Attorney General Bill Barr issued a stark warning to Jeffrey Epstein's alleged co-conspirators on Monday, telling them they 'shou...
Attorney General Bill Barr issued a stark warning to Jeffrey Epstein's alleged co-conspirators on Monday, telling them they 'should not rest easy'.
The investigation into the disgraced financier and his sex crimes looks set to shift its focus following his death to those accused of helping him, in a move that threatens to implicate some of the world's richest, most powerful men.
Speaking at a police event in New Orleans Barr said: 'Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy.
'The victims deserve justice and they will get it.'
He also slammed the handling of Epstein by the Manhattan Correctional Center after it was revealed a corrections officer had not checked on the pedophile for several hours before he hanged himself in his cell in the special housing unit.
Barr, who said he was 'appalled' and 'angry' at the failure to 'adequately secure' Epstein, added: 'This sex trafficking case was very important to the Department of Justice and to me personally.
'Most importantly this case was important to the victims who had the courage to come forward and deserve the opportunity to confront the accused in the courtroom.
'I was appalled, and indeed the whole department was, and frankly angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner.
'We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation.
'We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability.'
A former close associate of the late mobster John Gotti Sr., Lewis Kasman, said he heard Barr paid the MCC a visit around the time Epstein was with bruises on his neck. He told The New York Post: 'When does that happen? The attorney general never visits jails. Something’s not right there.'
Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite daughter of late media tycoon Robert, is one of those who may find her dealings with the disgraced financier in the spotlight after he was found hanged in his prison cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center on Saturday morning.
Maxwell, 58, described as the 'madam of the house' by a former housekeeper at Epstein's mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, has always denied any wrongdoing but reports now suggest she may even be ready to co-operate with the authorities.
Prosecutors may also target the witnesses who were set to testify against Epstein now that 'they don't need them', The New York Post reports.
One source said: 'They were getting a deal to testify against Epstein.'
According to Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown prosecutors 'will likely refocus their probe on Maxwell, Sarah Kellen Vickers, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff'.
They have all been accused of helping to run Epstein's operation and Brown adds: 'Another woman, Nadia Marcinkova, was accused of sexually abusing some of the underage girls.'
Brown also told MSNBC there are still 'thousands and thousands of more documents that are probably going to be released'.
She added: 'There are so many threads of information and evidence and testimony and witnesses that are contained in those documents that he has a lot to work with there.'
Epstein's accusers may also be able to pursue civil cases against his estate, including his $77 million mansion in New York City and his Palm Beach home.
Epstein's hanging came just 24 hours after more than 2,000 pages of documents detailing the lurid allegations of his sexual abuse of underage girls were unsealed to the public.
And while his death means his accusers can never bring him to justice in the courts, prosecutors may now go after his associates following a pledge from Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman to 'stand for victims'.
In a statement shortly after Epstein, 66, was found hanging Berman made a pointed reference to the conspiracy charge included in his indictment.
He said: 'To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing.'
And while Epstein was the only person charged in that indictment court papers did reference three unnamed employees allegedly involved in scheduling victims and paying them after massages escalated to sexual acts.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Epstein's former 'sex slave' who claims she was loaned out to Prince Andrew, alleged in a a document newly released by a US court that Miss Maxwell took part in sex sessions as well.
Giuffre alleged in a 2016 deposition that she was a teenager when she was forced to have sex with George Mitchell, a former Senate Majority leader who represented Maine from 1980-95, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as well the Duke of York.
Both Richardson and Mitchell have denied the allegations. The Prince has always denied any wrongdoing and in a 2015 court application, a judge threw out Guiffre's allegations that she had sex with the Prince.
Buckingham Palace also issued on the record statements in January 2015, stating: 'Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.'
But experts say Maxwell is still the 'target number one' for prosecutors.
Giuffre's attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said in a statement that 'the reckoning of accountability begun by the voices of brave and truthful victims should not end' with Epstein's death.
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