Alex Acosta to resign as Secretary of Labor

Alex Acosta has announced his resignation as Secretary of Labor.

Four months ago, the APWU Executive Board called on Acosta to resign for his conduct in 2007 while working as a U.S. Attorney in Miami, when he brokered an unlawful plea bargain with billionaire hedge fund manager Jeffery Epstein to evade federal sex-trafficking charges. The charges could have sent Epstein to prison for life, but Acosta’s office instead allowed him to plead to state charges and a 13-month sentence in county jail, with work privileges.

Some of the details of the immunity deal were revealed in a Miami Herald exposé regarding the sexual abuse of dozens of teenage girls by the hedge fund billionaire. Epstein was charged this week with similar crimes by federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York.

“Four months ago, the APWU Executive Board did the right thing and called for Alex Acosta’s resignation or termination,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said. “It is unconscionable that Acosta was given responsibility for labor laws, including human and sex trafficking and international child labor laws, to a man who brokered a get out of jail for free deal for a powerful billionaire instead of protecting young, working class women and girls. It’s a good thing that Acosta has been forced to resign.”

You can read the March 1 APWU National Executive Board statement here.