Multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was denied bail Thursday pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
“Starting with my conclusions, the government’s application for continued remand is hereby granted and the defense’s application for pretrial release is respectfully hereby denied,” Manhattan federal Judge Richard Berman said at the start of a hotly anticipated hearing.
“The government has established danger to others and to the community by clear and convincing evidence, and the government has established a risk of flight by a preponderance of evidence.”
Epstein, 66, had his hands folded on the table in front of him and showed no emotion as Berman announced his ruling.
At one point, the convicted pedophile — who wore a dark blue prison outfit and red sneakers — raised a hand to adjust his glasses as Berman summarized the reasons for keeping him locked up in Lower Manhattan’s infamous Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Berman cited Monday’s “compelling testimony” by accusers Annie Farmer and Courtney Wild, neither of whom was present on Thursday, as well as “evidence of intimidation and threats, and compensation paid to potential witnesses.”
Berman also said there were questions about whether Epstein “has been compliant in legal obligations as a registered sex offender.”
During Monday’s hearing, the judge had noted a front-page Post report about how Epstein never checked in with the NYPD, despite a 2011 order by Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Ruth Pickholz requiring him to do so every 90 days.
Epstein’s defense lawyers declined to comment following the 11-minute hearing.
They had asked that Epstein be released to electronically monitored house arrest on a bond secured by his townhouse at 9 E. 71st St., which the feds have valued at $77 million, and a private jet.
Epstein’s brother, Mark, and pal David Mitchell were also willing to co-sign the bond and pledge properties they own as collateral, the defense said.
Prosecutors argued that Epstein posed an “extreme” risk of flight, citing his immense wealth, which they said included “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds” stashed in a locked safe in his townhouse.
The feds also said they found a trove of photos of young women in the safe, in addition to other pictures that showed at least one girl whose lawyer said she was underage at the time they were shot.
Epstein was busted July 6 over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of girls as young as 14 in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.
He has pleaded not guilty, and faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Epstein’s indictment followed an award-winning series of stories last year by the Miami Herald that revealed how he scored a sweetheart plea bargain in 2008 following similar allegations in Florida.
He served just 13 months of an 18-month sentence, and spent much of his time on work release — during which he allegedly had sex with young women in a private office, a lawyer for several of his accusers said on Tuesday.
The plea deal also involved a non-prosecution agreement with then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta, who last week resigned as President Trump’s secretary of labor amid controversy spurred by Epstein’s latest arrest.
Epstein, who grew up in Coney Island, has claimed to have gotten rich by running a money management firm that catered exclusively to billionaires, letting him invest in currency markets “with very large sums of money.”