Money Manager Said to Plan to Plead Guilty to Prostitution Charges

Oct. 11, 2007 — -- Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire New York money manager accused of soliciting underage prostitutes, are negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors and trying to keep Epstein from having to register as a sex offender if he pleads guilty, sources familiar with the case have confirmed to ABC News.

Epstein was charged in July 2006 with solicitation of prostitution — a felony that carries up to five years in prison — for allegedly paying underage girls to give him erotic massages in his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. He has pleaded not guilty and has said he did not know any of the girls were underage.

According to The New York Post, Epstein is negotiating a plea deal that is expected to land him in prison for about 18 months in addition to some time under house arrest. As part of the deal, confirmed to ABC News by people familiar with the case, federal authorities are expected to drop their investigation into whether Epstein broke federal laws, which could carry more substantial prison time.

Now, Epstein's high-powered lawyers, including Kenneth Starr, who investigated President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, may try to get him out of registering as a sex offender, The Post reported.

People familiar with the case confirmed to ABC News that federal prosecutors still want Epstein, who owns what is reported to be the largest house in Manhattan, to register as a sex offender as part of the deal, though state prosecutors have not demanded that he do so. Under Florida law, people convicted of solicitation of prostitution are not required to register as sex offenders.

Mike Edmonson, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, declined to comment, saying the office does not comment on "active prosecutions." Through an assistant, Starr also declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office did not return a call for comment. Epstein's lawyer Gerald Lefcourt, the former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, also declined to comment.