Billionaire Pedo Jeffrey Epstein Arrested On Sex-Trafficking Charges
Feb. 12 2020, Updated 6:03 p.m. ET
Billionaire and notorious registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly arrested on Saturday, July 6, in New York on new sex-trafficking charges of minors in Florida and NY.
Epstein was busted in Teterboro, N.J., after he reportedly had flown from Paris to New York. The arrest was part of a joint New York Police Department and FBI investigation.
According to law enforcement officials who spoke to NBC News, Epstein will allegedly face federal charges for incidents between 2002-2005.
A report said one of the officials has claimed that Epstein is allegedly accused of paying underage girls for massages and molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York.
Epstein, 66, is now being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
In 2008, Epstein was convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, for which he served 13 months in "custody with work release."
A plea deal once ended a federal investigation against Epstein, but the deal is now being challenged in Florida federal court.
The deal had allowed Epstein to plead guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution—and required him to reach financial settlements with dozens of his once-teenage victims and register as a sex offender.
A U.S. District Judge in Florida ruled earlier this year that Epstein's victims should have been consulted under federal law about the deal, and a decision will made be made on whether to invalidate the non-prosecution agreement that protected Epstein from federal charges.
In court documents, federal prosecutors in the Florida case argued Epstein's deal must stand.
The victims in the Florida case have until Monday to respond to the Justice Department's filing.
According to Florida court records, authorities allege at least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein's Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters after female fixers looked for suitable girls locally and in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.