WEALTHY financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was due in court later yesterday following an arrest in New York on new sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that date to the early 2000s, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.

Epstein, a wealthy hedge fund manager who once counted as friend of former President Bill Clinton, Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, and President Donald Trump, was taken into federal custody Saturday and was expected to appear later yesterday in Manhattan federal court, U.S. media reported

Epstein is accused of paying underage girls for massages and molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York.

Epstein’s arrest, first reported by The Daily Beast, comes amid renewed scrutiny of a once-secret plea deal that ended a federal investigation against him.

That deal, which is being challenged in Florida federal court, allowed Epstein, 66, to plead guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.

Averting a possible life sentence, Epstein was instead sentenced to 13 months in jail. The deal also required he reach financial settlements with dozens of his once-teenage victims and register as a sex offender.

Epstein’s deal was overseen by former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who is now Trump’s labor secretary. Acosta has defended the plea deal as appropriate under the circumstances, though the White House said in February that it was “looking into” his handling of the deal. (SD-Agencies)