Go Julie! Congratulations, well deserved! You are one of our greatest warriors for justice.
Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown on Monday was honored by the Pulitzer Prize Board for her groundbreaking and impactful investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the people and institutions that enabled him to abuse girls for decades.
Brown’s honor is unique in that it recognizes not only her work from the past year, but the totality of her journalistic career and in particular her revelations about Epstein’s global sex-trafficking network and the people who protected him.
Her explosive Epstein investigation, Perversion of Justice, ricocheted across the globe when it was published in 2018. Today, the so‑called Epstein Files have become an indispensable resource for journalists, researchers and investigators, revealing the scope of Epstein’s abuses, his connections to powerful figures, and the institutional breakdowns that allowed his crimes to persist.
Brown seized on a story and angle no other journalist saw and told that story in a way no other journalist had. She gave voice to Epstein’s victims and deep, relentless scrutiny to the making of a sweetheart deal that allowed a global sex-trafficking network to persist.
Her reporting centered on telling the stories of survivors whose allegations had been forgotten or ignored, and she worked patiently, sensitively to earn the trust of women wounded by Epstein.
She documented how Epstein recruited vulnerable teenage girls, some as young as 14, at his South Florida mansion, grooming and paying them for sex and pressuring them to recruit other teens.
These girls, now women, told Brown of cycles of exploitation at Epstein’s homes in Palm Beach, New York, New Mexico and on his private Caribbean island. Girls were scheduled, transported and isolated, with employees and close associates facilitating access and secrecy.
