NO BAIL FOR ACCUSED PREDATOR EPSTEIN

NEW YORK Multimillionaire and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will remain jailed while he awaits trial on new allegations that he sexually abused children, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Epstein, 66, was arrested on July 6 and charged with sex trafficking dozens of girls from 2002 to 2005. The case drew significant attention because in 2008, the jet-setting financier was able to resolve similar allegations by pleading guilty to just two state charges. He spent about 13 months in jail, with work release privileges, as part of the agreement.

Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the new charges, which his attorneys have asserted are effectively an improper do-over of the old case. If Epstein had been granted bail, defence attorneys said, he would have been willing to put up his US$77 million Manhattan mansion as collateral and agree to home confinement with 24/7 security that he would have funded.

Prosecutors argued even that would not guarantee Epstein would keep showing up for court. By their telling, Epstein is an impenitent sexual abuser of children who has in the past sought to obstruct inquiries into his misdeeds and has access to two private jets.