The financier suspected of sex crimes was found hanged in his cell in August 2019. The officers were accused of not having carried out their rounds that night.
The day after the judgment against Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted in New York of sex trafficking of minors, the American justice announced, Thursday, December 30, the abandonment of the proceedings against the prison guards who had not monitored her accomplice, the financier. American Jeffrey Epstein, the night of his suicide, in 2019.
Justice indicted in November 2019 the two guards of a New York prison, three months after Epstein died by hanging in his cell on August 10, before his trial for sex crimes.
The two prison officers were accused of not having made their rounds of surveillance during the night of August 9 to 10, 2019 and of having remained at their office, surfing the Internet. Mr. Epstein, a multimillionaire US and international jet set financier, was found dead on dawn on August 10, and the autopsy concluded a suicide by hanging, not without controversy and conspiracy theories.
William Barr, then Minister of Justice of the United States, had denounced "serious" dysfunctions in this reputedly safe prison, where Epstein had been detained since his arrest in July 2019. He was prosecuted for sex crimes, in particular against minors.
Falsification of documents
In his filing order, the Manhattan district attorney recalls that the two guards had "willfully" and "knowingly" falsified "documents" to make it appear that they had been on their rounds that night. At the time, the prison director, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, had been transferred and the two officers suspended.
As part of their agreement with justice, MM. Noel and Thomas were simply forced into community service, according to the ordinance.
On Wednesday evening, the former companion and accomplice of Epstein, the former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty by federal court in Manhattan of a series of sex crimes, in particular the most serious: trafficking in young girls minor between 1994 and 2004, for the benefit of Epstein.
Ms Maxwell, 60, also French and American, faces dozens of years in prison, but a sentencing date has not yet been set. His lawyers announced they would appeal and his brother Kevin Maxwell said he was convinced of his sister's innocence, calling the verdict "a great injustice" on Thursday on ABC.
The victims of the Maxwell-Epstein couple, for their part, expressed their relief at the outcome of the trial which would tend to prove that "no one is above the law."