Investment banker, science patron, self-made billionaire, philanthropist and former math teacher Jeffrey Epstein can add a new title to his résumé – convicted sex offender.
The Manhattan moneyman appeared in a Florida courthouse yesterday where he pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage prostitute and immediately began serving an 18-month jail term, which will be followed by one year of “community confinement,” which is essentially house arrest.
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As a result of the plea deal, Epstein, 55, will be placed on the national sex-offender registry.
“They will be tracking you for the rest of your life,” Circuit Judge Deborah Dale Pucillo said.
During his home confinement, Epstein “cannot view or possess” any pornography “relevant to his deviant behavior patterns,” Pucillo said, before deciding to bar him from looking at any porn at all.
Epstein refused to talk to reporters and made no statement in court.
His spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, said, “Mr. Epstein accepted responsibility for the charges relating to conduct that occurred several years ago” and “fully resolved his case.”
Under the terms of the plea deal, Epstein will have to undergo an HIV test by Wednesday, with the results being handed over to his victim, identified in court papers only as “Jane Doe.”
Doe was a 14-year-old high-school student when Epstein paid her $200 for a massage at his Palm Beach mansion in early 2005. In court papers, she said he used a vibrator on her while he masturbated.
The guilty plea came after protracted negotiations and a lengthy probe by Palm Beach police, who were investigating the virtual conga line of young women that Epstein had going in and out of his 13,000-square-foot mansion.
Epstein, who has rubbed elbows with the likes of Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump, could have faced up to five years in prison if convicted at trial.
The judge was critical of two of the deal’s conditions, indicating she thought he was getting special treatment by being allowed private counseling as his sex-offender treatment and to serve his time in county jail instead of state prison.
“You feel his fancy-pantsy private psychiatrist is adequate in lieu of a sex-offender treatment program?” she asked prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek.
“Yes, your honor,” Belohlavek said.
As for sending him to jail, Pucillo said, “There’s significant budget cuts in the county already, and sending him to the county jail and not the Department of Corrections is a significant cost to the taxpayer and the county – are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
Both Belohlavek and Epstein’s lawyer, Jeffrey Goldenberg, said yes, and the judge rolled her eyes as she granted the request.
Pucillo barred Epstein or anyone on his behalf from reaching out to Doe and ordered that he stay away from schools and playgrounds after his release. He’ll also have to submit to warrantless searches of his home, car, body and computer.
On his way into court, Epstein was served with a copy of a lawsuit by Doe, who has since moved to another state.
The sex-assault suit was filed months ago, but Epstein “had been evading service,” said her lawyer, Theodore Leopold.
He said his client “respects what the prosecutor’s office has done” and is “doing the best she can under the circumstances.”
Epstein’s legal team had tried to paint the girl as a scam artist from a troubled family, but “doesn’t today sort of say it all?” Leopold said. “He’s going to be deemed a sex offender and pedophile for the rest of his life, and that speaks volumes about what really happened here.”
While the plea deal brought an end to a federal investigation into Epstein, he is still facing a string of civil suits from Doe and other young women who claim he took advantage of what they thought would be innocent massages.
Jeffrey Herman, who is representing two other alleged victims, said, “The guilty plea is a very positive development for the civil cases” and “is some measure of justice for these girls.”
Epstein maintains that he thought all the girls who were brought over to his house were 18 or older and that they knew the massages would be “erotic.”
A newly released inmate from the Stockade – the jail where Epstein will live for the next 18 months – said he’s lucky not to be going to state prison.
“He’s probably better off here,” the man said. “If there’s someone who did something with kids or any sex crimes, they get f- – -ed up there. He probably would get killed over there for messing with a little girl.”