NEW YORK – Jeffrey Epstein has died by suicide in his jail cell, NBC News reports.
The officials told NBC News he was found at 7:30 E.T. Saturday and that he hanged himself.
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Epstein, 66,was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York on federal sex trafficking charges.
Epstein was arrested July 6 when he arrived at a New Jersey airport on a private jet from Paris, where he had a home.
In late July, Epstein was found in his Manhattan jail cell with marks on his neck. While Epstein told authorities he was beaten up and called a child predator, the sources said, he was placed on suicide watch.
Epstein was awaiting trial on one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 66-year-old allegedly paid girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Upper East Side home and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. Federal prosecutors say he used employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and then paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.
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NBC News Special Report: Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail cell. https://t.co/gJbkbCThbD pic.twitter.com/ekFU7Mpj34
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 10, 2019