This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Authorities in Florida have launched an investigation into whether the financier Jeffrey Epstein was properly monitored during a 13-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from underage girls, the product of a controversial 2008 deal with federal authorities.

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The inquiry will focus on whether deputies assigned to monitor Epstein in a work-release program violated any rules or regulations, Palm Beach county sheriff Ric Bradshaw said on Friday.

“All aspects of the matter will be fully investigated to ensure total accountability and transparency,” Bradshaw said.

Under the widely criticized deal, Epstein, now 66, avoided federal prosecution on charges he sexually abused and trafficked minors. He pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and registered as a low-level sex offender.

Epstein joined a work-release program that permitted him to spend 12 hours a day, six days a week at an office rather than in the county jail.

Earlier this month, Epstein was arrested in New York on federal charges of sex trafficking involving underage victims. He pleaded not guilty. The arrest set off huge media interest, given Epstein’s links to powerful men including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.

More women who allege Epstein sexually assaulted them have come forward. This week, he was denied bail.

Criticism of the 2008 deal led to the resignation last week of labor secretary Alexander Acosta, who oversaw the deal while he was a federal prosecutor in Miami.

The state sentence is also under scrutiny. According to Palm Beach county sheriff’s records released to the Associated Press, though it stipulated an 8am to 8pm schedule, Epstein’s personal limousine picked him up from jail as early as 7.15am and dropped him off as late as 10.40pm.

Epstein was permitted to join work-release after a little more than three months in jail. Sex offenders are now banned from work-release, but apparently were not in 2008.

On Thursday, local station WPTV reported that other records from the Palm Beach sheriff showed Epstein making stops at his home – some as long as three hours – on at least eight occasions.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Epstein in court in 2008. Photograph: Uma Sanghvi/AP

Pam Beach sheriff’s deputy Mike Gauger said Epstein was closely monitored, was not allowed to wander or go out for lunch and had visitors logged.

One of the deputies assigned to guard Epstein at his office told the AP he recalled young women visiting, but could not say if there was any inappropriate contact because he was stationed in the lobby, with two doors between himself and Epstein.

“I do remember young women coming in and going back into the office area,” said the now-retired deputy, Jeffrey Rice. “Early 20s, maybe. They just kind of said they were office assistants.”

Last week, Bradley Edwards, a Florida attorney who has represented a number of women who sued Acosta for withholding information about the federal deal from 36 underage alleged victims, accused Epstein of engaging in “improper sexual contact” during his sentence. He did not identify the women allegedly involved.

The Palm Beach investigation comes amid a run of new claims against Epstein, who faces up to 45 years in prison. On Thursday judge Richard Berman denied bail, agreeing with prosecutors that Epstein was a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Edwards’ accusations are based on the work of Michael Fisten, a private detective who says two women say they were brought from another state at the age of 18 to visit Epstein at his office in Florida while he was on work-release.

In interviews with the New York Times and CNN, Fisten said the women reported that their meetings with Epstein turned sexual in nature. Epstein, he said, was naked during the alleged encounters except for a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor. There was sexual activity that included physical contact, he said.

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Fisten declined to discuss specifics and said he had been unable to obtain work-release visitor logs. “We wanted to get those logs so we could see who the girls were,” he told CNN. “They’re missing. No one knows where they are.”

In a statement, the Palm Beach sheriff’s department said it took “these matters very seriously and wants to determine if any actions taken by the deputies assigned to monitor Epstein during his work-release programme violated any agency rules and regulations.”

Fisten said he witnessed private investigators hired by Epstein trying to frighten and harassed accusers. In one instance, Fisten said, an accuser’s father was run off the road.

“They were former Miami cops,” Fisten said. “He paid an extremely large retainer to them and all their job to do was to follow the girls around and intimidate them.”

Prosecutors in New York argued during bail hearings that Epstein had wired $350,000 to two people soon after a Miami Herald exposé last November drew renewed attention to claims against him. Epstein has never been charged with obstruction of justice or witness tampering.

