New Jeffrey Epstein court papers mention ongoing investigation of others
NEW YORK – Explosive new court papers revealed Thursday that prosecutors in the Jeffrey Epstein case were still investigating other suspects in connection with the lurid sex scandal involving the multimillionaire financier and dozens of underage girls.
The court documents filed by prosecutors also mentioned “images of nude or partially nude individuals” in the paperwork and other materials that lawyers will turn over to the defense team. If made public, that information would impede “the government’s ongoing investigation of uncharged individuals,” the court papers stated.
The papers did not identify any other suspects or offer any hints of potential co-defendants in the case of Epstein, who remained behind bars without bail after a bizarre episode where he was found inside his Manhattan prison cell in a fetal position with marks on his neck.
A source told the New York Daily News that Epstein appeared shaken last week when a federal judge shot down his bid for release on bail. Epstein, 66, was expecting Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Berman to turn him loose at the hearing in which prosecutors successfully argued that the convicted sex offender posed a flight risk and a danger to the community, according to the source.
A stunned Epstein, whose lawyer proposed house arrest at his $77 million Manhattan mansion, was instead returned to his cell pending trial.
Epstein was found semiconscious inside his Metropolitan Correctional Center abode earlier this week with possibly self-inflicted marks on his neck – and NBC News reported the alleged repeat sexual offender might have attempted to hang himself. Sources told the Daily News that it was unclear whether the injuries were from an assault or self-inflicted, and Epstein remains in custody at the prison in lower Manhattan.
“Jeffrey Epstein is currently housed at MCC New York and not in a local hospital as has been reported,” read a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. “As with all inmates, for privacy and security reasons, we do not share information on an inmate’s medical status or their conditions of confinement.”
The attorney for accused quadruple murderer Nicholas Tartaglione issued a statement denying that his client played any role in the injuries suffered by Epstein. The muscular ex-briarcliff Manor cop, imprisoned along with Epstein at the MCC, was targeted in bogus rumors due to his complaints about the brutal conditions inside the federal facility, defense lawyer Bruce Barket said.
“Any suggestion that Mr. Tartaglione assaulted anyone is a complete fabrication,” Barket said. “This story is being leaked to retaliate against Mr. Tartaglione for complaining to the court about the deplorable conditions at the MCC ... We warned the judge that officials at the jail would retaliate against Nick because we have been exposing the inhumane conditions at the facility.”
A lawyer for some of Epstein’s young accusers said she was happy to learn that the accused serial pedophile had survived whatever happened in his cell.
“I don’t wish suicide upon anyone, not even a recidivist predator who has tricked and hurt so many women,” said attorney Lisa Bloom. “We want him to stay alive to face the justice and accountability which is so long overdue.”
His lawyers had proposed that Epstein, accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 14, offered his fortune worth over $500 million as collateral in return for his pretrial release.
Epstein cut a deal with federal prosecutors in 2007 to avoid prosecution on similar Florida charges, eventually pleading guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and assigned to a work release program. A federal judge ruled this year that the agreement with the feds was illegally hidden from Epstein’s victims.
A second source told the Daily News that Epstein’s legal team was rubbing people the wrong way by monopolizing one of the rooms designated for lawyerclient meetings in the Special Housing Unit at the MCC. A half-dozen attorneys are listed as representing Epstein, and they come in shifts to maintain control of the room, according to the source.
Other attorneys typically wait for hours to get some time Jeffrey Epstein.
with their clients in the SHU, where Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was held while awaiting sentencing.
Epstein pleaded not guilty this month to the Manhattan federal allegations that carry a maximum jail term of 45 years. According to prosecutors, Epstein abused dozens of underage girls between 2002-05 at the Manhattan mansion and his Palm Beach, Fla., estate.