This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
On July 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier, was arrested at Teterboro Airport after arriving from Paris. He has been detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a high-security facility in Lower Manhattan.
According to the indictment unsealed on Monday, July 8, 2019, Epstein recruited dozens of underage girls to engage in sex acts with him between 2002 and 2005. He paid them hundreds of dollars in cash, and encouraged some of his victims to recruit other underage girls that he could then abuse.
Epstein's lawyers have argued that their client would fight the charges and that the government cannot prove he committed the federal crime of sex trafficking. They contended that Epstein should have been prosecuted in New York State court.
Epstein's lawyers also stated that there are no allegations in the indictment that he trafficked anyone for commercial profit, or that he forced, coerced, defrauded, or enslaved anyone.
