WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Despite insisting he wants the public to know why serial molester Jeffrey Epstein escaped serious punishment 15 years ago, Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Joe Abruzzo wants to punish The Palm Beach Post for trying to open secret records that could do just that.
In a motion for sanctions filed last week, Abruzzo is asking Circuit Judge Donald Hafele to make the Post pay the Tampa law firm he hired to successfully fight the newspaper's request to release transcripts of a 2006 grand jury hearing.
While Abruzzo didn’t say how much he would be seeking, according to Abruzzo’s office, he used $32,794 in public money to pay attorney Shane Vogt’s law firm to fight the Post’s efforts to make the records public.