Over a dozen new victims have come forward since Epstein arrest — but he wants to be released to his mansion

On Thursday, the Miami Heraldreported that Jeffrey Epstein, the wealth manager accused of trafficking and raping teenage girls, is asking the judge presiding over his case, Manhattan District Judge Richard Berman, to release him from prison and allow him to await trial in his $77 million mansion.

This news comes just as over a dozen new women in Florida and New York are coming forward to say they were assaulted and exploited by Epstein at his sex parties, some of which took place at the very mansion to which he is seeking release.

Epstein was investigated previously in 2008, but then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta — now serving as President Donald Trump's Secretary of Labor — cut him a controversial plea bargain that allowed him to serve barely a year in prison for a minor prostitution offense. Acosta has defended his decision, claiming that the responsibility lay with state prosecutors — a claim that former Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer has called "completely wrong."