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| Jeffrey Epstein: Financier charged with sex trafficking | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Wealthy US financier and friend of the powerful, Jeffrey Epstein, has been formally charged in New York with running "a vast network" of underage girls for sex. | |
| The indictment alleges he enticed minors to visit his Manhattan and Florida mansions between 2002 and 2005. | The indictment alleges he enticed minors to visit his Manhattan and Florida mansions between 2002 and 2005. |
| According to the charges, the girls, some as young as 14, were given hundreds of dollars for sex acts. | According to the charges, the girls, some as young as 14, were given hundreds of dollars for sex acts. |
| Epstein is expected to plead not guilty to the charges. | Epstein is expected to plead not guilty to the charges. |
| He faces one count of sex trafficking and one of sex trafficking conspiracy. | He faces one count of sex trafficking and one of sex trafficking conspiracy. |
| The 66-year-old hedge fund manager was arrested on Saturday at Teterboro Airport after arriving from France on his private jet. | |
| He is due to appear in court. Reports suggest he could remain in custody until a bail hearing on Thursday. | |
| What does the charge sheet say? | |
| The indictment alleges Epstein knew his victims were under 18. | |
| Often they would be invited to perform a massage on the naked Epstein before being subjected to sexual abuse, it says. | |
| The accused "also paid certain of his victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused", the document alleges. | |
| He conspired with others "including employees and associates" who helped schedule encounters at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach residence, it is alleged. | |
| What about previous allegations? | |
| Epstein, once a friend of Prince Andrew, former US President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump, was previously accused of abusing dozens of teenage girls between 1999 and 2007. | |
| But he reached a plea deal to avoid federal sex trafficking charges in the case. | |
| He instead pleaded guilty in 2008 to lesser Florida state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. | |
| He spent 13 months in jail and registered as a sex offender, avoiding a possible life sentence. | |
| Earlier this year, a Florida judge ruled that federal prosecutors broke the law by not informing Epstein's victims of the plea deal at the time. | |
| Judge Kenneth Marra is currently deciding whether the non-prosecution agreement that protected Epstein from the more serious charges should still stand. | |
| Following the ruling, the White House said it was also "looking into" Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta's role in the plea deal, which he approved in his previous role as a US attorney. | |
| Epstein in December deprived his alleged victims of the chance to testify against him for the first time by reaching a last-minute agreement to settle a civil lawsuit. |