(Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Epstein has both the means and the motive to flee, federal prosecutors said Monday in their effort to deny bail to the wealthy fund manager arrested on charges of child sex trafficking.
The “exorbitant wealth” they cited in a court filing includes a mansion in New York once valued at $77 million, two residences in the U.S. Virgin Islands -- one of them on his own private island -- and homes in Paris, New Mexico and Palm Beach, Florida. They listed 15 cars, including a Range Rover and a Mercedes-Benz sedan, and two private planes, one of which is capable of international travel.
Then there is the motive. The government said it found a “vast trove of lewd photographs” in a search of Epstein's New York mansion over the weekend, saying the images show he is a danger to the public and should be held without bail.
Epstein's lawyers, Martin Weinberg and Reid Weingarten, declined to comment on the charges.
The reference to the evidence seized from Epstein's New York mansion was made in a government request to a judge that Epstein remain in federal custody pending the outcome of his case. At age 66 and facing as many as 45 years behind bars if convicted on all charges, he “faces the very real prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison,” the government said.
Read More: Epstein Faces Prison for Sex Trafficking; U.S. Seeks Mansion
Some of the photographs were found in a locked safe in the mansion, along with compact disks with labels including “Girl pics nude.” The detention request said the photos appeared to be of underage girls fully or partly undressed.
“The defendant, a registered sex offender, is not reformed, he is not chastened, he is not repentant; rather, he is
a continuing danger to the community and an individual who faces devastating evidence supporting deeply serious charges,” the U.S. argued.
The government said flight logs showed Epstein has taken 20 international trips since January 2018, including multiweek overseas stays such as the one he was returning from in Paris when he was arrested. He also has “no known immediate family,” with no spouse or children, and thus no ties that would bind him to the U.S., prosecutors said.
During a previous investigation, into his conduct in Florida, Epstein intimidated several witnesses or their relatives, with his private investigator forcing the father of one figure off the road, the U.S. said. Florida prosecutors considered including an obstruction charge in the case against him but ultimately allowed him to plead to a single count of procuring a minor for prostitution.
The bail hearing will resume next Monday.
The case is U.S. v. Epstein, 19-cr-490, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Berthelsen in New York at cberthelsen1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey
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