Jeffrey Epstein Dies By Suicide In NYC Jail; FBI Investigating

NEW YORK, NY — Jeffrey Epstein, the Manhattan financier and convicted sex offender awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, died in an apparent suicide after being found unresponsive in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan early Saturday morning, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.

Epstein's death comes just over two weeks after it was reported that he was found injured in his jail cell in a possible suicide attempt. His death also comes less than a day after documents unsealed as part of defamation case against Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, provided new details into what was reportedly happening inside Epstein's homes.

Prison officials said in a press release that staff began life-saving procedures on Epstein before he was taken by EMS to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Epstein's death is under investigation by the FBI.

In a statement, Attorney General William Barr said he was "appalled" to learn that Epstein had been found dead in the jail.

"I was appalled to learn that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead early this morning from an apparent suicide while in federal custody," Barr said in a statement.

"Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered," the statement continued. "In addition to the FBI’s investigation, I have consulted with the Inspector General who is opening an investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Epstein’s death."

Epstein, 66, had been denied bail by a federal judge, ensuring that he would stay locked up. His lawyers lawyers requested that the court let the financier stay under supervision in his sprawling Upper East Side mansion, where federal prosecutors allege that he sexually abused several teenage girls.

At a court appearance on July 31, a tentative trial date was set for Epstein for mid-2020. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the office prosecuting Epstein, said in a statement it was "deeply aware" of how Epstein's death presents another hurdle to giving Epstein's victims their day in court.

"To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment — which included a conspiracy count — remains ongoing," Geoffrey S. Berman, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, said in the statement.

Berman urged anyone who may have been a victim or anyone who has information related to the case to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

SEE ALSO: MCC New York: 5 Things To Know About Jail Where Epstein Died

Epstein had pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted teen girls for years at his New York and Florida homes, paid them hundreds of dollars and got his victims to recruit others for his abuse.

Two law enforcement sources who spoke to Patch said there had been talk of added protections for Epstein after the earlier suicide attempt but they were unsure whether they had been put in place. One of the officials said that part of the investigation into the death will focus on why Epstein was not on suicide watch. The official added that Epstein was taken off suicide watch on July 29 after the earlier attempt.

According to the bureau of prisons, Epstein was in a cell in the special housing unit of the jail, where "inmates are housed in the least restrictive setting necessary to ensure their own safety, as well as the safety of staff, other inmates, and the public." Inmates are separated from the general prison population in special housing units and are either housed alone or with other inmates, according to the BOP.

Inmates could be placed in the special housing unit for a number of reasons, including if they requested protective custody or were given "involuntary protective custody." Just under 500 BOP inmates are in the special housing unit for those two reasons, according to the latest statistics from the agency.

The case against Epstein was revived by federal prosecutors in New York in July. The multimillionaire was arrested aboard his private plane that had landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey from Paris.

Epstein lured girls as young as 14 to his homes on East 71st Street and in Palm Beach, Florida, for sexual encounters from at least 2002 to 2005, according to an indictment charging him with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. Epstein sought out girls who were minors and knew some of them were underage because they told him how old they were, federal prosecutors in New York said in the indictment.

Authorities also found hundreds of photographs of what appeared to be nude and partially nude underage girls in his Manhattan mansion on the night he was arrested, according to a court filing.

A criminal case against Epstein that contained similar charges was closed in Florida a decade ago in a secret plea deal. Trump's former labor secretary, Alex Acosta, was the top federal prosecutor in Miami when the deal was made. Facing fresh public pressure, Acosta resigned shortly after Epstein's arrest in July.

In February, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors broke the law in concealing the terms of the deal from underage victims, The Miami Herald reported. The Herald's reporting on the Epstein plea deal brought renewed attention to how he was able to avoid charges and how details of the case were hidden from the public. Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to lesser prostitution charges and spent just 13 months in jail.

If convicted on the current charges, Epstein faced up to 45 years in prison.

Colin Miner contributed reporting.

Brendan Krisel and Noah Manskar contributed to this report.