Lawyers for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein have offered his $77m mansion and private jet as part of a bail package to avoid him having to spend time in jail ahead of his trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Earlier this week, prosecutors brought the 66-year-old to court and charged him with two counts of sex trafficking, and said he had preyed on dozens of girls in New York and Florida.

The former hedge fund manager pleaded not guilty, and his legal team sought to ensure he was released on bail, something the court rejected.

On Thursday, lawyers for the man who once counted Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew among his friends and associates, returned to court with a proposed bond package totalling more than $77m.

His lawyers proposed that his New York mansion, said to be worth $77m, could be offered as bond, as could his private jet. Epstein, who in 2008 pleaded guilty to single charge of sex with a minor as part of a controversial plea deal, also owns a private island.

Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Show all 9 1 /9 Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in court Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein attends court as he pleads guilty to solicitation and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, 2008 Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in court Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony solicitation and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail. Epstein, allegedly paid several girls under the age of 18 in return for naked massages at his Palm Beach, Florida estate Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's car Jeffrey Epstein is whisked away from the Palm Beach County jail in a black car shortly after 6am on 22 July 2009. Epstein left the jail through the sally port, where prisoners are brought in, rather than through the main doors where prisoners are routinely released Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mugshot Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mugshot, taken after he was indicted for soliciting a prostitute on 26 July 2006. Beginning in mid-March 2005, Epstein became the target of a sexual battery probe conducted by the Palm Beach Police Department, according to the affidavit, which alleges that Epstein paid a series of underage girls to engage in sexual activity with him. In a 2002 New York magazine profile of Epstein, Donald Trump called the moneyman a 'terrific guy' who 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' Epstein, who reportedly runs a multibillion-dollar investment fund, travels in his own Boeing 727 (upon which he has transported Bill Clinton to Africa) and owns a 45,000-square-foot mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jack Goldberger, Jeffrey Epstein's attorney Jeffrey Epstein's attorney, Jack Goldberger, talks with reporters gathered outside the Palm Beach County jail on 22 July 2009 after Epstein was whisked away from the jail in a black car Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein Florida Police department sexual offenders database picture of Jeffrey Epstein taken in 2013 Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mansion His Palm Beach mansion in Florida Google Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's island The private Caribbean island, Little St James is part of the US Virgin Islands NBC News Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's island The private Caribbean island, Little St James is part of the US Virgin Islands NBC News

“The government seeks to remand a self-made New York native and lifelong American resident based on dated allegations for which he was already convicted and punished,” Epstein’s lawyers wrote, according to NBC News.

His lawyers also proposed he hire a team of private security guards to ensure he did not flee.

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They said in order to be able to stay in his Upper East Side home while awaiting trial, he would also agree to electronic monitoring and hand over his passport.

The Associated Press said his lawyers told the court he feared a “toxic political climate” might cause federal prosecutors to scrap a deal he made with them over a decade ago and charge him again with sexual abuse charges involving underage girls. They also attacked the prosecution’s case against their client.