Jeffrey Epstein Story to Become ‘Surviving R. Kelly’-Style Documentary

(Bloomberg) -- The Jeffrey Epstein story will become a “Surviving R. Kelly”-style documentary on the Lifetime cable network.

A&E Networks, Lifetime’s parent, is working on a series about the financier and convicted sex offender called “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” programming chief Rob Sharenow said Tuesday at a Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills, California.

Epstein -- charged this month with sex trafficking -- is being held in a Manhattan jail cell after federal prosecutors argued he was a flight risk. He has a byzantine network of businesses and personal holdings, which include real estate, an island and private planes valued at more than $500 million.

A&E, co-owned by Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp., is also developing a Lifetime movie on the college-admissions scandal. The film will “follow two wealthy mothers who share an obsession with getting their teenagers into the best possible college,” the company said.

The “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary, which also aired on Lifetime, put fresh scrutiny on the R&B star’s history of alleged sexual abuse. The singer was charged this month in sweeping indictments by federal prosecutors in New York and Chicago. He is accused of racketeering, kidnapping, child pornography and illegal sexual activity with at least 10 victims over two decades.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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