judge ruled that Krischer could withhold his client's name under attorney-client privilege, and the driver's identity did not become public for two and a half years; investigators eventually identified him through what Krischer called "dumb luck."[^1] Krischer was elected State Attorney in 1992 and held the office for sixteen years. In one case during his tenure his office charged Anthony Laster, a 15-year-old eighth-grader with an IQ of 58, with armed robbery for taking two dollars in lunch money from a classmate; Laster spent seven weeks in jail, including Christmas, before Krischer dropped the charges after public criticism. Krischer had defended the charge: "The kids going to school need to know they're going to be safe." He left office in 2009, while Epstein was serving his sentence.[^1] ### The Epstein Grand Jury The Palm Beach Police Department began investigating Epstein in March 2005. Detective [Joseph Recarey](/people/joseph-recarey/)'s probable cause affidavit of May 1, 2006 recommended charging Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor under Florida Statute 794.05(1) and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation under 800.04(5), all second-degree felonies. Krischer's office did not file those charges by information and instead presented the case to a county grand jury.[^3][^4] In 2006 Police Chief [Michael Reiter](/people/michael-reiter/) wrote to Krischer that his office's treatment of the cases was "highly unusual" and asked him to consider whether "good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from prosecution of these cases."[^1] The grand jury sat on July 19, 2006. Assistant State Attorney [Lanna Belohlavek](/people/lanna-belohlavek/) presented the case and called two of the girls, out of roughly two dozen interviewed by police and questioned them about their own conduct in terms that cast doubt on their credibility. The grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution under Florida Statute 796.07. Reiter and Recarey then took the case to the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/).[^1][^2][^5] The transcript remained sealed until a 2024 statute signed by Governor Ron DeSantis created an exception for the Epstein proceeding. Circuit Judge Luis Delgado released it on July 1, 2024, writing that "[t]he details in the record will be outrageous to decent people."[^5] ### The Defense Lawyers and the Grand Jury Decision Krischer later told the Justice Department's [Office of Professional Responsibility](/organizations/office-of-professional-responsibility/) that Epstein's local counsel brought [Alan Dershowitz](/people/alan-dershowitz/) to see him and the assistant state attorney on the case, and that Dershowitz was "overly aggressive" and threatened, "We're going to destroy your witnesses; don't go to court because we're going to destroy those girls." According to Krischer, Dershowitz so "tainted the waters" that Epstein also hired the local attorney [Jack Goldberger](/people/jack-goldberger/), with whom Krischer had "a working relationship"; because the husband of the assistant state attorney was Goldberger's law partner, Belohlavek recused that prosecutor and took over the case herself. Krischer told OPR that under state law as it then stood his office prosecuted minors as young as 14 for prostitution, that the possibility that Epstein's victims could themselves be prosecuted caused "great consternation within the office," and that "There were so many issues involving the victim-witnesses that to my mind, in consultation with my [prosecutors], the only way to achieve, to my mind, real justice was to present the case to the grand jury and not to direct-file." Police Chief Michael Reiter testified in a 2009 civil deposition that Krischer had first told him "Let's go for it," and that "it was pretty clear to me that Mr. Krischer did not want to prosecute this case."[^6] The federal prosecutors' chronology records Reiter's letter of May 2006 urging Krischer to proceed on the probable cause affidavits or to recuse himself, and Reiter's letter of August 2, 2006 stating that he was unhappy with the State Attorney's handling of the case and was referring it to the FBI. On August 16, 2006 the Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told viewers that Reiter believed Krischer was "in the tank for Epstein"; a transcript of the segment was kept among Epstein's own papers.[^7][^8] ### The Federal Agreement The federal office under [Alexander Acosta](/people/alexander-acosta/) negotiated its non-prosecution agreement with Epstein's lawyers in September 2007, structured around a plea in Krischer's jurisdiction to the pending state indictment and a new procurement charge. On September 21, 2007, three days before the agreement was signed, Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor [A. Marie Villafaña](/people/ann-marie-villafana/): "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing. After this is resolved I would love to buy you a cup at Starbucks and have a conversation."[^2] On September 27, 2007 Villafaña wrote to Krischer and Belohlavek asking when and before which judge Epstein would plead, adding that "the agents and I would really like to be there, 'incognito.'" On December 19, 2007 Acosta wrote to Epstein's lawyer [Lilly Ann Sanchez](/people/lilly-ann-sanchez/) that his office would "defer to the discretion of the State Attorney" on whether to notify victims of the state proceedings. Epstein pleaded guilty in state court on June 30, 2008, and a copy of the agreement was filed under seal in the state file. On September 17, 2008 Villafaña reminded Krischer by email that the agreement "contain[ed] a confidentiality provision that require[ed] us to inform Mr. Epstein's counsel before making any disclosure."[^2][^3] ### The State Attorney in the Federal Negotiation In mid-September 2007 Krischer and Belohlavek sat in a joint meeting with federal prosecutors [Andrew Lourie](/people/andrew-lourie/), Rolando Garcia and Villafaña and Epstein's lawyers [Jay Lefkowitz](/people/jay-lefkowitz/), [Gerald Lefcourt](/people/gerald-lefcourt/) and Goldberger, and from September 19 to 25 they exchanged emails with the federal office on meeting Epstein's attorneys. On September 21 Villafaña summarized the State Attorney's Office's negotiations with Goldberger, including Goldberger's request that Epstein not have to register as a sex offender. In December 2007 Acosta's office drafted a letter to Krischer about Epstein registering as a sex offender, and Starr and Lefkowitz wrote to Acosta invoking the State Attorney's Office's belief that Epstein should not have to register. In May and June 2008 Sloman relayed information from Krischer, and Villafaña summarized a meeting with him about Epstein's attempt to negotiate a new state plea deal; the office separately discussed a call from Roy Black about allowing Epstein to plead to 60 days' imprisonment. In October 2008 Villafaña, Krischer and Belohlavek corresponded about a Palm Beach Daily News request for a copy of the agreement.[^7][^9] After Epstein was admitted to the sheriff's work-release program, Villafaña wrote to her supervisors on December 3, 2008: "It appears that, since Day 1, Goldberger and Krisher [sic] . . . have been scheming to get Epstein out on work release. For example, the indictment incorrectly charges Epstein for an offense that would have made him ineligible for work release if it had been charged correctly. (Remember that Krisher [sic] also went along with letting us believe that Epstein was pleading to a registrable offense when Epstein's folks and Krisher [sic] believed that . . . the offense was not registrable.) Krisher [sic] and Goldberger also told us that Epstein would be housed at the Palm [Beach County] Jail, not the Stockade, but he would not have been eligible for work release if at the jail. Krischer generally declined in his OPR interview to explain his office's prosecutive decisions; asked about allegations of favoritism to Epstein's defense counsel, he said: "I just don't play that way."[^10][^11] On December 15, 2010, after Krischer had left office, a correspondent writing as "jagesq" told Epstein: "I know krischer spoke to the governor before he left for Korea. did you get any feedback? By the way Krischer was having lunch the other day with an old friend who is a criminal defense lawyer in NY. We may want to think about using him with the registration stuff unless we are too invested with Kirkland. probably help us with Krischer."[^12] ### The 2019 Exchange with Acosta At a July 10, 2019 press conference, Acosta said that the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office "was ready to allow Epstein to walk free with no jail time, nothing." Krischer responded the same day that Acosta's "recollection of the matter is completely wrong," that the 53-page federal indictment had been abandoned after "secret negotiations between Mr. Epstein's lawyers and Mr. Acosta," that his office had no part in the "Non-Prosecution Agreement and the unusual confidentiality agreement that kept everything hidden from the victims," and that "Mr. Acosta should not be allowed to rewrite history." Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor two days later.[^3][^13] ### State and Federal Reviews The [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/)'s Office of Professional Responsibility interviewed the former State Attorney and the former assistant state attorney in charge of the state case during its 2019 to 2020 review, but stated that it "does not have jurisdiction over state officials" and reached no conclusions about their conduct.[^3] In August 2019, after a letter from Palm Beach County Sheriff [Ric Bradshaw](/people/ric-bradshaw/), DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the state's handling of the case. A 24-page FDLE summary released in May 2021 found no evidence that Krischer or Belohlavek "committed any crimes, accepted any bribes or gifts, or did anything improper." A companion FDLE report found that Epstein had "received differential treatment" in the custody of the [Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office](/organizations/palm-beach-county-sheriffs-office/) but that it was not criminal.[^14] [^1]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html [^2]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 7, 10, 15, 22 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraphs 33, 59, 90, 153. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. i-ii, iv, vi-vii. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl [^4]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt [^5]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking ; "Florida prosecutors knew Epstein raped teenage girls 2 years before cutting deal, transcript shows," *WPTV,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wptv.com/news/epstein/palm-beach-county-judge-calls-jeffrey-epstein-most-infamous-pedophile-in-american-history-as-he-releases-transcripts [^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 14 to 16. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf [^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 1, 14, 19 to 20, 27 to 28, 34 to 35, 44. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf [^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00214226, DataSet 9, FoxNews.com transcript, "The O'Reilly Factor," Talking Points Memo, August 16, 2006. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214226.pdf [^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00215188, DataSet 9, emails among Barry Krischer, Lanna Belohlavek and the U.S. Attorney's Office, "RE: Meeting with Epstein's attorneys," September 19 to 25, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00215188.pdf [^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), p. 116, quoting Villafana's email of December 3, 2008. [^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), p. 16 n. 17. [^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01830557, DataSet 10, email, "jagesq" to Jeffrey Epstein, "krischer richardson," December 15, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01830557.pdf [^13]: "Former state's attorney pushes back against Acosta account of Epstein case," *The Hill,* July 10, 2019. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/452527-former-florida-state-attorney-pushes-back-against-acosta-account-of/ ; "Ex-Palm Beach State Attorney Says It Was Acosta's 'Secret Negotiations' With Epstein Lawyers That Tanked Case," *The Daily Beast,* July 10, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-palm-beach-state-attorney-says-it-was-acostas-secret-negotiations-with-epstein-lawyers-that-tanked-case/ [^14]: "Florida authorities find no evidence of criminal activity in state's handling of Jeffrey Epstein case," *NBC News,* May 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-authorities-no-evidence-criminal-activity-state-s-handling-jeffrey-n1266888 ; "FDLE clears PBSO, prosecutors in connection to Epstein's work release privileges," *CBS12,* May 2021. https://cbs12.com/news/local/fdle-clears-pbso-prosecutors-in-connection-to-epsteins-work-release-privileges