Federal prosecutors in New York City have announced sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges against wealthy businessman Jeffrey Epstein.
Eleven years after Jeffrey Epstein agreed to a once-secret plea deal, U.S. federal prosecutors took another run at putting the billionaire financier behind bars on sex charges, accusing him Monday of abusing dozens of underage girls as young as 14.
Epstein, arrested over the weekend, was expected to make his first court appearance on the charges in the afternoon in New York City. Prosecutors said they will argue he is a flight risk and should remain in jail instead of being released on bail to await trial.
Epstein, a 66-year-old hedge fund manager who once hobnobbed with some of the world’s most powerful people, was charged in an indictment unsealed Monday with sex trafficking and conspiracy.
The charges carry penalties of up to life in prison.
“Epstein intentionally sought out minors and knew that many of his victims were in fact under the age of 18,” the federal indictment filed in the Southern District of New York alleged.
“The alleged behaviour shocks the conscience,” Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the district, said at a subsequent news conference.
Court documents unsealed in New York indicate Epstein is charged with creating and maintaining a network that allowed him to sexually exploit underage girls.
Dozens of girls were exploited, Bill Sweeney from the FBI New York office said, and the girls were allegedly paid hundreds of dollars per encounter.
At least two minors were sexually abused over a period of years, it is alleged.
Both Berman and Sweeney encouraged other potential victims to contact authorities.
‘Significant flight risk’
Prosecutors allege Epstein was aware many of the victims were under age, and he encouraged them to supply him with more girls.
“This allowed Epstein to create an ever-expanding web of new victims,” said Berman.
Messages were sent to Epstein’s defence lawyer seeking comment.
“We think he’s a significant flight risk and that is why we are seeking detention pending trial,” said Berman, pointing to Epstein’s age and wealth and the severity of the charges.
“When you have two planes and you live much of the year abroad, we think that’s a very real risk.”
Epstein, whose friends have included U.S. President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and high-profile lawyer Alan Dershowitz, was arrested Saturday at an airport near New York City after his private jet touched down from France.
A task force of federal agents and New York City police officers met the plane at Teterboro Airport and took Epstein into custody.
“He flew into the jurisdiction and so we arrested him,” said Berman.
The prosecutor, citing Justice Department guidelines, said he wouldn’t comment on Monday regarding friends or associates of Epstein.
“I urge you not to read anything into that one way or the other,” he said.
Epstein’s arrest, first reported by the Daily Beast, came amid increased scrutiny of the 2008 non-prosecution deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser state charges while maintaining a jet-set lifestyle, which includes homes in Paris and the U.S. Virgin Islands and a Bentley.
Previous deal overseen by current Trump cabinet member
Under the deal, overseen by former Miami U.S. attorney and current Trump Labour Secretary Alex Acosta, Epstein avoided a possible life sentence and served 13 months in jail after pleading guilty to Florida charges of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution. It also required he reach financial settlements with dozens of his victims and register as a sex offender.
Acosta has defended the plea deal as appropriate under the circumstances, although the White House said in February it was “looking into” his handling of it.
The deal, examined in detail in a series of reports in the Miami Herald, is being challenged in Florida Federal Court.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra of Florida ruled earlier this year that Epstein’s victims should have been consulted under federal law about the deal, and he is now weighing whether to invalidate it.
Trump told reporters in February he had little knowledge of the reports in the Herald.
“I know he’s done a great job as labour secretary, and that seems like a long time ago, but I know he’s been a fantastic labour secretary,” said the president.
‘He’s a lot of fun to be with’: Trump in 2002
Several years earlier, in 2002, Trump told New York magazine that he had known Epstein for 15 years at that point.
“Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump was reported to have said. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Federal prosecutors recently filed court papers in the Florida case contending Epstein’s deal, known as an NPA, must stand.
“The past cannot be undone; the government committed itself to the NPA, and the parties have not disputed that Epstein complied with its provisions,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
They acknowledged, however, that the failure to consult victims “fell short of the government’s dedication to serve victims to the best of its ability” and prosecutors “should have communicated with the victims in a straightforward and transparent way.”
“That agreement only binds the Southern District of Florida,” Berman said Monday.
There are also no double-jeopardy implications because Epstein’s guilty plea involved only state crimes, while the current case involves federal law.
According to court records in Florida, authorities say at least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters after female fixers looked for suitable girls locally and in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.
Some girls were also allegedly brought to Epstein’s homes in New York City, New Mexico and a private Caribbean island, according to court documents.
Epstein’s arrest Saturday also came just days after a federal appeals court in New York ordered the unsealing of nearly 2,000 pages of records in a since-settled defamation case involving Epstein.
