Three of Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers have announced that they will launch their own ‘independent and complete investigation’ into their clients death
Three of Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyers have announced that they will be conducting their own ‘independent and complete investigation’ into their client’s death after a coroner officially ruled that the pedophile died by hanging.
Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller released a statement asserting that ‘no one should die in jail’ and blasting the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s ‘medieval conditions.’
‘His safety was the responsibility of the MCC,’ the lawyers said in a statement obtained by the New York Times. ‘It is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocol.’
They later added: ‘We are not satisfied with the conclusions of the medical examiner. We will have a more complete response in the coming days.’
The lawyers have hired a private pathologist to assist with the investigation.
The medical examiner’s office said on Friday that an autopsy and other evidence confirmed the 66-year-old hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan last week.
Martin G. Weinberg, Reid Weingarten and Michael Miller released a statement asserting that ‘no one should die in jail’ and blasting the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s ‘medieval conditions’
‘His safety was the responsibility of the MCC,’ the lawyers said in a statement. ‘It is indisputable that the authorities violated their own protocol’
The billionaire pedophile, who was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls, hanged himself with a bed sheet from the top set of bunks, according to officials.
He was found with several broken bones in his neck, including the thyroid bone, when guards were doing their morning rounds last Saturday.
Revelations of the broken bones in his neck lead to speculation that his death was a homicide and conspiracy theories continue to swirl almost a week after his body was found.
His death prompted outrage and disbelief over how such a high-profile prisoner, known for socializing with powerful people including presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, could have been left without surveillance at the federal facility.
Jeffrey Epstein’s death has officially been ruled a suicide after his autopsy found he hanged himself in his New York cell
Epstein, who was charged with sexually abusing numerous underage girls over several years, had been placed on suicide watch last month after he was found on his cell floor on July 23 with bruising on his neck.
Multiple sources have said Epstein was taken off the watch after a week and put back in a high-security housing unit where he was less closely monitored but still supposedly checked every 30 minutes.
Attorney General William Barr says officials have uncovered ‘serious irregularities’ at the federal jail following Epstein’s death.
The FBI and the Justice Department are both investigating.
Jail guards on duty the night of he died are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were checking on inmates every half-hour as required.
A guard in Epstein’s unit was working a fifth straight day of overtime and another guard was working mandatory overtime, sources said.
The medical examiner’s office said on Friday that an autopsy and other evidence confirmed the 66-year-old hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan last week. Pictured is his body being removed from the jail
Conspiracy theories have been swirling in the wake of Epstein’s death as people expressed outrage and disbelief over how such a high-profile was not monitored
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, who is in charge of the criminal case against Epstein, asked the jail’s warden this week for answers about the earlier episode, writing in a letter Monday that it had ‘never been definitively explained’.
The warden replied that an internal investigation was completed but that he couldn’t provide information because the findings were being incorporated into investigations into Epstein’s death.
There was speculation following Epstein’s initial attempt that he had been trying to get away from prior cellmate – former NYPD officer Nicholas Tartaglione. He was cleared of any wrongdoing just a few days before the medical examiner released the autopsy findings
There was speculation following Epstein’s initial attempt that he had been trying to get away from his prior cellmate – former NYPD officer Nicholas Tartaglione – who is accused of killing four men over a drug deal gone wrong.
Tartaglione, who was questioned over the incident, said that he instead saved Epstein’s life after finding him unconscious in their cell and calling for help.
He was moved out of the cell he shared with Epstein while the billionaire was on suicide watch.
His lawyer told NBC that Tartaglione had been cleared of any wrongdoing just a few days before the medical examiner released the autopsy findings.
‘We’ve always maintained Nick did nothing wrong and that’s clearly been borne out here by the jail itself,’ attorney Bruce Barket said.
Epstein was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls as young as 14.
He was already a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of unlawfully paying a teenage girl for sex.
Prior to his conviction, he had counted the rich and powerful, including Trump, Clinton, director Woody Allen and Saudi leader Mohammad bin Salman, among his associates.
Clinton and Trump both said they hadn’t seen Epstein in years and knew nothing of his misconduct when new charges were brought against him last month.
Epstein, pictured with his ex-girlfriend and alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving underage girls
The medical examiner’s ruling came a day after two more women sued Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, saying he sexually abused them.
The suit, filed Thursday in a federal court in New York, claims the women were working as hostesses at a popular Manhattan restaurant in 2004 when they were recruited to give Epstein massages. One was 18 at the time. The other was 20.
The lawsuit says an unidentified female recruiter offered the hostesses hundreds of dollars to provide massages to Epstein, saying he ‘liked young, pretty girls to massage him,’ and wouldn’t engage in any unwanted touching. The women say Epstein groped them anyway.
One plaintiff now lives in Japan, the other in Baltimore. They seek $100 million in damages, citing depression, anxiety, anger and flashbacks.
Other lawsuits, filed over many years by other women, accused him of hiring girls as young as 14 or 15 to give him massages, then subjecting them to sex acts.
Jennifer Araoz was among the first to file a lawsuit following Epstein’s death.
Araoz officially filed the lawsuit on Wednesday when New York’s new Child Victims Act came into effect, which opens a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse regardless of how long ago it occurred.
In addition to Epstein’s estate, Araoz is also suing Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and three female members of his household staff.
Araoz alleges in the complaint that Maxwell, who is accused of overseeing the recruitment of young girls for Epstein, and the three staffers conspired with each other to facilitate her rape.