MIAMI _ Wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will remain in jail during his prosecution on sex trafficking charges after a federal judge in New York ruled Thursday against his request to be released on bail.
Epstein, 66, had offered to collateralize any of the assets from his self-estimated $559 million fortune. He'd said he would live in isolation in his Manhattan mansion, and pay for private security to ensure he remained inside and that no one entered unless authorized by the courts.
But with prosecutors warning that Epstein could easily flee or attempt to interfere with their witnesses, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ordered Thursday that Epstein remain at the Manhattan Correctional Institute as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York seeks his conviction on child sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. In explaining his ruling, Berman rejected Epstein's proffered bail conditions as irreparably "inadequate" and in particular cited concerns that Epstein is a danger to others.
In issuing his ruling, Berman said he considered the testimony Monday of two women _ Courtney Wild and Annie Farmer. Wild, who says she was sexually abused, called him a "scary person" who "should not be walking the streets."
Wild was introduced to Epstein in Palm Beach, and Farmer said she was recruited by Epstein in New York and later flown to his ranch in New Mexico.
Epstein's attorneys are considering an appeal of the decision, which has not yet been made public in its entirety.
But Berman's ruling is for now a major victory for Epstein's accusers, who have grown by the dozens since he was first investigated on trafficking allegations in South Florida more than a dozen years ago. The wealthy financier was first arrested in Palm Beach County in the mid-2000s after police began to suspect that he was sexually abusing underage girls.
A federal investigation turned up three dozen accusers and led prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida to draw up a 53-page indictment. But the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alexander Acosta, agreed to set aside the indictment and authorized a non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to solicitation charges. As part of the deal, Epstein registered as a sex offender and paid damages to the identified victims, but served just 13 months in jail and enjoyed work release status contrary to rules against affording that privilege to sex offenders.
The deal and allegations against Epstein were highlighted last year in The Miami Herald's investigative series Perversion of Justice. In bringing charges against Epstein, Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney for New York's Southern District, credited investigative journalism.
After Epstein's arrest, Acosta, labor secretary for President Donald Trump, announced plans to resign effective this coming Friday.
"For the past decade, Epstein's child victims have been betrayed by the criminal justice system. His indictment in New York marked an important reversal in that betrayal, and the decision to deny him pretrial release is another significant step in helping to erase the scars that victims still carry as a result of that betrayal," said Jack Scarola, a Palm Beach attorney who has represented a number of Epstein's accusers. "For Epstein's victims and for all of us the world is a significantly safer place with Jeffrey Epstein behind bars."
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on Thursday's ruling.
Epstein, who has pleaded not guilty, entered the courtroom just past 11:30 a.m. wearing a navy blue jail uniform, orange sneakers, and a scowl on his face. He sat mostly emotionless as Berman explained his decision, though the corners of his mouth gave away slight grimaces on occasion.
He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on the charges brought against him. Prosecutors say they have evidence that he lured dozens of teenage girls to his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach and paid them for massages and coerced them into sex acts. Prosecutors say they're still building their case as new witnesses come forward with information on Epstein.
Ahead of Epstein's bond hearing, the U.S. Attorney's Office argued that Epstein's money, cars and private plane made it easy for him to escape ahead of his trial. They said they found nude photos of possibly underage girls, plus $70,000, 48 diamonds and an expired passport with an alias and a Saudi Arabian address for Epstein during a raid of the Manhattan mansion where he wanted to be allowed to live while awaiting his trial.
In her year-long investigation of Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims of abuse and revealed the full story behind the sweetheart deal cut by Epstein's powerhouse legal team.
Since the Herald published "Perversion of Justice" in November 2018, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement brokered by then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta was illegal, and last week Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York state. And on July 12, Acosta resigned as U.S. Secretary of Labor.
They also warned that Epstein has been accused in the past of trying to intimidate witnesses, and said he "suspiciously" wired $350,000 to two possible co-conspirators in the days after the Herald published Perversion of Justice.
Epstein's attorneys said their client acquired the long-expired Austrian passport from friends in the mid-'80s at a time of heightened terrorist hijackings and kidnappings in the Middle East out of concern for his own well-being. They also said that presuming he would flee because of his wealth was unconstitutional.
"To be sure, wealthy defendants do not deserve preferential treatment," his attorneys wrote in a Tuesday letter to the judge. "But they certainly shouldn't be singled out for worse treatment ... on the basis of their net worth."
But Judge Berman cited the passport in explaining his concerns that Epstein might flee the country if released from jail.
"I have not read the court's decision yet," said Martin Weinberg, an attorney for Epstein. "We will be contemplating an appeal after reviewing it."
