Face of Nation : Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier, died early Saturday in an apparent suicide, officials said. The well-connected millionaire had been awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in a Manhattan jail. The FBI and U.S. Inspector General’s office will investigate the circumstances of his apparent suicide while in federal custody, and the probe into the numerous sexual abuse allegations against him will continue, officials said.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his jail cell Saturday morning, and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of soliciting prostitution from a minor and other prostitution charges. He had to register as a sex offender, but avoided a length prison sentence under a highly scrutinized plea deal.
Epstein was found unresponsive in his jail cell early Saturday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Staff could not revive him, and he was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He had been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in the jail’s Special Housing Unit, a heavily secured part of the facility that separates high-profile inmates from the general population. This unit held Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman until recently. Epstein’s death is likely to raise questions about how the Bureau of Prisons ensures the welfare of high-profile inmates.
