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Chapter 4: Custody and Care of Epstein Prior to His Death l. Epstein’s Arrest and Detention on July 6 On July 2, 2019, a grand jury of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York returned a two- count indictment that charged Epstein with committing sex trafficking and a sex trafficking conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 88 371, 1591(a), (b)(2), and 2, based on allegations that he sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls, some as young as 14 years old, at his homes in New York and Florida. The indictment alleged that from at least 2002 through 2005, Epstein enticed and recruited girls, many of whom he knew were underage, to visit his homes and perform sex acts in exchange for paying each girl hundreds of dollars in cash. The indictment further alleged that Epstein, working with employees and associates, created a vast network of underage victims to sexually exploit in New York and Florida by paying some victims hundreds of dollars in cash each to recruit other minor girls to be similarly abused by Epstein. In addition to the two criminal charges, the indictment also contained forfeiture allegations, which sought to forfeit to the United States any property that was either used to commit or was a proceed of the charged sex trafficking offense, including Epstein’s New York residence. On Saturday, July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey upon his return to the United States from France. He was transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center located in New York, New York (MCC New York), where he was initially placed in the general inmate population. MCC New York is a federal administrative detention facility operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The BOP temporarily closed MCC New York in October 2021 due to substandard conditions that are unrelated to this investigation. When it was operational, MCC New York housed primarily pretrial detainees who had not yet been convicted of any offense, but whom the court had determined under applicable law should remain in custody pending trial either because they represent a danger to the community, a substantial flight risk, or both. Due to the significant media attention surrounding his arrest and his notoriety among other MCC New York inmates, the following day Epstein was moved to MCC New York's Special Housing Unit (SHU), a housing unit within MCC New York where inmates are securely separated from the general inmate population and kept locked in their cells for approximately 23 hours per day, to ensure their own safety as well as the safety of staff and other inmates. On Monday, July 8, 2019, Epstein appeared in federal court and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court ordered that Epstein remain in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for July 15, 2019. At the detention hearing, Epstein sought to be placed in home detention at his New York residence with electronic monitoring and other conditions. The prosecutors sought to have Epstein detained at MCC New York pending trial. The court reviewed the parties’ filings and heard argument on the matter of pre- trial release on July 15, 2019. On July 18, 2019, the court ordered that Epstein be detained pending trial. In its ruling, the court noted that because Epstein had been indicted for a violation of the federal sex trafficking statute that involved minor victims, there was a presumption in favor of detention under federal law. The court found that the United States had shown by clear and convincing evidence that Epstein threatened the safety of another person and of the community based on testimony from two victims, the allegations of repeated sexual abuse of minors, and the lewd photographs of young-looking women or girls that were found during an authorized search of Epstein’s New York residence in July 2019. The court also relied on the recommendation of U.S. Pretrial Services, the seriousness of the offenses with which Epstein had been charged, evidence reflecting Epstein’s harassment and intimidation of and tampering with witnesses involved in a prior Florida state criminal investigation, and Epstein’s lack of compliance with his legal 21 DOJ-OGR- 00023388