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Palm Beach money manager pleads guilty to hiring underage girls for sex — South Florida…¶
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sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-630epstein,0,6913787.story¶
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com¶
Palm Beach money manager pleads guilty to hiring underage girls for sex¶
By Missy Diaz¶
Sun-Sentinel.com¶
12:25 PM EDT, June 30, 2008¶
WEST PALM BEACH¶
Mega-rich Palm Beach-New York-Virgin Islands money manager Jeffrey Epstein traded his navy sport coat for a jail uniform today after pleading guilty to hiring underage Palm Beach County girls for erotic massages and sex.¶
As a result, Epstein will be designated a sex offender, a moniker that will require he register annually with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and any other jurisdiction that so requires.¶
Epstein, 55, will spend 18 months in the Palm Beach County Jail followed by a year of house arrest.¶
Judge Deborah Pucillo, who grilled Epstein and his¶
attorneys throughout today’s hearing, read off a litany of other conditions of Epstein’s house arrest, including a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, an hourly daily activity log and a stern warning that he not possess, watch or view any “obscene, pornographic or sexually stimulating material relative to your deviant behavior.”¶
The judge admonished Epstein not to have any contact — direct or indirect — with his victims, something Pucillo explained includes things like Facebook, MySpace, e-mail and text messages.¶
“That means no messages through carrier pigeons, no messages through third paries … is that clear?” she asked.¶
Epstein, a billionaire who lives in a five bedroom, 7½ bath, 13,000-square-foot mansion on El BrilloWay in Palm Beach, told the judge he’s an investment banker. He manages money for the super wealthy and counts among his friends former President Bill Clinton.¶
According to police reports, in 2004 and 2005, Epstein used a then 20-year-old girl to find 14- to 16-year-old girls from her school to “work” for him.¶
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-630epstein,0,3606120,print.story 6/30/2008¶
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Palm Beach money manager pleads guilty to hiring underage girls for sex — South Florida…¶
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In return, according to police, Epstein paid her $200 for each girl she found.¶
Epstein’s assistant kept the recruiter apprised of when Epstein would be in Palm Beach and the recruiter would take the girls to the mansion.¶
Once there, Epstein’s assistant escorted the girl to a bedroom furnished with a massage table and oils.¶
Epstein would enter in only a towel and would touch himself during some sessions and try fondling the girls with sex toys in others, according to police.¶
Following lengthy negotiations dating to Epstein’s July 2006 arrest, he pleaded guilty today to two counts: procuring a person under 18 for prostitution, and felony offer to commit prostitution.¶
The maximum penalty was 15 years in prison.¶
Epstein told the judge he takes no prescription medication other than for his cholesterol. He works in the Virgin Islands, he said, but while on house arrest he plans to do charitable work at a non-profit he formed charity called The Florida Science Foundation.¶
State records show the foundation was formed in November for the purpose of providing grants to organizations in science and research.¶
“My background is in physics,” Epstein told Pucillo.¶
Harvard and MIT have been recipients of grants from the organization, he said.¶
While the criminal case may have been disposed today, Epstein still faces civil lawsuits in federal court filed by four of the girls who are each seeking in excess of $50 million.¶
“We think the guilty plea today is a very positive development for the civil cases and validates the claims the girls were making,” said Jeffrey Herman, the Miami attorney representing the girls. “An important measure of justice is that he’ll be a registered sex offender.”¶
As deputies fingerprinted Epstein, who was dressed in a navy sport coat, jeans and sneakers, a phalanx of his handlers congregated outside the courtroom.¶
His attorney, Jack Goldberger, along with two other men, one in a seersucker suit, the other typing furiously on a laptop computer, stayed with Epstein until lawmen escorted him from the courtroom.¶
Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel¶
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-630epstein,0,3606120,print.story 6/30/2008¶