Jeffrey Epstein Arrested by FBI at Teterboro Airport
On July 6, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein is arrested by FBI agents at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey, as he returns from Paris on his private jet. The Southern District of New York unseals a federal indictment charging him with two counts of federal sex trafficking. It is the first federal sex crime charge Epstein has faced in his life.
People Involved
On the evening of July 6, 2019, FBI agents and New York City law enforcement arrested Jeffrey Epstein at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey as he stepped off his private Boeing 727 jet returning from Paris, France.
The timing was significant: Epstein had been in Paris for several weeks and had not yet returned to the United States following the May 2019 case conference in the CVRA litigation, where Judge Marra had issued his February 2019 ruling confirming the NPA had violated victims’ rights. He had reportedly been aware that federal scrutiny was intensifying.
The Indictment
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York simultaneously unsealed a two-count federal indictment:
- Sex trafficking of minors — alleging Epstein had trafficked girls as young as 14 at his Manhattan residence and Palm Beach mansion from approximately 2002 to 2005
- Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking — alleging he had worked with unnamed co-conspirators (understood to be Ghislaine Maxwell and others) to recruit victims
The indictment described in stark terms the cash payment system, the recruitment referral network, and the systematic abuse of victims at Epstein’s properties.
The Search of His Properties
Contemporaneous with the arrest, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. Among items seized were:
- A large quantity of photographs — some of young women and girls in explicit or suggestive contexts
- An expired foreign passport in the name of “Jeffrey E. Epstein” with a false Saudi address and a different country of origin than the U.S. — a fake identity document
- Stacks of cash and diamonds
- Documents and communications
Arraignment
Epstein was arraigned on July 8, 2019. He pleaded not guilty to both counts. The government sought detention; Epstein’s team proposed a $100 million bail package with home confinement. Judge Richard Berman denied bail on July 18, ruling Epstein an extreme flight risk.
Epstein was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, where he would remain until his death 35 days later.