NEW YORK — Financier Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers, seeking bail for their client, say today that he feared a “toxic political climate” might cause federal prosecutors to scrap a deal he made with them over a decade ago and charge him again with sexual abuse charges involving underage girls.
The lawyers recommend house arrest and electronic monitoring for Epstein as they counter what they describe as a “drastic demand” by prosecutors that he be detained until trial on charges that he engaged in sex trafficking with dozens of underage girls in Florida and New York from 2002 to 2005.
Epstein, 66, was arrested Saturday as he arrived at a New Jersey airport on a flight from Paris. He pleaded not guilty Monday and a judge asked defense lawyers and prosecutors to submit their bail arguments prior to a hearing next Monday.
In seeking detention, prosecutors say a trove of what seems to be nude pictures of underage girls was found in his mansion after his arrest on charges that he sexually exploited and abused underage girls.
The New York charges, which carry the potential for up to 45 years in prison, say Epstein abused dozens of girls at his mansions in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, in the early 2000s.
— AP
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein on July 8, 2019, in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP)
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