Jeffrey Epstein's ex- girlfriend seeks $28.5 mn bail package with armed guards to protect her in New York

The well-connected New York financier, Epstein was found dead on August 10 in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting a federal trial for sex traffi cking. The charge sheet accuses him of paying minor girls to perform sex acts at his mansion between 2002 and 2005. He was placed on suicide watch in July after he reportedly attempted to strangulate himself. His estate is worth approximately $500 million.

In June, Egypt’s first democratically-elected civilian president died in court — six years after he was forced out in a bloody coup. Morsi, a senior fi gure in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, was dressed in a beige jumpsuit, when he collapsed in a soundproof cage at the Cairo court where he was defending charges of espionage. The trial was briefly televised, but the authorities decided to cut the cord after Morsi warned that he had “many secrets” he could reveal. He was accused of spying for Qatar, killing protesters, spying for Hamas, and orchestrating jailbreaks during the revolution.

Four days after his arrest from New Delhi’s Le Meridien Hotel, Pillai passed away in a cell in Tihar Jail. The official version, which has been contested by his wife, says he died of complications arising from liver cirrhosis. Pillai, who was a stakeholder in Britannia Industries, was charged by Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department on 22 counts of fraud and breach of trust. He had taken a $17.2 million debt, which he was unable to service. Despite claiming to own Britannia, he owned just 3 per cent of its shares, with the rest managed through a complex web of interlinked companies. Pillai fl ed Singapore for his ancestral home in Kerala, obtaining bail against his extradition, following an Interpol red alert. However, his decision to travel to Delhi did not prove fortuitous. Pillai was arrested, and his appeal for medical treatment wasn’t processed on time.

The Mumbai-based stockbroker, who gained notoriety for a Rs 4,000-crore securities fraud, died in 2001, aged 47. The scam shook the country and changed the rules of the game on Dalal Street. Mehta, who was lodged at Thane Central Jail, was rushed to a hospital after he complained of chest pain. He passed away shortly thereafter. Mehta, who had earned the nickname of the ‘Big Bull’, was accused of manipulating the Bombay Stock Exchange by taking advantage of loopholes in the banking system.