Jeffrey Epstein didn't beat the justice system by accident.

For decades, the New York financier curated a network of influential people -- politicians, business titans, media figures and academics -- whom he leveraged to build his fortune and restore his reputation after he had been accused of preying on underage girls in South Florida in 2008.

While much of the spotlight has been on the elite heavyweights who hitched themselves to Epstein's orbit even after he was jailed in South Florida, there's been little scrutiny on how Epstein cozied up to some of the very people who were supposed to hold him accountable.

New documents -- made public for the first time -- show in greater detail how Epstein tried, and often succeeded, in influencing almost every level of the criminal justice system that threatened to disrupt his sex trafficking and money laundering empire.

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