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| Members of a protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein as the hedge fund billionaire appears in court to face sex trafficking charges (AFP Photo/ STEPHANIE KEITH) |
New York (AFP) - Jeffrey Epstein, a hedge fund billionaire with ties to top politicians and celebrities, was charged on Monday with sexually exploiting dozens of young girls.
Epstein,
66, was arrested at an airport in New Jersey on Saturday after returning to the
United States from Paris on a private jet.
In an
indictment unsealed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York,
he was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of
conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
"(Epstein)
sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan,
New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, among other locations," the indictment
said.
Some of the
victims were as young as 14.
Epstein, a
well-connected financier whose friends have included President Donald Trump and
former president Bill Clinton, was convicted previously of paying young girls
for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.
But Epstein
avoided federal prosecution in those cases with a 2007 plea deal negotiated by
his lawyers with Alexander Acosta, now the labor secretary in the Trump
administration.
Under the
secret deal, he pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting prostitution
from a minor and served 13 months in a county jail.
Acosta, who
was the top federal prosecutor in Miami at the time, has been the target of a
campaign demanding his resignation over the relatively light sentence handed
down to the billionaire financier.
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