South Florida financier Jeffrey Epstein will be arraigned Monday in federal court on two sex trafficking-related charges, according to an indictment unsealed by prosecutors that alleges he sexually abused dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York City and Florida and paid them to engage in sex acts.
Epstein, 66, is accused of seeking out minors, some as young as 14, from at least 2002 through 2005 and paying them hundreds of dollars in cash for sex at either his home in Manhattan or estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
He is being charged with one count of sex trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking.
According to the indictment, he would initially ask his victims for “massages,” which would be done either fully or partially nude, and then become “increasingly sexual in nature.” He would then pay his victims to recruit additional girls, federal prosecutors said.
“In so doing, Epstein maintained a steady supply of new victims to exploit,” according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which added that unidentified “employees and associates” would communicate with victims to arrange the sexual encounters in Manhattan. He is accused of having a similar setup in Florida.
Epstein, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager who has powerful political connections that include President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton, was arrested at an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, on Saturday after flying from Paris. He is being held in a New York jail.
His arrest is part of a larger investigation by the Southern District of New York’s Public Corruption Unit, multiple people briefed on the matter earlier told NBC News.
The latest case against Epstein has also returned scrutiny to a previous arrest of him by Palm Beach police in 2005, when investigators sought to charge Epstein and two assistants with crimes tied to his sexual behavior with underage females at his home. Palm Beach investigators interviewed five alleged victims and 17 witnesses, according to the police files.
The investigative files alleged Epstein brought the girls to his house under the guise that they would give him massages, which police said would turn sexual.
Epstein, however, was able to make a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to dodge more serious charges by federal authorities and a potential life sentence in prison.
Instead, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution, which required him to register as a sex offender and serve about a year in jail, most of it in work release.
The deal was widely criticized as too lenient, and was worked out by attorneys for Epstein and agreed to by former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who is now President Donald Trump’s labor secretary.
Acosta did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News, but has previously defended the deal, telling a House Appropriations subcommittee in April that Epstein had to go to jail.
Epstein’s accusers, who say they were not told of the non-prosecution agreement in advance, are suing to have it thrown out.
In February, a federal judge ruled that the Florida prosecutors led by Acosta had violated federal law by failing to notify the accusers of the agreement.
But the Justice Department filed court papers last month that contend Epstein’s plea deal cannot be legally challenged because he has complied with its terms. The accusers have until Monday to respond to the federal filing.
Despite the non-prosecution agreement, authorities are still able to go after Epstein on other charges because the deal is limited to only the Miami area, including Palm Beach.
Paul Cassell, an attorney for four of Epstein’s accusers, said in a statement Saturday that his latest arrest “proves that Epstein should have been charged by federal prosecutors twelve years ago in Florida.”
An attorney for Epstein has declined to comment.
Epstein has addresses on his own island in St. Thomas, the Upper East Side in Manhattan, Paris, New Mexico, and Palm Beach, according to his sex offender registration in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement index.
The latest charges don’t mean the investigation is over either: the FBI searched his Manhattan townhouse on Saturday, which could uncover more evidence, and additional accusers might also come forward.
