Financier Jeffrey Epstein appeals bail denial decision

NEW YORK — Lawyers for financier Jeffrey Epstein are appealing a judge’s decision to keep him behind bars until a trial on sex trafficking charges.

The notice of appeal, dated Monday, was publicly filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

Epstein wants the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to reverse U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman’s conclusion that he is a danger to the community and a flight risk.

Epstein, 66, was arrested July 6 on federal charges as he returned from Paris on a private jet. Berman cited Epstein’s extraordinary wealth and overseas connections among the reasons he denied bail. But he said the main reason was the danger his freedom would pose to past victims and potential future ones.

At a bail hearing last week, two Epstein accusers asked the judge to deny bail. Prosecutors said other women also have said they fear for their safety if he is not locked up.

Lawyers for Epstein say he has stayed clean since pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution charges in Florida in 2008 in a deal that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution . They have argued that with the current charges, the federal government is reneging on that deal.

They had asked Berman to let him remain in his $77 million Manhattan mansion, where a raid the day of his arrest produced hundreds of sexually suggestive photographs of nude underage and adult females.