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A federal judge in New York on Thursday ordered Jeffrey Epstein to be on bail, standing on the side of prosecutors who said the wealthy financier and the sex trafficker posed a risk of absconding.
US District Judge Richard M. Berman said prosecutors had presented "clear and convincing evidence" that Epstein was at risk of flight.
"The government's request for the continuation of pre-trial detention is hereby granted," Berman said just minutes after the start of the preliminary proceedings.
The defense had offered a $ 77 million bond, with Epstein's private jet and Manhattan Manor as collateral.
"I doubt that a bail package could overcome" any danger to the community, "Berman said.
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Epstein – who wore navy blouses, with upturned purple shirt sleeves – showed no visible reaction when Berman ordered it.
Epstein, 66, was arrested on July 6 at the New Jersey airport after arriving from Paris and charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy.
He faces up to 45 years in prison for sexually abusing dozens of minor minors at his home in New York and Florida from 2002 to 2005. He pleaded not guilty.
Berman sided with prosecutors who said the agents had uncovered a "pile of money, diamonds" and "a passport from a foreign country" in a safe belonging to Epstein.
And prosecutors had said Wednesday that Epstein had used the foreign passport under a fake name to enter several countries of the 1980s, including the United Kingdom, Spain and Saudi Arabia.
The dubious travel document was found inside the safe – with $ 70,000 in cash and 48 loose diamonds – in the home of the wealthy financier and the sex trafficker charged in New York. It contained a photo of Epstein with a different name and indicated that his place of residence was Saudi Arabia, according to prosecutors.
Epstein 's lawyers stated that he had obtained the Austrian passport in 1982 for his "personal protection" to be presented to "kidnappers, hijackers or potential terrorists". The lawyers said Epstein's Jewish faith and its substantial wealth made it a target during a trip to the Middle East.
Epstein's lawyers also stated that the government had not provided any evidence that he had ever used the passport.
On Wednesday however, prosecutors did this, writing in court papers: "In fact, the passport contains many stamps of entry and exit, including stamps reflecting the use of the passport to enter France in Spain, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. "
Berman said Thursday that Monday's testimony of two women who claimed to be victims of Epstein had played a role in his decision not to pay bail.
"I was 16 when I had the misfortune to meet Mr. Epstein here in New York," said Annie Farmer, adding that she was there to express her support for the decision of the Charge to keep Epstein under lock and key.
When Berman asked her if she had been sexually assaulted, the witness replied, "It was inappropriate with me, I would prefer not to go into detail for the moment."
Another woman, Courtney Wild, said she was sexually abused by Epstein.
"Hello, My name is Courtney Wild and Jeffrey Epstein mugged me sexually at the age of 14," she told the court.
Wild also asked that Epstein not be released before his trial.
"It's scary to walk in the street," she said.
Defense lawyer Martin Weinberg has argued that Epstein would go nowhere and he can not wait to clarify his name: "He will defend this case".
The charges come more than ten years after Epstein signed a non-prosecution agreement in 2008 that allowed him to dodge a federal indictment alleging that he had abused several girls minor.
Epstein eventually pleaded guilty to soliciting minors for prostitution and served a 13-month prison sentence in a Florida County jail. He was forced to register as a sex offender under this agreement.
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