Metro

Lawmakers ask Tish James to investigate Cy Vance over Epstein case

Five Manhattan lawmakers wrote to New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday, urging her to probe Manhattan DA Cy Vance’s failed support eight years ago of more lenient sex offender monitoring for multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The inexplicable, kid-glove treatment has already prompted outrage by one challenger for Vance’s office.

Now, State Assembly members Dan Quart, Yuh-Line Niou and Harvey Epstein and City Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Carlina Rivera are asking  James to expand an existing investigation into Vance’s handling of the Harvey Weinstein case to include his staff’s support of Epstein during a 2011 sex-offender registration hearing.

“It appears that the Manhattan District Attorney does not share our disgust at Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” the lawmakers wrote James.

At the hearing, a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney asked that Epstein  be categorized as a level-one sex offender, the least serious level — despite a risk assessment that determined he should be categorized as a level-three offender, The Post reported.

A judge at the hearing was perplexed by the ADA’s suggestion and ordered Epstein to register as a level-three offender anyway. When Epstein appealed the decision, Vance’s office saw the light, reversing its position and arguing for the higher designation.

“Either the Deputy Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is so unfamiliar with the Sex Offender Registration Act that she mistakenly argued for a reduction in supervision for a serial child predator, or DA Vance directed her to offer leniency to a powerful Manhattan man convicted of a serious crime,” the lawmakers wrote.

“The people of Manhattan shouldn’t have to wonder which of these is true,” they added.

“You agreed to investigate what went wrong in DA Vance’s prosecution of Harvey Weinstein and other sex crimes. Please expand your investigation into the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to include how DA Vance decided to back Jeffrey Epstein’s request, what caused his reversal, and whether his Sex Crimes Unit is competent enough to handle high profile sex crimes cases.”