Top U.S. lawmaker demands answers in Jeffrey Epstein's death

Epstein was arrested on July 6 and pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sex trafficking involving underage girls as young as 14.

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein (C) appears in court where he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. July 30, 2008. Picture taken July 30, 2008.   (photo credit: UMA SANGHVI/PALM BEACH POST VIA REUTERS)
U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein (C) appears in court where he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. July 30, 2008. Picture taken July 30, 2008.
(photo credit: UMA SANGHVI/PALM BEACH POST VIA REUTERS)

A top US lawmaker joined officials demanding answers from the Bureau of Prisons over the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, who was in federal custody, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Democrat Jerrold Nadler, sent a letter on Monday to the acting director of federal prisons stating that the "competency and rigor of our criminal justice system has been marred," according to Reuters.
New York coroner "confident" Epstein"s death was suicide
Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) of the Metropolitan Correctional Center and transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the lower Manhattan jail.
The financier was in a cell by himself when his body was found. One day before Epstein’s death, a woman who accused Epstein of keeping her as a sex slave said that one of his associates instructed her to have sex with at least half a dozen prominent men.
The well connected money manager was known for socializing with politicians and royalty.
Over the years, he counted US President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and former prime minister Ehud Barak as his friends, and, according to court papers, Britain’s Prince Andrew.