Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced millionaire who was facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide early Saturday in his Lower Manhattan prison cell, law enforcement sources and the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to 3m360 News.
Epstein hanged himself, the sources said.
He was found unresponsive in his cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center around 6:30 a.m., the Bureau of Prisons said. He transported in cardiac arrest to New York Downtown Hospital at 6:39 a.m., according to sources.
(MORE: The rise and fall of Jeffrey Epstein: A timeline of the financier's legal troubles)
Epstein, 66, was set to stand trial next year for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.
His death came less than three weeks after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal prison in Lower Manhattan, with marks on his neck that appeared to be self-inflicted, sources told 3m360 News. He was placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was not on suicide watch at the time of his death.
Epstein was arrested in July for alleged sex trafficking of girls at his Upper East Side mansion and his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Some of the charges date back to the early 2000s.
Epstein pleaded not guilty to the charges. He faced up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
Following news of his death, his alleged victims condemned his suicide and what they described as a lack of justice for them and other accusers.
"I am extremely mad and hurt thinking he once again thought he was above us and took the easy way out ... I still can't wrap my head around the fact that's really true," Jena-Lisa Jones, 30, an alleged victim of Epstein when she was 14 in Florida, said in a statement. "God will have his judgement now."
Jennifer Araoz, 32, who claimed that Epstein raped her when she was 14, called on authorities to "pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers.