The indictment marks the first official charges brought forward as part of a criminal investigation into Epstein’s death.
Two federal workers have been arrested and charged following an investigation into the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein, whose death has officially been ruled by a medical examiner as suicide, was discovered in a jail cell in Manhattan, New York on Saturday 10 August.
It was subsequently reported that on-duty staff failed to carry out routine procedures regarding Epstein, who was not on suicide watch at the time.
That aspect, in addition to the physical nature of Epstein’s death, has led to a spate of theories and arguments that the disgraced billionaire financier was murdered.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that two federal workers who were on duty on the night that Epstein died have been charged in relation to an alleged failure to check up on him every 30 minutes.
The workers, named by the New York Times as Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, have been charged with making false records and conspiring to defraud the United States of America.
The report notes that the men “sat at the desk, browsed the internet and moved around the common area” of the jail instead of making their appointed rounds. Furthermore, the workers signed documents stating that they had checked in on inmates despite not doing so.
Their indictment marks the first official charges brought forward as part of a criminal investigation into Epstein’s death.
As a result of the 66-year-old’s death and thus failure to pursue, all criminal charges against Epstein were dismissed.
On Saturday night, Prince Andrew went before the cameras for a special Newsnight interview, facing questions on his friendship with Epstein as well as accusations by Virginia Roberts Giuffre that Prince Andrew had sexual contact with her while she was being trafficked by Epstein.
At one point, the prince described Jeffrey Epstein’s behaviour as “unbecoming,” prompting journalist Emily Maitlis to cut across him and say:
“Unbecoming? He was a sex offender.”
Prince Andrew explained his choice of words by saying that he was being “polite.”
Over the course of the interview, Andrew confirmed that he had flown on Epstein’s private jet, stayed on his private island, stayed at his house in Palm Beach, and stayed at his house in New York City.
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