Some evidence as to why Brown did not originally win the Pulitzer, instead this citation a few years too late:

Brown’s “Perversion of Justice” series won a prestigious George Polk award. The Herald entered the Epstein series for a Pulitzer Prize that year, but it was not a finalist. Alan Dershowitz, the attorney and television personality who helped broker Epstein’s original deal, wrote a letter to the Pulitzer committee that year, urging them not to honor Brown’s work.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/julie-brown-pulit...

The rot runs deep