Jail Blamed For Negligence And Misconduct In Jeffrey Epstein Suicide

Topline

A New York City federal jail has been accused of “negligence and misconduct” in the suicide of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in 2019.

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2004. Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images

Corbis via Getty Images

Key Facts

The lack of a cell mate, problem with surveillance cameras and too many bed linens, which were used in the suicide, were all preventable contributing factors to Epstein’s death, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a report released Tuesday.

Horowitz said jail staff were overworked and committed “numerous and serious failures” leading up to Epstein’s suicide, that he was never assigned a new cell mate after his was transferred to another facility and that “failure to conduct rounds and counts that evening…provided him an opportunity to commit suicide.”

Then-Attorney General Bill Barr previously attributed Epstein’s death to “a perfect storm of screw-ups,” a sentiment echoed in Horowitz’s report that found supervisors had lied to investigators and failed to properly investigate an earlier suicide attempt.

The investigation into the jail is the last of several inquires into Epstein’s suicide, which occurred just over a month after his arrest by the New York Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Task Force for bringing “dozens” of underaged girls to his mansions for sexual encounters.

Contra

The report broadly contradicts the conspiracy theories that immediately circled Epstein’s death after it was ruled a suicide, many of which suggest—without any evidence—Epstein was killed while in jail to prevent him from spilling secrets about the numerous wealthy politicians, Wall Street bigwigs and celebrities to whom he was connected.

Key Background

Epstein first caught the eye of police in 2005, when a Palm Beach mother reported her 14-year-old had been sexually abused. Federal officials identified at least three dozen girls who had allegedly been sexually abused by Epstein before he agreed to plead guilty in 2008 on state charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. In 2019 he was arrested on federal charges for sex trafficking, 35 days before his suicide. Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his close friend and confidant, were accused of building what prosecutors would later call a “pyramid scheme of abuse” to lure underage girls into sexual relationships with the financier. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for her role in the scheme. The high-profile nature of Epstein’s elite social circle—which included former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, director Woody Allen and others—has called into question who knew about, or participated in, the decades of alleged abuses. JPMorgan Chase provided banking services to Epstein, drawing a lawsuit last year from an unnamed plaintiff on behalf of victims who say they were sexually abused by Epstein over a 15-year period. The victims, which the New York Times reported could rise to more than 100, claimed the bank ignored repeated warnings that Epstein had been trafficking teenage girls because it valued him as a wealthy client. JPMorgan Chase earlier this month reached a tentative settlement and said it was prepared to pay $290 million to resolve the lawsuit. The bank is also defending itself against a suit from officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

From left, American real estate developer Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend model Melania Knauss, … [+] financier Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

Getty Images

Crucial Quote

“Any association with him was a mistake and we regret it,” JPMorgan Chase said earlier this month.

Tangent

Two islands once owned by Epstein have been a major focus of investigations into his misdeeds. Little St. James, a 70-acre private island near St. Thomas, is said to be where Epstein took underaged girls via one of his two Gulfstream jets. Employees of the air strip on the island have since said he would arrive with groups of girls that “look like they could be in high school.” Visits to the island by other influential people—including Prince Andrew, Stephen Hawking and Victoria’s Secret magnate Les Wexne—have been the subject of intense scrutiny. After over a year on the market, the two Caribbean islands were sold to billionaire Stephen Deckoff for $60 million, less than half of their initial asking price of $125 million. Deckoff, who said he never met Epstein or visited the islands until after the disgraced financier died in 2019, plans to develop a 25-room luxury resort on the property.