NEW YORK (Reuters) – Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead yesterday after an apparent suicide in the New York jail cell where he was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges, and a source said he was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.
Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the lower Manhattan jail, said in a statement. It declined to comment further.
Epstein, a well-connected money manager dogged for years by allegations that he sexually abused girls and young women, was found hanging by his neck, according to the source, who was not authorised to speak on the record.
The financier, who once counted Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former President Bill Clinton as friends, was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14, from at least 2002 to 2005.
The FBI and the Department of Justice’s Inspector General were opening investigations into his death, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said, adding that he was “appalled” to learn of the apparent suicide in federal custody.
Last month, Epstein was found unconscious on the floor of his jail cell with marks on his neck, and officials were investigating that incident as a possible suicide or assault.
“Mr Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered,” Barr said in a statement.
Even though Epstein was found unconscious last month, he had recently been taken off suicide watch, a special set of procedures for inmates in danger of taking their own life, according to the source. The financier was in a cell by himself when his body was found.
It was not immediately clear why Epstein was taken off suicide watch.
Aja Davis, a spokeswoman for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said she could not say how Epstein died before her office examined the body.
