Epstein probes

Amid revelations about the circumstances around Jeffrey Epstein’s death, US federal authorities have intensified parallel inquiries into what went wrong at the Manhattan jail where he was behind bars and who now may face charges for assisting or enabling him in what authorities say was his rampant sexual abuse of underage girls. One of the new details provided by people familiar with the Metropolitan Correctional Centre was that one of Epstein’s guards the night he died in his cell wasn’t a regular correctional officer. Epstein, 66, who had links to rich and powerful people around the world, was found on Sunday in his cell at the MCC, a jail previously renowned for its ability to hold notorious prisoners under extremely tight security. At the time of his death, he was being held without bail and faced up to 45 years in prison on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed last month. He had been taken off suicide watch.