NEW YORK — The FBI will investigate the suicide death of financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and the U.S. attorney general has also ordered an investigation.

Epstein's body was found Saturday morning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, citing law enforcement sources and the Manhattan medical examiner's office.

Epstein already attempted suicide once since he was arrested. 

 

Epstein was accused of sex trafficking young girls for years, at residences in New York and Florida, and in some cases to powerful people.

The 66-year-old Epstein was facing up to 45 years in prison if convicted.

Epstein's suicide comes one day after hundreds of pages of court documents were unsealed in federal court with new sex abuse details.

The documents were connected to a 2015 defamation case brought by a woman who claimed Epstein kept her as a sex slave while she was a teenager.

The documents also said Epstein farmed the woman out to several well-known associates, including the Duke of York, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former senator George Mitchell. 

Epstein took a plea deal in Florida in 2008 on related charges and served a 13-month sentence in Palm Beach county jail. the deal spared him from more serious federal charges.

An investigation by the Miami Herald earlier this year led to the resignation of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who was the U.S. attorney when the plea deal was made.

Following reports that Epstein was allowed to visit his West Palm Beach office and mansion while on work release during that 13-month jail sentence, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered an FDLE investigation. 

There are allegations that he was visited by young women at that time.

So what happens next?

News of Epstein's death has many wondering what's next for the victims.

We spoke with Tampa defense attorney Kevin Hayslett, who is not associated with this case, to get some insight. He says while the criminal case is over now, the civil cases will move forward.

“It doesn’t mean the civil cases are over. It just means they’ll be brought against his estate so those cases will be alive and well. He will just not be there to defend those cases and those cases more likely than not will settle," said Hayslett.

If there are other victims who haven't come forward yet, he says they might not be able to depending on the Statute of limitations.

“People that have waited too long, they will not be able to bring civil action," said Hayslett.