Credit Suisse fined over drugs gang money laundering

Yahoo = AFP, June 27, 2022 

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, which has been rocked by a series of scandals, was slapped with a $2-million-fine Monday in a money laundering case linked to a Bulgarian cocaine network. 

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court found that the bank failed to take steps to prevent money laundering by the criminal organisation, deeming it guilty of breaching its corporate responsibility. 

Credit Suisse was fined two million Swiss francs ($2.1 million). The Zurich-based bank intends to appeal. 

It was faulted for the failure up through its hierarchy and by its legal and compliance departments to monitor "banking relations" linked to the criminal gang, and to ensure their "compliance with anti-money laundering rules". 

A former employee was found guilty of aggravated money laundering over a number of transactions she had conducted or ordered to be conducted between July 2007 and December 2008, despite firm indications that the funds had criminal origins. 

Her actions allowed the criminal gang to stash more than 19 million Swiss francs out of reach of the authorities. 

She was given a 20-month prison sentence and a fine, both of which were suspended. 

In a brief statement, Credit Suisse said it noted the court's decision and that it intended to appeal. 

Two Bulgarians were also found guilty of participating in a criminal organisation and aggravated money laundering. 

The court also ordered the confiscation of a sum equivalent to more than 12 million francs concerning funds deposited with Credit Suisse by the criminal organisation. 

Furthermore the bank will have to compensate the more than 19 million francs in assets belonging to the criminal organisation, "which could not be confiscated due to the bank's internal failures", the court statement said.

Australian charged over 80s alleged hate crime murder of gay American

Yahoo - AFP, May 12, 2020

More than 30 years after the murder of Scott Johnson in a gay hate crime, police
in Australia say they have arrested and charged a suspect (AFP Photo/Handout)

More than 30 years after American Scott Johnson was killed in a suspected gay hate crime in Australia, police said Tuesday they had arrested and charged a man with his murder.

Detectives arrested the 49-year-old in the leafy Sydney suburb of Lane Cove on Tuesday and laid murder charges the same day.

The suspect's name was not released.

The breakthrough in the cold case came two months after the victim's family doubled a police reward in the case to Aus$2 million (US$1.3 million).

The 27-year-old mathematician Johnson's naked body was found at the base of a cliff in the Sydney suburb of Manly in December 1988, and police at the time ruled his death a suicide.

But a coroner found in 2017 that it was likely Johnson had been killed in a hate crime, suggesting he was either pushed over the cliff or fell while trying to escape unidentified assailants.

The inquest found that gangs roamed Sydney at the time searching for gay men to attack, and had been known to rob or assault men at the "gay beat" where Johnson's folded clothing was discovered.

In 2018, police announced an Aus$1 million reward for information leading to an arrest in the case, which was doubled when Johnson's brother, Steve, matched the amount in March.

Steve Johnson, who had long pushed police to investigate his brother's death, said it was "remarkable" the alleged killer had been apprehended almost 32 years later.

"This is a very emotional day. Emotional for me, emotional for my family who... love Scott dearly," he said in a video statement.

"It's emotional, I'm sure, for the gay community for whom Scott had come to symbolise the many dozens of other gay men who lost their lives in the 1980s and '90s in a world full of anti-gay prejudice and hatred."

In 2018, New South Wales police acknowledged that at least 27 murders between the 1970s and 2000 were homophobic hate crimes, admitting the force had played a part in marginalising the LGBT community and enabling society's "acceptance of shocking violence directed at gay men" during the period.

"It is clear and beyond question that levels of violence inflicted upon gay men in particular were elevated, extreme and often brutal," police said at the time.

The suspect in Johnson's murder is due to appear in a local Sydney court on Wednesday.

Man arrested for alleged €850,000 corona mask scam

DutchNews, April 8, 2020 

Criminals have been exploiting the high demand for masks. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Border police have arrested a man accused of selling two million medical face masks to China that were never delivered. 

The 49-year-old man from Purmerend agreed to sell €8 million of masks to ConectID and TKL Health DD, both based in Wuhan, in February. ConectID is owned by a British businessman and TKL Health by a Chinese Australian entrepeneur. 

The two companies paid €850,000 in advance to secure the delivery, but when the executives travelled to Amsterdam to view the goods nobody appeared to meet them. They were later directed to a business premises in Rotterdam that also proved to be empty. 

The owner of ConectID reported the fraud to police at Schiphol. Shortly afterwards he received an email from Purmerend asking him to withdraw his complaint and pay the outstanding amount in bitcoins. 

Police seached homes and business premises in the town on Wednesday morning and took away documents and materials for further analysis. 

‘This has high priority, especially at the moment,’ Dutch military police spokesman Robert van Kapel told NOS. ‘A person came to the Netherlands with good intentions to buy face masks in order to help people and prevent things becoming worse. Instead he was conned out of a huge sum. That is regrettable.’

Harvey Weinstein convicted of sexual assault and rape in 'new era' for #MeToo

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, February 24, 2020

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court where he would be
convicted on two charges of sexual assault and rape (AFP Photo/Johannes EISELE)

New York (AFP) - Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of sexual assault and rape but cleared of the most serious predatory sexual assault charges, a verdict hailed as a historic victory by the #MeToo Movement against sexual abuse.

The jury of seven men and five women, delivering their decision before a packed New York courtroom, found the once powerful Hollywood producer guilty of criminal sexual acts in the first degree and rape in the third degree.

However, the 67-year-old Oscar-winner whose films included "Shakespeare In Love" was found not guilty of first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault, charges that could have seen him jailed for life.

He instead faces up to 29 years in prison on the two felony convictions.

The ashen-faced defendant, who attended the trial hunched over a walker, showed little emotion in the moments after the verdict was delivered. He was later taken into custody pending sentencing, which was scheduled for March 11.

Harvey Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno vowed an appeal of the two guilty 

charges against the disgraced film producer (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

His lawyer Donna Rotunno vowed an appeal, saying "the fight is not over" and applauding Weinstein for taking the decision "like a man."

The mixed verdict offered a large measure of vindication for the dozens of women who made allegations against him.

It was the most high-profile sex assault conviction in the United States since Bill Cosby was found guilty in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years prior.

The Time's Up foundation, formed in the wake of the Weinstein case, celebrated the outcome as marking "a new era of justice."

"Abusers everywhere and the powerful forces that protect them should be on notice: There's no going back," it said in a statement.

Manhattan's top prosecutor Cyrus Vance praised the women who testified against him as having changed "the course of history."

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and former producer Harvey Weinstein, once the

 toast of Hollywood but now disgraced for sex crimes, shown here in 2016 (AFP Photo/

FREDERIC J. BROWN)

"This is the new landscape for sexual violence survivors. This is a new day," Vance told reporters outside the New York courthouse.

"We all owe an immense debt to you, who had the courage beyond measure to speak your story to the world, to the courtroom, at great personal risk, and in great personal pain."

'Public service'

More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct since allegations against him ignited a global reckoning against men abusing positions of power in October 2017.

But with many claims too old to prosecute, the jury considered charges related to just two: ex-actress Jessica Mann and former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.

The predatory sexual assault charges included testimony from "The Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment in the winter of 1993-94.

Former Actress Jessica Mann arrives for the trial of Harvey Weinstein at the 

Manhattan Criminal Court, on January 31, 2020 (AFP Photo/Johannes EISELE)

Six women took the stand to say they had been sexually assaulted by Weinstein.

They were subjected to ferocious cross-examination as Weinstein's defense team argued that his relationships were consensual and transactional.

The prosecution cast Weinstein as a conniving predator who demanded sex in exchange for access to a film universe where he reigned, but presented no forensic evidence or witness accounts.

The state's case instead rested on asking the jury to believe the women.

Ashley Judd, who has said Weinstein destroyed her film career after she rejected his sexual advances, tweeted thanks after the verdict dropped: "For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you."

Annabella Sciorra's allegation was too old to be prosecuted as an individual crime 

but she was included in the indictment to bolster the predatory sexual assault charge 

(AFP Photo/SPENCER PLATT)

Next stop, LA

Weinstein, who has always said his sexual relations were consensual, was charged with raping former actress Mann in the DoubleTree hotel in midtown Manhattan in 2013.

He was also charged with forcing oral sex on former production assistant Haleyi at his New York apartment in July 2006 while she was on her period.

The charges of predatory sexual assault, a serious sex crime committed against more than one person, were the most grave and carried a sentence of life in prison.

For the jury to convict Weinstein of that they would have had to believe either Mann or Haleyi plus Sciorra.

Main developments leading to the sex crimes trial of Harvey Weinstein (AFP Photo/

Gal ROMA)

Sciorra's allegation was too old to be prosecuted as an individual crime but she was included in the indictment to bolster the predatory sexual assault charge.

Ex-model Lauren Young had also told the court that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in the bathroom of a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2013 when she was a 22-year-old aspiring actress.

Eyes now turn to Los Angeles, where Young's allegations form part of a separate sex crimes investigation against Weinstein being carried out by prosecutors in the California city.

Los Angeles prosecutors accuse him of raping an Italian model in February 2013 and of assaulting Young the following night.

In El Salvador, government effort against gangs bears fruit

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos Mario MARQUEZ, February 8, 2020

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured at Isidro Menendez
Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

San Salvador (AFP) - Since his arrival in office in June, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has stepped up the country's war on criminal gangs, an effort that is bearing fruit according to experts who point to a falling murder rate.

The country of 6.5 million is one of the most violent in the world and its citizens also face chronic poverty which has prompted many to flee northward towards the United States, including in infamous migrant caravans.

In January El Salvador recorded 119 murders, its lowest monthly tally since the end of its civil war in 1992, the president said recently.

Its murder rate, meanwhile, has dropped massively between 2018 and 2019, from 51 to 35.6 inhabitants per 100,000.

When Bukele assumed office, criminal gangs intensified their activity in an apparent attempt to force the new government to make concessions such as easing jail conditions, analysts said.

A guard wathes over suspected Barrio 18 gang members at Isidro Menendez 

Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

Far from buckling, the government toughened its stance on jailed gang members.

"The message was clear: The gangs know that if they challenge the president, the jailed leaders will pay the consequences," said analyst Juan Ramon Medrano, a professor at Francisco Gavidia University.

Gangs holding back 

Justice and Security Minister Rogelio Rivas has repeated several times: "Now the government is in control of the country's prisons."

El Salvador's criminal gangs, which are involved in extortion, drug-trafficking and other crime, boast around 70,000 members, including 17,000 who are incarcerated.

According to Janette Aguilar, a researcher at the Central American University (UCA) of El Salvador, pressure from authorities has led to the gangs reigning in their activities.

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured at the Isidro Menendez 

Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

She suggested that "an agreement has been reached between the main rival gangs" Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13, to reign in their violent activities against each other.

Carlos Carcach, a researcher from the Higher School of Economics and Business said that "something is happening inside the gangs that explains them reducing their violence levels."

Bukele, 38, enjoys sky-high popularity ratings and his security policies have been well-received among weary Salvadorans.

Medrano says the public believes that under Bukele the police, with help from the military, are "trying harder" to combat criminal gangs while working "more intelligently."

Extortion still rampant

While there are fewer murders not all of the gangs' activities are on the decline.

Suspected members of the Barrio 18 gang are pictured in custody at Isidro 

Menendez Justice Court in San Salvador on February 6 (AFP Photo/MARVIN RECINOS)

"There's been no decrease in extortion, which is the gangs' oxygen," said Medrano.

The president's biggest challenge is "to stop extortion and get to the root of the problem," which means preventing the gangs from recruiting new young members, he added.

But to do that, "youngsters need to have the opportunity to work and study to better themselves," he said.

Greater reduction of gang violence would open the way for more investment in El Salvador's poorest communities therefore helping the youngsters, he added.

Weinstein prosecutor calls for higher bail, cites flight risk

Yahoo – AFP, 6 December 2019

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan
courtroom for a bail hearing -- prosecutors want his bail to be raised

New York prosecutors on Friday called for Harvey Weinstein's bail to be increased to $5 million, arguing that the disgraced Hollywood mogul -- accused of sex crimes -- had violated the conditions of his release and could try to flee the country.

The once-powerful film producer, whose case sparked the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, appeared in a Manhattan court for a hearing on his bail conditions, as his trial looms on January 6.

As well as the $1 million bail already set, the 67-year-old, who faces charges of rape and forcibly performing oral sex on a woman, has had his passport confiscated and wears an electronic tracking bracelet.

Weinstein, looking frail as he was helped by lawyers into the courtroom, is allowed to travel around the United States as long as he informs the authorities any time he leaves New York state, where he lives.

But prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon however said that on numerous occasions, the producer of "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love" had been untraceable -- in violation of the terms of his release.

On two occasions in September and October, the radio silence had lasted for several hours, prompting the district attorney's office to send an investigator to his home north of New York City.

Since he always travels outside New York by private jet and has access to "almost unlimited resources," Illuzzi-Orbon argued that "this man could fly out in a private jet and go to another country, like that."

"We just want to make sure he is here for the trial," she said, requesting the bail increase.

Donna Rotunno, one of Weinstein's lawyers, blamed the gaps in transmission on a lack of cell phone towers in rural Bedford, where her client lives.

"These are nothing more than technical glitches," she said. "He employs someone to make sure this is handled."

"There was never an attempt to remove the bracelet," she said, adding that her client "is anxious to comply with court orders... he is anxious to go to trial."

Judge James Burke made no decision on Friday but said the court would reconvene on Wednesday.

Malta PM to step down over slain reporter case: party sources

Yahoo – AFP, Matthew Xuereb, November 30, 2019

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has faced mounting criticism over his
government's handling of the murder of Caruana Galizia (AFP Photo/Christof STACHE)

Valletta (AFP) - Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will step down on January 18, party sources told AFP Saturday, following mounting criticism of his response to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Party insiders said he would step down once those behind the killing had been charged and once his Labour Party has chosen a new leader.

"He always said that he will be leaving soon and he feels that now is the time to go," said one party source.

First however, he wanted to see that the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder was solved on under his watch, as he had promised, sources added.

"After the mastermind or masterminds are arraigned in court, he plans to announce that he will be stepping down and that there will be a leadership election on January 18," a party source told AFP.

The sources did not say when 45-year-old Muscat would announce his decision -- or whether it would be via a televised announcement -- but they stressed that he would not stay beyond January 18.

The news came amid mounting pressure from Caruana Galizia's family and protesters on the streets, who have cried foul over his handling of the affair.

Mounting pressure

The escalating murder investigation has rocked the tiny Mediterranean island and reached the highest rungs of the country's politics, with two ministers and Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri stepping down from their posts this week.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening 

after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder to 

disclose what he knows about the case (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder, tycoon Yorgen Fenech, to disclose what he knows about the case.

It was the sixth such demonstration in two weeks.

Fenech has identified Schembri as the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia's 2017 car bomb killing, according to sources.

Schembri was arrested on Tuesday, but his release on Thursday sparked accusations of a cover-up.

Muscat, who has vowed to resign if links were found between himself and the murder, said Friday he would remain in power, telling reporters he wanted "this case to be closed under my watch".

But Caruana Galizia's family, who have accused the prime minister of protecting his long-time chief of staff have called for him to go.

"We share Malta's shock and anger at the release of Keith Schembri," the family said in a statement.

"At least two witnesses and multiple pieces of physical evidence implicate Schembri in the assassination of our wife and mother."

They accused Muscat of playing "judge, jury, and executioner in an assassination investigation that so far implicates three of his closest colleagues".

'Disgraceful'

Muscat said Friday he had recused himself from the decision on whether to grant immunity to Fenech.

Protesters reacted angrily after Yorgen Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests
span the energy and tourism sectors, was released (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The prime minister later said he had reported Fenech to the police for attempted blackmail, saying the mogul had threatened to implicate him in the affair if he was not given a pardon.

Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests span the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht last week after an alleged middleman in the murder, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was offered a pardon to identify those involved.

That arrest was followed swiftly by the resignation of Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, while economy minister Chris Cardona said he was "suspending himself".

Caruana Galizia, a popular journalist and blogger described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", exposed cronyism and sleaze within the country's political and business elite.

Before she was killed, she had alleged that Schembri and Mizzi had been involved in corruption. She had named Cardona in a separate case.

Leaked emails revealed in court appeared to show both Schembri and Mizzi stood to receive payments from a Dubai company called 17 Black, owned by Fenech.

The Caruana Galizia family said Schembri and Fenech have the same doctor, who reportedly served as an intermediary, passing secret notes between them.

'Fear for my life'

A Maltese court is expected to rule Monday on a request by Fenech for the chief investigator in the case, Keith Arnaud, to be removed, amid allegations he also had close ties to Schembri and the prime minister.

After his release on bail Fenech told journalists he feared for his life.

"This is happening in the EU, right now. Where is the voice of the European Commission or other EU leaders?" Robert Barrington, former head of Transparency International in the UK, said on Twitter.

The European Parliament is planning to send a mission to Malta, a parliament source told AFP.

Shrugging off Trump, FBI tackles right-wing extremists

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, August 25, 2019

Guns, ammunition and tactical gear seized by police near Los Angeles after
arresting a man who threatened a mass shooting (AFP Photo/Handout)

Guns, ammunition and tactical gear seized by police near Los Angeles after arresting a man who threatened a mass shooting (AFP Photo/Handout)

Washington (AFP) - One man had three assault rifles, extra-large magazines and a gas mask. Another had over 18 weapons, including sawed-off shotguns, AR-15s, and a grenade launcher.

Earlier this year, the two might not have drawn the attention of US law enforcement.

But ever since a young racist slaughtered 22 at a Texas Walmart, and another man murdered 10 in Ohio three weekends ago, the FBI has arrested at least seven right-wing extremists in what appears to be a more earnest effort to target white nationalist threats in the United States.

Vaults of guns, crates of ammunition

These are some examples of the deeply disturbing cases.

On August 8, a 23-year-old Las Vegas security guard who communicated with neo-Nazis was arrested with bomb-making materials and indications he might target a synagogue or gay nightclub.

A week later, a Connecticut man, 22, was detained after suggesting online that he would carry out a mass shooting. At his home, investigators found multiple hand and long guns, camouflage outfits, titanium body armor and a combat helmet.

On August 12, an 18-year-old who voiced support for mass shootings was indicted for threatening to kill law enforcement officers. At his home, he had a vault full of weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Four days after that, Florida police arrested a 25-year-old man who texted his girlfriend that he was planning a mass shooting and envisioned "100 good kills."

Members and supporters of the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest 

neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a rally on April 21, 2018 in Newnan, Georgia

(AFP Photo/SPENCER PLATT)

On August 17, a 20-year-old white nationalist was arrested in Ohio for threatening a Jewish community center. At his home, he had amassed multiple semi-automatic assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, and a gas mask.

And this week, police in Long Beach, California, arrested a man for making a mass shooting threat, and found at his home several illegal assault rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and high-capacity magazines.

FBI waking up

The arrests brought to light the extent of the threat of extremist ideology on the right, and its ability to motivate uniformly young, white men into acting on their hate.

They also, analysts said, mark a change after US justice authorities have been accused for years of doing little about domestic terrorism, which has now killed more Americans since 2002 than Islamist extremism.

"I think that federal law enforcement understand that this is at the highest level of concern," said Brian Levin, head of the Study for Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.

"They are certainly devoting a decent amount of investigative resources."

President Donald Trump has been criticized for not roundly condemning white nationalists and neo-Nazis in the wake of several shootings and violent incidents, in particular after a deadly neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

Analysts say that reticence left the FBI not fully invested in confronting the threat.

Mass shootings like the one at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas have forced US law 

enforcement to reckon with a broad threat from white nationalist extremists

(AFP Photo/Mark RALSTON)

A NBC-Wall Street Journal poll conducted earlier this month and released Sunday showed that 56 percent of those surveyed believe that race relations in the US have gotten worse since Trump's election.

The FBI feels held back from opening investigations by Trump's refusal to criticize people he considers part of his loyal voter base, former FBI terrorism supervisor Dave Gomez told The Washington Post.

"It's a no-win situation for the FBI agent and his supervisor."

850 domestic terror probes

But the agency has now clearly recognized the priority.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in July that they have 850 open "domestic terror" investigations and have made 100 arrests so far. The majority of those cases, he said, are "what you might call white supremacist violence."

But Wray also stressed that they were targeting crimes rather than an ideology -- a sharply different approach than that for Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda sympathizers, who can be arrested for expressing support for outlawed jihadists.

Wray's predecessor Andrew McCabe said Friday that the agency is overcoming that wariness, even if it could mean encroachments on civil liberties.

"I think the FBI appears to be refocusing, and augmenting their efforts on the domestic terrorist threat," McCabe told CNN.

Now there is "a much higher degree of sensitivity... to the statements which are now seen as predictors of potentially mass shootings," he said.

Levin said the arrests also show that, after the shock of recent mass shootings, the US public is more attuned to the ideological threat and ready to report any hints by perpetrators of their radical ideologies.

"I think that has created a familiarity among the public with what certain warning signs are," he said.

Outcry as Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail, FBI investigates

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, August 10, 2019

In this undated handout photo obtained July 11, 2019 courtesy
of the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey
Epstein (AFP Photo/HO)

New York (AFP) - US financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting trial on charges he trafficked underage girls for sex, was found dead in his prison cell Saturday from an apparent suicide, officials said.

Political leaders and law enforcement officials quickly expressed shock that a high-profile detainee who had already apparently tried to end his life in late July and would presumably be under close watch could manage to commit suicide. The Justice Department and the FBI launched investigations of the jet-set hedge fund manager's death.

Epstein, a convicted pedophile who befriended numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center from "an apparent suicide", the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The disgraced financier was discovered around 6:30 am (1030 GMT) and rushed to hospital in New York where he was pronounced dead, it added in a statement.

Attorney General Bill Barr said he was "appalled" to learn of Epstein's death and had instructed the justice department's inspector general to probe how he could have died while in federal custody.

"Mr Epstein's death raises serious questions that must be answered," Barr said in a statement.

The FBI is also investigating the incident, said the DoJ.

The New York Times and other media quoted officials as saying Epstein hanged himself.

The city medical examiner's office confirmed Epstein's death but not what caused it.

It came a day after a tranche of sealed legal documents were released for the first time providing new details about what prosecutors allege was Epstein's sex-trafficking operation.

The death also comes just over two weeks after the 66-year-old was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck after an apparent suicide attempt.

Epstein did not appear to be showing any visible signs of injuries when he appeared in court on July 31 following that incident, to be told that his trial wouldn't begin before June of next year.

'We need answers'

The wealthy hedge fund manager had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He was denied bail last month in a New York court because he was deemed a flight risk.

Epstein denied the charges and had faced up to 45 years in prison -- effectively the rest of his life -- if convicted.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility in Manhattan that is often used to house suspects awaiting or during trial, is considered one of the most secure penal establishments in the US.

The infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman spent more than two years there before being convicted and transferred to a federal prison in Colorado.

Epstein's death quickly raised questions about whether Epstein was in fact on suicide watch.

"We need answers. Lots of them," tweeted New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Justice Department, said an investigation must "determine who is responsible."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who heads the Senate's judiciary oversight committee, said the government had failed Epstein's alleged victims "yet again."

"These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court," he said.

On Friday, two thousand pages of documents focusing on testimony by a victim who claimed she was a "sex slave" of Epstein were released by a New York court.

In them, Virginia Giuffre, now an adult, claims that she was forced to have sex with well-known American political and business personalities. They have all denied the allegations.

Sexual massages

Prosecutors said Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage teenagers, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

They claim that Epstein was "well aware that many of the victims were minors."

The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors allege.

They say Epstein had an army of recruiters, often not much older than their targets, who would approach vulnerable teens.

Epstein is also accused of paying off possible co-conspirators to "influence" them, US media have reported.

Epstein, whose friends have included President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, was convicted previously of paying young girls for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.

They have all denied knowing anything about his alleged crimes.

Epstein avoided federal prosecution under a plea deal that required him to admit to a single Florida state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor and register as a sex offender.

He served 13 months in a county jail before being released in 2009.

Last month, Alex Acosta resigned as US labor secretary amid a backlash over the deal that he negotiated with Epstein in that case while he was a federal prosecutor in Florida.

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US hedge fund billionaire charged with sex trafficking minors


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