Two prison guards who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein killed himself have been charged with falsifying prison records.
Epstein's death in his jail cell last August ended the possibility of a trial that would have involved prominent figures.
Guards Toval Noel and Michael Thomas are accused of neglecting their duties by failing to check on Epstein for nearly eight hours.
They are also accused of fabricating log entries to show they had been making checks every 30 minutes.
Prosecutors allege that instead of making their required rounds, the two guards sat at their desks, browsed the internet and walked around the unit's common area.
During one two-hour period, the indictment said, both appeared to have been asleep.
The charges against the officers are the first in connection with the wealthy financier's death in August at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, where he had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The city's medical examiner ruled Epstein's death a suicide. Prosecutors said surveillance cameras confirmed that no one else entered the area in which he was housed.
"As alleged, the defendants had a duty to ensure the safety and security of federal inmates in their care at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Instead, they repeatedly failed to conduct mandated checks on inmates, and lied on official forms to hide their dereliction," US Attorney Geoffrey S Berman said.
The cell where he died was in a high-security unit, famous for having held terrorists and drug cartel kingpins.
Attorney General William Barr had previously said investigators found "serious irregularities" at the prison and the FBI's investigation had been slowed because some witnesses were uncooperative.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch after he was found July 23 on the floor of his cell with a strip of bedsheet around his neck.
The indictment said he was on that watch for 24 hours before he was moved to psychological observation until July 30, several days before his death.
Prosecutors had wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records as part of a plea offer that they rejected, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.
Federal prosecutors had subpoenaed up to 20 staff members at the jail in August.
Epstein had pleaded not guilty and was preparing to argue that he could not be charged because of a 2008 deal he made to avoid federal prosecution on similar allegations.
His death prompted a whirl of conspiracy theories from people, including members of Epstein's family and some of his alleged victims, who questioned whether it was possible that he'd killed himself in such a high-security setting.
