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Billionaire Sex Offender Clarifies He's Not a Sexual Predator
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 25, 2011
Modified Jul 8, 2019
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Gothamist
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 25, 2011
Modified Jul 8, 2019
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Billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein was recently released from prison after serving 13 months in jail for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and he's back in his natural habitat on the Upper East Side. But don't let that fool you into thinking he's learned any humility from his legal troubles: he made it clear to the Post yesterday that a rich perv by any other name is still a rich perv. "I'm not a sexual predator, I'm an 'offender.' It's the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel," Epstein posited.
Aside from the semantics, a NY state judge ruled last month that Epstein is a level 3 sex offender, which means he's at "high risk" to repeat his offense, and poses "a threat to public safety." But Epstein clarified that, "The crime that was supposedly committed in Florida is not a crime in New York." Well, let's do some clarifying ourselves: Epstein was convicted in Florida of soliciting three underage girls, including a 14-year-old and a transexual 16-year-old, for sex. He was also accused of routinely paying girls as young as 14 for sexual massages; of molesting girls he had brought in from South America and Europe; and once was allegedly given three 12-year-old girls from France as a "birthday gift."
But Epstein made a deal with Feds, and they agreed to drop their probe of the various sex-crime allegations if Epstein admitted to prostitution felonies in Florida state court. Perhaps worst of all, other sex crime pervs are now using Epstein's case, and his sweetheart deal, to ask for leniency in their own cases. If he's good enough to take a stroll through Central Park with Prince Andrew, then he's good enough for a defense strategy!
Epstein is now listed in the NY State Sex Offender Database, but his current address is listed in Florida, even though he's in the city. But considering that even when he was in jail, he was routinely visited by a motley cadre of characters including his alleged 23-year-old Yugoslavian sex slave and a Russian mixed-martial-arts fighter, we can't imagine he won't get into some more trouble soon enough.
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jeffrey epstein
sexual offender
sexual predator
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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