He once counted Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew among his friends, but now disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested on new sex trafficking charges. 

The convicted sex-offender is accused of paying underage girls for massages and molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York, law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

The allegations date back to the early 2000s. 

Detained on Saturday in New York and is expected to appear on Monday in federal court, one of the officials said. 

Epstein is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

The 66-year-old's arrest, first reported by The Daily Beast website 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 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 was 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 US attorney Alexander Acosta, who is now Mr Trump's labour secretary.

Mr 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. 

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