A Boca Raton woman who leads Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities pleaded guilty Monday in New York federal court to falsifying records in a $750,000 fraud against a fund for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Jennifer Percival, 46, admitted she altered a 2020 rejection letter from the Epstein estate fund so it appeared to be an approval, then used it to obtain the payout from a separate JPMorgan Chase victim compensation fund in 2024.
Prosecutors say Percival later lied to FBI agents and provided her own attorney with fabricated emails while seeking a deferred prosecution deal. She brought a check for $776,031 in restitution to the hearing and said in court that she accepts full responsibility. She did not address Epstein, and prosecutors have not said whether she was one of his victims. Under her plea agreement, federal guidelines recommend three to four years in prison, with sentencing not yet scheduled.
The case raises uncomfortable questions for our community: how are victim compensation funds verified, and what happens when the person accused holds a trusted academic post serving families with autism? For now, those answers wait on a sentencing date that hasn’t been set. What do you think accountability should look like here?
