Jeffrey Epstein Faces Child Trafficking Probe

Jeffrey Epstein Faces Child Trafficking Probe

By WSP Jul 30, 2010, 2:45 PM Author's Blog

The Daily Beast reports that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating hedge-fund manager Jeffrey Epstein for child trafficking.

Last week Epstein, whose net worth is estimated at $2 billion, completed his “sentence” of one-year house arrest in Palm Beach for soliciting prostitution with a minor. But it appears his problems may not be over. Now The Daily Beast has learned that:

• Federal investigators continue to investigate Epstein’s activities, to see whether there is evidence of child trafficking—a far more serious charge than the two in his non-prosecution agreement, the arrangement between Epstein and the Department of Justice allowing him to plead guilty to lower-level state crimes. Trafficking can carry a 20-year sentence.

• The FBI is also investigating Epstein’s friend Jean Luc Brunel, whose MC2 modeling agency appears to have been a source of girls from overseas who ended up on Epstein’s private jets.

Speaking of private jets. Underage girls weren’t the only lucky passengers flying on Epstein’s planes (“Victims alleged that Epstein molested underage girls from South America, Europe, and the former Soviet republics, including three 12-year-old girls brought over from France as a birthday gift“). Former President Bill Clinton; Britain’s Prince Andrew; former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers are also part of the list.

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