The lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy jet-setting businessman who is accused of child sex trafficking, filed a letter with the court on Thursday arguing that Epstein should be allowed to stay in his massive Manhattan mansion while awaiting trial instead of spending it behind bars as prosecutors have requested. And Epstein’s attorneys suggested using the $77 million home as collateral for his bond.
Some of the criminal accusations leveled against Epstein are alleged to have occurred inside that New York City residence and, when it was raided by investigators over the weekend, possible child pornography was found in the home.
Epstein has been in jail since he was arrested by authorities at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on his way home from Paris this weekend. His indictment, unsealed on Monday, 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, according to a 14-page federal indictment. Epstein pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Prosecutors said earlier this week that Epstein poses a “significant flight risk” because of his “enormous wealth” and because the serious charges against him carry up to 45 years in jail, which prosecutors say “to someone of Epstein’s age is basically a life sentence.”
Epstein’s attorneys blasted the prosecution’s efforts today, arguing that “in essence, the government seeks to remand a self-made New York native and lifelong American resident based on dated allegations for which he was already convicted and punished — conduct the relitigation of which is barred by a prior federal non-prosecution agreement.”
Alex Acosta, the former U.S. attorney for Southern Florida and current Labor Department secretary, reached a nonprosecution agreement in 2008 with Epstein’s attorneys where Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to two state-level prostitution solicitation charges related to an underage girl. Epstein served just 13 months on work release at a Palm Beach County jail, paid restitution to certain victims, and registered as a sex offender. The agreement was reportedly struck before investigators had even finished interviewing all the alleged victims, and some of the victims were not informed of the deal as required by law.
Epstein’s attorneys claimed Thursday that Epstein isn’t a flight risk, calling him “a U.S. citizen who’s lived his entire life in this country” who “speaks only English and knows no other languages” and “owns no foreign businesses and holds no foreign bank accounts.” And the attorneys said that Epstein has family in this country.
Prosecutors argued in court Monday that Epstein is “a man of nearly infinite means” and that he is ”extraordinarily wealthy, mobile, and unattached to the Southern District of New York.”
Besides his New York City mansion, Epstein also has an estate in Palm Beach, maintains a property in New Mexico, has a home in Paris, and owns a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Epstein’s attorneys said that they were “proposing a stringent set of highly restrictive conditions that will effectively guarantee [Epstein’s] appearance and abate any conceivable danger [Epstein] is claimed to present.”
Among those proposed conditions are: home detention in his palatial Manhattan abode, electronic GPS monitoring, not seeking a new passport during the case, consent to U.S. extradition from any country, a substantial bond secured by a mortgage on Epstein’s $77 million home, an agreement to ground his infamous jet and to de-register his vehicles in New York, giving the government random access to his residence, only Epstein and his attorneys being allowed into his residence with permission from the government, daily phone check-ins, and a live-in trustee to make sure he’s following the rules.
The court will likely rule on Epstein’s bail early next week.
Epstein has many high-profile and powerful connections, including celebrities, business titans, and politicians.
On Monday, former President Bill Clinton released a statement that he’d only been on four total trips on Epstein’s plane, but flight logs reviewed by the Washington Examiner indicate that Clinton was actually with Epstein on at least six such trips.
Epstein was also President Trump’s neighbor in Palm Beach, although Trump’s legal team denies they were friends. Trump said in 2002 he had known Epstein for more than a decade and described him then as a “terrific guy,” that “he’s a lot of fun to be with,” and that “it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Earlier this week, Trump said he was “not a fan” of Epstein and that they had a falling out many years ago.
