type: timeline_event
Three weeks after Epstein expressed fear about revealing Trump's money laundering operations to Michael Wolff, Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport on sex trafficking charges.
On July 6, 2019, federal authorities arrested Jeffrey Epstein at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey as he returned from Paris on his private jet. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged him with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of sex trafficking conspiracy, alleging he ran a sex trafficking operation from at least 2002 through 2005. Prosecutors described a network in which Epstein and his associates paid girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts, with some victims recruited from disadvantaged backgrounds and then coerced into recruiting others.
The arrest came despite a controversial 2008 non-prosecution agreement Epstein had secured from then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta in Florida, under which Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges and served only 13 months with significant work release privileges. Acosta, who became Trump's Secretary of Labor, resigned in July 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the sweetheart deal. The 2019 arrest reflected SDNY prosecutors' determination that the 2008 agreement did not bind their jurisdiction.
Epstein died in federal custody on August 10, 2019, in circumstances officially ruled a suicide by hanging. His death prevented the full disclosure of his social network and financial connections, which included prominent political figures, financiers, and royalty from multiple countries. The case exposed how extreme wealth can purchase legal immunity, and raised unresolved questions about the network of powerful individuals who benefited from or participated in Epstein's trafficking operation.