NEW YORK — Attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein have appealed a judge's decision last week to hold the wealthy financier and accused child predator in jail pending his trial on allegations of sex trafficking.
Epstein's attorneys filed a notice of appeal Monday after U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman denied their client bail last week. In his decision, Berman cited the potential danger Epstein poses to others and the community.
The appeal was made public Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Prosecutors last week asked Berman to hold Epstein, 66, without bail, arguing that he is a flight risk and danger to the community. Attorneys for Epstein denied that their client posed a flight risk and asked Berman to allow Epstein to be held under house arrest at his Manhattan mansion.
Epstein is accused of sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of girls between 2002 and 2005 at his homes in New York and Florida, allegedly heading a sex trafficking scheme that saw his victims recruiting other girls to be abused.
He has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy charges.
Epstein avoided significant jail time and prosecution in 2008 after he was accused of molesting girls in Palm Beach County, Florida. As part of a plea deal reached with federal prosecutors in Florida, Epstein pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of soliciting a minor for prostitution and agreed to register as a sex offender. He served 13 months in jail as part of the deal.
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