“Many judges, like Judge Berman, have been uncomfortable with the appearance of favoritism to wealthy defendants as most people cannot afford such arrangements,” said Harry Sandick, a partner with the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler in New York who isn’t involved in the case. “The decision offers little help to Epstein.”
In the Boustani case, the court said it may be appropriate to include private guards as a bail condition when the defendant’s wealth is the only justification for finding a risk of flight. But it said the lower court based its decision on additional factors, including the seriousness of the charges, the strength of the evidence against Boustani, his frequent international travel and his ties to countries that don’t provide for extradition to the U.S.
Epstein, who may have to wait more than a year for his trial, has been confined since his July 6 arrest in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. Last week, he was found injured and unresponsive in his cell, with marks on his neck. Epstein’s lawyers declined to say whether he was assaulted, possibly by another inmate, or whether the injuries were self-inflicted.
Epstein is charged with trafficking teenage girls for sex from 2002 to 2005. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of soliciting prostitution, after striking a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. He served 13 months in jail and was released for work during the day. Federal prosecutors in New York say they aren’t bound by the deal as they now pursue their own charges.
Boustani was arrested in January at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and remains jailed after a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled he’s a flight risk. He is charged in a scheme tied to deals that allowed the East African nation of Mozambique to borrow $2 billion in 2013 for maritime projects and coastline protection.
Abu Dhabi-based Privinvest was hired to provide equipment and services for the projects, prosecutors said. Boustani is charged with agreeing to pay $50 million in bribes to Mozambican officials and $12 million to co-conspirators at Privinvest. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Epstein case is U.S. v. Epstein, 19-cr-490, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
--With assistance from Patricia Hurtado.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.