Charges against Jeffery Epstein were announced on July 8, 2019 in New York City. Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed his state's law enforcement department Tuesday to handle a criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein's jail work release in the late 2000s, and also asked the agency to launch an inquiry into "other irregularities" surrounding an earlier probe and plea agreement with Epstein.

DeSantis said he wants the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into "the prior state investigation" of Epstein and the plea agreement he signed in 2008.

Epstein, 66, is currently facing indictment in Manhattan federal court, where he is accused of child sex trafficking. He was arrested in early July at a New Jersey airport after flying there from Paris on his private plane.

Prosecutors in that case say he sexually abused dozens of underage girls at his Manhattan townhouse and Palm Beach, Florida, mansion from 2002 through 2005. He has pleaded not guilty, and is being held without bail because the judge in his case said he could represent a danger to other underage girls if he were released.

In the prior case lodged in 2008 by the Palm Beach County State's Attorney's Office, Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges involving an underage girl.

Epstein, a former friend of Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, served 13 months in jail in that case, during which he was allowed outside for hours nearly every day. The case was filed after police called for far more serious charges involving alleged sexual misconduct with underage girls to be brought against Epstein.