Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died overnight in an apparent suicide, federal officials said Saturday.
Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of Manhattan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan around 6:30 a.m. Jail staff tried to revive him, and then called for an ambulance.
Paramedics also tried to revive Epstein, and could be seen using a breathing bag as they wheeled him on a gurney into New York Downtown Hospital around 7:30 a.m. He was declared dead a short time later.
The city Medical Examiner’s office took Epstein’s body from the hospital to the city morgue at Bellevue Medical Center Saturday afternoon to determine the cause of death.
Two weeks ago, Epstein, 66, was found nearly unconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck. He was reportedly placed on suicide watch. Jail spokesman Lee Plourde said Epstein was not “currently” on suicide watch. The Associated Press reported he was taken off suicide watch, though it wasn’t immediately clear when.
The multimillionaire financier was being held without bail pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges. The FBI and the Department of Justice’s Inspector General are both looking into his death.
Epstein was busted July 6 over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm, Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. He pleaded not guilty and faced up to 45 years in prison.
Thousands of documents unsealed Friday in connection with a defamation case against the perv’s alleged recruiter revealed dozens of high-profile names that a self-identified victim, Virginia Giuffre, said she was forced to perform sex acts with, from former Maine Sen. George Mitchell and ex-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, money manager Glenn Dubin and MIT professor Marvin Minksy.
Epstein’s death unleashed a torrent of criticism. Attorney General William Barr, who was reportedly “livid” about the news. “Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered,” Barr said in a statement.
One of Epstein’s lawyers, in a personal statement, said prosecutors, politicians, judges and the press “all seem to have a share of Mr. Epstein’s blood on their hands.” Attorney Marc Fernich also called for an investigation.
And online, conspiracy theories around Epstein’s death flourished, as cynics noted his ties to the rich and powerful across politics and the world of finance.
On Friday, a fresh list of high-profile names linked to Epstein’s alleged child-sex ring was among a cache of some 2,000 documents released as part of a separate lawsuit against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell brought by one of Epstein’s self-identified victims.