R. Kelly gets new 20-year jail term for child porn crimes

NEW YORK, United States - A US judge on Thursday handed disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly a 20-year prison term for child pornography and other charges -- but he will serve most of it simultaneously with a previous sentence.

Kelly, 56, is already serving a 30-year sentence he received after a Brooklyn jury in a separate federal trial convicted him on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

The judge in Chicago -- Kelly's hometown, where he was once seen as a source of pride -- ruled that most of the new sentence would be served concurrently with the previous one, with all but one year taken at the same time.

That Kelly will spend a maximum of 31 years in prison is a win for the defense, which urged in its sentencing memorandum that "a concurrent sentence is what fairness demands," accusing the prosecution of engaging in a "quest to ensure that Kelly never sees the light of day."

His lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, is appealing both of Kelly's federal convictions.

The artist born Robert Sylvester Kelly was convicted in September 2022 on six of 13 counts alleged in the Chicago trial: three counts of producing child pornography and three of enticement of a minor.

The singer known for hits including "I Believe I Can Fly" was acquitted by a federal jury of the seven other counts, including charges that he obstructed justice in a previous trial.

Kelly and two ex-associates had been accused of rigging the singer's 2008 child pornography proceedings in which a jury delivered a verdict of not guilty.

The federal conviction in Chicago came one year after Kelly was convicted in New York of systematically recruiting teenagers and women for sex.

That verdict was widely seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: it was the first major sex abuse trial where the majority of the accusers were Black women.

It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal consequences for the abuse he was rumored for decades to have inflicted on women and children.

Agence France-Presse

Jeffrey Epstein death ruled as suicide by hanging - US media

NEW YORK, United States—An autopsy on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his jail cell, has concluded that he committed suicide by hanging, US media reported Friday.

The ruling, first reported by The New York Times, comes 6 days after the 66-year-old, who was accused of trafficking girls as young as 14 for sex, was found dead.

The newspaper said the official results of the New York city medical examiner's investigation into how Epstein had died showed that the wealthy hedge fund manager had killed himself.

It cited officials as saying that Epstein had used a bedsheet to hang himself.

The report came a day after US media reported that preliminary findings from the post-mortem examination had found broken bones in Epstein's neck.

The Washington Post and The New York Times cited sources familiar with the autopsy report as saying Epstein had broken the hyoid bone near his Adam's apple.

Epstein, a multi-millionaire who counted Britain's Prince Andrew and Donald Trump as friends, was charged with 1 count of sex trafficking of minors and 1 count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

According to prosecutors, Epstein sexually exploited dozens of teenagers at his homes in Manhattan and Florida between 2002 and 2005.

He denied the charges but faced up to 45 years in jail if found guilty. 

The FBI and Justice Department are investigating how America's most high-profile inmate managed to take his own life just weeks after an earlier reported suicide attempt.

The warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center where Epstein was housed has been temporarily reassigned and 2 guards put on administrative leave pending an investigation. 

They guards were reportedly asleep when they should have been checking on Epstein.

Epstein's death came a day after a court released documents in which an alleged victim said he used her as a "sex slave" and that she was forced to have sex with well-known politicians and businessmen.

Prosecutors have pledged to pursue cases against anyone else involved in Epstein's alleged crimes.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Epstein death anger soars, conspiracy theories swirl

NEW YORK - Outrage and intrigue over the apparent suicide in prison of well-connected accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein soared Sunday as US lawmakers pushed for answers, including whether "criminal acts" played a role in his death.

Epstein, a convicted pedophile who hobnobbed with countless politicians and celebrities over the years, was found dead in his cell Saturday while awaiting trial on federal charges he trafficked underage girls for sex.

The discovery came a day after a court released documents in which one of Epstein's alleged victims claimed she was forced to have sex with well-known American political and business personalities. They have all denied the allegations.

Epstein's death in a high-security New York jail, an apparent suicide that came just weeks after an earlier possible attempt on his own life, meant he should have been under close watch and has fueled anger and a conspiracy theory frenzy.

"These survivors deserved a day in court. They deserved justice," Democratic Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said Sunday.

"It is a shame that he committed suicide," she told CBS's "Face the Nation."

New York's chief medical examiner Barbara Sampson said Sunday that an autopsy had been completed, but the determination of cause of death was "pending further information at this time."

The procedure was observed by an outside pathologist at the request of Epstein's representatives, she added.

CELLMATE REPORTEDLY MOVED

US Attorney General Bill Barr has instructed the Justice Department's inspector general to probe Epstein's death, saying it "raises serious questions that must be answered."

The FBI is also investigating.

The New York Times reported Sunday that guards were supposed to check Epstein every half hour but that procedure was not followed the night before he was found, citing an unnamed law enforcement official.

The jail had also transferred his cellmate, leaving him alone, the Times said, citing two officials.

Epstein, 66, had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. 

Prosecutors said Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage teens, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

The young women were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors alleged.

Epstein denied the charges and faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted. 

Last month, Epstein was found unconscious with marks on his neck after a possible suicide attempt. 

He was put on suicide watch for six days before being returned to his cell in a high-security section of the prison, the Times has reported.

"Pedophiles facing federal criminal charges are at high risk for suicide," tweeted Rod Rosenstein, the former US deputy attorney general.

"Detained pedophiles require special attention. Stopping people from harming themselves is difficult."

'UNFOUNDED CONSPIRACY THEORIES'

Epstein -- whose friends included Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew -- had been convicted in 2008 in a Florida state court of paying young girls for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.

Those men have all denied knowing anything about Epstein's alleged crimes.

The two thousand pages of previously sealed court documents released Friday focused on testimony by a woman who claimed she was Epstein's "sex slave."

Virginia Giuffre detailed new allegations against Epstein and his high-profile acquaintances. 

"Some of wealthiest people in the world committed a horrible crime. If they think for a second that they got away with it because Jeffrey Epstein is dead, they're dead WRONG," tweeted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, as prosecutors pledged to pursue the indictment.

Trump weighed in on Saturday, retweeting a conspiracy theory alleging -- without any evidence whatsoever -- that Bill Clinton may be connected to Epstein's death.

"This is another example of our president using this position of public trust to attack his political enemies with unfounded conspiracy theories," Beto O'Rourke, another Democrat running for president, told CNN.

Senator Cory Booker, also in the 2020 race, described Trump's retweet as "more recklessness" and "dangerous."

Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, asked on "Fox News Sunday" about her boss's retweet, said that "the president just wants everything to be investigated."

Epstein avoided a lengthy jail sentence when facing the charges in Florida over a decade ago. 

He served just 13 months under a secret plea deal struck with the then federal prosecutor in the state, Alex Acosta, who was forced to resign as US labor secretary last month over the issue.

Alleged victims were hoping for more justice this time around.

"I really wanted him to... be put in jail and have to sit there and think about what it is he exactly did to so many people," one accuser, Michelle Licata, told ABC's "This Week."

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source:  news.abs-cbn.com

Disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein commits suicide at Manhattan jail

NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein, the financier indicted on sex trafficking charges last month, committed suicide at a Manhattan jail, officials said on Saturday.

Epstein hanged himself and his body was found at roughly 7:30 Saturday morning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

Manhattan federal prosecutors last month charged Epstein, 66, with sex trafficking of girls as young as 14, and details of his behavior have been emerging for years.

Epstein, a financier with opulent homes, a private jet and access to elite circles, had been dogged for decades by accusations that he had paid dozens of girls for sexual acts in Florida.

He previously avoided federal criminal charges in 2008 after prosecutors brokered a widely criticized deal that allowed him to plea to state charges of solicitation of prostitution from a minor and serve 13 months in jail. Even while in custody, Epstein was allowed to leave the jail for 12 hours a day, six days a week, to work at his office in Florida.

Last month, a week after being denied bail, Epstein was found unconscious in his cell at the jail in Manhattan with marks on his neck, and prison officials were investigating the incident as a possible suicide attempt.

It was not immediately clear on Saturday whether authorities had put in additional safeguards to watch him after the incident. The federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Martin Weinberg, Epstein’s defense lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A cache of previously sealed legal documents, released on Friday by a federal appeals court, provided new, disturbing details about what was going on inside Epstein’s homes and how his associates recruited young women and girls, including from a Florida high school.

The documents — among the most expansive sets of materials publicly disclosed in the 13 years since Epstein was first charged with sex crimes — include depositions, police incident reports, photographs, receipts, flight logs and even a memoir written by a woman who said she was a sex trafficking victim of Epstein and his acquaintances.

The documents were filed as part of a defamation lawsuit in federal court that Virginia Giuffre brought in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion and confidante. Giuffre and Maxwell settled the lawsuit shortly before the trial was to begin in 2017.

The Miami Herald and other media outlets petitioned the court to have the lawsuit documents unsealed. The request was initially denied, but an appeals court ordered them released last month.

Days after the ruling, on July 3, Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport after his private plane landed on a flight from Paris. Federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy.

Prosecutors said in their indictment that he and his employees engaged in a sex trafficking scheme, bringing girls as young as 14 to both his Upper East Side mansion and his palatial waterfront home in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he would have faced up to 45 years in prison.

Epstein had sought home detention at his Upper East Side mansion while he awaited trial. His lawyers had proposed allowing Epstein to post a substantial bond and stay in his luxurious seven-story townhouse, watched by 24-hour security guards, at his expense.

But a federal judge denied the request, concluding that Epstein was a flight risk, citing his “vast wealth,” which prosecutors have placed at more than $500 million.

Epstein, a former money manager with Wall Street experience, depicted himself as a wealthy financier with stellar investment savvy.

In addition to his homes in Florida and New York, he also owned a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a massive ranch in New Mexico and a residence in Paris. He had numerous high-end vehicles and access to private planes and helicopters.

Epstein levied his supposed financial prowess to cultivate connections to a dazzling assembly of elected officials, prominent scientists and business elites. His acquaintances, at various moments, included President Donald Trump, Stephen Hawking and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Even after he served time in a Florida jail and became a registered sex offender, Epstein successfully maintained a reputation as a billionaire investor, philanthropist and sophist.

In the time since Epstein’s arrest, evidence has suggested that the former money manager’s business acumen was more myth than fact. His client list was not as extensive as believed, and the services he offered were less remarkable than once portrayed.

Earlier this week, perhaps Epstein’s most notable client, Leslie H. Wexner, the executive behind Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, accused Epstein of misappropriating “vast sums of money” from him and his family.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Authorities fight sex trafficking with soap at the Super Bowl

WASHINGTON - Ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, tens of thousands of unaccompanied men will arrive in Atlanta to schmooze and be schmoozed, but most of all to party.

That brings sex trafficking to the top of the agenda for US authorities such as the Atlanta Police Department and the FBI, and for smaller organizations that fight trafficking without guns, or even flashlights, but rather with bars of soap.

The bars – and makeup wipes – were dropped off last weekend at hundreds of hotels and motels around the city, labelled with a phone number and a message.

"Are you being forced to do anything you do not want to do? Have you been threatened if you try to leave? Have you witnessed young girls being prostituted?" the black letters on the red label say.

"If so, please call: 1-888-373-7888," the Nation Human Trafficking Hotline.

Big sporting events, from the World Cup to the Olympics, regularly trigger a panic over an influx of sex workers, with many being victims of human trafficking.

Arrests of pimps running underage sex rings are reported at the National Football League's championship game almost every year, with girls being trafficked from as far away as Hawaii to hook up with clients via the internet, hotels and strip clubs.

The founder of the SOAP (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) project, Theresa Flores, believes what matters is putting the right message in the right place at the right time.

To her, that is a bar of soap in a hotel bathroom where a trafficking victim may be able to grab a moment alone.

And when a hotel or motel is hesitant to take the proffered soap or wipes?

"I tell them my story about how I would have found it when I was left for dead in a motel," Flores told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

She herself is a survivor.

A TRAFFICKING MECCA?

Numerous local and national charities are using the most-watched event on US television to spread their message.

And every Atlanta police officer has taken two hours of instruction on how to recognize and deal with trafficking, spokesman Jarius Daugherty said in emailed comments.

The police are also working with the FBI, which declined to give specifics about its plans ahead of the Super Bowl.

Still, for all the attention trafficking receives around the Superbowl, experts are unclear whether it causes a big spike.

Some 1.5 million people in the United States are victims of trafficking, mostly for sexual exploitation. The majority are children, according to a US Senate report published in 2017.

The state of Georgia ranked seventh in the United States for calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2017, according to Polaris, which runs the hotline.

But any increase in reports of trafficking could have more to do with awareness efforts than a spike in women and girls being brought to the Atlanta area for sex.

"We don't believe there is a significant increase in actual trafficking cases or victimization," Polaris spokesman Brandon Bouchard said in emailed comments.

"Rather it's a change in the marketing of commercial sex services that use the Super Bowl as a hook."

SOAP uses big national events like the Super Bowl and the Detroit autoshow to anchor their efforts, but over the weekend they also worked to help trafficking victims who have been in Atlanta all along.

In addition to the soap and makeup wipes, the group distributes posters with photos of 12 suspected victims in the Atlanta area.

Flores said it is not unusual for hotel clerks to recognize the girls from the posters.

"A lot of them think of this as prostitution - no, this is human trafficking," she said.

"We're really educating every single hotel out there."

source: news.abs-cbn.com