The prosecutors who brought charges of child sex trafficking and conspiracy against jet-setting financier Jeffrey Epstein say they are “committed” to Epstein’s accusers and that their investigation into the alleged crimes of Epstein and his associates is “ongoing” despite his apparent suicide.
The Bureau of Prisons said Epstein was found “unresponsive in his cell” in the Special Housing Unit this morning following “an apparent suicide.” Epstein was pronounced dead at the hospital, and NYC’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner says the cause of death is being investigated. The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general have both launched investigations into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.
In the wake of Epstein’s death early Saturday morning, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York said in the afternoon that “today’s events are disturbing” and that “we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in court.”
“To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you,” Berman said in a brief statement. “And our investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment — which included a conspiracy count — remains ongoing.”
Prosecutors believe that Epstein had help committing his crimes, and there are believed to be many other alleged Epstein victims out there — and the indictment references co-conspirators.
The 14-page indictment against Epstein unsealed in July alleged 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. Prosecutors claimed that Epstein “enticed and recruited” minor girls to” engage in sex acts with him” and that he would then “give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash.” Some of the victims were as young as 14 at the time the alleged crimes occurred.
Additionally, prosecutors alleged that an unnamed “New York-based employee” and two unnamed assistants in Palm Beach would help with scheduling some of these encounters, and that Epstein would also contact some of the victims directly. Investigators allege Epstein conspired with others to traffic minors for sex.
Epstein was reportedly found nearly unconscious on his cell floor with marks on his neck back in July, but a suicide attempt had never been officially confirmed by authorities, and questions remain about whether Epstein had been placed on suicide watch.
The day prior to that alleged suicide attempt in July, Epstein was served with a proposed lawsuit being brought by Epstein accuser Jennifer Araoz, who claimed that in 2002 and 2003 Epstein “committed repeated sexual assault and battery” against her while she was a 14- and 15-year-old high school student and that Epstein’s alleged crimes included “forcibly raping” her during one of her visits to his Upper East Side mansion. The proposed lawsuit would’ve also been filed against three yet-unnamed Epstein employees, referred to only as the “recruiter,” “secretary,” and “maid” in the court documents.
Epstein’s apparent suicide followed the unsealing on Friday of 2,000 pages of court records connected to the defamation lawsuit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, whom Giuffre has accused of helping Epstein abuse her and other women when Giuffre was underage. The records included allegations by Giuffre that Maxwell instructed her to have sex with the U.K.’s Prince Andrew, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Sen. George Mitchell as well as money manager Glenn Dubin and MIT professor Marvin Minksy, among other high-profile figures.
Epstein’s arrest in July marked the second time he had been investigated for sex crimes. Alex Acosta, the former U.S. attorney for Southern Florida who resigned as Trump’s labor secretary, reached a controversial agreement in 2008 with Epstein’s attorneys in which Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to two state-level prostitution solicitation charges. Epstein served just 13 months in a Palm Beach County jail with work release, paid some restitution, and registered as a sex offender. The secret agreement was reportedly struck before investigators finished interviewing all the alleged victims.
That sweetheart deal included criminal immunity for “any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova.”
The Justice Department said in February that it would investigate its handling of the Epstein case over a decade ago, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was seeking answers about how the case was handled on a state level.
No victims were specifically named in the July indictment, but “Minor Victim-1” is alleged to have been sexually abused while underage in Manhattan in 2002, “Minor Victim-2” was allegedly sexually abused in Palm Beach in 2004, and “Minor Victim-3” was allegedly sexually abused numerous times in Palm Beach in 2005. The indictment further states Epstein would hire the victims to perform “massages” and then would escalate the illicit sexual contact from there, knowing they were underage, oftentimes because they told him.
Prosecutors said that Epstein paid some of his victims to recruit other underage girls to be abused, alleging that Epstein “created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit in locations including New York and Palm Beach” and that he “maintained a steady supply of new victims to exploit.” The indictment also said that Epstein would offer to pay these “victim-recruiters” hundreds of dollars for every new girl that they brought to him.
Prosecutors previously alleged that Epstein attempted to influence possible witnesses against him — or his possible co-conspirators — with hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments as things began to heat up for him in late 2018 following renewed media scrutiny.
The wealthy financier was arrested at the airport in New Jersey after returning from an overseas trip to Paris. Epstein’s home in New York City was raided by law enforcement as well, and investigators found nude photographs of underage girls, thousands of dollars in cash, dozens of loose diamonds, and a foreign passport from the 1980s with Epstein’s picture and a false name.
The federal judge in the case said that Epstein poses a “significant” danger to the community and agreed with prosecutors that he is “a serious risk of flight.” Bail was denied, and Epstein was ordered to remain incarcerated until his trial started sometime next summer.
