Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to travel to NYC unsupervised on overnight trips for the final seven months of probation and stay at his mansion near Central Park playgrounds and a victim's school
- Jeffrey Epstein was approved to travel to New York City on weekdays and stay overnight in Manhattan for the final seven months of his probation
- He stayed at his Upper East Side mansion, where two of the city's biggest playgrounds and the school of one of his victim's were less than 1,000 feet away
- The reason for his travel was legal matters he was tending to, though what they entailed were never specified beyond his need to see documents in person
- He was also allowed to use his private jet for this travel, and only had to give his probation officer 48 hours notice
- It is unclear if officials in New York were aware of Epstein's presence in the city, and the decision directly violates a previous judge's order
- The judge who sentenced Epstein made it very clear he was never to be with 1000 feet of any area where children congregate, which he agreed to obey
Soon after Jeffrey Epstein completed his time in ‘prison,’ his lawyers petitioned the court with a request.
Epstein, 66, had pressing legal affairs to attend to, they claimed, with documents that could only be viewed at his lawyer’s office.
The judge denied the defense team’s initial attempt, but in December 2009, Epstein was approved to travel unaccompanied to New York for one day.
A few days after that first trip, Epstein was approved to travel any weekday he wished and stay overnight provided he gave 48 hours notice to his probation officer for the final eight months of his probation.
And he was required to spend those nights at his $77 million townhouse - despite being in probation - which is just a few-hundred feet away from the two of the city’s most popular playgrounds and the school attended by at least one victim.
This location of the home puts Epstein in violation of both New York and Florida sex offender codes - both then and now - which do not allow Level 3 offenders who are on probation to be within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds or other places where children congregate.
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Problem areas: Jeffrey Epstein was approved to travel to New York City on weekdays and stay overnight in Manhattan for the final seven months of his probation (above the areas where children congregate near Epstein's NYC home)
The legal matter Epstein was attending to is not specified in the court filings, though he did get a note from his attorney Stephen Susman.
In his letter, Susman wrote that in order to settle a claim Epstein was needed in new York City.
The reason he gave at the time was that documents the pedophile needed to see regarding the case could only be shown at 'Davis Polk's office.'
Epstein was involved in a lawsuit in New York around this time that was never pursued beyond his initial filing of a complaint in April 2009, while he was still being detained in Palm Beach.
That suit was against a boat outfitter who had allegedly caused damage to one if Epstein’s boats with a improperly measured Plexiglas fitting.
Epstein is notoriously sea sick.
That case does not include any sensitive material, and remains open 10 years after it was filed in New York Supreme Court.
The ruling to allow Epstein to travel flew in the face of what he, his attorneys and attorneys for the state had agreed to in June 2008 during the plea conference with Judge Deborah Dale Pucillo.
'All addresses - I assume all of this to an from work and any other approved activities restricts him to Palm Beach County, is that correct?' she asked both sides.
After that was confirmed, Judge Pucillo then stated: 'So let's be clear, everything from the day he walks out occurs in Palm Beach County, is that clear?'
That too was confirmed by both sides.
Judge Pucillo then focused on the location of Epstein's residence.
She stated point blank that his home would not be approved 'if it should happen to be one thousand feet from a school, day care center, park, playground or other place ... where children regularly congregate.'
She later said to Epstein: 'You understand you will not travel from Palm Beach for the duration of this?
Epstein responded: 'Yes, ma'am.'
Epstein also moved into the same mansion after his probation period was over and ahead of his sex offender hearing in New York.
The judge in that hearing, Justice Ruth Pickholz, categorized Epstein as a Level 3 offender, against the advice of the Manhattan DA’s office under Cy Vance.
'I have to tell you, I’m a little overwhelmed because I have never seen a prosecutor’s office do anything like this' she told prosecutors.
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Epstein was also able to travel to New York on his own plane, but who joined him is a mystery.
Ten years prior, an emboldened Epstein was travelling the world with at least one minor.
That victim, Virginia Roberts, included these photos as proof of Epstein's depraved behavior in a her lawsuit against the United States of America.
In one she is seen on a New York City ferry while others show her horse riding and posing up in front of a museum treasure chest.
Those three photos were taken by Epstein himself she claims, when he shuttled her to New Mexico for the weekend.
The reason for his travel was legal matters he was tending to, though what they entailed were never specified beyond his need to see documents in person
All the while raping her and letting his friends do the same, according to Roberts' lawsuit.
'Epstein took me on a ferry boat on one of the trips to New York City and there he took the picture above. I was approximately 15 or 16 years old at the time,' she writes of the first photo.
In that picture, Roberts looks years younger than her age as she smiles for the camera while on an unchaperoned trip with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell over 1,000 miles away from home.
'You can see how young I looked in the photograph,' she notes, while also revealing she was raped by Epstein at his Manhattan mansion on that trip.
'Over the next few weeks, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trained me to do what they wanted, including sexual activities and the use of sexual toys,' she wrote.
'The training was in New York and Florida, at Epstein's mansions. It was basically every day and was like going to school. I also had to have sex with Epstein many times.'
Roberts said that she was trained to be 'everything a man wanted me to be.'
The photos that were used by Roberts make it clear that she was with Epstein at some of his properties, most notably his ranch in New Mexico.
Fool's gold: Robert was able to see the world during her years with Epstein, who flew her around the world while he and his friends raped the teenager (Roberts above at a museum in New Mexico in 2001 in a photo snapped by Epstein)
'You can see how young I looked in the photograph,' Roberts noted in one court filing
Tree of life: 'If I left Epstein, he knew all kinds of powerful people. He could have had me killed or abducted, and I always knew he was capable of that,' said Roberts
'The first one is a museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had gone sightseeing for the day. Epstein took this picture of me. I was approximately 17 at the time, judging from the looks of it,' write Roberts.
'At the end of the day we returned to Epstein's Zorro Ranch. The second picture is me on one of Epstein's horses on the ranch in New Mexico. The following two are from wintertime in New Mexico.'
Roberts and another underage victim are suing the government for the sweetheart plea deal they offered Epstein, and for failing to provide the plaintiffs and other victims with any concrete information about the sex offender.
In her case, Roberts did in fact get a letter from the FBI, but not until long after the plea deal had negotiated and Epstein's non-prosecution deal and signed.
That letter is attached as an exhibit in one filing, and shows it was mailed in September, more than two months after Epstein signed off on the deal in June .
Roberts, who was the first and remains one of the few Epstein victims who has gone public with her allegations, recounted how she found herself being shuttled around the world and raped by men three times her age in court papers.
Roberts in NYC at 15 in a photo taken by Epstein
'Epstein had promised me a lot, and I knew if I left I would be in big trouble. I also knew that I was a witness to a lot of illegal and very bad behavior by Epstein and his friends,' stated one filing.
'If I left Epstein, he knew all kinds of powerful people. He could have had me killed or abducted, and I always knew he was capable of that if I did not obey him. He let me know that he knew many people in high places. Speaking about himself, he said 'I can get away' with things. I was very scared, particularly since I was a teenager.'
And she was not the only one who was scared she claims in court documents.
'When I was with him, Epstein had sex with underage girls on a daily basis. His interest in this kind of sex was obvious to the people around him,' noted Roberts.
'The activities were so obvious and bold that anyone spending any significant time at one of Epstein's residences would have clearly been aware of what was going on.'
