Prosecutors Accuse Jeffrey Epstein Of Trying To Bribe Witnesses With $350,000 Payment

Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire arrested on charges of child sex trafficking, has been accused of attempting to buy off potential witnesses against him by wiring them $350,000, according to court documents unsealed last week.

The allegations were made by the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan as part of a movement requesting that Epstein be denied bail on grounds that his vast wealth made him liable to flee the country or attempt to tamper with witnesses.

The prosecutors stated that Epstein had wired the money from an account he controlled to the potential witnesses in late November and December of 2018, shortly after the Miami Herald published an expose detailing Epstein’s 2008 sweetheart deal that largely prevented him from being punished for charges of child sex trafficking in Florida over a decade ago. That deal allowed Epstein to serve merely 13 months in jail, during which he was allowed to spend 12 hours a day, six days a week, in his work office in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

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The bail memorandum stated that Epstein had “paid significant amounts of money to influence individuals who were close to him during the time period charged in this case and who might be witnesses against him at a trial.”

The documents asserted that Epstein had wired $100,000 to an individual who had been named as a possible co-conspirator in the Florida case two days after the Herald published its piece. Three days after that, Epstein sent $250,000 to another figure who was named as a potential co-conspirator in the Florida case and was also identified in the New York indictment as an employee who helped the billionaire with his child sex ring.

Prosecutors claimed that the timing of the payments “suggests the defendant was attempting to further influence co-conspirators who might provide information against him in light of the recently re-emerging allegations.”

Article by Daniel Knopf