Lawyers for women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein plan to sue his estate after the disgraced financier apparently killed himself, Reuters reported Sunday.
Los Angeles attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents two accusers, told the outlet “we intend to promptly file those civil claims” after having held off while sex-trafficking charges against Epstein were investigated by federal prosecutors.
{mosads}New York lawyer Roberta Kaplan said she hopes to file on Wednesday on behalf of a client to take advantage of the “Child Victims Act,” which makes pursuing decades-old claims of abuse possible.
The rule will take effect Aug. 14 and gives people a year to sue over allegations of sexual abuse, regardless of when the accuser says the incident happened.
Epstein was arrested July 6 and pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005.
The new set of charges against Epstein came after he pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and was sentenced to 13 months in prison more than a decade ago.
Alexander Acosta resigned as Labor secretary last month over his role in a 2008 plea deal that resulted in Epstein’s lenient sentence. Acosta was a U.S. attorney at the time.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at the New York Metropolitan Correctional Center on Saturday.