FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Billionaire Palm Beach-New York-Virgin Islands money manager Jeffrey Epstein traded his signature navy sport coat for a jail uniform Monday after pleading guilty to hiring underage Palm Beach County girls for erotic massages and sex. The 55-year-old will be designated a sex offender, requiring him to register annually with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Epstein, who lives in a 13,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach, will spend 18 months in the Palm Beach County Jail followed by a year of house arrest.

Judge Deborah Pucillo, who grilled Epstein and his attorneys throughout the hearing, read off a litany of other conditions of Epstein’s house arrest, including a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, an hourly daily activity log and a stern warning that he not possess, watch or view any “obscene, pornographic or sexually stimulating material relative to your deviant behavior.”

The judge admonished Epstein not to have any contact – direct or indirect – with his victims, something Pucillo clarified explicitly, saying it includes things like Facebook, MySpace [website], e-mail and text messages.

“That means no messages through carrier pigeons, no messages through third parties. … Is that clear?” she asked.

Epstein told the judge he’s an investment banker. He manages money for the very rich and counts among his friends former President Bill Clinton. His real estate holdings include a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a 50,000-square-foot townhouse on Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side.

According to police reports, in 2004 and 2005 Epstein paid Haley Robson, then 20, to find girls – “the younger the better” – to “work” for him. Epstein rejected a 23-year-old Robson brought to Epstein’s home.

Robson once referred to herself as Heidi Fleiss, the notorious Hollywood madam whose client list included many celebrities. “The more you do, the more you get paid,” Robson reportedly told the girls. The going rate was $200 to $300 per massage. All of the girls knew what to expect, according to Robson: “provide a massage, possibly naked, and allow some touching.”

Epstein’s assistant kept Robson apprised of when he would be in Palm Beach, and Robson would take the girls, age 14-16, to the mansion. Once there, Epstein’s assistant escorted the girls to a bedroom with a massage table and oils. Epstein entered in only a towel and instructed the teens to remove their clothing and massage him, according to police. He regularly had the naked teens climb atop the table and straddle his back. One of them, then 16, told police she became Epstein’s “number one girl” and said the billionaire also paid her to have sex with another female with sex toys he provided. Occasionally Epstein would join the party, she told police.

Following lengthy negotiations dating to Epstein’s July 2006 arrest, he pleaded guilty Monday to two counts: procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony offer to commit prostitution. The maximum penalty was 15 years in prison.

“The important thing is he will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life,” prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek said afterward.

During a colloquy with the judge, Epstein said he takes no prescription medication other than for his cholesterol. He works in the Virgin Islands, he said, but while on house arrest he plans to do charitable work at the Florida Science Foundation, a West Palm Beach nonprofit organization he formed. State records show the foundation was formed in November for the purpose of providing grants to organizations in science and research.

“My background is in physics,” he told the judge.

While the criminal case was disposed Monday, Epstein still faces civil lawsuits in federal court filed by four girls seeking in excess of $50 million each.

“We think the guilty plea today is a very positive development for the civil cases and validates the claims the girls were making,” said Jeffrey Herman, the Miami attorney representing the girls.

As deputies fingerprinted Epstein, who was dressed in a sport coat, jeans and sneakers – a phalanx of his handlers congregated outside the courtroom.

His attorney, Jack Goldberger, along with two other men, one in a seersucker suit, the other typing furiously on a laptop computer, stayed with Epstein until lawmen escorted him from the courtroom.