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Case 1:19-cr-00490-RMB Document 32
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, :
Government, :
- against - :
JEFFREY EPSTEIN, :
Defendant. :
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A. Background
Filed,
USDC SDNY
DOCUMENT
ELECTRONICALLY FILED
DOC #:
DATE FILED: FINS, TF
19 CR. 490 (RMB)
DECISION & ORDER
REMANDING DEFENDANT
This ruling follows the Court’s bail hearing held on July 15, 2019. The issue before the
Court is whether the Defendant should continue to be remanded (incarcerated) pending trial or
whether he should be granted release while the case proceeds. No matter the answer to this
question and no matter what has been said in Court in analyzing the matter, this is a criminal
case and the Defendant, Jeffrey Epstein, is innocent of the Federal charges alleged against him
now and until such time, if it comes, that a jury or the Court finds (after fair and thorough
consideration of the facts and the law) that he is guilty. See Transcript, dated July 8, 2019
(“7/8/19 Tr.’’), at 2-3; Transcript, dated July 15, 2019 (7/15/19 Tr.”), at 40. It should also be
borne in mind that the Court has not (yet) been presented with a motion to dismiss the
Indictment.
This is a federal as opposed to a state case. We proceed under federal law and federal
rules. The key federal statute that applies here is 18 U.S.C. § 1591 which sets forth the crime of
sex trafficking with which Mr. Epstein is charged. Mr. Epstein is also charged with conspiring
with others to commit sex trafficking under 18 U.S.C. § 371.
With respect to the issue of remand versus release, 18 U.S.C. § 3142 applies. It sets forth
a presumption in favor of remand, an exception to the presumption in most cases which favors
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