Alleged victims ask judge to keep Epstein in jail
NEW YORK — Two Jeffrey Epstein accusers urged a judge Monday to keep the wealthy financier behind bars until he goes on trial on federal charges that he sexually abused underage girls.
The women stood just feet from where Epstein was seated in his blue jail outfit as they asked a federal judge to reject a request by Epstein’s lawyers that he remain under house arrest in his $77 million Manhattan mansion until trial on conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
Courtney Wild, an unnamed victim in the 2008 lawsuit against the Department of Justice for the secret plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid similar charges, spoke for the first time in court with a fellow accuser.
Wild said she was sexually abused by Epstein in Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 14.
“He’s a scary person to have walking the streets,” she said.
Annie Farmer said she was 16 when she met Epstein in New York.
“He was inappropriate with me,” she said. She did not elaborate.
Judge Richard M. Berman said he’ll rule Thursday on whether Epstein can be freed on bail, but he noted at the outset of a two-hour hearing Wild
that there is a presumption in sex trafficking cases involving juveniles that the defendant will remain locked up.
Epstein seemed animated Monday, writing notes to his attorneys and leaning forward with his hands folded. He looked directly at each of his accusers before they spoke.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller said the government’s case is “getting stronger every single day” since Epstein was arrested July 6. During a raid at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion following his arrest, Rossmiller said, investigators found “piles of cash,” “dozens of diamonds” and an expired passport with Epstein’s picture and a fake name in a locked safe.
He called the well-connected Epstein, 66, a flight risk and a danger to the community, saying he should remain incarcerated until he is tried on charges that he recruited and abused dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
Epstein’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said his client has not committed crimes since pleading guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008 and that the federal government is reneging on a 12-year-old plea deal not to prosecute him.
Prior to Monday’s hearing, prosecutors said additional women in multiple jurisdictions have now told the government they were abused as minors by Epstein. Also, dozens of individuals have called the government to report information about Epstein, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they believe Epstein might have tried to influence witnesses after discovering that he had paid a total of $350,000 to two individuals in the past year. Weinberg defended the payouts, saying sending money to an employee or a friend “is simply not witness tampering.”