A private pilot has claimed that he never saw any underage female passengers performing sex acts on planes piloted by Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire sex offender who pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from underage girls.
Federico Gomes says in court documents that he arrived at the Palm Beach mansion of Epstein in February 2010 and was surprised to find no minors, according to a Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel report published Friday. Epstein and his representatives have insisted that most of the girls Epstein frequented are adult women.
“During my trip, I did not see any underage females engaging in any sex acts with any occupants of the house,” Gomes said in a letter included in an appeal filed Friday by Epstein’s lawyers.
“I did not see any underage females in situations where they could be outed in the press for engaging in commercial sex activities,” Gomes said in the letter, which was granted permission to enter as evidence.
Gomes’ letter came a week after another Epstein pilot, David Wooster, said he personally did not see any girls engaged in sexual acts aboard any of the private jets Epstein owned.
The Boynton Beach, Fla., resident also claimed that he was told by a Epstein staffer that Epstein did not let minors board his planes because Epstein’s planes were private, inaccessible spaces away from any particular drugstore or restaurant.
Gomes and Wooster’s claims are likely to be scrutinized by jurors during the forthcoming trial of Epstein.
Epstein, now 65, pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring prostitution from underage girls and was allowed to spend the next 13 years under house arrest in a Palm Beach mansion. He is appealing the 15-year term that he received, which prosecutors said constituted a real prison sentence and a plea bargain that spared Epstein, who was already a convicted sex offender, from a minimum 25-year prison term.
Epstein was charged in 2007 with soliciting prostitution from a minor, as well as two felony counts of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl — both of which, Epstein’s lawyers said, were a pretext for silencing Epstein’s alleged victims.
Last week, Epstein’s lawyers asked the appellate court to lift a gag order imposed by a different panel that barred the defense from discussing Epstein’s case. The defense is hoping that the court will allow it to challenge the state’s plea bargain and move the case, scheduled to begin next week, outside of the county where it is being tried.