DEAD SILENCE
EPSTEIN’S SUICIDE ROBS SEX-TRAFFIC VICTIMS OF JUSTICE, LEAVES QUESTIONS ABOUT POWERFUL PALS
An FBI probe into the death of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, accused of orchestrating a sex-trafficking ring for the rich and powerful, won bipartisan backing as victims said the apparent suicide robs them of their day in court.
President Trump retweeted a post questioning the timing of Epstein’s death inside a New York City jail. On the other side of the political spectrum, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped on Twitter writing, “We need answers. Lots of them.”
Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand also called for a full scrub of how jailers allowed Epstein to take his own life.
The FBI and U.S. Inspector General’s Office announced they will investigate how the 66-yearold Epstein died in the Manhattan Correctional Center, where he reportedly hanged himself. It comes two weeks after he made his first suicide attempt. Officials said he was not on a suicide
watch at the time of this death.
“I am angry Jeffrey Epstein won’t have to face his survivors of his abuse in court,” one of his alleged victims, Jennifer Araoz, told the New York Post. Araoz said the billionaire financier forcibly raped her in his Upper East Side mansion.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Saturday the death “raises serious questions that must be answered.”
The death comes just a day after 2,000 pages of court documents spelled out the lurid allegations of the sexual abuse of underage girls by Epstein.
He had been locked up since early July after pleading not guilty to federal charges of trafficking underage girls for sex. Some of those girls, according to an indictment, were as young as 14.
His powerful friends included former President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and President Trump. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have also been linked to Epstein, with both having denied any wrongdoing.
Buckingham Palace also issued denials of any abuse of young women in 2015, saying in a statement: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”
Prosecutors said the evidence against Epstein included a “vast trove” of hundreds or even thousands of lewd photographs of young women or girls.
In a July 8 indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York stated: Epstein was “charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.”
The indictment adds he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. Epstein allegedly worked with several employees and associates to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims to abuse, and paid several of those victims themselves to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts for money.”
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman, who oversees the New York City federal office, said at the time that “the victims – then children and now young women – are no less entitled to their day in court.”
That will now not happen. Berman said in a statement Saturday that the indictment against Epstein includes a conspiracy charge, suggesting others could face charges in the case.
Epstein’s death raises questions about how the Bureau of Prisons ensures the welfare of such high-profile inmates. In October, South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was murdered in a federal prison in West Virginia where had just been transferred. Bulger’s family is suing the prison over the death.