FBI, DOJ to probe Epstein suicide
NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein, the wellconnected financier accused of orchestrating a sextrafficking ring, had been taken off suicide watch before he killed himself in a New York jail, a person familiar with the matter said Saturday.
Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” to learn of Epstein’s death while in federal custody. The FBI and the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General will investigate, he said.
“Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered,” Barr said in a statement.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday morning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Fire officials received a call at 6:39 a.m. Saturday that Epstein was in cardiac arrest, and he was pronounced dead at New York PresbyterianLower Manhattan Hospital.
Epstein, 66, had been denied bail and faced up to
45 years behind bars on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges unsealed last month. He had pleaded not guilty and was awaiting trial on accusations of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.
He had been placed on suicide watch and given daily psychiatric evaluations after an incident a little over two weeks ago in which Epstein was found with bruising on his neck, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to discuss it publicly. It hasn’t been confirmed whether the injury was selfinflicted or the result of an assault.
Epstein was taken off suicide watch at the end of July, the person said.
The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that he had been housed in the jail’s Special Housing Unit, a heavily secured part of the facility that separates highprofile inmates from the general population. Until recently, the same unit had been home to the Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence at the socalled Supermax prison in Colorado.
Epstein’s death raises questions about how the Bureau of Prisons ensures the welfare of such highprofile inmates. In October, Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was killed in a federal prison in West Virginia, where he had just been transferred.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Saturday in a scathing letter to Barr that “heads must roll” after the incident.
Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who ran three federal lockups, said the death represents “an unfortunate and shocking failure, if proven to be a suicide.”
“Unequivocally, he should have been on active suicide watch and therefore under direct and constant supervision,” Lindsay said.
The federal investigation into the sexual abuse allegations remains ongoing, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who noted in a statement Saturday that the indictment against Epstein include a conspiracy charge, suggesting others could face charges in the case.
Epstein’s arrest last month launched separate investigations into how authorities handled his case initially when similar charges were first brought against him in Florida more than a decade ago. U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned last month after coming under fire for overseeing that deal when he was U.S. attorney in Miami.
On Friday, more than 2,000 pages of documents were released related to a sincesettled lawsuit against Epstein’s exgirlfriend by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers. The records contain graphic allegations against Epstein, as well as the transcript of a 2016 deposition of Epstein.
Sigrid McCawley, Giuffre’s attorney, said Epstein’s suicide less than 24 hours after the documents were unsealed “is no coincidence.” McCawley urged authorities to continue their investigation, focusing on Epstein associates who she said “participated and facilitated Epstein’s horrifying sex trafficking scheme.”