Epstein faced 2nd probe, seen with underage girls in '18

A previously undisclosed federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein included an examination of whether he was traveling with underage girls as recently as last year, newly released documents show.

U.S. Marshals Service investigators spoke in July with an air-traffic controller who said she saw Epstein get off his private jet at an airport near his U.S. Virgin Islands retreat with two girls who appeared to be 11 or 12, according to the documents.

The air-traffic controller said she saw Epstein another time with a girl who looked to be 16, 17 or 18 years old, according to the reports. She said both instances happened between June and November 2018.

FILE - This July 25, 2013, file image provided by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows financier Jeffrey Epstein. A previously undisclosed federal investigation into Epstein included an examination of whether he was traveling with underage girls as recently 2018, newly released documents show. Epstein killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP, File)

The Marshals Service interviewed the air-traffic controller July 10, four days after Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges, as part of a parallel investigation into whether he'd violated his status as a registered sex offender by not disclosing certain overseas travel.

Records related to that probe were made public this week by the Marshals Service as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by MuckRock News, an online repository for public records.

Epstein's lawyers did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

FILE - In this July 15, 2019 courtroom artist's sketch, defendant Jeffrey Epstein, left, and his attorney Martin Weinberg listen during a bail hearing in federal court, in New York. A previously undisclosed federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein included an examination of whether he was traveling with underage girls as recently as 2018, newly released documents show. Epstein killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)

Epstein, 66, was found dead Aug. 10 in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan after a July arrest on sex trafficking charges. Epstein was required to register as a sex offender because he had pleaded guilty years ago to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution, under a plea deal that, at the time, was thought to have ended a broader investigation into more serious charges involving numerous underage girls in the early 2000s.

According to the documents, federal prosecutors in New York asked the Marshals Service in January to investigate Epstein's overseas travel — a window into how long federal authorities were looking at Epstein before his arrest.

Under a 2016 federal law known as "International Megan's Law," registered sex offenders are required to report planned international travel to the authorities at least 21 days before they are to leave the U.S.

Epstein informed authorities in the Virgin Islands of a March trip to Paris just four days before departing, according to the Marshals Service records.

Epstein didn't list any other destinations on his disclosure form, but a public flight tracking website located his plane in Vienna, Austria, on March 22 and Monaco on March 27.

Investigators sought information from France, Monaco, Austria and Morocco, got flight plan records from the Federal Aviation Administration showing Epstein's travel to numerous countries, and drafted a search warrant for a phone number Epstein listed as a point of contact whenever he traveled internationally, the records show.

They also met at a diner in Florida with a Miami Herald reporter whose stories last year spurred the criminal investigation that led to Epstein's arrest, walking away from the sit-down with the air-traffic controller's phone number and other leads, according to the documents.

"It will be investigated further," they wrote in August.

Two days after Epstein's suicide, investigators met with federal prosecutors in the Virgin Islands and agreed to drop the Megan's Law probe. The search warrant and requests for international assistance were cancelled.

A judge formally ended the criminal case against Epstein on Aug. 29, two days after an extraordinary hearing at which 16 women spoke about his alleged abuse.

Epstein was making preparations for his own death in the days before he killed himself, including signing a will two days before his death and amending a trust he'd established in January that held many of his assets, according to court records in the Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home.

Estate lawyers and others experts have told The Associated Press that the trust could make it more difficult for Epstein's victims to collect damages from him.

Jim Mustian in New York and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)