Multimillionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein indicted on sex trafficking charges, court papers say

Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was accused Monday of sex trafficking involving “dozens” of underage girls as young as 14 in an unusual Manhattan federal court indictment that overlapped with charges Florida federal prosecutors had agreed not to pursue in a controversial plea deal a decade ago.

New York federal prosecutors insisted they were not bound by the 2007 Florida deal, and alleged that from 2002 to 2005 Epstein — who associated with notable figures from Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew to lawyer Alan Dershowitz and President Donald Trump — paid victims for sex acts and to recruit other girls into a “vast network" for him to exploit.

“There never was nor will there be an excuse for this kind of behavior,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at a news conference. “ … While the charged conduct is from a number of years ago, the victims — then children and now young women — are no less entitled to their day in court.”

The indictment said Epstein brought girls to his $77 million home on Manhattan’s East Side and his Palm Beach mansion to provide nude massages and paid them hundreds of dollars in cash to perform sex acts.

Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in Florida as part of his 2007 deal, served 13 months in jail and registered as a sex offender. But after his arrest Saturday, a search of his East Side home showed he hadn’t changed his stripes, prosecutors told a federal magistrate at a bail hearing on Monday.

In addition to “hundreds” and possibly “thousands” of lewd pictures of young women, some stored on CDs in a safe, said prosecutor Alex Rossmiller, “The massage room is still set up the same way it was 15 years ago, including the massage table and the sexual paraphernalia.”

Epstein, 66, a multimillionaire jet-setter with residences in Paris, New Mexico and on a private island in the Virgin Islands in addition to New York and Florida, faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted. Wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, he appeared pale but calm as he pleaded not guilty in court. He was detained at least until a hearing next Monday.

The 2007 plea deal, negotiated by then-Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, now Trump’s labor secretary, has long been faulted as too lenient by women who say they were victims. In a Florida suit, a judge ruled the deal was illegal because victims weren’t notified as required by federal law .

Defense lawyers for Epstein said in court the sex trafficking charge was overblown because the case involved no coercion, and the 2007 deal would be central to their defense, arguing that the Justice Department was going back on its word because of critical publicity, calling into question other plea deals.

“How in the world could that deal be undone?” argued lawyer Reid Weingarten, who said it was approved at a “high level” of the Justice Department. “To us, this indictment is essentially a do-over. This is old stuff. This is ancient stuff.”

But New York prosecutors said they aren’t bound by agreements they don’t sign and nothing in the 2007 agreement explicitly mentioned it was binding on other districts. Prosecutors also said the new case focused on New York as well as Florida and included victims who were not part of the earlier investigation.

“It’s not the same conduct,” Rossmiller said. “Some of it overlaps, some of it does not.”

The indictment follows a federal appeals court decision last week ordering the unsealing of court papers in a civil suit brought against Epstein and alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell — the daughter of a former British media mogul — by Virginia Giuffre, one of his alleged victims. The unsealed court papers are expected to name other prominent people who allegedly were part of his sex ring.

Giuffre was not present in court Monday with other victims who attended, but praised prosecutors in a statement read by her lawyer outside court.

“It is time for Jeffrey Epstein and those who participated and enabled his sex crimes to be brought to true justice," she said.

The new indictment said that three unnamed employees in New York and Florida helped Epstein run his trafficking operation, setting up appointments for girls to visit and sometimes arranging for him to have company when he arrived in Palm Beach on his private jet from New York.

Prosecutors said that he also was aided by some of his victims, paying them cash on a per-girl basis for bringing new targets to him, and “certain recruiters brought dozens of additional minor girls” to his Manhattan residence.

They said bail should be denied at next Monday’s hearing, where U.S. District Judge Richard Berman will preside, arguing that Epstein is a multi-millionaire with the resources to flee, owns two private jets, tried to interfere with the Florida investigation a decade ago, and faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Prosecutors also said that in just the last 36 hours, since Epstein’s arrest became public, “several additional victims” had come forward. They also read an FBI “800” number at the news conference announcing the case to urge other women to come forward. 

“Preserving the innocence of children,” said William Sweeney, the head of New York’s FBI office, “is one if the most important responsibilities we carry as adults.”

The government is seeking forfeiture of Epstein's Manhattan residence, and charged him with conspiracy in addition to sex trafficking. No alleged co-conspirators were named. The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s public corruption unit, but prosecutors declined to comment on any links to public officials.