Disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein has committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial on charges that he trafficked girls as young as 14 for sex, US news media reported Saturday.
Epstein, a convicted pedophile who befriended numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center from “an apparent suicide”, the US Department of Justice said.
He was discovered around 6:30 am (1130 GMT) and rushed to hospital in New York where he was pronounced dead, it added in a statement.
“The FBI is investigating the incident,” the department said. The New York Times and other media quoted officials as saying Epstein had hanged himself. The city medical examiner’s office confirmed Epstein’s death but said nothing about what caused it. It said a medical investigation has been opened.
Epstein’s death comes a day after a tranche of sealed legal documents were released for the first time providing new details about what prosecutors allege was Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. It also comes just over two weeks after the 66-year-old was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck after an apparent suicide attempt.
Epstein did not appear to be showing any visible signs of injuries when he appeared in court on July 31 following that incident, to be told that his trial wouldn’t begin before June next year. The hedge fund manager had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.