New York - Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing
charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls,
was found unconscious in a Manhattan jail cell with injuries to
his neck, media reported late on Wednesday, citing unidentified
sources.
Epstein was found by guards sprawled on the floor of cell at
the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Wednesday, media
reported. Some media reported that his face appeared blue.
The billionaire financier was taken to hospital, the New
York Post reported, but it was unclear where he was taken or
what his condition was.
It was not clear how he suffered his injuries.
Neither a representative for the correctional center nor
Epstein's attorney returned calls or email inquiries from
Reuters.
Epstein was recently denied bail, a move his lawyers plan to
appeal according to a court notice made public on
Tuesday.
Epstein was expected to ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals to overturn the judge's July 18 rejection of his request
to remain under house arrest in his $77 million mansion on
Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the appeal
for bail was expected. His lawyer Reid Weingarten did not
immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan declined to comment.
The charges, concerning alleged misconduct from at least
2002 to 2005, were announced more than a decade after Epstein
pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in Florida.
In denying him bail, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in
Manhattan said the government had shown by clear and convincing
evidence that Epstein would pose a danger to the community if
released pending trial.