In 2020, a year after his alleged suicide while on detention in a Manhattan prison on new sex trafficking charges involving minors, Epstein was described as having had a "major role" in the Towers Financial Ponzi scheme.[1] It was reported by journalist Vicky Ward that Epstein was "pivotal" in designing how the scheme worked.[27] In mid-2020 the American documentary mini-series Surviving Jeffrey Epstein claimed that Epstein was "at the absolute centre of the operation".[41]