At the same time billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was luring teenagers from Florida high schools and shopping malls into sexual exploitation, he was using a network of recruiters within New York City’s dance studios to ensnarl aspiring performers into a similar scheme, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The scale of Epstein’s sex trafficking in Manhattan has become clearer as several lawsuits have been filed against his estate following his suicide in a jail cell, where he had been awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
According to recently filed lawsuits, Epstein continued his exploits even while serving a 13-month jail term in 2008 and 2009, arranging for two women he had recruited in New York to be brought to Florida, where he pressured them into sex while he was on work release.
The U.S. attorney in Manhattan is continuing to probe those close to Epstein whom prosecutors have said he relied on to provide him with a steady supply of girls. It is unclear if those who recruited girls from dance studios are under investigation.
Epstein’s lawyers have not address the allegations, instead pointing out in court that no one had accused him of abusing underage girls since his conviction in 2008, when he agreed to a widely criticized plea bargain with Florida prosecutors that shielded him from federal sex-trafficking charges.
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