Law enforcement seized “nude photographs of what appear to be underage girls” from Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan during the execution of a search warrant on Saturday, prosecutors said at a Monday morning press conference. The raid was conducted as Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after he arrived back in the U.S. from a trip to Paris.
A detention memo filed by the prosecution further alleges “an extraordinary volume of photographs of nude and partially-nude young women or girls” were seized in the raid on Epstein’s New
York
City
home.
Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that prosecutors would tell the court later this afternoon that “Epstein should be detained pending trial” because he poses a significant flight risk following the unsealing of an indictment charging him with conspiracy and the sex trafficking of underage girls.
“When you have two planes and live much of the year abroad, we think that’s a real threat,” Berman said.
Berman said that Epstein faces up to 45 years in jail, which he described as essentially a life sentence for the 66-year-old Epstein.
Epstein will appear in court this afternoon.
Berman said that Epstein created “an ever-expanding web of new victims” over the course of years, even though Epstein was well aware that many of his victims were minors.
“They deserve their day in court, and we are proud to stand up for them by bringing this indictment,” Berman said.
And he urged any other victims of Epstein who might be listening to contact authorities at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Bill Sweeney, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said that neither money nor political pressure would stop them from pursuing this case. Epstein, a well-connected and wealthy financier, pleaded guilty in 2008 to two state-level prostitution solicitation charges, for which he served 13 months. His attorneys, former independent counsel Ken Starr and Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, reached the agreement with federal prosecutors, including then-U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida and now-Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta
Both Berman and Sweeney pointed to investigative journalism that helped them bring these charges, likely pointing to work done by the Miami Herald in 2018 and 2019.
The 14-page charging document alleges that Epstein “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.
The indictment further stated that Epstein “enticed and recruited, and caused to be 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, and Epstein was often aware of their ages.
The indictment also claimed 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,” and that at least three employees helped him.
A federal judge found in February the plea deal struck by Acosta, who has been harshly criticized for his handling of the case, infringed upon the rights of the victims and ordered that the records be unsealed.
Berman said Monday that that 2008 plea agreement only applies to Florida, not New York.
