Jack Scarola

Jack R. Scarola is a senior trial attorney and partner at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., based at 2139 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Florida (Florida Bar No. 169440). He is a career plaintiffs' trial lawyer with a practice centering on complex civil litigation, and is among the most prominent trial attorneys in South Florida. His connection to the Epstein civil litigation arose through his role as lead trial counsel for Brad Edwards — the Fort Lauderdale victims' rights attorney who represented dozens of Epstein's victims and who was himself the target of a retaliatory malicious prosecution lawsuit filed by Epstein in 2009 (Case No. 50-2009-CA-040800, Palm Beach County Circuit Court). Scarola's documented involvement in the Epstein matter spans at least 2011 through 2017. In April 2011, he co-conducted a sworn telephone interview with a key victim witness alongside Brad Edwards, serving as the questioning attorney and establishing foundational testimony for the malicious prosecution counter-suit (EFTA01657683). That same year, Brad Edwards formally delegated authority over the settlement of his malicious prosecution abuse-of-process claim to Scarola, citing the ethical necessity of separating his personal case from the parallel CVRA litigation; in a letter to Epstein, Edwards wrote: "That is why I turned over the finalizing of the settlement on my case to Jack Scarola. To be absolutely sure the separate negotiations are not inappropriately intertwined, I have given Jack complete discretion to resolve the abuse of process claim" (EFTA01987762). Epstein's own correspondence acknowledged Scarola as Edwards' designated settlement authority, and expressed surprise at receiving a "take it or leave it demand from Jack Scarola" (EFTA01987762). By 2017, following a Florida Supreme Court ruling that allowed Edwards' malicious prosecution counterclaim to proceed to trial, Scarola became the primary public spokesperson for the litigation. He is quoted in the Florida Bulldog article filed in the Giuffre v. Maxwell federal docket (EFTA02803362) confirming that President Trump had been placed on the witness list for the December 2017 trial, while clarifying: "There is no evidence the President was involved in Epstein's schemes" and "We can prove our case without Donald Trump's testimony." Scarola described the purpose of the trial as "the first public airing of Epstein's lurid lifestyle" (EFTA02645843). He also articulated for the record the legal theory underlying the Edwards counterclaim — that Epstein sued Edwards in 2009 "to punish him for representing roughly a half-dozen women against Epstein." Separately, Scarola is documented as counsel of record in the Dershowitz defamation settlement, representing Edwards and Paul Cassell in the circuit court proceeding that arose from the Dershowitz-Epstein litigation fallout (EFTA01368204). He is also listed among the attorneys receiving FBI Victim Services communications regarding Epstein victims (EFTA01650203), reflecting his standing as counsel for at least one victim in addition to Edwards.

Classification basis: T6 (Peripheral — Legal): Adversarial civil litigation counsel with no evidence of personal involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's criminal activities. Documented in EFTA01657683 as attorney of record for Brad Edwards (counter-claimant), EFTA01987762 as Edwards' designated settlement authority in direct negotiation with Epstein, EFTA02803362 and EFTA02645843 as trial counsel and public spokesperson for the malicious prosecution case, EFTA01368204 as counsel in the Dershowitz defamation proceedings, and EFTA01650203 as recipient of FBI victim-services communications. Role is entirely adversarial to Epstein throughout.