The raid of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s palatial New York City residence uncovered a now-expired passport issued in the 1980s by a foreign country with Epstein’s picture but with a different name on it and his residence listed as Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors said during Epstein’s bail hearing Monday the passport was in a locked safe that was also filled with “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds.”
Epstein is a flight risk and poses an “ongoing and forward-looking danger,” prosecutors claimed, pointing to the “substantial collection of photographic trophies of his victims and other young females in his mansion” uncovered during the search.
Prosecutors said in court filings that they had recovered discs from Epstein’s abode which included hand-written labels, including “Young [Name] + [Name],” “Misc nudes 1,” and “Girl pics nude.”
“Not surprisingly, the government has found that such discs contain photographs of sexually suggestive photographs of fully- or partially- nude females appearing to be underage,” prosecutors said.
Investigators also allege that Epstein attempted to pay off possible witnesses against him with hundreds of thousands of dollars when media scrutiny began to ramp up in late 2018.
The source of Jeffrey Epstein’s wealth, which prosecutors recently pegged at north of $500 million during bail proceedings , has long been a mystery and the subject of rampant speculation. But perhaps the oddest claim about where some of Epstein’s vast fortune came from actually originated with Epstein himself, who reportedly bragged to friends back in the 1980s that he was acting as a global bounty hunter for unspecified governments.
The allegedly falsified foreign passport that prosecutors recovered a week ago does match this time frame.
Prosecutors said they examined bank records which suggest Epstein “already earns at least $10,000,000 per year … while living in the U.S. Virgin Islands, traveling extensively abroad, and residing in part in Paris, France.” They suggested that, even though Epstein’s source of wealth remains a mystery to them, “there would be little to stop the defendant from fleeing, transferring his unknown assets abroad, and then continuing to do whatever it is he does to earn his vast wealth from a computer terminal beyond the reach of extradition.”
The 14-page indictment unsealed against Epstein one week ago alleges that he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan, New York and Palm Beach, Florida, among other locations” between 2002 and 2005 and perhaps beyond. Some of the victims were as young as 14 at the time the alleged crimes occurred.
Epstein pleaded not guilty.
