A protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse on July 8, 2019 in New York City.

Defense lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday filed a recommended bail package worth up to $77 million for the wealthy financier, who remains in the New York federal jail where prosecutors are asking a judge to keep him pending trial on child sex trafficking charges.

The filing, which argues that Epstein is "entitled" to bail, also suggests that the crimes he is charged with are "akin to consumer or purchaser behavior" and that he thus should not be prosecuted under the sex trafficking statute.

Lawyers are asking for the 66-year-old registered sex offender to be released into home detention in his Manhattan mansion on a "substantial personal recognizance bond" in the amount set by a judge.

The judge could set that amount "after reviewing additional information" about Epstein's finances, which Epstein would file under seal.

A mortgage on the mansion would secure the bail, and he would be monitored by an electronic tracking device, under the proposal. Lawyers noted that the mansion is "valued at roughly $77 million."

Under the proposal, a "Trustee or Trustees" would be appointed to live in Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse with him "and report any violation" to Pretrial Services or the judge in the case.

"Mr. Epstein's brother Mark will serve as a co-surety of the bond, which shall be further secured by a mortgage on Mark's home in West Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Epstein's friend David Mitchell will also serve as a co-surety and pledge his investment interests in two properties to secure the bond," the filing said.

"Mr. Epstein's jet can be pledged as further collateral," the filing said, adding that Epstein would "deregister or otherwise ground his private jet."

Epstein, as part of his proposed bail, would agree not to seek any new passport and would consent to extradition from any country.

"No person shall enter the [Manhattan] residence, other than Mr. Epstein and his attorneys, without prior approval from Pretrial Services and/or the Court," the lawyers suggested.

The filing came three days after Epstein, 66, was charged with two sex trafficking counts in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Epstein is a former friend of presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as of Britain's Prince Andrew.

Epstein is due to appear in court on Monday for a detention hearing, where a judge will consider his bail request. Until then, he will remain locked up.

Prosecutors, who want Epstein detained without bail pending trial, are scheduled to respond to the defense's bail request proposal on Friday.

Prosecutors already have told a judge that Epstein is a flight risk because of his wealth and have said that if he is released he would present a "danger" to the public.

But in their filing Thursday, Epstein's lawyers said "his conduct over the past 14 years proves that he poses no risk of flight or threat to the safety of the community."

Even if a judge has concerns about that, the lawyers said, "there clearly exist a combination of conditions that would be sufficient to assure his presence as required and/or the safety of the community, including but not limited to some or all of the conditions proposed supra, or any other conditions the Court deems necessary and appropriate."

Epstein is accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14 years old, who traveled to his mansions on New York's Upper East Side and in Palm Beach, Florida.

The indictment says the abuse occurred from 2002 through 2005 and typically involved Epstein engaging in sex acts with the girls after asking them to give him massages.

Prosecutors say that some Epstein employees, associates and others "facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein."

In their bail application on Thursday, Epstein's lawyers wrote that "the allegations outlined within the indictment are just that — allegations — and the defendant anticipates substantial factual and legal challenges to the government case."

His lawyers said, "Epstein has potent legal defense to prosecution" under the sex trafficking statute, which they said Congress passed to combat a "modern form of slavery."

"There are no allegations in the indictment that Mr. Epstein trafficked anybody for commercial profit; that he forced, coerced, defrauded, or enslaved anybody; or that he engaged in any of the other paradigmatic sex trafficking activity that [the federal statute] aims to eradicate," lawyers wrote.

"Here, the principal conduct underlying the indictment is Mr. Epstein's payment of money for massages that purportedly escalated to alleged sex acts. Mr. Epstein's conduct, however, is akin to consumer or purchaser behavior and should be outside the ambit of" the sex trafficking statute, lawyers wrote.

His lawyers also said, "No one seeks to minimize the gravity of the alleged conduct, but it is clear that the conduct falls within the heartland of classic state or local sex offenses — and at or outside the margins of federal criminal law."