By Aaron Kesel
The husband and son of Federal Judge Esther Salas who recently was appointed to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with Deutsche Bank were gunned down in their New Jersey home in a targeted attack. The gunman rang the doorbell, Judge Salas’s husband, Mark Anderl, opened the door and was immediately shot. Salas’s son ran to protect his father and he too was shot.
NBC New York reports:
Three senior law enforcement officials tell News 4, New York, that a gunman shot Judge Esther Salas’ spouse and her 20-year-old son their North Brunswick home around 5 p.m. Sunday. North Brunswick’s mayor confirmed the son’s death; the husband is in critical condition.
Preliminary indications are that the husband answered the door and was shot multiple times; the son came running to the door and was shot as well before the gunman fled, the sources said. Judge Salas was believed to be in the basement at the time of the shooting, and she was not injured.
Salas was recently appointed to cover an ongoing civil lawsuit brought by Deutsche Bank investors who claim the bank made false and misleading statements about its anti-money laundering policies and failed to monitor “high-risk” customers including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The FBI, U.S. Marshals, New Jersey State Police, and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General are all involved in the investigation, with the FBI tweeting out a manhunt. The FBI expressed on Twitter that the agency was looking for “one suspect” who disguised themselves as a FedEx employee and shot dead the judge’s son while critically wounding her husband.
The FBI is investigating a shooting that occurred at the home of Judge Ester Salas in North Brunswick Township, New Jersey earlier this evening, July 19. We're looking for one subject & ask that anyone who thinks they may have relevant information call us at 1-973-792-3001.
— FBI Newark (@FBINewark) July 20, 2020
It’s worth mentioning for readers that in the past there were threats and harassment being flung around to witnesses, victims, and even Senator Lauren Book. It’s also notable that Virginia Giufree was previously warned by the FBI that there is “a credible death threat made against her’ following Prince Andrew interview,” Dailymail reported.
Even former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter, whose department conducted the initial investigation into Epstein, said in a civil lawsuit deposition that Epstein got off easy and he had noticed they were being watched when investigating the case.
“That wasn’t an appropriate resolution of this matter,” Reiter said, arguing that the charges against Epstein were “very minor,” compared to what the facts called for.
Reiter, who was the partner of Joseph Recarey, even stated prior in 2010 in an exclusive interview to The Daily Beast that during the investigation they became aware they were being watched under surveillance for several months by an unknown source.
Reiter also previously stated that State Attorney Barry Krischer was hesitant to prosecute Epstein, causing Reiter to send a letter to Krischer complaining of the “highly unusual conduct.”
The facts become even more disturbing and chilling when you learn that State Attorney Krische,r who turned a blind eye to this case, was also in charge of Florida’s Crimes Against Children Unit, a position of power in which he could directly affect cases against persons accused of crimes against children.
Epstein was given an unfair plea deal, violating the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act established in 2004, by failing to notify the then 32 identified victims lawyers for the women have repeatedly stated. The plea deal, according to sources, was a deal arranged with the FBI in exchange for ratting out financial malfeasance at Bear Stearns by hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, an unthinkable exchange.
If that’s not enough, in 2015 Politico reported that court documents that were released through litigation showed prosecutors cooperating with Epstein’s lawyers to keep the deal secret — a criminal act. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafaña used her personal Gmail account to suggest to one of Epstein’s lawyers that they could file legal papers in a different jurisdiction as a way to “hopefully cut the press coverage significantly.” Villafaña then told Epstein’s attorney that they would “include our standard language regarding resolving all criminal liability and would even mention ‘co-conspirators.” However, she “preferred to not highlight for the judge all of the other crimes Epstein was accused of and other persons that we could charge.”
The plea deal was brokered with the help of then-U.S. attorney in Florida Alexander Acosta. The deal was criticized as lenient because Epstein could have faced a life sentence.
When Book alleged she was threatened for seeking to investigate Epstein’s case by demanding a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s handling of accused sex trafficker’s lenient work release program, the Miami Herald reported.
“I’ve received countless phone calls saying ‘Little girl you don’t know what you’re getting into,’ and telling me that I should just stop,’’ Book said in an interview with the Herald.
Ironically, Book herself is a child sexual abuse survivor and has worked relentlessly to pass strict sex offender laws in Florida.
However, it’s pure speculation that the judge was attacked due to Epstein’s ties but, still, questioning such seems warranted given the facts known about Epstein’s case and those surrounding it. Even Epstein’s former bodyguard has remarked that the group is dangerous.
A bizarre interview by M.L. Nestel with Jeffrey Epstein’s driver, bodyguard, and personal trainer — MMA fighter Igor Zinoviev — seems to indicate that there is a danger to those who speak out about the ring.
Zinoviev also tried to deny an earlier claim that local police had tipped off Epstein to a pending raid at his mansion and told Nestel, “don’t put yourself in trouble.”
“Listen, you’re really smart, and I’m not going to offer that over the phone right now, okay? You’re really smart,” Zinoviev said. “You have no idea. Please!”
Zinoviev also added that he believed Epstein’s death was assisted in the interview, although he didn’t elaborate how, stating: “Listen, you know, that’s going a little too deep.”
“Somebody helped him to do that,” Igor Zinoviev told New York Magazine.
On the flip side, there have so far been at least four other mysterious deaths surrounding Deutsche Bank, including Epstein and Trump’s money manager Thomas Bowers, someone who represented numerous wealthy customers. Bowers also signed unorthodox loans to Donald Trump according to Dailymail. Those loans were more than $2 billion to Trump or entities related to him, over two decades when other banks refused.
Additionally, three bankers in New York, London, and Siena, Italy, died within 17 months of each other in 2013/14 in what authorities deemed a series of unrelated suicides. However, these deaths were around the time of the Libor scandal and there were at least 40 other bankers who killed themselves around that time, according to SkyNews.
The others include Bill Broeksmit a high-ranking Deutsche Bank executive whose son handed documents to the FBI on Trump, David Rossi; and even a lawyer involved in Libor for Deutsche Bank was mysteriously found dead, Calogero “Charles” Gambino, a married father of two kids. This isn’t the first time that someone involved in investigating Deutsche Bank dealings was killed either. Thomas Schaefer, finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state which includes Frankfurt, was found dead near a railway track earlier this year and his death was blamed on coming “deep economic impact due to the coronavirus.” Although Schaefer’s death was ruled a suicide, he was involved in auditing Deutsche Bank and the place he was found is, in this writer’s opinion, suspicious.
Now we can add on another suspicious incident to the long list with the targeted attack against Federal Judge Esther Salas’ home.