Multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein kept nude photos of underage girls in his Upper East Side townhouse of horrors, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor revealed Monday while announcing sex trafficking charges against the politically-connected perv.
Despite having been on law enforcement’s radar since at least 2006, the freaky financier stashed perverted pictures in a safe that also contained CDs with handwritten labels like “Misc nudes 1,” and “Girl pics nude,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. One label in the E. 71nd St. townhouse worth $77 million featured an alleged victim’s name preceded by the word “young,” papers charged.
Epstein was charged in a bombshell 13-page indictment in Manhattan Federal Court with conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that carry a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. Between 2002 and 2005 he allegedly sexually abused dozens of minors as young as 14 years old at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach estate by enticing them to give him nude or partially-nude massages. He also paid “victim-recruiters” to lure new, young victims for him to abuse, the indictment charged.
“The defendant, a registered sex offender, is not reformed, he is not chastened, he is not repentant,” prosecutors wrote.
Epstein, sporting a blue jail uniform and appearing exhausted, pleaded not guilty. Two of his accusers, Michelle Licata and Courtney Wild, were present in court.
Former south Florida U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta notoriously gave Epstein a lenient plea deal in 2007 that allowed him to plead guilty to two state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and serve 13 months in a Palm Beach County jail.
The decision by Acosta — who is now President Trump’s secretary of labor — to sign that non-prosecution agreement will be central to Epstein’s defense.
Epstein attorney Reid Weingarten said his client had been charged a second time with the same crimes, raising the constitutional issue of double jeopardy.
“This indictment is essentially a do-over. This is old stuff,” Weingarten said. “We’re talking about ancient conduct.”
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said his office was not bound by the plea deal with federal prosecutors in southern Florida.
Some of Epstein’s alleged conduct in the new case overlapped with the Florida investigation closed 11 years ago, prosecutors acknowledged. But the charge of sex trafficking focused on the 66-year-old’s alleged abuse of minors at his seven-story townhouse in Manhattan. When the FBI raided the home on Saturday they found a massage table and “sex paraphernalia,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller said.
“The massage room was still set up the same way it was 15 years ago,” he said. “This is not an individual who has left his past behind.”
Authorities were still sorting through possibly thousands of nude photos of possibly underage women. Weingarten said the photos were old and likely depicted adult women who consented to erotic photographs.
Epstein will remain in custody until at least Monday, when his attorneys will propose a bail package.
“Jeffrey Epstein abused underage girls for years, operating a scheme in which girls he victimized would recruit others for Epstein to exploit and abuse. Epstein exploited girls who were vulnerable to abuse, enticed them with cash payments, and escalated his conduct to include sex acts," Berman said.
“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 Epstein case has been the subject of speculation for years because of his famous friends. Epstein once palled around with the likes of President Trump, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.
“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump told New York Magazine in 2002. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The feds had no imminent plans to charge other individuals in the Epstein case, Rossmiller said.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered that records in a civil case involving Epstein be unsealed. Those court papers contain allegations against prominent public figures associated with the wealthy perv.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney vowed that investigators would pursue the case "regardless of the predator’s wealth, power or perceived connections.”
Epstein “created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit in locations including New York and Palm Beach," the indictment charged.
Epstein gradually escalated the sexual nature of his massages by underage victims, prosecutors said. During the encounters Epstein would pleasure himself, molest victims with his hands or sex toys and ask the underage girls to touch him, according to the indictment.
His wealth allegedly helped him maintain a steady stream of victims.
“When a victim-recruiter accompanied a new minor victim to the New York residence, both the victim-recruiter and the new minor victim were paid hundreds of dollars by Epstein for each encounter,” the indictment read.
The charges reference three employees who helped Epstein arrange encounters with victims “upon arrival” in New York or at his Palm Beach estate estimated to be worth $12 million.
Prosecutors argued that Epstein should remain in custody until his trial because he is a flight risk. They cited evidence of his extraordinary wealth. Epstein has at least six homes, including residences in Paris, New Mexico and two homes in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has 15 vehicles.
The indictment indicates the feds will try to seize the Upper East Side mansion. Epstein is often described as a billionaire, but his net worth remains unclear.
Weingarten insisted that Epstein had complied for over a decade with the terms of his “high-risk” sex offender status.
Attorney David Boies, who represents some Epstein accusers, said that they were “extremely gratified the charges have finally been brought.”
“The news of my abuser’s arrest today is a step in the right direction to finally hold Epstein accountable for his crimes and restores my faith that money and power cannot triumph over justice,” another Epstein accuser, Sarah Ransome, said.
“It is time for Jeffrey Epstein and those who participated and enabled his sex crimes to be brought to true justice,” Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre said in a statement.