Reports: Jeffrey Epstein Arrested On Sex Trafficking Charges - NPR

Jeffrey Epstein, pictured here in an undated photo, was arrested Saturday and charged with sex trafficking, according to media reports. Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

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Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images

The multimillionaire financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday in the New York area and charged with sex trafficking relating to incidents from the early 2000s, according to multiple media reports citing anonymous law enforcement sources.

NPR has not independently confirmed the reports.

Epstein, 66, is expected to appear in federal court in New York Monday.

Under a controversial plea deal reached in 2007 with Alex Acosta, who was the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of soliciting prostitution and avoided more serious federal charges relating to allegations of molesting dozens of young girls.

Acosta is now secretary of labor in the Trump administration. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the plea deal was illegally concealed from Epstein's alleged victims.

The Miami Herald published an investigation last year of the reported collaboration between federal prosecutors and Epstein's lawyers.

Epstein "essentially came up with this sex operation where he would recruit girls — underage girls in Palm Beach, have them come to his home for a massage," Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown told NPR in February. "Ostensibly that's what they were being asked to do, but he molested them. And authorities suspect that he molested hundreds of girls over a five- or six-year period in Palm Beach alone and possibly operated an international sex-trafficking organization around the world."

But under the agreement over a decade ago, Epstein avoided serious time behind bars. He served 13 months in county jail and registered as a sex offender. He was granted work release and spent most days at his office in Palm Beach.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra in the Southern District of Florida is now deciding whether that nonprosecution agreement should still stand.

The new charges are in a sealed indictment, according to CBS Miami. They "involve alleged sex trafficking crimes committed between 2002 and 2005, according to law enforcement sources. The indictment alleged that the crimes occurred in both New York and Palm Beach, Florida."

The station says Epstein is charged with one count of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and will appear for a bond hearing Monday.

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