ANKARA 

Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. financier and disgraced millionaire, committed suicide in his prison cell pending trial on sex trafficking charges, the U.S media reported on Saturday.

ABC News reported that Epstein died by committing suicide on Friday night in his Lower Manhattan jail cell according to three law enforcement officials.

Epstein, 66, was being held in a federal lock-up in Manhattan while facing one count of sex trafficking minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and another count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Epstein allegedly committed the crimes at his Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida properties, where he abused dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14, and conspired to commit sex trafficking, according to prosecutors.