U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein (C) appears in court where he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. July 30, 2008.
Uma Sanghvi | Palm Beach Post | Reuters
The FBI is investigating the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier embroiled in accusations of sexual abuse of girls, after he hung himself in his Manhattan jail cell Saturday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons said in a statement Saturday that the FBI would investigate the apparent suicide. There is nothing at this point to suggest foul play, a senior law enforcement official said.
The FBI normally does not investigate suicides at federal prison facility, but officials said that given the nature of Epstein’s case, an “abundance of caution” would be taken.
Last month, a week after being denied bail on federal sex trafficking charges, Epstein was found semi-conscious on the floor of his jail cell with marks on his neck. Prison officials were investigating that incident as a possible suicide attempt.
Multiple people familiar with the investigation say that Epstein was in his own cell, but was not currently on suicide watch at the time of his death.
Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, where Epstein was staying, has a suicide prevention program for inmates who are at risk of killing themselves. The suicide prevention jail cells must provide an “unobstructed view of the inmate” and “may not have fixtures or architectural features that would easily allow self-injury,” according to Bureau of Prisons policy.
