(Bloomberg) -- Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein again pleaded for a federal judge to release him on bail, saying a 1980s-era Austrian passport found in his New York mansion, with his photo but another name, was just in case of hijacking.
“Epstein -- an affluent member of the Jewish faith -- acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing Tuesday. “The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnappers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur.”
They said there is no evidence he ever used the passport, which expired 32 years ago.
Attorneys for the accused child sex trafficker said in the filing that the government’s position that he is not entitled to release on any terms “thwarts the presumption of innocence” and violates rights including due process and the guarantee of bail.
“To be sure, wealthy defendants do not deserve preferential treatment,” they wrote. “But they certainly shouldn’t be singled out for worse treatment -- in effect categorically disqualified from bail, at least in a presumption case -- on the basis of their net worth.”
Epstein’s finances are “fairly complex,” his lawyers said, and it would be impossible to provide a sufficient summary before a court deadline. They asked the judge to accept an initial disclosure and order Epstein to give a more detailed disclosure if he intends to release him.
Prosecutors said in their own filing that Epstein’s ability to obtain a foreign passport, genuine or forged, “gives rise to the inference that the defendant knows how to obtain false travel documents and/or assume other, foreign identities. This adds to the serious risk of flight posed by the defendant.”
In addition to the passport, government agents found in Epstein’s safe 48 diamonds, a large diamond ring and more than $70,000 in cash, according to court filings.
The case is U.S. v. Epstein, 19-cr-00490, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
(Updates with details throughout.)
--With assistance from Greg Farrell.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net;Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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