Since financier Jeffrey Epstein's arrest over the weekend on sex trafficking charges, at least a dozen new alleged victims have come forward, accusing him of sexual abuse.
The Miami Herald reports at least five women have contacted Florida attorneys Brad Edwards and Jack Scarola. "The people we are speaking to are underage victims in Florida and in New York," Scarola said. "They are not individuals whose claims have previously been part of any law enforcement investigation."
New York prosecutors say Epstein, who is currently in a New York City prison, sexually abused dozens of girls inside his Manhattan town house from 2002 to 2005. In court on Thursday, his lawyers argued he should be released to await trial in his Upper East Side mansion; prosecutors say he is a flight risk. In the mid-2000s, law enforcement in Florida identified nearly two dozen girls who may have been abused by Epstein, but his lawyers negotiated a non-prosecution deal signed by Alexander Acosta, a former U.S. attorney and President Trump's current labor secretary, and Epstein only pleaded guilty to state charges of prostitution, earning an 18-month jail sentence.
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