Jeffrey Epstein Indicted On Child Sex Trafficking Charge
By Andy Campbell, HuffPost US
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was formally charged with the sex trafficking of minors on Monday in New York City.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York filed a 14-page grand jury indictment accusing Epstein of paying dozens of girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts with him in his homes in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005. He “conspired with others” to sexually abuse and exploit the girls, and paid his victims to recruit others, court documents allege.
The billionaire financier was charged with child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. He pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors said Monday they would recommend Epstein be jailed until his next court hearing. They also urged that he be held without bail because “the charges in this case are exceptionally serious.”
“The nature of the offenses he is alleged to have perpetrated ― the abuse [of] dozens of underage, vulnerable girls ― along with his demonstrated willingness to harass, intimidate and otherwise tamper with victims and other potential witnesses against him, render his dangerousness readily apparent,” they wrote in a court filing.
Possible co-conspirators
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said he considered Epstein a flight risk. “When you have two planes and live much of the year abroad, we think that’s a very real risk,” he told reporters.
Berman called on any victims of Epstein who hadn’t yet come forward to contact the FBI.
“The alleged behavior shocks the conscience,” U.S. Berman said at a news conference. “The sexual abuse of a minor can have devastating effects on the victims, often for years ... victims voices, including the victims of Epstein’s alleged victims, must be heard.”
More possible co-conspirators
Epstein, who escaped serious punishment on federal prostitution charges in 2008, was arrested over the weekend when his jet landed at a New Jersey airport. As part of the indictment, prosecutors said they intend to seize his Upper East Side mansion, where some of the abuses occurred. They scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m.
The indictment alleges Epstein engaged in a twisted ritual of abuse. He would have girls escorted to one of his homes, according to the document, where they would be forced to perform massages on him and engage in sexual behavior. He would then allegedly pay them hundreds of dollars.
“Epstein incentivized his victims to become recruiters by paying these victim recruiters hundreds of dollars for each girl that they brought to” him, the indictment states. “In so doing, Epstein maintained a steady supply of new victims to exploit.”
Some of the girls exploited by Epstein
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender in Florida as part of a sweetheart plea deal with U.S. attorneys in Miami. His sentence allowed work release and he received very little jail time.
Those federal prosecutors, working under then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta in Miami, broke the law by keeping that deal secret from victims, a federal judge ruled this year. Acosta now works as secretary of labor in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
The Miami Herald cast new light on Epstein’s abuses in a three-part expose in November and identified 80 women who said he abused them. In court filings, the FBI identified more than 100 of his victims, according to the Herald.
The Miami Herald investigation revealed Epstein’s friendships, private meetings and other ties with famous people like former President Bill Clinton and Trump. Clinton often flew in Epstein’s private plane and visited his island, while Trump once described him as a “terrific guy.”
The 2008 plea deal helped to keep the names of any co-conspirators out of court documents.
The new indictment doesn’t name anyone alleged to have conspired with Epstein in the sex crimes. Separately, the Herald reported that there was no evidence Trump or Clinton were involved in Epstein’s crimes.
Today, July 10th, it was announced that child sex abuse images were found in Epstein's NY mansion. This may well lead to more charges against the creep.
Today, July 12th, the first big-name victim of this evil man's fall is Alex Acosta, who just stepped down as Labor Secretary in Trump's government. Honestly, I think Acosta should go to jail for his sweetheart deal with the devil. Is Acosta the first domino to fall?
Today, July 10th, it was announced that child sex abuse images were found in Epstein's NY mansion. This may well lead to more charges against the creep.
Today, July 12th, the first big-name victim of this evil man's fall is Alex Acosta, who just stepped down as Labor Secretary in Trump's government. Honestly, I think Acosta should go to jail for his sweetheart deal with the devil. Is Acosta the first domino to fall?
$5 billion wiped off Chinese real estate mogul's empire following sexual assault allegations
news.com.au
The detainment of a Chinese real estate mogul has seen billions of dollars wiped off the value of his real estate empire in Shanghai.
Billionaire Wang Zhenhua, who founded Future Land Development Holdings in 1996, was detained after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her nine-year-old daughter in a hotel on June 29.
According to the South China Morning Post, China's top political body responsible for law and order claimed he "took children as his playthings" and vowed to bring him to justice.
"Wang, who is a successful businessman, a philanthropist, a national model worker, took children as his plaything. This is so dirty and obscene," the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission alleged on social media.
Shanghai police said in a statement that they had detained a 57-year-old man, identified only by his surname, for alleged child molestation in a local hotel.
"At 9pm on July 3, Shanghai police issued a briefing on its official Weibo account. From that, it has been confirmed by the police that Wang Zhenhua, the de facto controller of Seazen Holdings, is suspected of molesting a girl," a Chinese state-run news agency reported on Thursday.
Wang has not been formally charged or arrested but is being held under criminal detention.
Furue Land said in a statement it had removed Wang as chairman. Its shares plunged by 36 per cent on the Hong Kong stock exchange between Wednesday and Friday last week, which shares in S-Enjoy Service Group — a company in which Wang has a 73 per cent stake — crashed 41 per cent over the same period.
According to police, a woman — identified only by her surname Zhou — has also been detained in relation with the case. She allegedly took the child to the hotel in Shanghai from her home in neighbouring Jiangsu province.
Another company set up and chaired by Wang, Seazen Holdings, said it was "deeply worried, shocked and upset that it was our founder who started this storm".
"We, as well as the public, think juveniles are the future of society, and any behaviour that harms them should be punished by the law," the company said in a statement.
Child sex abuse case ends as Sterling Van Wagenen, a LDS filmmaker, and Sundance co-originator, gets his second prison sentence
By Sean P. MeansBy Jessica Miller
Salt Lake Tribune
West Jordan, UT • For the second time this month, Latter-day Saint filmmaker Sterling Van Wagenen was given a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a young girl.
Without a word from Van Wagenen, 3rd District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman on Tuesday handed down a sentence of six years to life, one week after a Utah County judge did the same. The resolution was part of a plea deal in which Van Wagenen admitted earlier this year to two child sex abuse charges in two separate courtrooms.
The 72-year-old filmmaker, who has deep ties to Utah’s film industry, has been behind bars for a week now. He stood in the courtroom shackled, wearing a white Utah Department of Corrections shirt and pants. He made no statement.
He will serve both prison sentences at the same time, meaning he could get out in as soon as six years. But last week, 4th District Judge Roger Griffin urged the parole board to impose a long sentence. Griffin said that while Van Wagenen reported that he had suffered trauma as a child himself, he should have known better as an adult that what he was doing was harmful.
The young girl was not present in Bernards-Goodman’s courtroom in West Jordan. Her mother was, but did not speak.
Last week, the young victim stood in an American Fork courtroom next to her older sister, who read a statement she wrote. In the statement, the victim said Van Wagenen should have admitted wrongdoing earlier and told her parents that he had touched her inappropriately. She urged him to come clean if there were other victims and said that, if it were up to her, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I believe with all my heart that there are others that you damaged,” she said in her statement.
She is the second person that Van Wagenen has admitted to molesting when they were children. She came forward earlier this year after another victim, Sean Escobar, released a secretly recorded conversation in which Van Wagenen admitted he molested Escobar during a 1993 sleepover at the Van Wagenen home when Escobar was 13.
The girl had read about Escobar’s story after he gave permission to the Truth & Transparency Foundation, the nonprofit group behind the MormonLeaks website, to publish the recording.
Van Wagenen admitted abusing Escobar back in 1993 to police and his lay leaders within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He never faced criminal charges for that abuse. Instead, he was disfellowshipped — a penalty short of excommunication — from the Utah-based faith.
R. Kelly arrested on federal sex crimes charges in Chicago
Singer already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors
Sara Burnett and Caryn Rousseau · The Associated Press
R. Kelly was arrested on federal charges that accuse him and members of his entourage of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with the R&B singer and paying them to cover up his crimes, including those at the centre of his 2008 acquittal on child pornography charges.
Kelly, who was already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was indicted on allegations that he and his business manager paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and used physical abuse and blackmail to prevent girls and their relatives from providing evidence to law enforcement about his sex acts with minors and videos depicting them.
An indictment unsealed Friday in Chicago says he arranged for a girl and her parents to travel overseas so they could not talk with police prior to his 2002 indictment on 21 counts of child pornography. The pornography case stemmed from allegations that Kelly recorded a video of him engaging in sex acts with the girl, who was 12 or 13 when they met.
The indictment says the payments continued after the 2008 trial, and that Kelly also transferred the title on a luxury SUV to the girl in 2013.
A separate indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York includes charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labour and the sexual exploitation of a child.
The indictment alleges Kelly and his managers, bodyguards and other assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. They also set rules the women and girls had to follow, including not leaving their rooms — even to eat or go to the bathroom — without Kelly's permission, calling the singer "Daddy" and not looking at other men.
The indictment alleges that the criminal acts occurred over two decades dating back to 1999, both in the U.S. and overseas. It accuses Kelly of engaging in sexual acts with girls under 18 and without disclosing that he had a sexually transmitted disease. It also accuses him of producing child pornography, including by asking minors to send him photographs.
The Chicago indictment charges Kelly with child sex crimes, including producing child pornography, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. It also names Kelly's business manager, Derrel McDavid, and another employee.
Arrested in Chicago
U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was walking his dog when he was taken into custody Thursday evening. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Kelly was being held at the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
He is scheduled to appear in court in Chicago Friday afternoon. His arraignment on the Chicago charges was scheduled for Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in New York said if convicted of the charges, Kelly could face decades in prison. Chicago prosecutors also want Kelly to forfeit more than $1.5 million US.
Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, said the new federal allegations appear "to largely be the same" as what he is charged with in state court earlier this year. He said Kelly "was aware of the investigations, and the charges were not a surprise."
"He and his lawyers look forward to his day in court, to the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain," Greenberg said, adding that Kelly looks forward to being able to continue making music and performing "for his legions of fans that believe in him."
The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The 52-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois involving four women, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse occurred. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.
R. Kelly pleads not guilty to 11 more sex-related charges
Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sex-related counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
Chaotic news conference
Darrell Johnson, a publicist for Kelly, delivered a statement at a chaotic news conference Friday in Atlanta, where he was interrupted seconds after beginning by the family of a woman who lived with Kelly in Chicago. The relatives of Joycelyn Savage pleaded to speak with their daughter.
"I want to know where my daughter is," said Timothy Savage, Joycelyn Savage's father, angrily interrupting Johnson.
"Where is she at? Answer that question!"
Johnson said he had "nothing to do" with Joycelyn Savage and that she was not being held. In an interview with CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King in March, Joycelyn Savage defended her relationship with Kelly and denied reports she was being held against her will.
Kelly has faced mounting legal troubles this year after Lifetime aired a documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which revisited allegations of sexual abuse of girls. The series followed the BBC's R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes, released in 2018, that alleged the singer was holding women against their will and running a "sex cult."
Soon after the release of the Lifetime documentary, Cook County state's attorney Kim Foxx said her office had been inundated with calls about the allegations in the documentary. Her office's investigation led to the charges in February and additional counts added in May.
'Everybody has failed these young women:' New docuseries resurfaces R. Kelly sex abuse allegations
The impact of Surviving R. Kelly "has actually surprised me," Dream Hampton, filmmaker and executive producer of the doc, told CBC News during a recent interview at the Banff World Media Festival.
"The conversations that have been happening [since] have probably been given me the most hope. Whatever happens with R. Kelly personally and in the legal system is going to happen. But the fact that we're talking — and by we, I mean black people, because that's his fan base, it's the community that I come from.... To hear us having public conversations about sexual violence in the home, with a celebrity, with a powerful man — that has been a real change and shift."
Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard will stand trial
on sex assault charges
Hoggard was arrested and charged last summer
after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged
The Canadian Press after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged
Hedley vocalist Jacob Hoggard, right, appears in court Thursday during the preliminary hearing for his case on sex assault charges. He is flanked by defence lawyer Ian Smith, centre, while Justice Mara Greene looks on. Crown attorney Kelly Slate questions a witness, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Jacob Hoggard, the frontman for the Canadian rock band Hedley, will face a trial by jury on three sex-related charges involving a woman and a teenager.
Ontario Court Justice Mara Greene ruled Friday that the case should proceed after prosecutors gave an overview of their evidence and Hoggard's lawyer agreed it met the threshold for a trial.
The evidence was presented over a two-day preliminary hearing in Toronto.
Any evidence cannot be divulged, however, due to a publication ban meant to protect the accused's right to a fair trial. A publication ban is also in place to protect the identities of the complainants.
Hoggard, 35, nodded silently as the judge gave her decision, then sat back down next to his lawyer.
Hoggard's lawyer told CBC News that he intends to plead not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one count of sexual interference.
Toronto police have said the charges relate to three separate incidents involving a woman and a girl under the age of 16 that allegedly occurred in the Toronto area in 2016.
Hoggard has previously denied engaging in non-consensual sexual behaviour, but has said he acted in a way that objectifies women.
"I understand the significant harm that is caused not only to the women I interacted with, but to all women who are degraded by this type of behaviour," he said on Twitter last year. "I have been careless and indifferent and I have no excuse. For this I am truly sorry."
Hedley, a two-time Juno-winning band based in Vancouver, has been on an indefinite hiatus (2nd story on link) since the allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced. Its last show was in Kelowna, B.C., on March 24, 2018.
The group was also dropped by its management team, blacklisted by several radio stations and renounced by other performers booked on their tour.
Fans of the band have attended at least one previous hearing in the case even when Hoggard was absent.
A trial date has not yet been set but a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23.
JonBenet Ramsey Photographer Arrested For Alleged Child Sex Abuse
Inset Of JonBenet Ramsey in Pink Sweatshirt, Her Grave Stone Surrounded By Teddy Bears and
Inset of Randall DeWitt Simons' MugshotPhoto Credit: Police Handout (2); Getty Images
A former photographer for JonBenet Ramsey has been charged with 15 counts of second-degree encouraging child sex abuse, after police say he downloaded child pornography on his personal computer.
Randall DeWitt Simons was taken into custody earlier this month in Oregon after a yearlong child pornography investigation.
The 66-year-old was a photographer for 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen Ramsey a few months before her still-unsolved 1996 murder.
He later sold a portfolio of photos showing Ramsey in makeup and curls for $7,500, claiming at first he hoped the worldwide exposure would lead to the capture of the child’s killer, but acknowledging later that controversy over selling the pictures could jeopardize his career.
In October 1998, Simons was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure in Lincoln County, Colo. for allegedly walking nude down a residential street, shouting to deputies that he “didn’t kill JonBenét.”
He was held in the Lincoln County Jail in Colorado pending a psychiatric evaluation. The outcome of the case is unknown, and he was never a suspect in Ramsey’s disappearance.
Maybe he should have been?
Officials are asking that anyone who left their children unattended with the man to contact Oakridge Police and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.
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