Masked daredevil who climbed atop Roosevelt Island tram is charged in reckless stunt
Miguel Martinez, 20, of Oceanside, LI, was charged with reckless endangerment, obstruction of governmental administration and criminal trespass in the brazen incident that unfolded around 7 p.m., authorities said.
Footage obtained by The Post shows the masked Martinez nonchalantly walking back and forth along the gangway of the tramway's 250-feet-tall support tower on the Manhattan side.
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3 Miguel Martinez, 20, pulled off his dangerous stunt Monday evening, police said.
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
3 Shocked onlookers called 911, dispatching cops in climbing gear to the scene.
Obtained by the NY Post
At one point, he descends and climbs a series of short ladders on the tower and makes his way out onto an I-beam barely wide enough to accommodate his feet, the nail-biting video shows.
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Shocked New Yorkers called 911, prompting cops to respond to the scene in climbing gear.
The brave first responders made their way to the tower's peak, secured Martinez in safety gear and brought him down to the ground unharmed, police said.
3 The daredevil Long Islander has no prior arrests, police said.
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
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The thrill-seeker was taken by paramedics to Weill-Cornell Medical Center, according to the FDNY.
There was no indication that Martinez — who has no prior arrests in the Big Apple — scaled the tower as part of a protest or for a cause, cops said.
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Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Maxwell and her Miami defense attorney in eye of Epstein storm. Trump, too
Miami defense attorney David O. Markus represents Jeffrey Epstein's infamous former girlfriend, a convicted British socialite who may hold the keys not only to her fate but that of President Donald Trump. Markus' client, Ghislaine Maxwell, found guilty of recruiting underage girls for the billionaire financier, was questioned on Thursday and Friday by the U.S. deputy attorney general about her insider knowledge of the Epstein sex-abuse case — a resurgent scandal threatening Trump's presidency as his MAGA base clamors for answers. What Maxwell might know about a long-speculated 'client list' of famous people possibly kept by Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 before his federal sex trafficking trial, could change the course of Trump's presidency. Trump and Epstein, both New Yorkers with mansions in Palm Beach, had socialized for years before falling out. In a dramatic development on Thursday, Markus and Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at the U.S. courthouse in Florida's capital. Markus called the meeting 'very productive.' 'He took a full day and asked a lot of questions and Ms. Maxwell answered every single question,' Markus told reporters after the meeting at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the courthouse. 'She never invoked a privilege. She never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.' The trio — Maxwell, Markus and Blanche — met again on Friday in the same location, in what many legal observers have called a highly unusual gathering. 'How many defendants turned witnesses does a deputy AG personally interview?' said a South Florida defense lawyer, who did not want to be identified. 'Get your popcorn.' Harvard law grad Markus, 52, a Miami native who went to Harvard Law School, heads his own firm and hosts a popular blog and podcast. Known as a top-tier defense attorney whose career started in the Federal Public Defender's Office in Miami, Markus has been thrust into the national spotlight along with his client, Maxwell. In late 2021, she was convicted in Manhattan federal court of sex trafficking minor girls for Epstein at his homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands — over the course of a decade. Curiously, the closed-door meetings this week with the deputy attorney general come at a critical stage in the appeal of her conviction, which will be considered as a possible case by the U.S. Supreme Court in the fall. The Justice Department has opposed her challenge every step of the way, in the federal district and appellate courts in New York. Markus declined to comment about the meetings between his client and Blanche in Tallahassee. In their negotiations, Maxwell and Markus are walking a fine line, but so are Blanche and Trump. Before Blanche was appointed by Trump as second in command behind Attorney General Pam Bondi, he represented him in a criminal fraud trial in the Manhattan state court in 2024. Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from a scheme to conceal a $130,000 payment to an adult film star Stormy Daniels that was made to keep her quiet just before the 2016 presidential election about their alleged affair. After Trump won the 2024 election, the judge gave him no prison time, but Trump became the first U.S. president with a felony conviction. After the trial, Markus hosted Blanche on his Apple podcast, 'For the Defense,' which focused on his experience representing Trump. On a parallel track, Trump had hired Blanche to be his lead attorney in the 2023 classified documents case brought against him by the federal special counsel Jack Smith. Markus was among other lawyers approached by Trump's defense team, but he turned them down. Blanche and Markus' 'cozy' relationship, as some have described it, may have led the deputy attorney general to reach out to Markus this month to discuss how Maxwell might be a witness in the rekindled Epstein investigation. In early July, the Justice Department and FBI issued a memo shutting down the investigation, saying there was nothing more to report about Epstein's suicide or the existence of a client list — only to reopen it amid a bombardment of criticism by Trump's right-wing base. Adding fuel to the fire: Bondi had told Fox News in February that an Epstein client list was 'sitting' on her desk, but then changed her story after the FBI memo was released. Trump's MAGA supporters grew more enraged. They repeated all kinds of conspiracy theories on social media and in podcasts, suggesting without proof that Epstein didn't kill himself and that Democratic President Bill Clinton and other major public figures may have sexually abused the underage girls that Epstein recruited to his residences. They continued to fuel speculation about his client list and who might be on it, despite Trump's relationship with Epstein before he was convicted of soliciting minor girls in a state plea deal in West Palm Beach in 2008. Since then, the House Oversight Committee has voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for its files on Epstein, and issued a subpoena to interview Maxwell on Aug. 11. Reacting to backlash, Trump said he would continue to push for the release of relevant information in the case. This week, his Justice Department unsuccessfully asked a South Florida federal judge to release grand jury records in the original Epstein probe dating back almost two decades. Political storm escalates Most Americans believe that the U.S. government is concealing information, including about who else may have been involved in Epstein's abuse of the young girls at his residences, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. As the political storm escalated, Blanche announced earlier this week that he intended to meet with Maxwell, who has maintained her innocence and is appealing her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. Blanche said he had reached out to Maxwell's lawyer to see if she might have 'information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.' On Tuesday, Markus issued a short statement, saying: 'I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.' Maxwell testimony Miami lawyer Joseph DeMaria, a former federal organized crime prosecutor, said the conversation between Maxwell, Markus and Blanche is very different from the typical effort by a prosecutor to gain the cooperation of a convicted defendant to testify against her co-conspirators. As a rule, prosecutors are very wary about making a deal with a convicted felon because the testimony may not be credible to present to a jury. 'In this case, Mr. Blanche is trying to develop testimony to be presented to Congress in a political forum,' DeMaria told the Herald. 'If Ms. Maxwell presents congressional testimony that is favorable to the president, whether or not that testimony can be corroborated, that testimony can be used to end the constant inquiries about his [Trump's] relationship with Epstein. 'But Ms. Maxwell won't offer to clear the president with her congressional testimony for free,' he added. 'Mr. Blanche will have to find a way to offer Ms. Maxwell a get-out-of-jail card in order to secure positive testimony for the president.' However, Maxwell's testimony may present other potential pitfalls for herself or Trump, because of her well-documented lack of credibility. After Maxwell's sex-trafficking conviction, prosecutors branded her crimes as 'monstrous' and cast strong doubt about her honesty. 'In short, the defendant has lied repeatedly about her crimes, exhibited an utter failure to accept responsibility, and demonstrated repeated disrespect for the law and the Court,' prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote in June 2022 before her sentencing. Two of Markus' former colleagues in the Miami Federal Public Defender's Office said Maxwell is in good hands, noting that he 'lives and breathes the law.' 'Nobody wins everything, but he wins often,' Miami attorney Henry Bell said. 'He thinks like a criminal defense lawyer and fights to the end for his client,' Miami lawyer Orlando do Campo said. Both seasoned defense attorneys said Maxwell's potential testimony could have repercussions not only for herself and Trump but for any number of prominent figures in Epstein's social circles. 'The reason the Justice Department doesn't want to disclose the Epstein files is that it could harm the reputation of innocent people who associated with him,' Bell said. 'If Jeffrey Epstein's client list, or what I consider his 'association list,' were revealed, this could not only be a left or right thing, it might affect a lot of people across the political spectrum,' do Campo said. 'There are a lot of weird bedfellows here.' History of Epstein-Maxwell cases In June 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting teenage girls at his Palm Beach mansion and served about one year in jail — after Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta chose not to present a 53-page indictment to the grand jury alleging the more serious federal charges of sex trafficking dozens of minor girls. If convicted, those charges would have carried potential punishment ranging from a mandatory 10 years in prison up to a life sentence. Epstein's victims called it a 'sweetheart plea deal' that allowed him to go to work or do whatever he wanted for six days out of every week. The deal also shut down an FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes. Acosta's 'non-prosecution agreement,' signed in September 2007, was initially kept secret from Epstein's victims. The agreement also immunized several of his co-conspirators from federal prosecution. The Herald's investigation of the secretive plea deal, part of its 'Perversion of Justice' series by reporter Julie K. Brown, led to Acosta resigning as U.S. Secretary of Labor in 2019 during the first Trump administration. In July of that year, federal prosecutors in New York filed an indictment charging Epstein, 66, with conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges — similar to the case that was not pursued by federal prosecutors in South Florida. But the following month, Epstein hanged himself in a federal lock-up in New York, according to authorities. Upon the death of the notorious defendant, prosecutors turned their attention to his former girlfriend, Maxwell. In 2020, she was indicted on conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges and convicted the following year for her role in the abuse of underage girls. On Dec. 29, 2021, she was found guilty of five of the six counts against her, including sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity, and related conspiracy charges. In June 2022, Maxwell, 63, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Markus had worked as her appellate attorney during the trial. After her conviction, he filed Maxwell's appeal. His argument: Epstein's non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in South Florida should have protected Maxwell from facing charges in New York. But both the federal district and appellate courts in New York found that the deal, which promised to immunize Epstein's co-conspirators, only applied to South Florida. In the fall, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to consider her appeal.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Inside Jeffrey Epstein's cozy relationship with Steve Bannon — and what's really on his 15 hrs of tapes interviewing him
By 2017 Jeffrey Epstein was a social pariah. Even his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, attempted to reinvent herself as a charity boss and was careful to no longer be pictured with the convicted sex offender. But as an avalanche of reports uncovered more lurid details of Epstein's world of questionable financial dealings and proclivities for sex with underage girls, he had one regular visitor at his huge townhouse at East 71st street — Steve Bannon. Conspiracy theorist and media provocateur Bannon felt he could help the disgraced money man improve his image, sources say, despite how laughable that may have seemed. 7 Jeffrey Epstein backed the 'Me Too' movement in a clip from interview footage taken by Steve Bannon in 2019 and obtained by The Post. It certainly didn't hurt that Epstein could add him to his payroll — Bannon had recently fallen foul of President Trump by criticizing his family in a book and abruptly left his position as chief strategist at the White House. This resulted in his deep-pocketed benefactors cutting him off. Bannon ultimately collected some 15 hours of footage of Epstein, to prepare him to go on '60 Minutes' or another prime-time television show to save his reputation in 2018. 'He told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff,' said Epstein's brother Mark in an interview with NBC earlier this month, adding he had met with Bannon after Epstein's death and asked to see the tapes. 'He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation.' 7 Steve Bannon recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 for a documentary that was never released. Bloomberg via Getty Images Previous reports have confirmed the tapes were of Epstein preparing to bolster his reputation, but in the clamor to release government files on Epstein — who was found hanging in his Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial over sex trafficking charges — many are wondering why Bannon has not been compelled to release the tapes. In a bid to hype up what he has, earlier this year Bannon was hawking the tapes as a documentary, saying he had hoped to get Netflix involved and call the show 'The Monster'. '[Epstein's] a product of the elite,' he said on the Jimmy Dore show in February. 'Everything that's been put out about him is not exactly the truth. I hours of interviews that I think will be pretty shocking, about how this guy came from nowhere to go to the absolute highest levels of global elite and who he knew and who he financed. 'He was one of the leading underwriters of scientific experiments in the world, a lot of that is dealing with a thing called Transhumanism.' 7 Jeffrey Epstein in a clip from Bannon's documentary footage. 7 The interviews that Steve Bannon recorded with Jeffrey Epstein took place at the billionaire pedophile's mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Christopher Sadowski 7 MAGA loyalists are demanding that government files related to Jeffrey Epstein be released by the Trump administration. Epstein partied with numerous bold-face names, including the President Trump in the 1990s and early aughts. Getty Images Bannon did not return The Post's request for comment Friday. Only one clip of the footage has ever been released, which was obtained by The Post. In the video Epstein somewhat unbelievably claimed to be a 'firm believer and supporter' of Time's Up, the anti-sexual harassment organization that emerged during the #MeToo movement. 'I made my living from old thinking. But the future is for the way women think,' says Epstein in the clip. Bannon – apparently playing the role of a hard-nosed interviewer – counters from off-screen that Epstein's claim was just 'a sop' to excuse 'all of the depravity you've done against young women.' 'No, I've been — I've always believed that women will be, in fact, be able to take over,' Epstein responds in the clip, adding 'I'm a firm believer and supporter of 'Time's Up.'' Bannon, a film producer, former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and executive one-time chairman at media company Breitbart, had more in common with Epstein, a former math teacher who also had a brief stint on Wall Street, than most. 7 Another rarely-seen close-up of Epstein from the footage Bannon collected. Victory Films/The Monsters 7 Bannon speaking in New York in 2024 shortly after he was released from prison following his sentence for contempt of Congress. Robert Miller Although the first reports of their association only date back to 2017, it is possible they knew each other much longer. 'The War Room' host Bannon's activities with Epstein have been questioned by other political strategists. 'Why would Bannon meet with Jeffrey Epstein both at his New York home and in Paris after Epstein was convicted on sex crimes in Florida?' said Roger Stone in an X post earlier this month. 'Why would he coach Epstein for his 60 minutes appearance?' Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime personal attorney and an executor of his estate, did not return a request for comment Friday.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump admin hunts down 13K migrant kids after Biden admin lost track of 320K: ‘Children are being saved'
The Trump administration has located and rescued more than 13,000 migrant children who crossed the border without parents — after more than 320,000 kids were lost under the Biden administration, The Post has learned. The tough-on-immigration admin has also collared hundreds of migrant sponsors who are accused of committing disturbing crimes or abusing the children in their care. In one frightening case, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Newark arrested a sponsor who was found to be a Guatemalan fugitive wanted for two counts of attempted aggravated homicide in his home country. Advertisement Adelso Garcia Martinez, 29, was busted on May 13. 'It is deplorable to imagine that a wanted fugitive would find illegal shelter in the United States with a child in tow and later go on to sponsor another alien,' ICE HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge Ricky Patel said after the arrest. 3 ICE agents in Newark arrested a Guatemalan unaccompanied alien child sponsor wanted overseas for attempted aggravated homicide. ICE A shocking report released in August found that the Biden-Harris administration lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone. Advertisement The unaccompanied migrants were released into the US without future immigration court dates — meaning there is no way to track their whereabouts — or they failed to show up to court. Thousands of the kids were also released to sponsors who were poorly vetted, meaning the vulnerable minors were put at risk of sex trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation, the Homeland Security Inspector General's report said. In February, President Trump's Department of Health and Human Services announced it was launching an investigation into the troubling number of cases of unaccompanied migrant children who may have ended up in the hands of sexual predators and human traffickers because of lax vetting policies. Advertisement 'Children are being saved,' a Trump administration official told The Post of the effort to locate the kids lost under the previous administration. 3 Migrant group, including women and children, crossing the US border. Toby Canham for NY Post In another sickening case, a 15-year-old girl was rescued in New York after an Ecuadorian man impregnated her and then had his mother sponsor her so they could live together, the Department of Homeland Security told The Post. The sicko, who was not named, had been in a relationship with the child since she was 13 years old and had impregnated her before she crossed the southern border unaccompanied, the agency said. Advertisement His mom sponsored the teen in Harlem, where the trio lived together. Homeland Security agents in New York arrested the child predator on May 28. An HHS source told NewsNation that under the Trump admin, ICE had arrested 422 sponsors who are accused of abusing the minors in their care, or of other crimes. 3 Migrants sleeping in an El Paso shelter. James Breeden/Shutterstock for NY Post 'By leaving our borders open and even encouraging people to come here illegally, Biden enabled the largest human-trafficking operation in modern history,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement to The Post on Friday. 'We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to eradicate human trafficking operations targeting the United States. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, and working together at every level of government, we can win this fight. And we will,' she added. Child migrants who cross the border illegally without parents are apprehended by border agents and handed off to HHS, which helps them locate their US sponsors. Sponsors of migrant minors don't have to be family members. The rescued migrant children are either reunited with their families in their home countries or are placed into HHS foster care, sources told The Post. Advertisement President Trump's 'border czar' Tom Homan also recently detailed some of the upsetting cases involving kids on Miranda Devine's 'Pod Force One' podcast. 'We rescued victims of sex trafficking [and] two weeks ago, we rescued a 14-year-old that was already pregnant, living with adult men,' he said. 'We rescued some victims of forced labor. We found children working on ranches and chicken farms, not going to school, but enslaved labor in the United States of America,' he continued. 'Some of the children we found [were] perfectly fine with their families … They just didn't respond to call-ins [because they] didn't want to face the consequences of immigration court.' Advertisement Even after receiving briefings on the horrific cases involving migrant minors, the Biden admin allegedly took 'no meaningful steps' to address the issue, according to the Homeland Security Inspector General's report.
