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Jeffrey Epstein Is Indicted on Sex Charges as Discovery of Nude Photos Is Disclosed

Lurid pictures found in the financier’s home could prompt a reckoning for the Justice Department, which has been accused of mishandling the case a decade ago.

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Epstein Created an ‘Ever-Expanding Web of New Victims,’ Says Prosecutor

Federal prosecutors unsealed a federal sex crimes case against Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire financier, accusing him of running a sex-trafficking operation involving underage girls.

The charges allege that Epstein sexually abused young girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts for money. The underage girls were initially recruited to provide Epstein with massages — and often did so nude or partially nude. These massages became increasingly sexual in nature and would typically include one or more sex acts as specified in the indictment. As alleged, Epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused. This allowed Epstein to create an ever-expanding web of new victims.

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Federal prosecutors unsealed a federal sex crimes case against Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire financier, accusing him of running a sex-trafficking operation involving underage girls.CreditCredit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

[Read our previous coverage of the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein.]

A trove of lewd photographs of girls, discovered in a safe inside the financier Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion the same day he was arrested, is deepening questions about why federal prosecutors in Miami had cut a deal that shielded him from federal prosecution in 2008.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Mr. Epstein on Monday with sex trafficking, dealing an implicit rebuke to that plea agreement, which was overseen by Alexander Acosta, then the United States attorney in Miami and now President Trump’s labor secretary.

The indictment in Manhattan could prompt a moment of reckoning for the Justice Department, which for years has wrestled with accusations that it mishandled the earlier case and has faced a barrage of litigation from Mr. Epstein’s accusers. In February, the Justice Department opened its own internal review into the matter.

Attorney General William P. Barr said on Monday during a trip to South Carolina that he had recused himself from the case because Mr. Barr’s former law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, had represented Mr. Epstein.

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Listen to ‘The Daily’: United States v. Jeffrey Epstein

The financier, long accused of sexually assaulting underage girls, has been shielded from federal charges for decades. Now, in the #MeToo era, a new indictment has revived the case.
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Listen to ‘The Daily’: United States v. Jeffrey Epstein

Hosted by Michael Barbaro, produced by Clare Toeniskoetter and Michael Simon Johnson, and edited by Larissa Anderson

The financier, long accused of sexually assaulting underage girls, has been shielded from federal charges for decades. Now, in the #MeToo era, a new indictment has revived the case.

michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.”

Today: Prosecutors in New York are accusing Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls and asking them to recruit other underage girls. Pati Mazzei on what happened in a similar case against Epstein over a decade ago.

It’s Tuesday, July 9.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

Good morning. I’m Geoff Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Today, we announce the unsealing of sex trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein.

michael barbaro

Pati, tell us about what happened in New York on Monday.

patricia mazzei

So on Monday morning, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, holds a press conference where he announces new federal criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

Epstein was taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. And later today, he will be presented before a magistrate judge.

patricia mazzei

Epstein is a former hedge fund manager who made his wealth in Wall Street. He’s got a palatial townhouse in the Upper East Side of New York. He’s got a mansion on Palm Beach Island. He’s got property at the United States Virgin Islands. And he is friends with the rich and powerful, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of York in England.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

Epstein was arrested this past Saturday evening at Teterboro Airport aboard his private jet that had just landed from Paris, France.

michael barbaro

And what is the U.S. attorney in New York alleging that Epstein did?

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

Epstein is charged in a two-count indictment — first, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, and second, the substantive crime of sex trafficking of underage girls.

patricia mazzei

According to prosecutors, Epstein created this network between 2002 and 2005.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

The victims were all underage girls at the time of the alleged conduct.

patricia mazzei

In which he invited girls — underage girls — into his mansion in New York and in Palm Beach, and he paid them to give him nude massages.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

These massages became increasingly sexual in nature and would typically include one or more sex acts, as specified in the indictment.

patricia mazzei

Those encounters often ended in masturbation, oral sex and, in at least one case, rape.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

As alleged, Epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused.

patricia mazzei

And he also paid them to recruit more girls that could come to his house, therefore creating this sort of ever-expanding network of sex trafficking.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

The alleged behavior shocks the conscience. And while the charged conduct is from a number of years ago, it is still profoundly important to the many alleged victims, now young women. They deserve their day in court, and we are proud to be standing up for them by bringing this indictment.

patricia mazzei

And the prosecutors said that even though some of these encounters happened a long time ago, that some of this is old, these girls, who are now women, deserve their day in court.

archived recording (geoffrey berman)

Thank you.

michael barbaro

So the prosecutor in New York makes a point of saying, this alleged behavior dates back years and years — basically to 2002. So why are we just seeing these charges today?

patricia mazzei

That’s the key question, Michael. Because what is stunning about this case when you listen to the U.S. attorney in New York on Monday is that it sounded so familiar to allegations made against Jeffrey Epstein in Florida more than a decade ago. In that case, the girls in Florida did not get their day in court. But the story of how the Florida case against Epstein unraveled is one of the reasons why we are here today talking about this case against him in New York.

michael barbaro

So what exactly is the story of what happened in Florida?

patricia mazzei

The story begins in 2005 when a girl and her parents go to the police in Palm Beach and tell them that she has been molested by Epstein and paid for it. And the police start investigating. And what they find is not just one girl, but many girls with stories about being molested by Epstein. And some girls just lead to more girls. And so they wind up with what they think is a very big case on their hands. They take it to the state attorney, but, eventually, the police feel like Epstein might not get as harsh of a charge as they would like, given the number of victims that they have seen. And concerned about that, they take the case to the F.B.I. and say, help us. We think there is a big case here.

michael barbaro

And why do the local police have that suspicion, that Epstein will not be appropriately charged? What exactly did they fear?

patricia mazzei

They become anxious that either because of Epstein’s wealth or name in the community or the fact that he didn’t have a criminal history, that he just might not be charged as strongly as they think he should be charged. For example, that instead of some sort of sex abuse charge, he might end up with something like soliciting prostitution that would elicit a less harsh penalty.

michael barbaro

So what does the F.B.I. do when the police bring this case to them?

patricia mazzei

The F.B.I. starts investigating and finds more victims and victims corroborating the stories that the police had found. Stories about massages and nude massages and payment for these massages that ended up in various sex acts and a web of recruitment where one girl would be paid by Epstein and his associates to bring in more girls to his Palm Beach house for these massages. And, eventually, the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, which, at the time, was run by a man named Alex Acosta, drafts a 53-page indictment against Epstein.

michael barbaro

And what does this indictment say?

patricia mazzei

The indictment lays out these allegations of sex trafficking against minors and carries a potential punishment of up to life in prison.

michael barbaro

It’s a serious indictment.

patricia mazzei

Yeah, it was pretty thorough.

michael barbaro

And so what happens?

patricia mazzei

So weeks go by and then months go by. And finally, in 2008, the victims learn that there will be no federal criminal indictment against Epstein. Unbeknown to the victims, behind the scenes, Epstein and his high-powered defense lawyers had negotiated with federal prosecutors so that they would not charge him in federal court. They negotiated what is called a non-prosecution agreement. And so in the end, Epstein pleaded guilty to a single count of soliciting prostitution in state court. He had to register as a sex offender. He had to pay financial restitution to some of his victims. And he got 18 months in county jail, in which he could leave six days a week to go to work.

michael barbaro

Leave prison six days a week — just kind of walk out of jail and go to work?

patricia mazzei

Yeah, it was an extraordinary arrangement.

It raised eyebrows even at the time, but the prosecutor said it was how they were going to guarantee that Epstein served some time in jail and that he register as a sex offender, which they viewed as important to help the community around him.

michael barbaro

So the local police brought this case originally to the F.B.I. because they were worried that the state attorney would be rolled over by Epstein — by his wealth, by all his connections, and his fancy lawyers — and that he would get a sweetheart deal.

patricia mazzei

Prosecutors would tell you that they did their best, and that meant sending Epstein to jail. But, in the end, he faced a prostitution charge in state court and not a sex trafficking charge in federal court. And that’s exactly what the Palm Beach police worried could happen at the start of the case.

michael barbaro

But with the F.B.I. and the federal prosecutors.

patricia mazzei

Right — the people who they had turned to for help.

michael barbaro

Pati, you said that this was unknown to the victims. Why would that be?

patricia mazzei

The victims were not given a chance to speak up against this agreement before it was signed. It was essentially just negotiated between Epstein’s attorneys and the prosecution. And so the victims didn’t find out until after the fact and after Epstein had already agreed to the plea deal.

michael barbaro

And what’s the reaction from the victims who have been cut out of this plea agreement and are now learning that he’s going to be facing an unusually light sentence?

patricia mazzei

The victims are outraged. And as soon as they find out about this non-prosecution deal in 2008, they go to court asking for the agreement to be nullified — for them to get their day in court. And this argument turns into years of legal battles over what was negotiated in secret that the victims did not know about.

michael barbaro

And what’s going on with Epstein during this time — as this battle over the plea agreement is playing out in courts?

patricia mazzei

Epstein gets out of jail about five months early. He reportedly has a party to celebrate his return to society. And he has to register as a sex offender. But, other than that, he basically goes back to his old life. He had his lavish lifestyle that he continued — traveling between his properties in New York and Palm Beach and the Virgin Islands. And the case kind of receded from public view for years, until President Trump asks Alex Acosta, the former top prosecutor in Miami who reached the secret deal not to indict Epstein with federal charges, to be his labor secretary.

michael barbaro

We’ll be right back.

archived recording

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will please come to order. This morning, we’re holding a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Alexander Acosta.

michael barbaro

Pati, what happens after Acosta is nominated as labor secretary?

patricia mazzei

With the Acosta nomination comes a lot of scrutiny into Acosta’s career — especially his time as a prosecutor. And so reporters like myself start looking into the case again.

archived recording

I want to just read this. In 2007, Acosta signed a non-prosecution deal.

patricia mazzei

And, in fact, it comes up in Acosta’s Senate confirmation hearing for the Labor Department.

archived recording

What is the reason why a deal of this kind has this specification that it will not be made part of any public record?

archived recording (alexander acosta)

Senator, I’ll answer your question, but if —

patricia mazzei

He says, as he had said in the past —

archived recording (alexander acosta)

At the end of this case, I received a telephone call from the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.

patricia mazzei

— that they did the best they could.

archived recording (alexander acosta)

And he called to just say, congratulations. This was really hard-fought and well-won.

patricia mazzei

And that the outcome was positive, because Epstein went to jail and had to register as a sex offender, and that that would help protect the community.

archived recording

You are aware that Mr. Epstein served that 13 months. He was allowed out during the day, and he had to sleep at a county jail, but he was basically allowed to move and go around the community and do whatever he wants. And then that became a subject of significant criticism.

archived recording (alexander acosta)

And I am on record condemning that, and I think that was awful.

patricia mazzei

Despite those questions, Acosta gets confirmed by the Senate and becomes the labor secretary, which he still is now. But The Miami Herald, his hometown paper, decides that it’s going to dig even deeper into the Epstein case and see what happened, especially now that not only is Acosta the labor secretary, but that the #MeToo movement has happened. And that, perhaps, these victims, who are now young women, might be willing to talk publicly for the first time.

michael barbaro

And what does The Herald find?

archived recording

The Herald is reporting that Acosta gave a sweetheart deal to a wealthy man accused of sex crimes, including sexually abusing underage girls.

patricia mazzei

The Herald’s investigation, which was published in late 2018, found a trove of documents showing how the secret non-prosecution agreement was negotiated.

archived recording

The paper found that as a U.S. attorney in Florida in 2007, Acosta and another federal prosecutor struck a plea deal with Epstein’s legal team.

patricia mazzei

And the documents show Epstein’s defense lawyers being chummy with prosecutors on a first-name basis, while the victims didn’t know anything about what was going on.

archived recording

I was young. I was scared. I knew these people were powerful. I didn’t know what would happen if I said no. I didn’t know what would happen if I reported them. That 16-year-old girl just let it happen.

patricia mazzei

In addition to that, The Herald finds more victims, and victims who are going on the record for the first time now that they’re adults.

archived recording

It takes a long time to start the healing process. I mean, I will never heal. There are pieces for me that can never be put back together.

patricia mazzei

And the combination of the behind-the-scenes communications about this agreement and the additional victims and the victims putting a face and details to these allegations starts to build new public pressure for something to be done in the case. And it’s not long after that Miami Herald report that something else happens. That lawsuit that the victims in Florida had filed seeking to invalidate the secret non-prosecution agreement, a judge finally issues a ruling. And he rules in the women’s favor. He says the prosecutors made a mistake in not letting them know that this was being negotiated.

michael barbaro

And by prosecutors, you mean Alex Acosta, who is now the United States labor secretary.

patricia mazzei

That’s correct. The judge ruled that Acosta and his office violated the victims’ rights by not letting them know about this secret deal that they had negotiated with Epstein. And that’s where everything was until we got to Monday in New York.

michael barbaro

Is that what led the U.S. attorney in New York to bring these charges on Monday?

patricia mazzei

We don’t know, exactly. That case is still pending in Florida. What we do know is that the prosecutor in New York apparently found a new victim in his jurisdiction. And that seems to be a primary driver in his decision to pursue this case now. And it’s possible for him to also draw in some of the allegations from Florida into his case. We know that he went out of his way to say on Monday that the non-prosecution agreement in Florida does not apply to them in New York. But it is key to note that they have found a victim there, and so that gives a new dimension to their findings.

michael barbaro

So it’s possible that these girls, now women, in Florida, who alleged that Jeffrey Epstein had done these things to them and who were kind of boxed out of this non-prosecution agreement, that they may be drawn into this case and have their day in court here in New York.

patricia mazzei

Possibly. We’re going to have to wait and see, given this sort of tricky dynamic between having somebody in the Justice Department in New York signing off on a new case that had been sort of closed and done by somebody in the Justice Department in Miami.

michael barbaro

It seems like the U.S. attorney in New York is saying something about how the case was handled in Florida.

patricia mazzei

It sounded like the U.S. attorney in New York was implying that this case maybe wasn’t handled so well the first time around, either by his predecessors in New York or by his colleagues in Florida. And that now, he has another shot. They get a do-over here, and they plan to take it. And they have a chance to make things right for all these victims after all these years.

michael barbaro

Pati, you’ve been covering this case as a reporter in Florida for years. What do you make of these latest developments?

patricia mazzei

To me, it’s an illustration of how society has changed in the time since this case first came up and now. I think between the #MeToo movement that has exposed some very powerful men and their behavior towards women, I think some of society’s impatience now with, perhaps, wealthy people having a bigger say in the criminal justice system than people who don’t have money. And it’s also just interesting that the charge Epstein faced was for soliciting prostitution.

michael barbaro

Right. I’m so struck by the fact that the resolution of that first Florida case was a prostitution charge, which meant that prosecutors there essentially labeled a minor, who was allegedly paid for sex by Jeffrey Epstein, as a prostitute, not a victim.

patricia mazzei

Actually, the former police chief in Palm Beach, whose department first started investigating this, has said that what he would really like to see here, in addition to an apology to the victims, who did not get what he would consider timely justice, he would like to see lawmakers keep that from happening again. He would like to make it impossible for prosecutors to treat minors like prostitutes in future cases like this one, to prevent what he considers was a miscarriage of justice.

michael barbaro

Pati, where is Jeffrey Epstein right now?

patricia mazzei

He is in jail in New York — and not the kind of jail where you could leave every day to go to work like he was in Florida. And he faces the prospect of up to 45 years in prison if this case moves forward and he’s found guilty.

michael barbaro

Pati, thank you very much.

patricia mazzei

Thank you, Michael.

michael barbaro

On Monday, federal investigators said they had found hundreds of photographs of nude and partially nude young women and girls inside Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home. After reviewing the photos, prosecutors said that Epstein, quote, “is not reformed. He is not chastened. He is not repentant. Rather, he is a continuing danger to the community.” Shortly after, Epstein pleaded not guilty in federal court. Later on Monday, Attorney General Bill Barr was asked about how Alex Acosta, the former U.S. attorney in Florida and now the president’s secretary of labor, had handled the original Epstein case in Florida. Barr declined to comment.

We’ll be right back.

Here’s what else you need to know today. In a highly unusual move, the government lawyers defending the president’s efforts to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census have left the case, apparently in protest. The lawyers had been asked to defend the question despite a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that found that there was no legal basis for including the question. And in Sudan, military leaders and protesters have reached an unexpected agreement to share power after the military carried out a deadly crackdown on the protesters. Under the agreement, an army general will run Sudan for nearly two years, followed by a civilian leader for the next year and a half. The plan offers the possibility of an eventual transition to democracy after 30 years of dictatorship.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

Eric Holland, the deputy assistant secretary of labor for public affairs, said on Monday that Mr. Acosta had no comment. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said late Monday night that Mr. Acosta should resign because of the “unconscionable agreement” that he made with Mr. Epstein in 2008.

Late on Tuesday morning, Mr. Acosta, writing on Twitter, defended his actions a decade ago. With the evidence available at the time, he said, his prosecutors had insisted Mr. Epstein go to jail and register as a sex offender. He called the financier’s crimes “horrific.”

“Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the N.Y. prosecution offers an important opportunity to more fully bring him to justice,” he wrote.

Accusations of sexual predation have dogged Mr. Epstein for decades. Until his arrest on Saturday, his case had been held up as a prime example of how insulated, powerful men can escape accountability.

Mr. Epstein, a hedge fund manager, avoided the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence, largely because of a secret agreement his lawyers struck with federal prosecutors in 2008. His social circle is filled with the rich and famous, including former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain.

Mr. Clinton’s office said in a statement on Monday that he knows nothing about “the terrible crimes” connected to Mr. Epstein.

In 2002, Mr. Trump described Mr. Epstein as “a terrific guy,” telling New York Magazine, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

As he unsealed an indictment charging Mr. Epstein with sex trafficking on Monday, the United States attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, made an appeal to other women who may have been abused by him to come forward.

“They deserve their day in court and we are proud to stand up for them by bringing this indictment,” Mr. Berman said.

He declined to say why his office decided to pursue charges against Mr. Epstein now, since federal prosecutors knew about his potential crimes in New York a decade ago. Mr. Berman said his office had been “assisted by some excellent investigative journalists,” an apparent reference to The Miami Herald’s reporting from November.

The indictment said that Mr. Epstein and his employees engaged in a sex-trafficking scheme, bringing dozens of vulnerable girls, some as young as 14, to his Upper East Side mansion and to his palatial compound in Palm Beach, Fla., between 2002 and 2005.

Mr. Epstein, 66, then engaged in sex acts with the young women during naked massage sessions, paying them hundreds of dollars in cash, prosecutors said. He also asked some of the girls to recruit other girls, many of whom prosecutors say were underage, and paid them for bringing in new victims, the indictment said.

“This conduct, as alleged, went on for years and involved dozens of young girls, some as young as 14,” Mr. Berman said. “The alleged behavior shocks the conscience.”

Mr. Epstein is charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy, and faces a combined maximum sentence of up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

[Read the indictment.]

Mr. Epstein’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten, said the allegations in the indictment had already been settled in 2008. “To us this indictment is essentially a do-over,” he said. “This is old stuff. This is ancient stuff.”

Mr. Epstein, looking disheveled in a navy blue jumpsuit, pleaded not guilty. He stared silently ahead as prosecutors outlined the charges, never glancing at the packed courtroom behind him. He is expected back in court on Thursday.

The discovery of the photo trove was detailed by prosecutors as they argued against allowing Mr. Epstein to be freed on bail. His wealth and means — including six homes and two private jets — made him a significant flight risk, they said.

“He is a man of nearly infinite means,” said Alexander Rossmiller, a government lawyer.

Prosecutors said they seized hundreds, and possibly thousands, of “sexually suggestive” pictures of nude or partially nude young women and girls during a search of Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on Saturday, conducted at roughly the same time the financier was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

The cache of photos, some of which were discovered in a locked safe that also contained CDs with labels like “Girl pics nude,” demonstrate the predatory attitude that Mr. Epstein continues to have toward young women, prosecutors said.

“This is not an individual who has left his past behind,” Mr. Rossmiller said.

In the hours since Mr. Epstein’s arrest, prosecutors said, several other women contacted them with complaints about Mr. Epstein. Some of those accusers had never previously spoken to the government, prosecutors said.

Several of Mr. Epstein’s accusers said they were relieved that authorities seemed to be taking their complaints seriously after many years.

“The news of my abuser’s arrest today is a step in the right direction to finally hold Epstein accountable for his crimes,” Sarah Ransome, who said she was forced to have sex with the financier in her 20s, said in a statement read by her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, outside federal court.

Two other women who have said they were abused by Mr. Epstein when they were teenagers, Courtney Wild and Michelle Licata, watched the proceedings from the back of the courtroom with their lawyer, Brad Edwards. “I was 14. I had braces on,” Ms. Wild told ABC News on Monday.

The charges unsealed Monday mirror those that federal prosecutors had prepared in Miami against Mr. Epstein more than a decade ago. In 2005, law enforcement officials there investigated Mr. Epstein after the parents of one of his accusers reported an incident to the police.

Florida prosecutors had prepared a 53-page indictment accusing Mr. Epstein of being a sexual predator. But those charges were shelved in 2008 after an 11th-hour deal was reached between the United States attorney’s office in Miami and Mr. Epstein’s lawyers.

The agreement granted Mr. Epstein immunity from federal prosecution and let him plead guilty to two prostitution charges in state court. Federal prosecutors arranged for the plea deal to be kept secret from Mr. Epstein’s accusers until it was finalized in court.

The deal let Mr. Epstein avoid a possible life sentence in federal prison. Instead, he spent 13 months at a Palm Beach jail and was permitted to leave the facility six days a week for work. He was also required to register as a sex offender.

Mr. Berman made it clear that his office was not bound by the 2008 agreement that Mr. Acosta’s office had negotiated.

“That agreement, by its terms, only binds the Southern District of Florida,” Mr. Berman said.

The agreement has been examined in a series of articles in The Miami Herald and is being challenged in court. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that Mr. Epstein’s accusers should have been consulted about the deal before it was signed.

Mr. Weingarten, Mr. Epstein’s lawyer, said the agreement was approved at the Justice Department “at a very, very high level.”

The statement issued by Mr. Clinton’s office acknowledged that the former president had taken four trips on Mr. Epstein’s airplane. It also said Mr. Epstein had visited Mr. Clinton’s office in 2002 and Mr. Clinton had visited Mr. Epstein’s apartment in New York with a staff member.

Prosecutors are also seeking the forfeiture of Mr. Epstein’s home on East 71st Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, which has been called one of the largest townhouses in Manhattan. It has at least seven floors and covers 21,000 square feet.

The government also said in court papers that prosecutors have “real concerns,” based on past experience, that Mr. Epstein, if freed on bail, could attempt to “pressure and intimidate” witnesses, including his accusers and their families.

Over the last six months, detectives and agents with the New York Police Department-F.B.I. Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task force, working with the prosecutors, were able to identify and interview three victims, whose abuse formed the basis of the indictment, according to a law enforcement official.

The indictment said Mr. Epstein used employees to arrange sexual rendezvous with one of the victims at his New York residence and two others at his home in Palm Beach.

Mr. Epstein is accused of having the girls perform nude massages, at which point he would masturbate and touch their genitals with his hands or with sex toys.

The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash for each encounter and, once recruited, were asked to return to the mansion several times, where they were abused again, the indictment said. Mr. Epstein, the court documents read, “created a similar network of minor girls to victimize” in Florida.

“Too often, adults in our society have turned a blind eye to the type of criminal behavior alleged here,” said William F. Sweeney Jr., the assistant director in charge of the New York office of the F.B.I.

Katie Benner, Michael Gold, Edgar Sandoval, William K. Rashbaum and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting.

A correction was made on 
July 8, 2019

An earlier version of this article misstated the given name of a government lawyer. He is Alexander Rossmiller, not Andrew.

How we handle corrections

Ali Watkins is a reporter on the Metro Desk, covering courts and social services. Previously, she covered national security in Washington for The Times, BuzzFeed and McClatchy Newspapers. More about Ali Watkins

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Financier’s Safe Held Hundreds Of Lewd Photos. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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