Jeffrey Epstein wants a federal judge to let him out on house arrest rather than making him sit in the notorious Manhattan federal lockup while he awaits trial for child sex trafficking.
Lawyers for the billionaire convicted pedophile offered to put up his $77 million Upper East Side townhouse and his private jet as collateral in exchange for being allowed to stay home with a GPS ankle monitor, his attorneys argue in a new Manhattan federal court filing.
Epstein’s attorneys note that the indictment against Epstein, which the US attorney unsealed Monday, pertains to conduct that allegedly occurred between 2002 and 2005 — and that the fact that the government hasn’t come forward with allegations of additional sex trafficking in the ensuing 14 years is a sign that he is “no longer a danger to anyone.”
“During the years since his release from incarceration in connection with his Florida guilty plea, Mr. Epstein has been a law-abiding citizen without a single allegation of criminal misconduct during that period and has focused his efforts on business and philanthropy,” the lawyers argue.
Prosecutors allege that Epstein, 66, who pleaded not guilty to the indictment, sexually exploited and abused “dozens” of minor girls at his townhouse at 9 E. 71st St., which the government has moved to seize, as well as his residence in Palm Beach, Fla.
Authorities raided the lavish Manhattan pad last weekend and say they found kiddie porn and a massage room stocked with sexual paraphernalia. Jennifer Araoz, Epstein’s latest accuser, alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court that the billionaire creep’s lair also featured a self-portrait of Epstein with a young girl, and a pair of fake breasts in his bathtub.
The government has argued strongly against letting Epstein go free before he stands trial, noting that the globetrotting perv has a private jet and residences in Paris and the Virgin Islands and faces a possible 45-year maximum sentence.
A prosecutor told District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan federal court at a hearing Monday that there are no immediate plans to charge more defendants with being involved in the alleged sex trafficking ring — but didn’t rule that out.
In their filing arguing for Epstein’s release, attorneys called his 2008 sweetheart plea agreement in Florida — under which he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for sex and did 13 months of an 18-month sentence — Epstein’s “only notable brush with the law” until this indictment.
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