Brown, Julie K.

American investigative journalist with the Miami Herald; recipient of a 2026 Pulitzer Special Citation, two George Polk Awards, and numerous other honors for her foundational reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case and systemic criminal justice failures.

Julie K. Brown is an investigative reporter at the Miami Herald whose 2018 three-part series 'Perversion of Justice' re-examined the sweetheart 2008 plea deal protecting Jeffrey Epstein and gave voice to dozens of his victims, leading directly to Epstein's 2019 federal arrest. She received a Special Pulitzer Prize Citation in 2026 for this work.

Biography

Julie Knipe Brown (born 1961, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American investigative journalist with the Miami Herald, where she has worked since 2005. She is best known for her three-part 2018 investigative series "Perversion of Justice," which re-examined the sweetheart plea deal negotiated on behalf of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 — a deal that shielded Epstein from federal sex trafficking charges, allowed him to serve only 13 months in a county jail rather than prison, and was approved by then-US Attorney Alexander Acosta. Brown's reporting spoke with dozens of Epstein's victims, documented the systematic failures of the criminal justice system that had protected him for a decade, and was directly credited by federal prosecutors with helping to lead to Epstein's arrest in July 2019 on fresh charges of sex trafficking. Epstein died in federal custody in August 2019.

Early Career and Background

Brown became emancipated from her single mother at 16 and worked minimum-wage jobs before pursuing college to avoid a life of low-paying employment. She graduated from Temple University and worked at a number of Pennsylvania newspapers, including the Philadelphia Daily News, before joining the Miami Herald in 2005 as a member of its investigative team. Her early investigative work at the Herald focused on prison conditions and criminal justice abuses in Florida — a focus that earned her the George Polk Award for Justice Reporting in 2015 for a series on abuses in the Florida prison system.

The Epstein Investigation

The 2018 "Perversion of Justice" series was the result of months of work rebuilding connections with Epstein's victims, many of whom had been silenced by non-disclosure agreements, and reconstructing the legal history of his 2008 prosecution. Brown's reporting revealed that Acosta had negotiated the plea deal in secret, without notifying victims as required by the Crime Victims' Rights Act — a violation later confirmed by a federal judge. The series prompted Acosta's resignation as Labor Secretary from the Trump Cabinet in 2019 and contributed to the federal indictment of Epstein in the Southern District of New York. Brown continued reporting on the Epstein network through Epstein's death and beyond, covering the network of associates and enablers implicated in the trafficking operation.

Awards and Recognition

In 2026, Brown received a Special Pulitzer Prize Citation — awarded by the Pulitzer Board outside the regular competition categories — for her groundbreaking 2017–2018 reporting that exposed Epstein's systematic abuse of young women and the justice system that protected him. The citation described her as having given voice to scores of victims who had been groomed and abused. She was previously part of the Miami Herald team that shared the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. Other awards include two George Polk Awards (2015 and 2018), a Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights Reporting, the Columbia Journalism Award, the Hillman Prize, PEN America's Voice of Courage Award, and an IRE Champion of Investigative Journalism Award. She was included in Time magazine's 2020 list of 100 Most Influential People. She is the author of the book Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story (2021).