vault backup: 2026-09-25 23:36:07
This commit is contained in:
parent
f3aadfd333
commit
39c4e2e672
108 changed files with 4656 additions and 172 deletions
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Alan M. Dershowitz
|
||||
- Alan Morton Dershowitz
|
||||
- Professor Dershowitz
|
||||
summary: "Alan Dershowitz is a Harvard law professor emeritus who was on Jeffrey Epstein's 2006 to 2008 defense team, was accused by Virginia Giuffre, denied it, and settled the litigation in 2016 and 2022."
|
||||
born: 1938-09-01
|
||||
location: "Brooklyn, New York (born)"
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Amir Elichai.md
Normal file
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Amir Elichai.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- AmirElichai
|
||||
- Carbyne
|
||||
- Reporty
|
||||
- EhudBarak
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- Israel
|
||||
- Surveillance
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Amir Elichai
|
||||
summary: "Israeli founder and chief executive of Carbyne, formerly Reporty Homeland Security, whose board included Ehud Barak and a former Unit 8200 commander and in which Jeffrey Epstein invested."
|
||||
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carbyne]]"
|
||||
start: 2015-12-23
|
||||
role: "director of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd., later chief executive"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Amir Elichai is an Israeli entrepreneur, the founder and chief executive of [[Carbyne]], an emergency-call and 911-dispatch technology company incorporated as Reporty Homeland Security Ltd. In December 2015 he sat on Reporty's board with the former Israeli prime minister and defense minister [[Ehud Barak]] and [[Pinhas Buchris]], a former commander of the signals-intelligence [[Unit 8200]]. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] invested about one million dollars in Reporty in 2015 through an arrangement Barak brokered, and increased his stake through an Israeli limited partnership in 2019. In January 2019 Elichai prepared the Carbyne presentation that Barak sent to [[Jabor Al Thani]] of [[Qatar]], with Epstein copied, for security work at the [[2022 FIFA World Cup]]. [[Axon Enterprise]] bought Carbyne for 625 million dollars in February 2026.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Reporty Homeland Security
|
||||
|
||||
The minutes of a meeting of the board of directors of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd. held on December 23, 2015 list as directors present "Mr. Amir Elichai, Mr. Alex Dizengof, Mr. Ehud Barak, Mr. Pinchas Bouchris," with the company's lawyer also attending. The board watched a demonstration of "the Reporty system (version 0.7/0.8 noncommercial version)," discussed the company's "current business relationships and partners such as Haifa Municipality, Microsoft, Taldor as well as integrators," and resolved to explore non-exclusive partnerships with integrators and to buy demonstration equipment. The minutes were preserved among Epstein's records.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Buchris later served as director general of the Israeli [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]]. Barak served on the boards of Reporty and Carbyne and left in 2019.[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Investment
|
||||
|
||||
*[[Forbes]]* reported in February 2026 that Barak helped Epstein invest about one million dollars in Reporty in 2015, after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea and his registration as a sex offender in [[Florida]], and that the stake could have grown in value to as much as 100 million dollars.[^2] The stake was held through SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. On February 28, 2019 the partnership's lawyer, [[Tomer Toor]], wrote to Epstein's attorney [[Darren Indyke]] that at the time of the initial investment "in Carbyne Ltd. (formerly Reporty Ltd.)" the partnership had received warrants for 61,251 Preferred A shares at an aggregate exercise price of 3.5 million dollars, and that exercising them would raise its holding "from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis." In March 2019 Epstein's Virgin Islands company [[Southern Trust Company]] signed the Additional Investment Agreement and transferred 2.4 million dollars of the 3.6 million dollars raised, and Indyke confirmed to the partnership's bank that Epstein was "the controlling person" of Southern Trust.[^5] On February 18, 2019 [[Nicole Junkermann]], whose firm had taken part in Carbyne's Series A round, wrote to Epstein: "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is3.9m your share, Ehud carry1.5 m and my share 2m."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Forbes reported that Carbyne's website listed Junkermann as a director until 2020. Elichai said that "she is not and was never a board member," attributed the listing to a mistake by the company's marketing team, and said she no longer held a stake.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Qatar Pitch
|
||||
|
||||
On May 21, 2018 Epstein wrote to [[Peter Thiel]], whose [[Founders Fund]] was a Carbyne investor: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^7] On January 1, 2019 Barak forwarded to Jabor Al Thani, with Epstein copied, a presentation prepared by Elichai, writing: "Please find attached short presentation of Carbine. Public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor. We are interested in participating in the security effort for the 2022 Games. We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile."[^3] Jabor Al Thani replied on January 20 that "Our security services company" wished to begin discussions and asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies." On February 3 Barak, signing "Ehud Barak, Carbyne, Chairman," named Elichai as the contact and promised a separate email on "the anti-drone issue"; Elichai wrote, "Ehud, thanks for the intro." On February 4 Jabor Al Thani named the country manager of [[Lysys WLL]] as his side's contact. Epstein was a recipient of the January 1, February 3 and February 4 messages.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Axon Sale
|
||||
|
||||
Axon Enterprise, the maker of the [[Taser]] and police body cameras, agreed to buy Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash, and the purchase closed in February 2026. Axon's founder and chief executive, [[Rick Smith]], described the deal as "uniting cloud infrastructure and AI to redefine the 911 experience." Carbyne's product has been used by U.S. police and emergency agencies including the [[Miami-Dade Police Department]].[^2][^4][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01074544, DataSet 9, minutes of the meeting of the board of directors of Reporty Homeland Security Ltd., December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01074544.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: *Coverager,* on Axon's agreement to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars. https://coverager.com/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-for-625-million/ ; *CTech (Calcalist),* on the Axon acquisition. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rj4vnuokwg
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke, and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02630791, DataSet 11, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02628648, DataSet 11, email thread among Ehud Barak, Jabor Al Thani, Amir Elichai, and Jeffrey Epstein, "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1 to February 4, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: Axon Enterprise. "Axon to Acquire Carbyne, Uniting Cloud Infrastructure and AI to Redefine the 911 Experience." Press release, *PR Newswire.* https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-uniting-cloud-infrastructure-and-ai-to-redefine-the-911-experience-302604614.html
|
||||
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andrew Farkas.md
Normal file
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Andrew Farkas.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- AndrewFarkas
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- IslandGlobalYachting
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- RealEstate
|
||||
- JPMorgan
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Andrew Farkas
|
||||
summary: "New York real estate investor who founded Island Global Yachting and brought Jeffrey Epstein into a St. Thomas marina deal months after his 2006 Florida charge."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Island Global Yachting]]"
|
||||
start: 2005
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
role: "business partner in the American Yacht Harbor marina, St. Thomas"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Andrew Farkas is a New York real estate investor who founded the marina company [[Island Global Yachting]] in 2005 on [[St. Thomas]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] and, months after [[Jeffrey Epstein]] was charged in [[Florida]] in 2006, invited him into the purchase of the [[American Yacht Harbor]] marina at [[Red Hook, St. Thomas|Red Hook]]. The two men exchanged nearly 2,000 emails over more than a decade, and Farkas visited Epstein in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] while Epstein was serving his county jail sentence. [[JPMorgan Chase]]'s 2019 internal review of Epstein's correspondence listed Farkas among the people Epstein had referred to the bank. After the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s release of Epstein records on January 30, 2026, Farkas said, "I deeply regret ever associating with Jeffrey Epstein."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Marina
|
||||
|
||||
In 2005 Farkas, a boater, started Island Global Yachting to enter the luxury marina business, basing it on St. Thomas, where Epstein had owned the private island [[Little St. James]] since 1998. In July 2006 Epstein was charged in Florida with felony solicitation of prostitution. About four months later Farkas wrote to him: "We are now in contract to buy American Yacht Harbor, where you keep your tenders." Epstein answered, "I would like to be in on that." A later message from Farkas read: "IGY finance and tax guy are going to speak with your guys to reconcile the tax treatment for you." *[[The New York Times]]* reported that Epstein's Virgin Islands tax arrangements cut his tax bill by as much as 90 percent and, according to the JPMorgan litigation, saved him more than 300 million dollars.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 2020 the [[Virgin Islands Daily News]] reported that Epstein owned 50 percent of American Yacht Harbor, where his company [[Southern Trust Company]] kept its office, and that the marina was still receiving tax breaks from the territory's [[Economic Development Commission]].[^3] Farkas sold Island Global Yachting in 2022 and later sought to buy it back. A legal filing accused him of a "bribery scheme" involving payments of up to 3 million dollars in connection with that effort; Farkas called the allegations "false and meritless."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Correspondence
|
||||
|
||||
The emails released in 2026 show Farkas calling Epstein "one of the blessings" in his life and "one of the bravest men I've ever known." A New Year's note read: "You are one of the blessings in my life and I cherish our friendship." During Epstein's 2008 to 2009 jail sentence in Palm Beach County, Farkas wrote of "regular pilgrimages to Palm Beach to visit a dear friend," and in November 2008 Epstein wrote to him, "great seeing you,, sorry it was such a schlep." Farkas said, "I did not visit him inside prison."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's office recorded a "2:30pm call w/Andrew Farkas" on March 15, 2019, four months before his arrest.[^4] On January 16, 2019, in a pre-dawn exchange with [[Cecile de Jongh]] about a matter involving "Albert," hurricane repairs and a septic connection on his property, Epstein wrote, "I have spent time walking back Farkas"; de Jongh replied that she would speak with [[David Bornn]], identified in the exchange as "Albert's legal counsel."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The JPMorgan Referrals
|
||||
|
||||
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest JPMorgan's compliance staff reviewed his emails with the bank's executives under the code name Project Jeep. In a June 7, 2023 letter motion to Judge [[Jed Rakoff]], the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] told the court that the review's summary set out "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including Farkas, [[Boris Nikolic]], [[Bill Gates]] and [[Peter Mandelson]], while the bank's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]], had testified, "We did not need introductions to anybody." JPMorgan's lawyers at [[WilmerHale]] answered that the emails showed Epstein mentioning prominent people but did not show that he had referred them or that they became clients because of him.[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Statements
|
||||
|
||||
In 2019 Farkas told his investors that his negotiations with Epstein had begun "before he was charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime." The released emails date the marina offer to several months after the July 2006 charge. After the 2026 release he issued no denial of the friendship and said, "I deeply regret ever associating with Jeffrey Epstein," while disputing that he had been obliged to disclose the marina partnership. In a second statement he said the exchanges could "be mischaracterized" if "taken out of context or without understanding my broader communication style," and added, "At no time have I conducted myself inappropriately."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Billionaire Called Epstein a 'Blessing' as They Made Deals," *The New York Times* (Debra Kamin), February 9, 2026, as republished by *GV Wire.* https://gvwire.com/2026/02/09/billionaire-called-epstein-a-blessing-as-they-made-deals/
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, ECF No. 191, June 7, 2023 (filed June 20, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Suzanne Carlson, "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020, reproduced as Exhibit 36, ECF No. 158-36 (filed May 23, 2023), in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02278860, DataSet 11, calendar alert, "2:30pm call w/Andrew Farkas," March 15, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02278860.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01026946 and EFTA01026933, DataSet 9, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Cecile de Jongh, January 16, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01026946.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01026933.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808625, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, opposing the motion to reopen depositions, ECF No. 187, June 9, 2023 (filed June 15, 2023), citing Dimon deposition transcript 395:14-21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf
|
||||
54
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Benedict Gross.md
Normal file
54
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Benedict Gross.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- BenedictGross
|
||||
- Mathematics
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- ProgramForEvolutionaryDynamics
|
||||
- MartinNowak
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Benedict Gross
|
||||
- Benedict H. Gross
|
||||
- Dick Gross
|
||||
summary: "Harvard number theorist and dean of Harvard College who co-proposed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics with Jeffrey Epstein and in 2013 asked Harvard to resume taking Epstein's money."
|
||||
born: 1950
|
||||
died: 2025-12
|
||||
location: "South Orange, New Jersey (born); California (died)"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
role: "professor of mathematics, dean of Harvard College 2003 to 2007, later chair of the mathematics department"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Benedict H. "Dick" Gross (1950, [[South Orange, New Jersey]] to December 2025, California) was an American number theorist and administrator at [[Harvard University]], where he was dean of Harvard College from 2003 to 2007 and later chair of the mathematics department. The [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]], funded in 2003 by [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s 6.5 million dollar gift, described itself as established by President [[Larry Summers|Lawrence H. Summers]] "following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and Benedict Gross." In December 2013, after Epstein's conviction, Gross asked the university to reconsider its bar on Epstein's gifts, and in 2017 [[Martin Nowak]] asked Epstein whether he could make Gross Harvard's next president.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Gross entered Harvard as a 17-year-old freshman in 1967, graduated in 1971 and earned his Ph.D. there in 1978. He taught at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] and [[Brown University|Brown]] before returning to Harvard in 1985. He received a [[MacArthur Fellowship]] in 1986 and the [[American Mathematical Society]]'s Cole Prize in 1987. He served as dean of undergraduate education from 2002 to 2003 and dean of Harvard College from 2003 to 2007, held the George Vasmer Leverett Professorship for nearly twenty years, and was named a Harvard College Professor in 2011. He later chaired the mathematics department. He died at his home in California in December 2025, aged 75.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's 2003 gift of 6.5 million dollars, his largest to Harvard, established the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics under Nowak, whom Harvard recruited from the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton, where Epstein had already funded his work. The program's original website stated that it "was established in 2003 by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and Benedict Gross," under the auspices of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, [[William Kirby]]. The gift paid for a separate facility in a leased building at [[One Brattle Square]] in [[Harvard Square]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2013 Request
|
||||
|
||||
President [[Drew Faust]] decided no later than November 2008 that Harvard would accept no more gifts from Epstein, but recorded the decision nowhere. In December 2013 Gross, as chair of the mathematics department, and the divisional dean [[Jeremy Bloxham]] asked [[Michael D. Smith]], Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to petition the Gift Policy Committee to reconsider, writing that "Epstein has served his time for his crime, and that his wealth has been obtained legally." Smith declined. In March 2014 Gross told Nowak there was "a temporary hold on contributions from Jeffrey Epstein, although I hope it will be lifted by summer." In December 2014 Nowak asked Gross "confidentially" whether there was "an update concerning Jeffrey being an acceptable donor for Harvard?" Epstein gave nothing further directly; donors he introduced, including [[Leon Black]], paid the program's rent from 2010 to 2015.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2017 Email
|
||||
|
||||
On June 15, 2017, the day after Faust announced that she would step down, Nowak wrote to Epstein: "drew faust (harvard president) will step down end of the academic year can you bring summers back? or dick gross?" No reply appears in the record.[^4][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Dick Gross, number theorist and former College dean, dies at 75," *Harvard Gazette,* January 2026. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/newsplus/dick-gross-number-theorist-and-former-college-dean-dies-at-75/
|
||||
[^2]: Connolly, Sebastian B., and Summer E. Rose. "Former College Dean Benedict H. Gross Remembered as 'One of the Kindest People in All of Academia,'" *The Harvard Crimson,* January 26, 2026. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/1/26/benedict-gross-obituary/
|
||||
[^3]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3-5, 9-10, 13, 18-19, 21, quoting the original PED website text. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00635064, DataSet 9, email from Martin A. Nowak to Jeffrey Epstein, June 15, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00635064.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Lopez, Gershengorn and Murphy, *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University,* May 2020, pp. 10-17, on Faust's decision, the December 10, 2013 development-office memorandum, Smith's refusal, Gross's and Nowak's 2014 exchanges, and the Black and Falconwood gifts. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
[^6]: "Drew Faust to step down as Harvard president next June," *Harvard Gazette,* June 14, 2017. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/06/drew-faust-to-step-down-as-harvard-president-next-june/
|
||||
|
|
@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Epstein was trying to establish a large donor-advised charitable fund with JPMor
|
|||
|
||||
On July 27, 2011, Epstein outlined the structure to [[Jes Staley]] and [[Mary Erdoes]] of JPMorgan, copying Nikolic: "the mimimum donation would be 100 million. a portfolio will be established for each donor.according to their own critieria, there will be established silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc." Donors could "make presentations for larger gifts , in an on-line forum ( the worlds most exclusive Blog ).. the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^6] On August 27, 2011 he wrote to the same two bankers: "Careful, the people at Gates-", naming four foundation staff members, two of them "the senior people," who "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things. Bill is at his country house. and most likely will not deal with it before wed. There are too many people without direction. lets speak,,"[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
After Epstein's 2019 arrest JPMorgan conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." In a June 7, 2023 letter to Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]]' suit against the bank, the territory's counsel, [[Motley Rice]], wrote that the review's e-communications summary confirmed "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including "Andrew Farkas, Boris Nikolic, Bill Gates, and [[Peter Mandelson]]," and quoted the testimony of JPMorgan's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]]: "We did not need introductions to anybody."[^8] JPMorgan later said that "the firm didn't need him as a client" and "didn't need him for introductions," and that "knowing what we know today, we wish we had never done business with him."[^3]
|
||||
After Epstein's 2019 arrest JPMorgan conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." In a June 7, 2023 letter to Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]]' suit against the bank, the territory's counsel, [[Motley Rice]], wrote that the review's e-communications summary confirmed "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including "[[Andrew Farkas]], Boris Nikolic, Bill Gates, and [[Peter Mandelson]]," and quoted the testimony of JPMorgan's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]]: "We did not need introductions to anybody."[^8] JPMorgan later said that "the firm didn't need him as a client" and "didn't need him for introductions," and that "knowing what we know today, we wish we had never done business with him."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The MIT Media Lab Gift
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
108
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlton Dowe.md
Normal file
108
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Carlton Dowe.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CarltonDowe
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- VirginIslandsPortAuthority
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- GovernmentCapture
|
||||
- BankFraud
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Carlton "Ital" Dowe
|
||||
- Senator Carlton Dowe
|
||||
summary: "Virgin Islands senator and two-term Port Authority executive director whose 2019 return Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to support, acquitted of wire fraud in 2004 and indicted for bank fraud in 2026."
|
||||
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Virgin Islands Fire Service]]"
|
||||
start: 1995-01
|
||||
end: 1999-01
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Legislature of the Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||
end: 2013
|
||||
role: "senator"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Virgin Islands Port Authority]]"
|
||||
start: 2013-01-16
|
||||
end: 2016-12
|
||||
role: "executive director"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Virgin Islands Port Authority]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-07-08
|
||||
end: 2026-04-10
|
||||
role: "executive director"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2004-08-12
|
||||
role: "two-count wire fraud indictment; acquitted at trial"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-22
|
||||
end: 2025-03-21
|
||||
role: "defendant"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2026-03-12
|
||||
role: "bank fraud, false statements on loan applications, aggravated identity theft"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Carlton Dowe is a [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] politician who directed the [[Virgin Islands Fire Service]] from 1995 to 1999, sat as a senator in the [[Legislature of the Virgin Islands]], and was twice executive director of the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]], from January 2013 to December 2016 and from July 2019 to April 2026. He was acquitted in 2004 of a federal wire fraud charge brought while he was a sitting senator. In December 2018 [[Cecile de Jongh]], the office manager of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] territorial companies, asked Epstein whether he would support Dowe's return to the Port Authority, and Dowe met and spoke with Epstein while he held the post. He announced his retirement on March 20, 2026, the day a federal bank fraud indictment against him was unsealed.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Fire Service and the 2004 Indictment
|
||||
|
||||
On August 12, 2004 a federal grand jury sitting on [[St. Thomas]] returned a two-count wire fraud indictment against "Senator Carlton Dowe," announced jointly by [[David M. Nissman]], the [[United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands]], and Assistant Attorney General [[Christopher Wray]] of the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] Criminal Division. The indictment charged Dowe with stealing 75,207.75 dollars in government funds. It alleged that from January 2000 through February 2002 he "concocted and engaged in a fraudulent scheme to resubmit a $50,000 court judgment for back pay to the Virgin Islands Fire Service," where he had been director from January 1995 through January 1999, "after receiving payment in full through the Legal Judgments Special Fund administered by the [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice|Virgin Islands Attorney General]]." According to the indictment he "instructed a Fire Service employee to alter his payroll records to reflect a retroactive increase in his hourly wage," combined the payment with an unrelated claim, and received "a lump sum duplicate payment from the territorial government in the pre-tax amount of $75,207.75," and when the Office of the Virgin Islands Inspector General began investigating, he "coaxed the Fire Service employee who calculated and processed the fraudulent claim at his direction to lie to investigators." The case was handled by the [[Public Integrity Section]]. Dowe went to trial and was acquitted.[^3][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
A 2016 profile in the *[[Virgin Islands Daily News]]* described Dowe as a former firefighter, fire chief and Fire Service director and a former deputy [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. marshal]], who served five terms as a senator and chaired the Finance Committee. He holds associate degrees in fire science and fire administration from [[Miami Dade College|Miami Dade Community College]] and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from [[John Jay College of Criminal Justice]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Senate and the 2012 Sex-Offender Law
|
||||
|
||||
The federal court that heard the 2023 trafficking suit recorded, citing the parties' filings, that Dowe was a senator "from 2001 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2013"; the public broadcaster [[WTJX]] reported in 2026 that he served from 2009 to 2013. He was in the Legislature when it passed Bill 29-0239, enacted as Act No. 7372, which expanded the monitoring of sex offenders and required 21 days' advance notice of travel. The second amended complaint in [[Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] quotes a July 1, 2012 email from Cecile de Jongh to Epstein: "Will need to work through Dowe and White" to change the legislation, and "In the meantime, we will work with Vincent to give the discretion for status quo for you - thats the least he can do." Attorney General [[Vincent Frazer]] reduced Epstein's notice period to 24 hours on August 14, 2012. The complaint alleged that "Epstein was thus allowed to circumvent the recently passed legislation with assistance of Senator Carlton Dowe, Senator Celestino White, and Attorney General Vincent Frazer."[^1][^4][^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Port Authority
|
||||
|
||||
The Port Authority's board selected Dowe as executive director on January 16, 2013, and he served until December 2016, when he was dismissed during the governorship of [[Kenneth Mapp]]; David W. Mapp Sr. held the post from 2017 to 2019. On April 8, 2014 a special assistant to the executive director wrote to Cecile de Jongh, who forwarded the message to Epstein: "Executive Director Dowe has requested that I schedule Mr. Epstein's appointment. Director Dowe is available to meet with Mr. Epstein on Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 12:30 p.m., at the Virgin Islands Port Authority in the office of the executive director." On April 21, 2015 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to him under the subject line "Carlton Dowe": "Carlton Dowe returned your call."[^2][^5][^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 24, 2018, after [[Albert Bryan]] had won the governorship, Cecile de Jongh wrote to Epstein, according to the Doe complaint: "John wanted to know whether you would support Carlton Dowe's bid to go back to the VIPA [VI Port Authority]. . . He would be a good person for us at VIPA." Her husband, [[John de Jongh]], had been governor from 2007 to 2015. Dowe returned as executive director on July 8, 2019. The complaint's chart of defendants listed Dowe, jointly with Delegate [[Stacey Plaskett]], as having participated through "Waiver sex offender registry" and "Changed sex trafficking law in accord with Epstein's lawyer's recommendations," with the benefit "Epstein supported bid for USVI Port Authority job."[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's aviation company, [[Thomas World Air]], held a hangar facility lease with the Port Authority at [[Cyril E. King Airport]], and in August 2017 it asked the authority's police chief for badge escort privileges on the ramp for an assistant to his chief pilot, [[Larry Visoski]]. A 2022 complaint to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], released in January 2026, alleged that Dowe was "paid off" by Epstein in connection with a hangar at the airport. *The Virgin Islands Consortium* reported that the hangar described was owned by a private aviation company built under a public-private partnership with the Port Authority, not by Epstein, and that "Epstein previously sought approval to construct a hangar at the airport, but that proposal was rejected by Dowe and VIPA."[^10][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Estate Case
|
||||
|
||||
In an October 2, 2023 interview with the FBI, released in January 2026, the former Attorney General [[Denise George]] said Governor Bryan sent Dowe, then director of the Port Authority, to press her to settle the territory's suit against Epstein's estate. According to the FBI notes, Dowe told her he knew she "would only do things if they are right," but that he "does things for Bryan too but has a line he won't cross." George told him Bryan "would have to fire her to get what he wants," and Dowe replied that "it would be political suicide to fire her at least before the election," after which he stopped talking to her. Bryan removed George on December 31, 2022, days after she sued [[JPMorgan Chase]].[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Trafficking Suit
|
||||
|
||||
Six women identified as Jane Does named Dowe, as a former senator, among the defendants in their November 22, 2023 suit in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] against the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]], the de Jonghs, Mapp, Frazer, [[Celestino White]] and Plaskett, alleging violations of the [[Trafficking Victims Protection Act]]. On March 21, 2025 Judge [[Arun Subramanian]] dismissed the claims against Dowe for lack of personal jurisdiction, noting that "plaintiffs' counsel stated at the September 30 conference that the 'sole basis' for jurisdiction over Carlton Dowe 'is conspiracy jurisdiction' and the SAC does not allege that he received any payments from Epstein." Final judgment was entered on May 5, 2026, and the plaintiffs appealed to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] under No. 26-1316.[^1][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2026 Indictment
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Dowe in the [[U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico]] on March 12, 2026; it was unsealed on March 20, when he appeared in District Court on St. Thomas. He was charged with four counts of bank fraud, four counts of making a false statement on a loan application and one count of aggravated identity theft, for conduct alleged between March 18, 2021 and November 10, 2023. The indictment alleged that he submitted loan applications with false income statements to [[Banco Popular de Puerto Rico]] to refinance his mortgages, including a claimed monthly payment of 4,500 dollars under a fake lease bearing the forged signature of a purported tenant, and a claimed 15,500 dollars a month under an invalid lease with a second person. The same day Dowe gave the Port Authority board chairman, Willard John, notice of his retirement effective April 10; John said he had not known of it. The attorney Joseph DiRuzzo III of [[Fort Lauderdale]] appeared as his counsel. No public statement by Dowe on the charges was found.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 1:23-cv-10301-AS (S.D.N.Y.), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 202 (March 21, 2025), pp. 1 to 2, 10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.202.0.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Virgin Islands Port Authority, "Our History," including the list of executive directors, accessed September 25, 2026. https://www.viport.com/our-history
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Virgin Islands Senator Indicted on Fraud and Theft Charges," press release 04-560, August 13, 2004. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2004/August/04_crm_560.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 1:23-cv-10301-AS (S.D.N.Y.), Second Amended Complaint, ECF No. 112 (May 24, 2024), paragraphs 4 to 6 and charts (Exhibits F and G), pp. 2 to 8, and paragraph 161. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.112.0.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Austin, Jonathan. "Dowe's history." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* December 22, 2016. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/dowes-history/article_119980ee-db41-51d0-9042-dc3ce986ec3f.html
|
||||
[^6]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 83, ECF No. 194-24 (filed June 20, 2023), pp. 36 to 47 (Hodge and Frazer correspondence of July and August 2012 on Act No. 7372). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011719/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/194-24.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Eader, Tom. "VIPA ED Carlton Dowe indicted on bank fraud, tells board of retirement same day as court appearance." *WTJX,* March 20, 2026, on the indictment in United States v. Dowe, No. 3:26-cr-00084 (D.P.R.), the release conditions, the retirement letter and Dowe's Senate service; United States v. Dowe, No. 3:26-cr-00084 (D.P.R.), docket. https://newsfeed.wtjx.org/2026-03-20/vipa-ed-carlton-dowe-indicted-on-bank-fraud-tells-board-of-retirement-same-day-as-court-appearance ; https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72610038/united-states-v-dowe/
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01929537, DataSet 10, email chain from the special assistant to the executive director of the Virgin Islands Port Authority to Cecile de Jongh, forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein, April 8, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01929537.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00858918, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, "Carlton Dowe," April 21, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00858918.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00799380, DataSet 9, letter from Thomas World Air, LLC to Chief Edred J. Wilkes Jr., Virgin Islands Port Authority Police Division, Cyril E. King Airport, August 18, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00799380.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: Gilbert, Ernice. "Former Gov. Kenneth Mapp Visited Epstein's Island, Sought $50,000 for Final Election Push, DOJ Records Show." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* January 31, 2026. https://viconsortium.com/vi-federal/virgin-islands-former-gov--kenneth-mapp-visited-epstein-s-island--sought--50-000-for--final-push---doj-records-show
|
||||
[^12]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026 (FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
|
||||
[^13]: Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 1:23-cv-10301-AS (S.D.N.Y.), docket, including Judgment, ECF No. 229 (May 5, 2026); Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 26-1316 (2d Cir.), docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68031620/doe-1-v-government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/ ; https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73544397/doe-1-v-government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/
|
||||
|
|
@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ In March 1986, a cable from the [[Costa Rica|Costa Rican]] DEA office reported t
|
|||
|
||||
### Investigation Shut Down
|
||||
|
||||
U.S. Ambassador [[Edwin Corr]], to whom Castillo reported, sent a secret "back channel" cable to the [[State Department]] requesting an internal DEA review. The DEA informed Corr that Castillo's information was "totally inaccurate" and he was told to close his investigation. When Castillo continued investigating, Corr personally ordered him to "stop the witch hunt." Three years later, when Castillo opened a new investigation into drug trafficking at Hangar No. 5, the CIA refused to allow him on the base and assured him there was no drug activity. Castillo was subsequently investigated by the DEA for administrative violations and forced into disability retirement. The DEA later claimed under FOIA it had no reports from Castillo about drug trafficking at Ilopango - a claim the Justice Department Inspector General exposed as false.[^1]
|
||||
U.S. Ambassador [[Edwin Corr]], to whom Castillo reported, sent a secret "back channel" cable to the [[State Department]] requesting an internal DEA review. The DEA informed Corr that Castillo's information was "totally inaccurate" and he was told to close his investigation. When Castillo continued investigating, Corr personally ordered him to "stop the witch hunt." Three years later, when Castillo opened a new investigation into drug trafficking at Hangar No. 5, the CIA refused to allow him on the base and assured him there was no drug activity. Castillo was subsequently investigated by the DEA for administrative violations and forced into disability retirement. The DEA later claimed under FOIA it had no reports from Castillo about drug trafficking at Ilopango - a claim the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Inspector General]] exposed as false.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Grasheim Raid and CIA Infiltration
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ Blandón's wife Chepita Blandón was identified by the [[DEA]] as being closely
|
|||
|
||||
Blandón entered the United States on a business visa on June 17, 1979, and applied for asylum in Los Angeles on February 15, 1980. The INS denied the request on January 25, 1983; on June 27, 1983, he filed a new application before an immigration judge, who granted it on August 19, 1985, finding that he had "a well-founded fear of prosecution" if returned to Nicaragua. The earliest information on him in DEA files dated from March 1983, but the Justice Department's inspector general concluded that "the DEA had not conducted investigations of him before 1986."[^16] Gary Webb wrote that the DEA opened a NADDIS file on Blandón on May 24, 1983, after a confidential informant named him as a member of a cocaine trafficking organization.[^6] His attorney [[Brad Brunon|Bradley Brunon]] stated in court in 1992 that the DEA's knowledge of Blandón's drug dealing stretched back even further: "I have some 300 DEA-6 reports regarding Mr. Blandón, and the reports relate to activities between approximately 1981 and May 1992." In early 1984, while Blandón's asylum application was under review, the DEA learned from an informant that he was "the head" of his own cocaine distribution organization based in Los Angeles.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The same pattern occurred with Blandón's wife, Chepita. In early 1985 she was reported to the DEA as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization," and the agency opened a NADDIS file on her on March 15, 1985. Later that same year she was granted political asylum. Immigration experts noted that normally even the slightest hint of drug involvement results in deportation, and [[State Department]] policy requires checking with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the Justice Department's Inspector General examined the Blandóns' immigration records, he found them "in disarray."[^6]
|
||||
The same pattern occurred with Blandón's wife, Chepita. In early 1985 she was reported to the DEA as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization," and the agency opened a NADDIS file on her on March 15, 1985. Later that same year she was granted political asylum. Immigration experts noted that normally even the slightest hint of drug involvement results in deportation, and [[State Department]] policy requires checking with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined the Blandóns' immigration records, he found them "in disarray."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Move to Rialto and Business Fronts
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Bornn.md
Normal file
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Bornn.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- DavidBornn
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- AlbertBryan
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
- GovernmentCapture
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- David A. Bornn
|
||||
- David A. Bornn, Esq.
|
||||
- Attorney David Bornn
|
||||
summary: "St. Thomas lawyer, partner of Epstein's territorial counsel Erika Kellerhals from 2017, then Governor Albert Bryan's chief legal counsel, whom Epstein's circle contacted in 2019 and who relayed Kellerhals's inquiry to Attorney General Denise George."
|
||||
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin]]"
|
||||
start: 2017-01-04
|
||||
role: "partner"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||
start: 2019-01
|
||||
role: "chief legal counsel to the Governor"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Winston & Strawn]]"
|
||||
role: "of counsel, Washington, D.C."
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
David A. Bornn is a [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] lawyer who practiced corporate, real estate, government relations and tax incentive law on [[St. Thomas]] for more than four decades, became a partner in January 2017 of [[Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin]], the firm of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] territorial counsel [[Erika Kellerhals]], and served as chief legal counsel to Governor [[Albert Bryan]] from 2019. Nine days after Bryan's inauguration, [[Cecile de Jongh]] told Epstein she would speak with "David Bornn, Albert's legal counsel," about a cease-and-desist matter. According to notes of a 2023 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] interview, Bornn later called Attorney General [[Denise George]] to relay that Kellerhals wanted to know what George was investigating in the territory's case against Epstein's estate. He later joined [[Winston & Strawn]], whose profile of him describes his "inner knowledge of the intentions and needs of the Bryan/Roach Administration."[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Practice and the Kellerhals Firm
|
||||
|
||||
Bornn received a bachelor's degree from [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] in 1974 and a law degree from the [[Villanova University School of Law|Villanova University]] in 1981, and is admitted to practice only in the Virgin Islands. In private practice he specialized in "corporate, real estate, government relations, local and federal administrative matters, trusts and estates, employment relations, and USVI tax incentive programs." He is a past co-chairman of the Ethics and Grievance Committee of the [[Virgin Islands Bar Association]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 4, 2017 Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin announced that "David A. Bornn, Esq. has become a Partner of the Firm," and that it would operate a branch office from the Bornn Building on Norre Gade in [[Charlotte Amalie]]. Kellerhals had presented Epstein to the [[Economic Development Commission]] at its November 15, 2012 hearing on the tax-incentive application of [[Southern Trust Company]], at which he was sworn in by the commission's legal counsel, [[Henry Smock]]. Delegate [[Stacey Plaskett]], the commission's general counsel from 2007 to 2014, had also worked for Kellerhals.[^2][^3][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Chief Legal Counsel
|
||||
|
||||
Bryan was inaugurated on January 7, 2019, and named Bornn his chief legal counsel. According to Bornn's firm profile, in that role he "managed all law firms serving the USVI administration," directed "much of the work undertaken for the Office of the Governor, the VI Public Finance Authority, and other governmental agencies" by those outside firms, and was part of the territory's congressional and federal relations team and of the working groups that sought federal and private funding after the 2017 hurricanes and during the COVID-19 crisis.[^1][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 16, 2019 Epstein wrote to Cecile de Jongh, the office manager of his territorial companies and wife of former Governor [[John de Jongh]], in a chain that reads in part: "hurricane repair still ongoing ie co[n]ne[c]ting new septic" and "Albert promised!" De Jongh answered at 5:06 a.m.: "I'll speak with David Bornn, Albert's legal counsel." Epstein wrote, "I will call Albert in order to be respectful." At 12:23 p.m. de Jongh wrote, "I spoke to Erika this morning and I will be speaking with David Bo[r]n[n] as well," and at 2:17 p.m.: "I spoke to David Bornn briefly. He asked that I send him the C&D and that he will get back to me after 2PM." The documents do not identify the cease-and-desist. The territory's Coastal Zone Management program had issued a stop-work order on Epstein's [[Great St. James]] construction on December 21, 2018, in the last weeks of the administration of Governor [[Kenneth Mapp]].[^4][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Estate Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
George, whom Bryan appointed Attorney General in 2019, filed the territory's civil enforcement suit against Epstein's estate on January 15, 2020 and retained the law firm [[Motley Rice]]. In her October 2, 2023 interview with the FBI, released by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in January 2026, George said that estate employees "had nondisclosure agreements and were informed if questioned by law enforcement to say nothing and alert Kellerhals." When Motley Rice began interviewing estate employees, she received a call from Bornn, described in the FBI notes as Bryan's chief legal counsel and a former employee of Kellerhals, relaying that Kellerhals wanted to know what George was investigating. George replied that it was none of Kellerhals's business. She said Bryan told her to settle the case for 80 million dollars with Smock as mediator; the estate settled on November 30, 2022 for more than 105 million dollars. Bornn has not been charged with any offense, and no public response by him to George's account was found.[^3][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Winston & Strawn
|
||||
|
||||
After four years in the Bryan administration, which began its second term in January 2023, Bornn joined Winston & Strawn, whose website carried the name Winston Taylor in 2026, as of counsel in its Washington office, practicing under the supervision of members of the [[District of Columbia Bar]] while his own application was pending. The firm continued to represent the territorial government. His profile states that he "provides a measure of continuity and inner knowledge of the intentions and needs of the Bryan/Roach Administration as he assists the firm with its continuing representation of the USVI Government and maintains access to key local players within the Virgin Islands Government and the [[Legislature of the Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands Legislature]]," that he "is familiar with all Virgin Islands Government department and agency heads, sub-heads, and many of the rank-and-file civil service workers key to achieving efficient results for clients," and that he "continues to enjoy deep respect from the Governor and other senior officials serving in the current administration, as well as those in the Virgin Islands political establishment."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Winston & Strawn LLP (Winston Taylor LLP), "David A. Bornn," attorney profile, accessed September 25, 2026. https://www.winston.com/en/professionals/bornn-david-a
|
||||
[^2]: Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC, "Welcome David Bornn," January 4, 2017, captured August 20, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190820054157/https://www.kellfer.com/blog/2017/01/04/welcome-david-bornn/
|
||||
[^3]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026 (FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George; Plaskett's employment with Kellerhals). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01026946, DataSet 9, email chain between Jeffrey Epstein and Cecile de Jongh, January 16, 2019 (duplicate EFTA01026933). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01026946.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01026933.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02812344, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 290, ECF No. 245-15 (filed July 25, 2023): Economic Development Commission, Public Hearing transcript, November 15, 2012, pp. 1-2, 6-9. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02812344.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: "Governor Albert Bryan Jr." Biography submitted to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, hearing of March 24, 2021. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II00/20210324/111384/HHRG-117-II00-Bio-BryanJrA-20210324.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: "DPNR planning visit to Epstein's island." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* 2019 (December 21, 2018 stop-work order). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/dpnr-planning-visit-to-epstein-s-island/
|
||||
[^8]: "U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate of Jeffrey Epstein and Co-Defendants for Over $105 Million." *Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice,* December 1, 2022. https://usvidoj.com/u-s-virgin-islands-attorney-general-settles-sex-trafficking-case-against-estate-of-jeffrey-epstein-and-co-defendants-for-over-105-million/
|
||||
75
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Debra Black.md
Normal file
75
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Debra Black.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- DebraBlack
|
||||
- LeonBlack
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- BlackFamilyPartners
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Debra Black
|
||||
summary: "Wife of Leon Black, trustee in the Black family's 2007 restructuring, co-donor of Harvard and Arizona State gifts that Jeffrey Epstein arranged, and holder of accounts that wired Epstein's fees."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]"
|
||||
start: 2011-11-22
|
||||
end: 2014-12-29
|
||||
role: "co-donor with Leon Black of 6 million dollars"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Origins Project]]"
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
end: 2015
|
||||
role: "co-donor with Leon Black of 2 million dollars"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Debra Black is the wife of [[Leon Black]], the co-founder of [[Apollo Global Management]] who paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] between 158 and 170 million dollars from 2012 to 2017 for tax and estate advice. She is named as a trustee in the 2007 transfer of family holdings into Black Family Partners, L.P., one of the entities whose [[Bank of America]] accounts later sent Epstein's fees; she held one of those accounts herself. With her husband she gave [[Harvard University]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] 6 million dollars in 2011 and 2014, after Harvard had stopped accepting Epstein's money, in gifts arranged through Epstein's office, and gave 2 million dollars to [[Lawrence Krauss]]'s [[Origins Project]] at [[Arizona State University]]. Leon Black cited "my wife Debra's and my health issues" when he stepped down as Apollo's chief executive in March 2021.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Black Family Partners
|
||||
|
||||
An "Assignment and Assumption Agreement" dated June 7, 2007, preserved among Epstein's records, transferred the assignors' limited partner, limited liability company and stockholder interests to Black Family Partners, L.P. Its signature pages, repeated across multiple entities and trusts, carry blocks for "Debra Black, Trustee" and a co-trustee. The following month, according to Black's representative, Epstein ceased to be a trustee of the [[Black Family Foundation]], a position he had held since 1997.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Fee Accounts
|
||||
|
||||
The minority staff of the [[Senate Finance Committee]] under Senator [[Ron Wyden]], drawing on bank records, counted eighteen wires totaling 169.8 million dollars from Black's Bank of America accounts to Epstein between 2012 and 2017, about 140 million dollars of it in 2013 through 2015 to accounts of [[Southern Trust Company]] at [[Deutsche Bank]] and other wires to [[Financial Trust Company]] accounts at [[JPMorgan Chase]]. The accounts that sent the money were held by Black, "his wife Debra Black," Black Family Partners L.P., Narrows Holdings LLC, the family office [[Elysium Management]], and one other individual.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Harvard Gifts
|
||||
|
||||
[[Drew Faust]], Harvard's president, decided no later than November 2008 that the university would take no further gifts from Epstein. Between 2010 and 2015 donors whom Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars, of which 7.5 million dollars went to the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics of [[Martin Nowak]]. Harvard's 2020 review recorded the following gifts to the program:[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
| Date | Amount | Donor |
|
||||
|---|---|---|
|
||||
| September 10, 2010 | 500,000 dollars | [[Falconwood Foundation]] |
|
||||
| November 22, 2011 | 2,000,000 dollars | Leon and Debra Black |
|
||||
| December 29, 2014 | 4,000,000 dollars | Leon and Debra Black |
|
||||
| October 30, 2015 | 1,000,000 dollars | Black Family Foundation |
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters that allowed Nowak to spend the Black money on the program's rent, which ordinary research grants could not cover, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein."[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Origins Project
|
||||
|
||||
Leon and Debra Black gave 2 million dollars in personal gifts to the Origins Project at Arizona State University in 2014 and 2015. Epstein's Virgin Islands foundation, [[Enhanced Education]], gave the project 250,000 dollars between 2010 and 2017, and one Origins accounting record listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|Enhanced Education]]." After Arizona State closed the project in 2018 it returned 25,000 dollars in unspent funds to Enhanced Education and about 460,000 dollars to the Blacks at their request.[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Apollo
|
||||
|
||||
On March 22, 2021 Leon Black left the chief executive's post at Apollo, after the law firm [[Dechert]] had reviewed his payments to Epstein for the firm's conflicts committee.[^7] Apollo announced that [[Marc Rowan]] would become chief executive and [[Jay Clayton]] non-executive chairman; Black cited "my wife Debra's and my health issues."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4, 9-14, 56-61. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01128080, DataSet 9, Assignment and Assumption Agreement to Black Family Partners, L.P., June 7, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01128080.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 10-17 and nn. 9, 15, on Faust's decision, the table of Epstein-facilitated gifts, the gift-letter language on rent, the statement of Black's representative, and Epstein's trusteeship of the Black Family Foundation. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
[^4]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive
|
||||
[^5]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the Black gifts, the "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education" accounting entry, and the refunds. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
|
||||
[^6]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, updated July 13, 2019, on the 250,000 dollars obtained by public records request. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
|
||||
[^7]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, "Investigation of Epstein/Black Relationship and Any Relationship Between Epstein and Apollo Global Management, Inc.," January 22, 2021, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management, Inc. Form 8-K, January 25, 2021. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
|
||||
[^8]: Apollo Global Management, "Marc Rowan Assumes Role of CEO of Apollo; Jay Clayton Named Non-Executive Chair of Board," press release, March 22, 2021. https://ir.apollo.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/105/marc-rowan-assumes-role-of-ceo-of-apollo
|
||||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Aukland was sitting in his office when a stranger arrived with a story "right ou
|
|||
|
||||
### Building the Case
|
||||
|
||||
Though Aukland had never worked a drug case, he recognized a major crime. He checked on Meneses with San Francisco FBI agent Donald Hale, who confirmed years of frustrated surveillance and said he had three informants willing to testify against the drug lord. Convinced his informant was reliable, Aukland pleaded with supervisors for an off-site location, pen registers on Blandón's phones, and surveillance teams. He received permission to investigate and $10,000 for his informant - and nothing else. "Aukland said he did not get much help on the case from his supervisors or other agents, who were already spread thin," the Justice Department Inspector General wrote. [[DEA]] agent Thomas Schrettner was told to keep his eyes on heroin cases and let the FBI worry about the Contras.[^1]
|
||||
Though Aukland had never worked a drug case, he recognized a major crime. He checked on Meneses with San Francisco FBI agent Donald Hale, who confirmed years of frustrated surveillance and said he had three informants willing to testify against the drug lord. Convinced his informant was reliable, Aukland pleaded with supervisors for an off-site location, pen registers on Blandón's phones, and surveillance teams. He received permission to investigate and $10,000 for his informant - and nothing else. "Aukland said he did not get much help on the case from his supervisors or other agents, who were already spread thin," the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Inspector General]] wrote. [[DEA]] agent Thomas Schrettner was told to keep his eyes on heroin cases and let the FBI worry about the Contras.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Partnership with the Majors
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
56
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Drew Faust.md
Normal file
56
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Drew Faust.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- DrewFaust
|
||||
- Harvard
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- MartinNowak
|
||||
- ProgramForEvolutionaryDynamics
|
||||
- Historian
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Drew Faust
|
||||
- Drew Gilpin Faust
|
||||
- Drew G. Faust
|
||||
summary: "Historian and president of Harvard from 2007 to 2018 who barred Jeffrey Epstein's gifts no later than November 2008 without recording the decision, while donors Epstein introduced gave 9.5 million dollars."
|
||||
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
|
||||
start: 2007-07-01
|
||||
end: 2018-06-30
|
||||
role: "28th president"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian of the Civil War and the American South who was president of [[Harvard University]] from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2018, the first woman to hold the office. She succeeded [[Larry Summers]], under whom Harvard had accepted [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s 6.5 million dollar gift establishing the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] in 2003. Faust decided no later than November 2008, after Epstein's Florida guilty plea, that Harvard would accept no further gifts from him, but recorded the decision nowhere and did not formally notify the program's director, [[Martin Nowak]]. Between 2010 and 2015 donors whom Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars. When she announced her departure in June 2017, Nowak wrote to Epstein asking whether he could "bring summers back."[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Faust was the founding dean of Harvard's [[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]] before she was nominated in February 2007 to become president the following July 1. She announced on June 14, 2017 that she would step down on June 30, 2018. Her successor, [[Lawrence Bacow]], commissioned the review of Harvard's ties to Epstein in September 2019.[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Decision on Epstein's Gifts
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein gave Harvard 9,179,000 dollars between 1998 and 2008, including 736,000 dollars after his 2006 arrest and before his 2008 conviction. Harvard's May 2020 review found that Faust decided no later than November 2008 that the university would take no more of his money, but that she recorded the decision nowhere and did not formally notify Nowak, who understood that she opposed taking Epstein's money but regarded the question as "unclear." Between 2010 and 2014 Nowak and others sought to reopen it. In December 2013 the mathematics chair, [[Benedict Gross]], and the divisional dean, [[Jeremy Bloxham]], asked the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, [[Michael D. Smith]], to petition the Gift Policy Committee, writing that "Epstein has served his time for his crime, and that his wealth has been obtained legally." Smith declined. In March 2014 Gross told Nowak there was "a temporary hold on contributions from Jeffrey Epstein, although I hope it will be lifted by summer."[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
In the same period donors Epstein introduced, the [[Falconwood Foundation]] and [[Leon Black]], [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]], gave the program 7.5 million dollars from 2010 to 2015, which paid its rent, and Black gave 2 million dollars for the geneticist [[George Church]]. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein kept a keycard, a passcode and an office at the program's building at [[One Brattle Square]] into 2018 and visited more than forty times after his 2008 conviction.[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Letter to the President
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's publicists sought links from Harvard web pages because "it would be very helpful in terms of Google results if his name were attached to a Harvard.edu url," and in 2014 the program posted a "Friends" page on which Epstein was the only name. In March 2014 an anti-trafficking organization wrote to Faust objecting to "almost daily press releases" from "a pedophile [who] feels entitled to identify himself as a 'Harvard philanthropist.'" The program removed the page in October 2014 after sexual-assault survivor advocates contacted it and the president's office.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Succession
|
||||
|
||||
On June 15, 2017, the day after Faust's announcement, Nowak wrote to Epstein at his personal email address: "drew faust (harvard president) will step down end of the academic year can you bring summers back? or dick gross?" No reply appears in the record.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Drew Faust to step down as Harvard president next June," *Harvard Gazette,* June 14, 2017. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/06/drew-faust-to-step-down-as-harvard-president-next-june/
|
||||
[^2]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 1, 2020, pp. 3-5, 10-17, 20-23. https://www.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reportconcerning-Jeffrey-Epstein.pdf ; https://ogc.harvard.edu/report-concerning-Epstein
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00635064, DataSet 9, email from Martin A. Nowak to Jeffrey Epstein, June 15, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00635064.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "Harvard Asked Its Lawyers to Review the University's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here's What They Found," *The Harvard Crimson,* May 2, 2020. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/harvard-concludes-epstein-review/
|
||||
[^5]: Lopez, Gershengorn and Murphy, *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University,* May 2020, pp. 10-13, on Faust's decision, the December 10, 2013 development-office memorandum, Smith's refusal, and Gross's and Nowak's 2014 exchanges. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
[^6]: Lopez, Gershengorn and Murphy, *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University,* May 2020, pp. 13-15 and nn. 9, 15, on the table of Epstein-facilitated gifts, the gift-letter language on rent, and the statement of Black's representative. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
[^7]: Lopez, Gershengorn and Murphy, *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University,* May 2020, pp. 20-23 and n. 16, on the publicist's requests, the "Friends" page, the March 2014 letter to Faust, and the October 2014 removal. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
|
||||
69
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Glenn Dubin.md
Normal file
69
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Glenn Dubin.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- GlennDubin
|
||||
- HighbridgeCapital
|
||||
- HedgeFund
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- GhislaineMaxwell
|
||||
- JPMorgan
|
||||
- HarvardKennedySchool
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Glenn Dubin
|
||||
summary: "Hedge fund manager who co-founded Highbridge Capital Management, in which Jeffrey Epstein invested; married to Epstein's former girlfriend Eva Andersson-Dubin; named and denied in Giuffre's deposition."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Eva Andersson-Dubin]]"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Virgin Islands Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2020-09-03
|
||||
role: "subpoenaed for records of transactions and communications with Epstein"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Glenn Dubin is a [[New York City|New York]] hedge fund manager who founded [[Highbridge Capital Management]] with [[Henry Swieca]] in 1992 and led it until 2013. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] was a founding investor in the fund and advised Dubin and Swieca in their 2004 negotiations over the sale of a majority stake to [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Dubin's wife, [[Eva Andersson-Dubin]], had a romantic relationship with Epstein before her marriage, and she has called Epstein the "godfather of my three children." [[Virginia Giuffre]] named Dubin in a 2016 deposition among the men to whom, she said, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] and Epstein directed her; the Dubins have denied the allegation, and no charge has been brought.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Highbridge
|
||||
|
||||
Dubin and Swieca grew up in [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]] and launched Highbridge in September 1992; by June 2004 it managed about 6 billion dollars.[^1] A JPMorgan memorandum of March 18, 2004 to [[Jamie Dimon]], [[William B. Harrison Jr.]] and [[David Coulter]] stated that "Highbridge has approached JB, JPMC based on an existing relationship with the founders/owners, and with Jeffrey Epstein [a founding investor in Highbridge]." A June 16, 2004 email to [[Jes Staley]] read: "One concern that we have is that Jeffrey has been educating Glenn & Henry about our structure and valuation thoughts." JPMorgan bought a majority stake in 2004, and Dubin ran the fund until 2013.[^2][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 28, 2014 Dubin's office sent Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] an "Updated Contact Information for Glenn Dubin" notice giving his new office as Dubin & Company, 767 Fifth Avenue, 45th Floor.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Household
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house manager, [[Juan Alessi]], told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in 2019 that when he began working for Epstein around 1990 Epstein had a girlfriend "named Eva Anderson."[^7] Andersson-Dubin's romantic history with Epstein dated to the early 1980s. Flight logs show that the Dubins flew on Epstein's aircraft at least eighteen times between 1996 and 2005.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In her April 22, 2016 deposition in *[[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]*, Maxwell was asked, "Do you know Glenn Dubin?" and answered, "I do." Asked how she knew him, she said, "He is the husband of Eva Dubin," and agreed that Eva Dubin was one of her friends. Asked, "Did you ever bring any females to the Dubin's house that were not your friends' children that were under the age of 18?" she answered, "I have never, to my knowledge, brought anybody under the age of 18 that's not a friend of my family or my nieces or nephews to the Dubin household."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The Dubins' former household manager, Rinaldo Rizzo, testified that in 2005 Maxwell and Epstein brought a 15-year-old girl to the Dubins' house, and that the girl told Rizzo and his wife that she had been taken to Epstein's island and threatened. Rizzo testified that he later saw the girl "on a flight to Sweden with the Dubin family."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Giuffre Allegation
|
||||
|
||||
Giuffre's 2016 deposition, unsealed in August 2019, "listed Dubin among several businessmen and politicians who she alleges Maxwell and Epstein directed her to have sex with." *[[The Harvard Crimson]]* noted that "the available court record contains no direct evidence substantiating the allegations against Dubin." A spokesperson answered: "Glenn and Eva Dubin are outraged by the allegations against them in the unsealed court records and categorically reject them."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Maxwell denied the allegation as to herself in her own deposition. Asked, "Did you ever send Virginia to Glenn's condo at the Breakers to give him a massage?" she answered, "No," and asked whether she had instructed Giuffre to have sex with him, "I have never instructed Virginia to have sex with anybody ever." Asked whether it was "an obvious lie that Virginia was paid to go to give a massage to Glenn Dubin at the Breakers," she said, "I cannot testify to what Virginia did outside of . . . I can't testify to what she did, who she gave massages to," and "Of course I don't know." Asked, "Can Jeffrey Epstein confirm or deny whether you sent Virginia to give Glenn Dubin a massage?" she answered, "I can't say what Jeffrey would say, I can tell you I didn't." Asked whether Epstein had "ever sent anybody to Glenn Dubin to perform a massage for him," she said, "I couldn't possibly recollect whether he did anything like that," and asked whether she had sent anyone else "over to Glenn Dubin's home for a massage," she answered, "Not to the best of my knowledge." The transcript was filed in the unsealed record on May 3, 2022.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Virgin Islands Subpoenas
|
||||
|
||||
On September 3, 2020 the Virgin Islands attorney general, [[Denise George]], suing Epstein's estate on behalf of the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]], subpoenaed Dubin, Andersson-Dubin and Highbridge for records of "financial transactions and communications between the Dubins and Epstein" from 1998 to the present, including three wire transfers between 2014 and 2016. A spokesperson said the Dubins "are horrified by and were completely unaware of Jeffrey Epstein's unspeakable conduct."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Harvard Kennedy School
|
||||
|
||||
In 2010 Dubin gave 5 million dollars to establish the Dubin Graduate Fellowships for Emerging Leaders at the [[Center for Public Leadership]] of the [[Harvard Kennedy School]], and he sat on the school's Dean's Executive Committee. In August 2019 a Kennedy School spokesperson declined to comment on his role at the school.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Inside Highbridge," *Institutional Investor,* June 10, 2004. https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2btgk245bciyr1qqsdukg/home/inside-highbridge
|
||||
[^2]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, ECF No. 221 (filed July 24, 2023), paras. 33, 55, 98-99, 111, 129-131. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433-LAP (S.D.N.Y.), videotaped deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, April 22, 2016, transcript pp. 57-58, 61, 236-237, 303-304, 339, filed as ECF No. 1257-15 (May 3, 2022). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1257.15.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "US Virgin Islands wants Jeffrey Epstein-related documents from NY hedge fund billionaire," *ABC News,* September 9, 2020. https://abcnews.com/US/us-virgin-islands-jeffrey-epstein-related-documents-ny/story?id=72892602
|
||||
[^5]: Staley v The Financial Conduct Authority [2025] UKUT 00203 (TCC), Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber), decision released June 26, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685d21fec2633bd820a92a52/Staley_v_FCA_decision_for_release.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00375258, DataSet 9, forwarded notice "Updated Contact Information for Glenn Dubin," January 28, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00375258.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00157603, DataSet 9, FBI FD-302, interview of Juan Alessi, investigation on July 13, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00157603.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: McCafferty, Molly C., and Jania J. Tumey. "Harvard Kennedy School Donor Glenn Dubin Implicated in Epstein's Alleged Sex Ring, Unsealed Filings Allege," *The Harvard Crimson,* August 18, 2019. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/8/18/dubin-epstein-unsealed-docs/
|
||||
59
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Cayne.md
Normal file
59
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Cayne.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JamesCayne
|
||||
- BearStearns
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- FinancialTrustCompany
|
||||
- WallStreet
|
||||
- Bridge
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- James Cayne
|
||||
- James E. Cayne
|
||||
- James Eliot Cayne
|
||||
- Jimmy Cayne
|
||||
summary: "Bear Stearns chief executive from 1993 to 2008 who mentored Jeffrey Epstein at the firm, was named a co-executor in a codicil to Epstein's will, and told him in 2007 to 'hold tight.'"
|
||||
born: 1934-02-14
|
||||
died: 2021-12-28
|
||||
location: "Evanston, Illinois (born); Long Branch, New Jersey (died)"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "named co-executor of Epstein's will with Henry Jarecki in a first codicil"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James Eliot Cayne (February 14, 1934, [[Evanston, Illinois]] to December 28, 2021, [[Long Branch, New Jersey]]) was an American investment banker and champion bridge player who was chief executive of [[Bear Stearns]] from 1993 to January 2008, two months before the firm's collapse into [[JPMorgan Chase]]. With [[Alan Greenberg]] he mentored [[Jeffrey Epstein]] at Bear Stearns from 1976 until Epstein's departure in 1981, and he remained one of Epstein's principal contacts at the firm until its failure. A first codicil to Epstein's will named Cayne and [[Henry Jarecki]] as co-executors of Epstein's estate. In August 2007, as two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed, Cayne told Epstein by telephone to "hold tight," according to the complaint Epstein's company later filed against the firm.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Cayne studied engineering at [[Purdue University]] and left without a degree, then served in the [[United States Army|Army]] in [[Japan]]. He was a champion bridge player, and at Bear Stearns he became the first Wall Street chief executive to own a stake in his company worth more than one billion dollars. He steered the firm to five years of record profits before it lost heavily on housing-market bets in 2007 and ran out of cash in 2008. He stepped down as chief executive in January 2008; two months later JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy Bear Stearns for 10 dollars a share, after Cayne's last-minute efforts to get a better price.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Epstein at Bear Stearns
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein came to Bear Stearns in 1976 from the [[Dalton School]] through Greenberg and rose under Greenberg and Cayne to limited partner. He resigned on March 12, 1981, the day after [[Seagram Company|Seagram]] announced its tender offer for [[St. Joe Minerals]]. When the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] took his testimony on April 1, 1981 in its insider-trading inquiry, it questioned him on whether Cayne had inside information about St. Joe, and Epstein denied knowledge of any. The SEC brought no insider-trading charges against anyone at Bear Stearns in the matter.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Accounts of the departure conflict. Cayne said: "Jeffrey Epstein left Bear Stearns of his own volition. It was never suggested that he leave by any member of management, and management never looked into any improprieties by him." Contemporaries told *[[Vanity Fair]]* of internal rumors that the executive committee had asked for his resignation after his two supporters, Greenberg and Cayne, were outvoted, and a former Bear Stearns executive told [[Fox Business]] in 2019 that Epstein "left at our invitation ... it was very serious stuff." Vanity Fair listed Cayne in 2003 among Epstein's admirers.[^3][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Will
|
||||
|
||||
Drafts of Epstein's will and codicils preserved in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s records include a base will dated December 11, 2001, in which Epstein, "of [[Little St. James]] Island," named Paul Hoffman and one other individual as executors. A first codicil substituted a new Article Third: "I appoint HENRY JARECKI and JAMES CAYNE as Executors of this will. If either HENRY JARECKI or JAMES CAYNE fails to qualify or ceases for any reason to act as Executor, I hereby designate PAUL HOFFMAN as successor Executor." A further amendment added a third individual as co-executor alongside Jarecki and Cayne.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### "Hold Tight"
|
||||
|
||||
After 1981 Epstein conducted, by his company's account, "hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions with Bear Stearns" and dealt "with the senior management of Bear Stearns." In the summer of 2007 his company [[Financial Trust Company]] held 120,000 Bear Stearns shares in a [[Merrill Lynch]] account while two [[Bear Stearns Asset Management]] funds collapsed. Financial Trust's August 5, 2009 verified complaint alleged that on August 6, 2007 Epstein spoke by telephone with Cayne, who told him the funds' problems were "contained to those two funds," cited a pending one billion dollar capital infusion from [[CITIC Group|China Citic Group]], and advised him to "hold tight." The complaint also alleged that the day after the Enhanced Leverage Fund's disintegration was announced on July 17, 2007, "Cayne and Spector commenced participating in a 10-day bridge tournament in Nashville, Tennessee," referring to the firm's president, [[Warren Spector]]. Financial Trust sold its last 100,000 shares on March 17, 2008 at 3.41 dollars and sued Bear Stearns in the [[District Court of the Virgin Islands]] for fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, naming Cayne, Greenberg, Spector, [[Samuel Molinaro]] and [[Alan Schwartz]] as the officers whose statements Epstein had relied on.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein had also put about 60 million dollars into the Enhanced Leverage Fund, making him one of its largest investors.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Nguyen, Lananh, and Kate Kelly. "James Cayne, who ran the ill-fated Bear Stearns, dies," *The New York Times,* via *Antelope Valley Press,* December 2021. https://www.avpress.com/news/newsline/james-cayne-who-ran-the-ill-fated-bear-stearns-dies/article_90bf74aa-6d12-11ec-bd4b-37c8139dec2c.html
|
||||
[^2]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair,* March 2003, as republished by the author, on Epstein's hiring through Greenberg, his limited partnership, the March 12, 1981 resignation, the April 1, 1981 SEC testimony, Cayne's statement, and the St. Joe Minerals outcome. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
|
||||
[^3]: Ward, Vicky. "The Talented Mr. Epstein." *Vanity Fair,* March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303 (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20260916130321/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303)
|
||||
[^4]: Financial Trust Company, Inc. v. The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., Civil No. 2009/106 (D.V.I.), Verified Complaint dated August 5, 2009, paragraphs 2, 6 to 13, 16 to 17, 32 to 40, 50 to 53; reproduced as Exhibit 253, ECF No. 244-8 (filed July 25, 2023), in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011822/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/244-08.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00016841, DataSet 8, drafts of the will of Jeffrey E. Epstein dated December 11, 2001, with codicils. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00016841.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Charles Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan, "The woes of Jeffrey Epstein: How he maintained Wall Street connections while downplaying child sex accusations," *Fox Business,* August 10, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/jeffrey-epstein-wall-street-connections-child-sex-trafficking
|
||||
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Comer.md
Normal file
67
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James Comer.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JamesComer
|
||||
- Congress
|
||||
- HouseOversightCommittee
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- EpsteinFiles
|
||||
- Subpoena
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Rep. James Comer
|
||||
summary: "Kentucky Republican congressman and chairman of the House Oversight Committee who in 2025 subpoenaed the Justice Department and Jeffrey Epstein's estate for Epstein records and released the estate's productions."
|
||||
born: 1972-08-19
|
||||
location: "Kentucky"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "subpoena for Epstein and Maxwell case records"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-05
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
|
||||
role: "subpoena to the Epstein estate, addressed to its co-executors"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-25
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
|
||||
role: "subpoena to the Epstein estate, addressed to its co-executors"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-25
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
James Comer (born August 19, 1972) is a Republican member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from the first district of [[Kentucky]], seated on November 14, 2016, and the chairman of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] in the 119th Congress. In 2025 his committee requested, and then subpoenaed, the [[Department of Justice]]'s records on [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], subpoenaed Epstein's estate, and released the estate's productions. A tip reported to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] threatened to kill him unless the "[[Epstein Files]]" were released.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2025 Requests and Subpoenas
|
||||
|
||||
On February 11, 2025 Comer and Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]], chair of the committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, wrote to Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] requesting a briefing on Epstein investigation records in the department's possession. On February 21, 2025 the FBI's congressional affairs staff reported "receipt of five letters from Chairman Comer and Chairwoman Luna requesting briefings on the declassification process of documents regarding various FBI equities and to view the relevant documents"; the attachments concerned the [[September 11 attacks]], an assassination file, the origins of [[COVID-19]], unidentified anomalous phenomena and Epstein. The next day a bureau official asked for "a RIDS inventory of what we have on these five subjects," covering "Vault posts / Preprocessed / Requests in progress / UAP state of play / Any open litigations and status," with a deadline of close of business the following Monday.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 8, 2025 Comer and Luna wrote again demanding public release of "the entirety of the Epstein files." On July 7, 2025 the Justice Department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." On July 23 the committee's Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee voted 8 to 2, on a motion by the Democrat Summer Lee joined by Republicans [[Nancy Mace]], Scott Perry and Brian Jack, to subpoena the department's Epstein files; committee rules required Comer's signature to issue it, and he was not present for the vote.[^3][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 5, 2025 the committee subpoenaed Bondi for documents in [[United States v. Epstein]] (19-cr-490) and [[United States v. Maxwell]] (20-cr-330) and documents relating to Epstein's death. On August 25 Comer subpoenaed Epstein's estate, in a letter to its co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] in care of Daniel Weiner of [[Hughes Hubbard and Reed]], for the "birthday book," financial and flight records and other material, returnable September 8. The letter recited that "[r]ecent reporting indicates the estate of Mr. Epstein has access to documents relevant to the Committee's investigation," and described the committee's purposes as reviewing "the possible mismanagement of the federal government's investigation," "the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein's death," "the operation of sex-trafficking rings," and "potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials," toward legislation reforming "the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations." It was copied to the committee's ranking member, [[Robert Garcia]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The September 2025 Release
|
||||
|
||||
On September 8, 2025 the committee released the estate's first production. Comer's statement said: "It's appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today. Oversight Committee Republicans are focused on running a thorough investigation to bring transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein's heinous crimes and the American people. President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing and Democrats are ignoring the new information the Committee received today. The Committee will pursue additional Epstein bank records based on this new information. Democrats must decide if their priority is justice for the survivors or politics." The release said the committee had "also obtained information about Epstein's bank accounts."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
A later estate production released by the committee in November 2025 included Epstein's text messages to Delegate [[Stacey Plaskett]] during the committee's hearing of February 27, 2019 with [[Michael Cohen]]. On March 4, 2026 the full committee voted 24 to 19, on Mace's motion, to subpoena Bondi to testify on the department's handling of the files.[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Threat
|
||||
|
||||
An intake record of a tip to the FBI, undated in the released excerpt, reports a message from a sender styling itself "The Queen of Canada," a group whose stated objective was "peace through death": "We are the Queen of Canada and demand Sen. Comer release the Epstein Files on [[Donald Trump]] in 30 days or we will Execute James Comer and Scott Bessent and his partner [name withheld]." The record lists as targets "James Comer and Scott Bessent and his partner [name withheld]," naming the Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] and his partner.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, legislators-current.json (birth date and terms, compiled from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress), accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json
|
||||
[^2]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, committee-membership-current.json, 119th Congress, accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/committee-membership-current.json
|
||||
[^3]: James Comer, Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, subpoena cover letter to the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein, August 25, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025.08.25-Subpoena-Cover-Letter-to-Epstein-Estate.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01655627, DataSet 10, internal FBI email chain, "Letters to The Honorable Kash Patel," February 21 to 23, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01655627.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum on the review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
|
||||
[^6]: Caitlin Yilek, "House committee votes to subpoena Justice Department for Jeffrey Epstein files," *CBS News,* July 23, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-committee-votes-to-subpoena-justice-department-for-epstein-files/ ; Veronica Stracqualursi, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer and Ted Barrett, "House Oversight subcommittee votes to subpoena DOJ for Epstein files," *CNN,* July 23, 2025, as syndicated by KTVZ. https://ktvz.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2025/07/23/house-oversight-subcommittee-votes-to-subpoena-doj-for-epstein-files/
|
||||
[^7]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Releases Records Provided by the Epstein Estate, Chairman Comer Provides Statement," press release, September 8, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-records-provided-by-the-epstein-estate-chairman-comer-provides-statement/
|
||||
[^8]: Annie Grayer and Kaanita Iyer, "House Democrat exchanged texts with Epstein during 2019 congressional hearing," *CNN,* November 14, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/politics/epstein-texts-stacey-plaskett
|
||||
[^9]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Democratic staff, "Ranking Member Robert Garcia Statement on Securing Subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi to Testify Before Oversight in Epstein Files Cover-Up," press release, March 4, 2026. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-robert-garcia-statement-on-securing-subpoena-for-attorney-general-pam-bondi-to-testify-before-oversight-in-epstein-files-cover-up
|
||||
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00161527, DataSet 9, FBI tip intake record reporting a threat, undated excerpt. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00161527.pdf
|
||||
|
|
@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ Epstein's residences functioned as the physical infrastructure of the traffickin
|
|||
|
||||
Zorro Ranch in New Mexico was, according to a 2019 New York Times report, the site Epstein discussed for a project to "seed the human race with his DNA" by impregnating many women, a scheme he described to scientists and associates and that never came to fruition. New Mexico reopened a criminal inquiry into the ranch in 2025. On August 19, 2010, two days after Epstein registered as a sex offender in New Mexico, the state Department of Public Safety told the Santa Fe County sheriff that he was not required to register, because the state treated the Florida offense as registrable only if the minor was under 16; the minor in the plea was 17. Little St. James, called "Pedophile Island" in local accounts, was where Epstein hosted a 2002 science conference and where multiple victims said abuse occurred; under the 2022 settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands the island was sold and half the proceeds, about 11 million dollars, paid to the territory.[^18][^19][^20]
|
||||
|
||||
At his last address verification as a registered sex offender, in July 2018, Epstein refused to let Virgin Islands Department of Justice investigators, assisted by [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]], go beyond the dock of Little St. James, calling the dock his "front door," and had them meet him at his office on [[St. Thomas]]. His organization objected to the territory's inspections of unpermitted construction on Great St. James as "invasions" of his constitutional right to privacy in a home "which he described defined as the entire island." Island employees signed confidentiality agreements barring them from speaking with law enforcement and were told to notify the organization and use its counsel if contacted.[^11]
|
||||
At his last address verification as a registered sex offender, in July 2018, Epstein refused to let [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice]] investigators, assisted by [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]], go beyond the dock of Little St. James, calling the dock his "front door," and had them meet him at his office on [[St. Thomas]]. His organization objected to the territory's inspections of unpermitted construction on Great St. James as "invasions" of his constitutional right to privacy in a home "which he described defined as the entire island." Island employees signed confidentiality agreements barring them from speaking with law enforcement and were told to notify the organization and use its counsel if contacted.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Trafficking Operation and the Recruitment Network
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ The [[Palm Beach Police Department]] opened an investigation in 2005 after a par
|
|||
|
||||
Epstein's Boeing 727, the [[Lolita Express]], and additional aircraft were flown by the pilots [[Larry Visoski]] and [[David Rodgers]], whose logbooks recorded passengers on flights among New York, Palm Beach, the Virgin Islands, and Europe. The logs surfaced through the civil litigation of 2009 to 2015 and became the basis for much of the public mapping of Epstein's contacts, though a log entry records travel and not conduct. Visoski testified at the 2021 Maxwell trial that he had never witnessed sexual activity aboard the aircraft, and the logs by themselves establish who flew, not what occurred.[^17][^24]
|
||||
|
||||
The 727 was registered N908JE to [[JEGE, Inc.]], of which Epstein was president, sole director and sole shareholder, from January 2001 until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019; Epstein was named chief executive on JEGE's Part 125 operating certificate, and Darren Indyke signed its 2013 re-registration. The Gulfstream N909JE was held by [[Hyperion Air, Inc.]], also wholly his. Other aircraft were held by Hyperion Air LLC, JEGE, LLC, Plan D LLC and Air Ghislaine Inc. (renamed Shmitka Air Inc. and then Freedom Air International Inc. in 2010), with Visoski signing filings as manager or director of aviation; Hyperion Air LLC bought back a Sikorsky helicopter on June 13, 2019, three weeks before Epstein's arrest. The 2007 draft federal indictment identified each charged flight by the corporate owner of the aircraft, and according to NBC News a May 2007 prosecution memorandum proposed charging JEGE, Inc. and Hyperion Air, Inc. alongside Epstein; the non-prosecution agreement ended the federal case, and both companies continued to hold his aircraft until after his death.[^25][^26][^27]
|
||||
The 727 was registered N908JE to [[JEGE, Inc.]], of which Epstein was president, sole director and sole shareholder, from January 2001 until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019; Epstein was named chief executive on JEGE's Part 125 operating certificate, and Darren Indyke signed its 2013 re-registration. The Gulfstream N909JE was held by [[Hyperion Air, Inc.]], also wholly his. Other aircraft were held by [[Hyperion Air|Hyperion Air LLC]], JEGE, LLC, Plan D LLC and Air Ghislaine Inc. (renamed Shmitka Air Inc. and then [[Air Ghislaine, Inc.|Freedom Air International Inc.]] in 2010), with Visoski signing filings as manager or director of aviation; Hyperion Air LLC bought back a Sikorsky helicopter on June 13, 2019, three weeks before Epstein's arrest. The 2007 draft federal indictment identified each charged flight by the corporate owner of the aircraft, and according to NBC News a May 2007 prosecution memorandum proposed charging JEGE, Inc. and Hyperion Air, Inc. alongside Epstein; the non-prosecution agreement ended the federal case, and both companies continued to hold his aircraft until after his death.[^25][^26][^27]
|
||||
|
||||
A bound contact directory, the "little black book," held roughly 1,900 entries of names, telephone numbers, and addresses spanning finance, politics, royalty, science, and entertainment. A former house manager at the Palm Beach property, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], copied the directory and offered it for sale, calling it "the Holy Grail or Golden Nugget." The complaint against him, filed December 1, 2009, bears the name of Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]], the line prosecutor on the Epstein investigation; it records that Rodriguez offered the material through a cooperating witness to an "associate" who was an undercover FBI employee, and that he had given it to no "law enforcement agency or any of the civil attorneys." The charged obstruction ran from January 18, 2007, while the federal grand jury investigation was open, to November 3, 2009. He pleaded guilty and Judge [[Kenneth Marra]] sentenced him on June 21, 2010 to eighteen months. At Maxwell's 2021 trial a copy of the directory was admitted as Government Exhibit 52 after authentication by the earlier Palm Beach house manager [[Juan Alessi]]. Redacted versions of the directory and of the flight manifests circulated publicly and were cited in reporting and litigation to identify members of Epstein's social circle.[^17][^24]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ From the late 1990s Epstein financed and embedded himself in elite science throu
|
|||
|
||||
Epstein cultivated scientists including Marvin Minsky of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], the geneticist George Church, the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]], and the cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. He funded Minsky's April 2002 St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium and a December 2011 conference, and in March 2006, four months before his indictment, the "Confronting Gravity" conference in St. Thomas organized by Krauss, with about twenty physicists including Stephen Hawking and three Nobel laureates, and a barbecue on Little St. James.[^18][^57][^58]
|
||||
|
||||
After President [[Drew Faust]] barred further Epstein gifts no later than November 2008, donors Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars between 2010 and 2015: 7.5 million dollars for Nowak's program (500,000 dollars from the [[Falconwood Foundation]] in 2010, and 7 million dollars from Leon Black, [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]] in 2011, 2014 and 2015) and 2 million dollars from Black for Church. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein had been a trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997 until, according to Black's representative, July 2007; Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein." Black also gave 2 million dollars to Krauss's Origins Project at [[Arizona State University]] in 2014 and 2015, where one accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education," and, by the account of internal [[MIT Media Lab]] emails, 5.5 million dollars to the Media Lab in 2014 at Epstein's direction.[^55][^59][^60][^61]
|
||||
After President [[Drew Faust]] barred further Epstein gifts no later than November 2008, donors Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars between 2010 and 2015: 7.5 million dollars for Nowak's program (500,000 dollars from the [[Falconwood Foundation]] in 2010, and 7 million dollars from Leon Black, [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]] in 2011, 2014 and 2015) and 2 million dollars from Black for Church. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein had been a trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997 until, according to Black's representative, July 2007; Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein." Black also gave 2 million dollars to Krauss's Origins Project at [[Arizona State University]] in 2014 and 2015, where one accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|Enhanced Education]]," and, by the account of internal [[MIT Media Lab]] emails, 5.5 million dollars to the Media Lab in 2014 at Epstein's direction.[^55][^59][^60][^61]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's interest in genetics and population converged with a stated ambition to spread his own DNA. The 2019 New York Times report documented that he told scientists of plans to impregnate women at Zorro Ranch to seed the human race with his genome, and that he was drawn to [[transhumanism]] and [[eugenics]]. In 2010, after his conviction, Epstein gave 20,000 dollars to the [[World Transhumanist Association]] (Humanity+), and in 2009 his C.O.U.Q. Foundation gave 50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, now the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]. In 2014 he and Church formed an investment company, Georgarage, incorporated in Delaware by Darren Indyke, after Church sent Epstein a ten-stage, 10 million dollar investment plan that included "Supercentenarianstudy.com," reversing aging and "cold-resistant elephants." Epstein discussed Georgarage stakes in the xenotransplant company eGenesis, the gene-editing company Androcyte (where, its founder said, Epstein proposed becoming board chairman), and a California sequencing firm; no investment was completed. Androcyte's assets passed in 2017 to BetterHumans, which describes itself as "the world's first specifically-transhumanist bio-medical research organization." In 2013 Epstein's cells were sampled into Church's Personal Genome Project and cell lines were created, over staff objections to an attempt to expedite his sample. After his 2019 arrest, Church apologized for continued contact.[^18][^59][^62][^63]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ Accounts from victims and household staff describing cameras in the properties,
|
|||
|
||||
Epstein's finances ran through entities chartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including Financial Trust Company, incorporated in St. Thomas on November 6, 1998, and Southern Trust Company, incorporated on November 18, 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc. and renamed in September 2012, with assets of about 391 million dollars in 2015. Both obtained territorial tax benefits under the [[Economic Development Commission]] program: Financial Trust from 1999 under a certificate signed by Industrial Development Commission director [[Frandelle Gerard]], amended in 2012 over the signature of EDC chairman [[Albert Bryan]], who also signed Southern Trust's January 24, 2014 certificate. At the November 15, 2012 EDC hearing the company described its business under oath as "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics"; the Virgin Islands later alleged that Southern Trust obtained the benefits for a business it never conducted and existed to fund Epstein's criminal activity and properties. His banking ran through JPMorgan Chase, which kept him as a client until 2013, then Deutsche Bank, and also through [[BNY Mellon]]; the June 15, 2007 7.4 million dollar wire to Maxwell for her Sikorsky helicopter came from his Mellon Bank account.[^11][^12][^20][^91][^92]
|
||||
|
||||
Southern Trust reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017 with no visible clients and one information-technology employee. The territory's 2022 complaint stated that "virtually all" of its income came "from a single source," which paid it 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017, 85 percent of its revenue. The [[Dechert]] review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that Leon Black signed a service agreement with Southern Trust Company, Inc. on February 13, 2013 and paid Epstein 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 158 million dollars, plus 30.5 million dollars in 2017 loans from BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC; Dechert found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s staff put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent. Black's wires came from [[Bank of America]] accounts; the bank filed its first suspicious activity report on them on February 7, 2020, flagging 156 million dollars as having "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose." Black's January 20, 2023 settlement with the territory recites that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands," while disclaiming any admission of liability. Financial Trust also bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program; the shares passed to Southern Financial LLC in 2013.[^11][^12][^93][^94][^95]
|
||||
Southern Trust reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017 with no visible clients and one information-technology employee. The territory's 2022 complaint stated that "virtually all" of its income came "from a single source," which paid it 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017, 85 percent of its revenue. The [[Dechert]] review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that Leon Black signed a service agreement with Southern Trust Company, Inc. on February 13, 2013 and paid Epstein 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 158 million dollars, plus 30.5 million dollars in 2017 loans from BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC; Dechert found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s staff put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent. Black's wires came from [[Bank of America]] accounts; the bank filed its first suspicious activity report on them on February 7, 2020, flagging 156 million dollars as having "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose." Black's January 20, 2023 settlement with the territory recites that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands," while disclaiming any admission of liability. Financial Trust also bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program; the shares passed to [[Southern Financial LLC]] in 2013.[^11][^12][^93][^94][^95]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein received the working papers of Black's estate planning during the years of the Southern Trust payments. A "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring" dated October 2, 2013 covered the substitution of trust assets for a promissory note, financing against Black's art collection with "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken," the decanting of family trusts, the restructuring of Black Family Partners and other family entities, and the creation of foundations for each of Black's children. On January 21, 2014 Ada Clapp of Black Family Partners, 445 Park Avenue, sent Epstein the updated version: "Attached is what I believe you are referring to by the 9 page list. I updated to show progress." On July 24, 2017 Barry J. Cohen forwarded to Epstein a privileged [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] memorandum on "Leon Black Estate Planning," addressed by the firm to Clapp, Cohen and Brad Wechsler, with the note: "Let us know what issues you have."[^96]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ After a July 22, 2019 New York Times article on Epstein's ties to Wall Street fi
|
|||
|
||||
Deutsche Bank informally designated Epstein an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, "because of his connections to prominent political figures," and a January 2015 compliance escalation cited his relationships with "a prominent former U.S. politician and a member of a European royal family," whom the New York regulator did not name. In October 2008, while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Staley sent him the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] vehicle to borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] during the financial crisis; the UK Upper Tribunal found Epstein was the only recipient not involved in the proposal. In a June 4, 2026 letter Wyden wrote that unsealed Justice Department files indicated Epstein "reached out to Russian government officials" to help Black with women with whom Black had settlements or nondisclosure agreements, and acted "as a middleman for Black to pay women"; Black's counsel called the inquiry an attempt to "unfairly harass" a private citizen.[^99][^100]
|
||||
|
||||
The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of 80,576,236 dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. Staley, who managed the Epstein banking relationship at JPMorgan before becoming chief executive of Barclays, was banned from senior UK financial roles and fined by the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] in a decision dated May 30, 2023 and published that October, which the Upper Tribunal upheld in June 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds; the ban took effect with the Authority's Final Notice of July 23, 2025. The Epstein Victims' Compensation Program's administrator, [[Jordana Feldman]], announced in 2021 nearly 125 million dollars in payments to 150 eligible claimants; the co-executors' lawyers later put it at 121 million dollars to 136 claimants, and the estate separately settled with 58 women for about 48 million dollars.[^11][^20][^99][^101][^102][^103]
|
||||
The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of 80,576,236 dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. Staley, who managed the Epstein banking relationship at JPMorgan before becoming chief executive of Barclays, was banned from senior UK financial roles and fined by the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] in a decision dated May 30, 2023 and published that October, which the Upper Tribunal upheld in June 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds; the ban took effect with the Authority's Final Notice of July 23, 2025. The [[Epstein Victims' Compensation Program]]'s administrator, [[Jordana Feldman]], announced in 2021 nearly 125 million dollars in payments to 150 eligible claimants; the co-executors' lawyers later put it at 121 million dollars to 136 claimants, and the estate separately settled with 58 women for about 48 million dollars.[^11][^20][^99][^101][^102][^103]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Virgin Islands Government
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Kurganov gained operational access to a sitting technology billionaire's philant
|
|||
|
||||
Buma publicly accused the FBI of pro-Trump political bias, specifically alleging that the Bureau had suppressed or slow-walked investigations into Trump-aligned figures and causes. [[PBS|PBS NewsHour]] reported on Buma's public statements, and the Whistleblowers Blog documented Buma's account of warnings the FBI allegedly missed.[^3][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Office of the Inspector General|DOJ Office of Inspector General]] arrested Buma on March 17, 2025 at JFK Airport as he attempted to board an international flight. The criminal complaint, filed in the [[Central District of California]], charged Buma with unlawfully disclosing confidential information on or about October 27, 2023. [[CBS News]] reported that FBI investigators assessed Buma may have compromised as many as 130 FBI files through his disclosures. Buma is out on 100,000 dollar bond. The DOJ's position is that the disclosures violated the criminal prohibition on unauthorized release of confidential FBI information; Buma's position is that the disclosures constituted protected whistleblowing about FBI misconduct. The case is ongoing.[^1][^3][^9]
|
||||
The [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|DOJ Office of Inspector General]] arrested Buma on March 17, 2025 at JFK Airport as he attempted to board an international flight. The criminal complaint, filed in the [[Central District of California]], charged Buma with unlawfully disclosing confidential information on or about October 27, 2023. [[CBS News]] reported that FBI investigators assessed Buma may have compromised as many as 130 FBI files through his disclosures. Buma is out on 100,000 dollar bond. The DOJ's position is that the disclosures violated the criminal prohibition on unauthorized release of confidential FBI information; Buma's position is that the disclosures constituted protected whistleblowing about FBI misconduct. The case is ongoing.[^1][^3][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
89
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/José A. Cabranes.md
Normal file
89
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/José A. Cabranes.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JoseCabranes
|
||||
- FederalJudge
|
||||
- SecondCircuit
|
||||
- ForeignIntelligenceSurveillanceCourtOfReview
|
||||
- GhislaineMaxwell
|
||||
- GiuffreVMaxwell
|
||||
- YaleUniversity
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Jose A. Cabranes
|
||||
- José Alberto Cabranes
|
||||
- Jose Alberto Cabranes
|
||||
summary: "Second Circuit judge, formerly Yale's general counsel and presiding judge of the FISA Court of Review, who sat on five appellate panels in the Giuffre v. Maxwell unsealing fight and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal appeal."
|
||||
born: 1940
|
||||
location: "Connecticut"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Yale University]]"
|
||||
role: "general counsel and director of government relations"
|
||||
start: 1975
|
||||
end: 1979
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Jimmy Carter]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "U.S. District Judge, District of Connecticut"
|
||||
start: 1979-12-10
|
||||
end: 1994-08-10
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Bill Clinton]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "U.S. Circuit Judge, Second Circuit"
|
||||
start: 1994-08-10
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review]]"
|
||||
role: "judge; presiding judge from 2018"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
end: 2020
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]"
|
||||
role: "Second Circuit panel judge"
|
||||
start: 2019-03-11
|
||||
end: 2025-07-23
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[United States v. Maxwell]]"
|
||||
role: "Second Circuit panel judge"
|
||||
start: 2024-03-12
|
||||
end: 2024-09-17
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
José Alberto Cabranes (born 1940, in [[Mayagüez, Puerto Rico]]) is a senior judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]. A former general counsel of [[Yale University]], he was appointed to the District of Connecticut by [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1979 and to the Second Circuit by [[Bill Clinton]] in 1994, and from 2013 to 2020 sat on the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review]], presiding over it from 2018. Between 2019 and 2025 he sat on five Second Circuit panels in the litigation arising from [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]: the unsealing appeals in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] and Maxwell's criminal appeal in [[United States v. Maxwell]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Cabranes moved from Puerto Rico to the [[South Bronx]] at the age of five. He graduated from [[Columbia University]] in 1961 and [[Yale Law School]] in 1965 and took a master of letters in international law at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] (Queens' College) in 1967. He practiced law in New York from 1967 to 1971, taught at [[Rutgers University|Rutgers]] Law School from 1971 to 1973, and from 1973 to 1975 was special counsel to the Governor of Puerto Rico, [[Rafael Hernández Colón]], and head of the governor's Washington office. From 1975 to 1979 he was general counsel and director of government relations of Yale.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Carter nominated him on November 6, 1979 to the District of Connecticut seat vacated by Jon O. Newman; he was confirmed on December 5 and commissioned on December 10, 1979, the first Puerto Rican appointed to an Article III judgeship in the continental [[United States]]. He was chief judge of the district from 1992 to 1994. Clinton nominated him on May 24, 1994 to the Second Circuit seat vacated by Richard J. Cardamone; he was confirmed on August 9 and commissioned on August 10, 1994. He served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which hears the government's appeals from the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]], from 2013 to 2020, as its presiding judge from 2018. He assumed senior status on March 9, 2023.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein and Maxwell Panels
|
||||
|
||||
On March 11, 2019 a panel of Cabranes, [[Rosemary S. Pooler]] and [[Christopher F. Droney]] issued an order to show cause in Giuffre v. Maxwell (No. 18-2868) on the unsealing of the summary judgment record, on the appeals of the [[Miami Herald]] and its reporter [[Julie K. Brown]] and of [[Alan Dershowitz]] and Mike Cernovich. A printout of the order from Bloomberg Law, time-stamped "3/11/19, 5:28 PM," is among the documents released from Epstein's own files.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The same panel heard argument on March 6, 2019 and decided Brown v. Maxwell; Dershowitz v. Giuffre on July 3, 2019 (929 F.3d 41). It wrote that "we recognize the potential damage to privacy and reputation that may accompany public disclosure of hard-fought, sensitive litigation," and ruled: "we VACATE the District Court's orders entered on November 2, 2016, May 3, 2017, and August 27, 2018, ORDER the unsealing of the summary judgment record as described further herein, and REMAND the cause to the District Court for particularized review of the remaining sealed materials." Pooler concurred except as to ordering immediate unsealing without remand. The summary judgment record, about 2,000 pages, was unsealed on August 9, 2019. Epstein was found dead in the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York|Metropolitan Correctional Center]] the next morning.[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On October 19, 2020 a panel of Cabranes, Pooler and [[Reena Raggi]] affirmed by summary order Judge [[Loretta Preska]]'s July 23, 2020 order unsealing Maxwell's April 2016 deposition, three months after her arrest.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 17, 2024 a panel of Cabranes, [[Richard C. Wesley]] and [[Raymond J. Lohier Jr.]], which had heard argument on March 12, 2024, affirmed Maxwell's conviction and 240-month sentence (118 F.4th 256). It held that "the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|NPA]] did not bar Maxwell's prosecution by [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|USAO-SDNY]]," applying United States v. Annabi (1985) for the rule that a plea agreement binds only the U.S. Attorney's office for the district in which it was made unless it "affirmatively appears" to reach further, and concluded: "Identifying no errors in the District Court's conduct of this complex case, we AFFIRM the District Court's June 29, 2022, judgment of conviction."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 23, 2025 a panel of Cabranes, Raggi and [[Myrna Pérez]] decided the consolidated appeals of [[Virginia Giuffre]] and the Herald per curiam (146 F.4th 165). It held that "a judicial document determination is properly made by evaluating the relevant materials at the time of their filing with the court," and vacated "the district court's December 2019 and January 2020 Orders in their entirety," the orders that had set Preska's unsealing protocol.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federal Judicial Center, "Cabranes, José Alberto," Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/cabranes-jose-alberto
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00802958, DataSet 9, Bloomberg Law printout of Order to Show Cause, Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 18-2868 (2d Cir. March 11, 2019). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00802958.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00092308, DataSet 9, opinion, Brown v. Maxwell; Dershowitz v. Giuffre, Nos. 18-2868-cv, 16-3945-cv(L), 17-1625(CON), 17-1722(CON) (2d Cir. July 3, 2019). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00092308.pdf ; Brown v. Maxwell, 929 F.3d 41 (2d Cir. 2019). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4636340/brown-v-maxwell-dershowitz-v-giuffre/
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, "Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York," Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. 18 to 20. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 20-2413-cv, Summary Order, Doc. 140-1 (2d Cir. Oct. 19, 2020) (Cabranes, Pooler, Raggi, JJ.). https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Maxwell-ca2.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02842688, Court Records (United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)), opinion, United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/United%20States%20v.%20Maxwell%2C%20No.%20120-cr-00330%20(S.D.N.Y.%202020)/EFTA02842688.pdf ; United States v. Maxwell, 118 F.4th 256 (2d Cir. 2024). https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, 146 F.4th 165 (2d Cir. 2025) (per curiam), Nos. 24-182-cv(L), 24-203-cv(con) (July 23, 2025). https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-2nd-circuit/117500106.html
|
||||
50
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Juan Alessi.md
Normal file
50
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Juan Alessi.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JuanAlessi
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- GhislaineMaxwell
|
||||
- PalmBeach
|
||||
- LesWexner
|
||||
- Witness
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Juan Alessi
|
||||
summary: "Palm Beach house manager for Jeffrey Epstein from about 1990 to 2002, referred through Leslie Wexner, who testified at Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 trial and authenticated Epstein's contact book."
|
||||
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
|
||||
start: 1990
|
||||
end: 2002
|
||||
role: "contractor, then house and estate manager at 358 El Brillo Way"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Juan Alessi is a former house manager of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s residence at [[358 El Brillo Way]] in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[Florida]], where he worked from about 1990 until 2002. According to his 2019 interview with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], he came to Epstein through [[Leslie Wexner]], one of the Palm Beach clients for whom he did repair work, and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] took charge of the household soon after he started. He testified for the government at Maxwell's criminal trial in December 2021 about the household rules, the daily scheduling of massages and a teenage girl who visited the house, and he authenticated Epstein's contact book, admitted as Government Exhibit 52.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Hiring Through Wexner
|
||||
|
||||
Agents of the FBI's New York office interviewed Alessi on July 13, 2019, a week after Epstein's arrest, and memorialized the interview on July 15. The report states: "JUAN ALESSI was a repairman for millionaires throughout Palm Beach. JUAN ALESSI had about 20-30 customers, one of which was LESLIE WEXNER. It is through WEXNER, that EPSTEIN learns of JUAN ALESSI. EPSTEIN reached out to JUAN ALESSI around 1989 and asked him to come work at his house." Alessi worked first as a part-time contractor, became full time at about 45,000 dollars a year, and became estate manager as his duties moved indoors. His wife was hired to shop and to "take care of the girls who come to clean the house." He recalled that Epstein had a girlfriend at the time "named Eva Anderson," and that "around 1993, Ghislaine Maxwell came to the house and she took over, becoming in charge of the whole house." The report's header gives the interview date as July 30, 2014, which conflicts with the July 2019 dates in its footer.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Household
|
||||
|
||||
At the trial Alessi, then 71, testified that he worked at the house for twelve years from 1990 and left in 2002, and that Maxwell arrived about a year after he started: "From the day she came to his house, she right away took over." She told him "she was going to be the lady of the house" and that "she was in charge of the other properties," and she wrote a "58-page book of rules and duties" for him, which he called "enough for 10 people." One instruction read: "Remember that you see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, except to answer a question directed to you." He took it as "a kind of warning that I was supposed to be blind." Maxwell told him, "Jeffrey doesn't like to be looked in his eyes," and instructed him to "never look in his eyes."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
His duties included arranging Epstein's massages. Epstein had one a day in 1991 and three a day by 2002: "It was a massage in the morning, a massage in the afternoon and a massage after the movies," with sessions "scheduled to come anytime, at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night." He was never in the room, because the doors were kept closed, but went in afterward to "clean up," collecting "towels, sex toys, costumes and pornographic materials," and cleaned the sex toys and returned them and the massage oils to Epstein's and Maxwell's dressing rooms. He estimated that "75% to 80%" of the women he saw at the pool "hundreds of times" were topless, and said photographs of topless women were kept at Maxwell's desk. "I know everything that happened in that house," he said.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Alessi testified that he met the accuser who testified under the pseudonym "Jane" in the mid-1990s, when she came to the house with her mother, and that he was later sent to collect her "from school to bring her to the mansion." "She appeared to be young, 14, 15," he said. Her name was listed as a massage therapist in the house contact book he used to book Epstein's massages.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government Exhibit 52
|
||||
|
||||
The government called Alessi to authenticate Epstein's contact book. He was examined by the government and questioned on voir dire by the defense on December 8, 2021, and Judge [[Alison Nathan]] admitted the book as Government Exhibit 52 over defense objections to authentication and on hearsay grounds in a memorandum opinion and order of December 9 (ECF No. 535). A copy of the same book had been kept by Alessi's successor as house manager, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], who offered it for sale through a cooperating witness to an undercover FBI employee and was sentenced in 2010 to eighteen months for concealing it from federal investigators. On December 29, 2021 the jury in *[[United States v. Maxwell]]* convicted Maxwell on five of six counts.[^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Hurtado, Patricia, and Mary Biekert. *Bloomberg* report on the trial testimony of Juan Alessi, republished by *Fortune,* December 3, 2021. https://fortune.com/2021/12/03/ghislaine-maxwell-rules-jeffrey-epstein-florida-mansion-be-blind-say-nothing
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00157603, DataSet 9, FBI FD-302, interview of Juan Alessi, File 31E-NY-3027571, investigation on July 13, 2019, dictated July 15, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00157603.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Memorandum Opinion and Order re Government Exhibit 52, ECF No. 535 (Dec. 9, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
|
||||
[^4]: *United States v. Rodriguez*, No. 9:10-cr-80015-KAM (S.D. Fla.), Criminal Complaint, ECF No. 3 (Dec. 1, 2009); Plea Agreement, ECF No. 25 (March 18, 2010); Judgment, ECF No. 31 (June 21, 2010). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15913423/united-states-v-rodriguez/
|
||||
[^5]: "Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Jury finds she sex trafficked a minor for Jeffrey Epstein, guilty on five of six counts," *CNN,* December 29, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/us/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-wednesday
|
||||
|
|
@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- HouseOversightCommittee
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Lesley Groff
|
||||
- Leslie Groff
|
||||
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's New York executive assistant from 2001 to 2019, named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, never charged, who denies knowing of his crimes."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
|
|
@ -34,6 +35,24 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "interviewee"
|
||||
start: 2026-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "agents interviewed her at home and served a grand jury subpoena"
|
||||
start: 2007-08-21
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "grand jury subpoena resolved by interview"
|
||||
start: 2007-09-12
|
||||
fn: 19
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Jonathan Whitcomb]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "counsel in Doe v. Indyke and before the House Oversight Committee"
|
||||
start: 2021-10-24
|
||||
fn: 18
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -42,27 +61,69 @@ Lesley Groff is an American former executive assistant to [[Jeffrey Epstein]], w
|
|||
|
||||
### Employment
|
||||
|
||||
Groff managed Epstein's calendar and travel from New York. A 2005 [[Chicago Tribune]] article reported salaries of about 200,000 dollars for Epstein's assistants and quoted Epstein describing them as "an extension of my brain."[^3]
|
||||
Groff began working for Epstein in February 2001, at the age of 35, as his executive secretary at a salary of 50,000 dollars, replacing his previous assistant. She told congressional investigators that she answered to Epstein alone. From 2001 to 2009 she worked at Epstein's offices at 457 Madison Avenue, entered through the Villard House in the courtyard of the Helmsley Palace hotel, where her office adjoined his; the suite also held the offices of Epstein's lawyers [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Jeff Schantz]], his accountants, first [[Eric Gany]] and then [[Richard Kahn]], [[Harry Beller]], whom she understood to be his trader, the controller [[Emad Hanna]], and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], with whom she described her relationship as "purely professional." She then worked at 301 East 66th Street, at an office on Lexington Avenue from about 2011 to 2013, and from about 2013 at Epstein's house at [[9 East 71st Street]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Groff managed Epstein's calendar and travel from New York. A 2005 [[Chicago Tribune]] article reported salaries of about 200,000 dollars for Epstein's assistants and quoted Epstein describing them as "an extension of my brain."[^4] Groff told the [[House Oversight Committee]] that she was paid 50,000 dollars until 2005, with a 10,000 dollar bonus in her first year, 120,000 dollars until 2009, 108,000 dollars thereafter, and from 2015 about 130,000 dollars and perhaps as much as 150,000 dollars. Asked about correspondence in the released files showing that she had been paid "through a loan that you arranged with Richard Kahn," which "says in the correspondence that it was forgivable upon his death," she answered "Yes." She testified that "in 2016, I believe that my salary did change to a loan plus a small paycheck," that she "was told it was a new structure," and that the loan was 100,000 dollars in 2016, "the same for 2017, 2018," and 110,000 dollars in 2019, while "the salary portion became less."[^3] A [[Deutsche Bank]] know-your-customer page for "The 2013 Butterfly Trust," produced to the federal grand jury in New York, listed her among the trust's "Current Potential Beneficiaries," with Indyke and Epstein's pilot [[Larry Visoski]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Duties and the Scheduling Record
|
||||
|
||||
Groff described her duties to the committee: "I scheduled his business meetings. I scheduled breakfasts, lunches, dinners. If he was going to have a party, I might coordinate with that. I coordinated with his staff at all the homes. On his island, I coordinated with his pilots. I would sometimes coordinate trips to, say, a TED conference." She said she informed the pilots of departure times and could have told them who would be traveling, that she never traveled on Epstein's airplanes, and that she took "the one helicopter ride," from [[St. Thomas]] to his island to see a construction project. She recalled Epstein speaking with Senator [[John Kerry]], General [[Wesley Clark]], [[George Mitchell]] and the governor of [[New Mexico]]; of [[Donald Trump]] she said that "early on, he spoke with Trump, but that was before he became President," and "I would connect phone calls. That was it." She said Epstein spoke with [[Prince Andrew]] when Andrew was in town.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Messages from her desk in the [[Epstein Files]] released by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] include:
|
||||
|
||||
- April 27, 2011: "Howard Lutnick will come see" Epstein on a Sunday at 5 p.m., a visit by the chief executive of [[Cantor Fitzgerald]], [[Howard Lutnick]].[^6]
|
||||
- February 22, 2012: to the defense lawyer [[Roy Black]], "Jeffrey would like to meet with you along with [[Reid Weingarten]] on Friday March 2nd in Miami"; Black replied, "No problem I can do Friday afternoon."[^7]
|
||||
- June 24, 2013: "[[Julian Leese]] is in NY... OK to schedule in Julian Leese?"[^8]
|
||||
- March 24, 2014: arranging a call between Epstein and [[Jacqui Safra]] on a Swiss mobile number.[^9]
|
||||
- August 14, 2014: to the Virgin Islands lawyer [[Stacey Plaskett]], copying [[Erika Kellerhals]], "will you be able to meet with Jeffrey on his island on Monday Aug. 18th at 11am?"; Plaskett replied, "Please share details on time and transportation to Jeffrey." Plaskett was elected the territory's delegate to Congress that November.[^10]
|
||||
- April 21, 2015: "Carlton Dowe returned your call," a reference to the executive director of the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]], [[Carlton Dowe]].[^11]
|
||||
- August 5, 2015: "Jeffrey Epstein attended Reid Hoffman/Peter Thiel's dinner party this past Sunday night at Baume Restaurant. At the party Mark requested Jeffrey send his contact details to him," with [[Mark Zuckerberg]] named among the recipients; the hosts were [[Reid Hoffman]] and [[Peter Thiel]].[^12]
|
||||
- August 28, 2016: "Vitaly Churkin will also join the lunch tomorrow...it is now JE, [redacted], Tom Barrack and Churkin. 4 total," a lunch with the Russian ambassador to the [[United Nations]], [[Vitaly Churkin]], and [[Tom Barrack]].[^13]
|
||||
- November 29, 2016: to [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]], arranging a visit by [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman of [[DP World]], to Epstein at [[Martin Nowak]]'s office at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], "1 Brattle Square."[^14]
|
||||
- June 13, 2019: a calendar entry routed to her, "need Thorbjorn Jagland to confirm dinner on June 20th," with the former Norwegian prime minister and secretary general of the [[Council of Europe]], [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], three weeks before Epstein's arrest.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Allegations and Denials
|
||||
|
||||
[[Marina Lacerda]], who has said she dropped out of school before the ninth grade and was abused by Epstein as a minor, has said she "had to go through Lesley Groff," who called repeatedly to arrange massages. A victim who was a minor at the time told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] that she "felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on." Groff's attorney [[Michael Bachner]] has said that she "never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18" and "had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever," and that after the 2019 arrest she "felt betrayed and disgusted."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Groff was a named defendant, with Epstein, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], and [[Sarah Kellen]], in the federal sex-trafficking suit filed in January 2017 by [[Sarah Ransome]], who alleged that the four told her Epstein would secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for massages. The suit was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on December 20, 2018.[^4]
|
||||
Groff was a named defendant, with Epstein, Maxwell, and [[Sarah Kellen]], in the federal sex-trafficking suit filed in January 2017 by [[Sarah Ransome]], who alleged that the four told her Epstein would secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for massages. The suit was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on December 20, 2018.[^16] In October 2019 [[Jennifer Araoz]], who has said Epstein abused her when she was 14 and 15, amended her [[Child Victims Act]] suit in New York state court to name Groff, "who worked as his secretary," Maxwell and two other women; Araoz alleged that Groff "often contacted her to set up sexual encounters with him." Bachner responded that Groff had worked "as part of a professional staff that included in-house attorneys, accountants" and other office staff, and that she never engaged in "any misconduct" during her employment.[^17] On October 14, 2021 a plaintiff represented by [[Gloria Allred]] sued Groff with Indyke and Kahn in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] (Doe v. Indyke, No. 1:21-cv-08469, before Judge [[P. Kevin Castel]]); [[Jonathan Whitcomb]], [[Danielle Charlot]] and Bachner appeared for Groff, and the case was closed on April 4, 2024.[^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2007 Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
On August 21, 2007, according to a document read to her by committee counsel, FBI agents came to Groff's home. She testified that she let them in and sat with them, then "went upstairs and I called Darren Indyke, who is the in-house counsel," who told her not to speak to them without an attorney; the agents left, and "Mr. Epstein got me an attorney, and I went and spoke to him once."[^3] The prosecutors' chronology of the case records a September 12, 2007 email between Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]] and the defense lawyer [[Nathan Dershowitz|Nathan Z. Dershowitz]] stating that "Ms. Groff will proceed by interview."[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
At the 2026 interview committee counsel introduced a "plea proffer from [[United States v. Epstein|United States v. Jeffrey Epstein]]," Bates number EFTA00213369, released by the Justice Department in January 2026, which stated that after the agents arrived Groff went upstairs and called Epstein, who "instructed Ms. Groff not to speak with the agents," "applied pressure to keep Ms. Groff from complying with the grand jury subpoena that the agents had served upon her," and "warned Ms. Groff against turning over documents and electronic evidence responsive to the subpoena and pressured her to delay her appearance before the Federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida." Asked whether the document was incorrect, Groff said: "I believe it is. I don't know how they would know that. I really believe that I called Mr. Indyke," adding, "I wouldn't call Mr. Epstein." Asked whether she remembered Epstein pressuring her over the subpoena, she answered: "None. No."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Immunity and the 2019 Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
The 2007 agreement provided that the [[United States]] would not charge "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, [[Adriana Ross]], Lesley Groff, or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." In 2024 the [[Second Circuit]] held, in rejecting Maxwell's reliance on the clause, that it bound only the Southern District of Florida.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Four days after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Bachner informed the government that Groff "would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination" if called before a grand jury. She spoke with investigators about two years after the 2019 subpoena and told them that scheduling massages was "around 1%" of her duties. She was not charged.[^2]
|
||||
Four days after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Bachner informed the government that Groff "would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination" if called before a grand jury. She spoke with investigators about two years after the 2019 subpoena and told them that scheduling massages was "around 1%" of her duties. She was not charged.[^2] She told the committee that she resigned through Indyke and did not speak to Epstein.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Congressional Interview
|
||||
|
||||
In June 2026 Groff was interviewed by the [[House Oversight Committee]]. She said she wished to "dispel the false notions" that she "knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts," adding: "Nothing could be further from the truth." She called Epstein a "master manipulator and deceiver," said of the 2007 clause, "I am not a conspirator and I never would have agreed to this language," recalled that Epstein had described the accusations against him as "a shakedown" for money, and said of his accusers, "I believe them." She also said: "In hindsight, I wish he had fired me."[^2]
|
||||
In June 2026 Groff was interviewed by the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]. She said she wished to "dispel the false notions" that she "knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts," adding: "Nothing could be further from the truth." She called Epstein a "master manipulator and deceiver," said of the 2007 clause, "I am not a conspirator and I never would have agreed to this language," recalled that Epstein had described the accusations against him as "a shakedown" for money, and said of his accusers, "I believe them." She also said: "In hindsight, I wish he had fired me."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The transcribed interview took place on June 9, 2026 in the Rayburn House Office Building, with Chairman [[James Comer]] and Ranking Member [[Robert Garcia]] among seventeen members present; the chaplain of the House, [[Margaret Kibben]], was listed as also present. Groff appeared with Bachner and Whitcomb. Asked by Representative [[James Walkinshaw]] whether she had ever arranged or logged travel for Trump or his family, or anyone acting for him, on Epstein's aircraft, she answered "No," and told Representative [[Rashida Tlaib]], "I never booked travel for Mr. Trump." Asked whether she had known of meetings between Epstein and [[Virginia Giuffre]], she said: "It's possible. I don't know. It was a really long time ago. But it's possible," adding that "[[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] was not really my area of where I was booking appointments"; asked whether she might have scheduled such meetings, she said, "An appointment. It's possible." She testified that a fund Epstein set up had paid her lawyers' invoices before his death and ceased when he died; Whitcomb stated that she had made a claim against the estate, not a lawsuit, and had received about 300,000 dollars "for reimbursement of legal fees." She said she held no interest in the estate and had not spoken with Indyke or Kahn in preparing for the interview.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: "Former Epstein executive secretary tells Oversight Committee he was a 'master manipulator,'" *ABC News,* June 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/oversight-committee-interview-former-epstein-executive-secretary-lesley/story?id=133685804
|
||||
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
|
||||
[^4]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein (Ransome v. Epstein), No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK (S.D.N.Y.), Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Interview of: Leslie Groff," transcribed interview, June 9, 2026, pp. 1-6, 26, 53-54, 56-59, 61-62, 75, 79-80, 89-90, 95, 143-146, 192, 195-197, 207-208. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Lesley-Groff-Transcript.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01364303, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank know-your-customer page "The 2013 Butterfly Trust" (DB-SDNY-0054829). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01364303.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01868626, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, April 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01868626.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00419255, DataSet 9, email chain between Lesley Groff and Roy Black, February 22, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00419255.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00388568, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, June 24, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00388568.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00372331, DataSet 9, email chain between Lesley Groff and Jacqui Safra, March 24, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00372331.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02099269, DataSet 10, email chain between Lesley Groff, Stacey Plaskett and Erika Kellerhals, August 14, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02099269.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00858918, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, "Carlton Dowe," April 21, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00858918.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02074070, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Jeffrey Epstein (Hoffman & Thiel Dinner Party)," August 5, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02074070.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00498222, DataSet 9, Google Calendar notification, June 13, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00498222.pdf
|
||||
[^16]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein (Ransome v. Epstein), No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK (S.D.N.Y.), Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/
|
||||
[^17]: Fitzpatrick, Sarah, and Rich Schapiro. "Jeffrey Epstein accuser names four women in his web of enablers." *NBC News,* October 8, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-accuser-names-four-women-his-web-enablers-n1063801
|
||||
[^18]: Doe v. Indyke, No. 1:21-cv-08469-PKC (S.D.N.Y.), docket, filed October 14, 2021, terminated April 4, 2024, ECF Nos. 8, 9, 12 (notices of appearance for Lesley Groff, October 24 and 26, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60646416/doe-v-indyke/
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1 (U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida), entry for September 12, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Maurene Comey is an American lawyer who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in
|
|||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Comey joined the office in November 2015, rose to lead several units, and later asked to return to trial work. On July 8, 2019, U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]] announced that she, [[Alex Rossmiller]], and [[Alison Moe]] were the prosecutors on the Epstein case, which the office had assigned to its Public Corruption Unit; she appears on the docket of United States v. Epstein as counsel for the government. After Epstein's death in August 2019 Comey was a lead prosecutor in the case against Maxwell, who was arrested on July 2, 2020; Maxwell was convicted on December 29, 2021 and sentenced to 20 years. Comey's last trial was the 2025 prosecution of Combs, in which she questioned key witnesses including Combs's former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym "Jane"; Combs was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking and convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.[^1][^2][^5][^6]
|
||||
Comey joined the office in November 2015, rose to lead several units, and later asked to return to trial work. On July 8, 2019, U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]] announced that she, [[Alex Rossmiller]], and [[Alison Moe]] were the prosecutors on the Epstein case, which the office had assigned to its Public Corruption Unit; she appears on the docket of [[United States v. Epstein]] as counsel for the government. After Epstein's death in August 2019 Comey was a lead prosecutor in the case against Maxwell, who was arrested on July 2, 2020; Maxwell was convicted on December 29, 2021 and sentenced to 20 years. Comey's last trial was the 2025 prosecution of Combs, in which she questioned key witnesses including Combs's former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym "Jane"; Combs was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking and convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.[^1][^2][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Firing
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Nick Bostrom (born March 10, 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher who founded the
|
|||
|
||||
### Transhumanism and Existential Risk
|
||||
|
||||
Bostrom took a PhD at the [[London School of Economics]] in 2000 and in 1998 cofounded, with the philosopher [[David Pearce]], the World Transhumanist Association (later [[Humanity Plus|Humanity+]]), which promoted the use of technology to transcend human biological limits. With Pearce he drafted the Transhumanist Declaration and the Transhumanist FAQ, the latter formalized as version 2.1 under the association's name in 2003 and serving as the movement's reference document. His 2003 paper "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?" advanced the simulation argument, and his work formalized the concept of "existential risk," a catastrophe that would permanently curtail humanity's potential. These ideas placed the prevention of human extinction, especially from artificial intelligence, at the center of the emerging longtermist program.[^1][^3]
|
||||
Bostrom took a PhD at the [[London School of Economics]] in 2000 and in 1998 cofounded, with the philosopher [[David Pearce]], the [[World Transhumanist Association]] (later [[Humanity Plus|Humanity+]]), which promoted the use of technology to transcend human biological limits. With Pearce he drafted the Transhumanist Declaration and the Transhumanist FAQ, the latter formalized as version 2.1 under the association's name in 2003 and serving as the movement's reference document. His 2003 paper "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?" advanced the simulation argument, and his work formalized the concept of "existential risk," a catastrophe that would permanently curtail humanity's potential. These ideas placed the prevention of human extinction, especially from artificial intelligence, at the center of the emerging longtermist program.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The simulation argument held that at least one of three propositions must be true: that civilizations almost always go extinct before reaching a "posthuman" stage capable of running ancestor simulations, that such civilizations almost never choose to run them, or that we are almost certainly living inside one. Bostrom maintained the paper asserted only that a rational person cannot dismiss the third possibility, not that we are in fact simulated, but the argument achieved unusual popular reach after Elon Musk adopted it as a talking point. Bostrom's earlier reasoning ran back to the 1990s [[Extropianism|extropian]] mailing list, on which he participated alongside the figures who later built the AI-risk and rationalist movements.[^3][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Paul A. Engelmayer
|
||||
- Paul Adam Engelmayer
|
||||
- Judge Engelmayer
|
||||
- Paul Engelmayer
|
||||
summary: "Manhattan federal judge and former Thurgood Marshall clerk and Major Crimes chief who inherited Ghislaine Maxwell's closed criminal case and ruled on its grand jury record under the Epstein Files Transparency Act."
|
||||
born: 1961
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Richard Berman
|
||||
- Judge Richard M. Berman
|
||||
- Judge Berman
|
||||
- Richard M. Berman
|
||||
summary: "Manhattan federal judge, a former Javits aide and Warner Cable general counsel, who ordered Jeffrey Epstein detained in 2019, let victims speak before dismissing his indictment, and later unsealed its grand jury record."
|
||||
born: 1943
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Robert Garcia.md
Normal file
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Robert Garcia.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RobertGarcia
|
||||
- Congress
|
||||
- HouseOversightCommittee
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- EpsteinFiles
|
||||
- LongBeach
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Rep. Robert Garcia
|
||||
- Representative Robert Garcia
|
||||
- Ranking Member Robert Garcia
|
||||
summary: "California Democratic congressman, formerly mayor of Long Beach, who as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee released Jeffrey Epstein's emails about Donald Trump and pressed for the Justice Department's files."
|
||||
born: 1977-12-02
|
||||
location: "Long Beach, California"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]]"
|
||||
role: "ranking member"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Long Beach, California]]"
|
||||
role: "mayor"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-01-23
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Robert Garcia (born December 2, 1977) is a Democratic member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from the 42nd district of [[California]], in office since January 3, 2023, and the ranking member of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]]. He was previously mayor of [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]]. As ranking member he released correspondence from the estate of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] concerning [[Donald Trump]], joined the ranking member of the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]], [[Jamie Raskin]], in inquiring into [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s treatment at [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]], and supported the 2026 subpoena of Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]].[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Estate Productions
|
||||
|
||||
The committee's chairman, [[James Comer]], copied Garcia as ranking member on his August 25, 2025 subpoena to Epstein's estate. On November 12, 2025 the committee's Democratic staff released three emails from the estate's latest production. In a 2011 email to Maxwell, Epstein wrote: "that dog that hasn't barked is trump.. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. Police chief. etc. im 75 % there." In a 2019 email to the writer [[Michael Wolff]] he wrote, "Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop." A 2015 exchange between Epstein and Wolff concerned how to "craft an answer" for a Trump interview on [[CNN]]. Garcia said: "The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]], the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the [[White House]] is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President. The [[Department of Justice]] must fully release the Epstein files to the public immediately."[^4][^5] Comer, releasing the estate's first production on September 8, 2025, had said that "President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### FPC Bryan
|
||||
|
||||
On January 23, 2026 Garcia and Raskin wrote to Bondi and to Acting Inspector General Don R. Berthiaume of the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General]], citing "over a dozen whistleblowers" who reported that "Ms. Maxwell has been permitted to use a laptop, unsupervised, while at Bryan," that she had "access to staff-only areas to watch CNN by herself," that "the Warden sends out Ms. Maxwell's mail under the Warden's own name," and that the warden "fired those who made protected disclosures to Congress." They asked that the department make "Warden Tanisha Hall available for a transcribed interview" and that the inspector general "initiate an investigation into the reported staff misconduct."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Bondi Subpoena
|
||||
|
||||
On March 4, 2026 the committee voted 24 to 19, on a motion by the Republican [[Nancy Mace]] supported by all Democrats present and four other Republicans, to subpoena Bondi. Garcia said: "For months, Attorney General Bondi has been instrumental in orchestrating the White House's cover-up of the Epstein files," and, "The American people deserve transparency, survivors deserve justice, and we are demanding answers."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, legislators-current.json (birth date and terms, compiled from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress), accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json
|
||||
[^2]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, committee-membership-current.json, 119th Congress, accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/committee-membership-current.json
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00032518, DataSet 8, press digest, 2020, reporting "Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00032518.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: James Comer, Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, subpoena cover letter to the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein, August 25, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025.08.25-Subpoena-Cover-Letter-to-Epstein-Estate.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Democratic staff, "House Oversight Committee Releases Jeffrey Epstein Email Correspondence, Raising Questions About White House Coverup of Epstein Files," press release, November 12, 2025. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-oversight-committee-releases-jeffrey-epstein-email-correspondence-raising
|
||||
[^6]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Releases Records Provided by the Epstein Estate, Chairman Comer Provides Statement," press release, September 8, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-records-provided-by-the-epstein-estate-chairman-comer-provides-statement/
|
||||
[^7]: House Judiciary Committee Democrats, "Ranking Members Raskin, Garcia Demand Answers for Rampant Sexual Abuse and Misconduct Uncovered at FPC Bryan; Announce Congressional Oversight Visit," press release, January 23, 2026. https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ranking-members-raskin-garcia-demand-answers-for-rampant-sexual-abuse-and-misconduct-uncovered-at-fpc-bryan-announce-congressional-oversight-visit
|
||||
[^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Democratic staff, "Ranking Member Robert Garcia Statement on Securing Subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi to Testify Before Oversight in Epstein Files Cover-Up," press release, March 4, 2026. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-robert-garcia-statement-on-securing-subpoena-for-attorney-general-pam-bondi-to-testify-before-oversight-in-epstein-files-cover-up
|
||||
54
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ron DeSantis.md
Normal file
54
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ron DeSantis.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RonDeSantis
|
||||
- Florida
|
||||
- Governor
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- FloridaDepartmentOfLawEnforcement
|
||||
- PalmBeach
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ronald DeSantis
|
||||
- Ronald Dion DeSantis
|
||||
- Governor Ron DeSantis
|
||||
summary: "Governor of Florida since 2019, formerly a congressman, who in August 2019 reassigned the state's Jeffrey Epstein matter and ordered a state police inquiry that in 2021 found differential treatment but no crime."
|
||||
born: 1978-09-14
|
||||
location: "Tallahassee, Florida"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Florida]]"
|
||||
role: "governor"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Bruce Colton]]"
|
||||
role: "executive assignment of the Epstein matter to the State Attorney of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit"
|
||||
start: 2019-08-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ronald Dion DeSantis (born September 14, 1978) is the Governor of [[Florida]], in office since January 8, 2019. A Republican, he represented Florida's sixth congressional district in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 2013 until his resignation on September 10, 2018. On August 6, 2019, a month after [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s arrest in New York, he reassigned the state's Epstein matter from the Palm Beach County State Attorney to the State Attorney of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit and asked the [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] to take over the sheriff's criminal investigation and to inquire into "other irregularities" in the 2008 state plea.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The August 2019 Directive
|
||||
|
||||
The directive followed a letter to the governor from Palm Beach County Sheriff [[Ric Bradshaw]], whose office had opened an internal review of the deputies who guarded Epstein on work release. DeSantis issued an executive assignment moving the case to [[Bruce Colton]], State Attorney for the Nineteenth Circuit, and wrote to FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen. His statement said: "Floridians expect and deserve a full and fair investigation. Following my review of Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's letter, I am requesting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take over his criminal investigation pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein matter. In addition, FDLE will conduct a preliminary inquiry into matters beyond the work release and into other irregularities concerning the case's disposition. I have also re-assigned the case to the State Attorney for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit."[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A news-monitoring alert from the service Dataminr, forwarded within the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] the same day, read: "Florida Governor DeSantis orders state criminal probe into Palm Beach Sheriff and former State Attorney's handling of Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case," citing a post by the [[Miami Herald]] reporter [[Julie K. Brown]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The federal [[Office of Professional Responsibility]], which had no jurisdiction over state officials, recorded that the state inquiry "focuses on Epstein's state plea agreement and the Palm Beach County work release program," and because it was pending the former State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] declined to explain his office's decisions to the federal investigators.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2021 Findings
|
||||
|
||||
The department's Office of Executive Investigations released summaries of its preliminary inquiries on May 10, 2021. It found no evidence that Krischer or Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] "committed any crimes, accepted any bribes or gifts, or did anything improper in their handling of the case." On the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] it reported that "Epstein was provided differential treatment," but that the actions "were explained by PBSO and . . . were determined not to be a criminal matter." Work release had allowed Epstein out "for up to twelve hours a day, six days a week." No charges followed.[^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, legislators-historical.json (birth date and House terms, compiled from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress), accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-historical.json
|
||||
[^2]: Executive Office of the Governor of Florida, "Governor Ron DeSantis Requests FDLE Take Over the Criminal Investigation of the Jeffrey Epstein Matter and Re-assigns the Case to the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida," press release, August 6, 2019. https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2019/governor-ron-desantis-requests-fdle-take-over-criminal-investigation-jeffrey
|
||||
[^3]: Curt Anderson, "Florida sheriff investigates Epstein's time spent outside of jail," *Associated Press* via *PBS NewsHour,* July 19, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/florida-sheriff-investigates-epsteins-time-spent-outside-of-jail
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01659233, DataSet 10, Dataminr "First Alert" email, August 6, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01659233.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, report, Office of Professional Responsibility, November 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Sabrina Lolo, "FDLE clears PBSO, prosecutors in connection to Epstein's work release privileges," *CBS12,* May 10, 2021. https://cbs12.com/news/local/fdle-clears-pbso-prosecutors-in-connection-to-epsteins-work-release-privileges
|
||||
[^7]: Erik Altmann and Todd Wilson, "FDLE investigation finds no wrongdoing by PBSO, State Attorney's Office in Jeffrey Epstein plea deal," *WPTV,* May 2021. https://www.wptv.com/news/epstein/fdle-investigation-finds-no-wrongdoing-by-pbso-state-attorneys-office-in-jeffrey-epstein-plea-deal
|
||||
82
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roy Black.md
Normal file
82
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roy Black.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- RoyBlack
|
||||
- Lawyer
|
||||
- CriminalDefense
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- NonProsecutionAgreement
|
||||
- Miami
|
||||
- WilliamKennedySmith
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Roy Black
|
||||
- Roy E. Black
|
||||
summary: "Miami criminal defense lawyer who won William Kennedy Smith's 1991 rape acquittal and was part of Jeffrey Epstein's defense team from 2007 through the non-prosecution agreement and its aftermath."
|
||||
died: 2025-07-21
|
||||
location: "Coral Gables, Florida"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
|
||||
role: "defense counsel in the federal investigation and non-prosecution agreement negotiations"
|
||||
start: 2007-02
|
||||
end: 2012
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
|
||||
role: "defense counsel"
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
end: 2009
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Doe v. United States]]"
|
||||
role: "movant to intervene in his own name"
|
||||
start: 2011-04-07
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Roy Black (died July 21, 2025, in [[Coral Gables, Florida]]) was a [[Miami]] criminal defense lawyer, a partner of [[Howard Srebnick]], best known for the 1991 acquittal of [[William Kennedy Smith]] on a rape charge in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]. From 2007 he was one of the lawyers representing [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in the federal investigation that ended in the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], and he received the prosecutors' notices of breach during Epstein's 2008 to 2009 work release. In 2011 he moved to intervene in his own name in [[Doe v. United States]], the victims' suit under the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]], and in 2012 he was still meeting Epstein in person.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Practice and Clients
|
||||
|
||||
Black defended William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of President [[John F. Kennedy]], Attorney General and Senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and Senator [[Edward M. Kennedy]], in a nationally televised 1991 trial that ended in acquittal. His other clients included the Miami police officer [[William Lozano]], whose 1989 shooting of Clement Lloyd sparked riots in Miami; the Colombian trafficker [[Fabio Ochoa]]; the broadcaster [[Rush Limbaugh]]; the racing driver [[Helio Castroneves]], acquitted of tax evasion; the singer [[Justin Bieber]] in a 2014 Miami driving case; and Amin Khoury, a defendant in the [[Operation Varsity Blues|Varsity Blues]] college admissions prosecution, who was found not guilty. His partner Srebnick said: "For more than 30 years, Roy was my teacher, mentor and friend." The Miami defense lawyer [[David Oscar Markus]] said: "He outlawyered every prosecutor who he ever went up against." Black died at his home in Coral Gables at 80.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Defense
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein assembled his defense after the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] investigation and the 2006 federal referral. On February 20, 2007 Black and [[Alan Dershowitz]] met the line prosecutors to present "witness issues." On July 31, 2007 the office presented its term sheet (a state guilty plea, two years' imprisonment, sex offender registration and a damages mechanism for victims) at a meeting with Black, [[Gerald Lefcourt]] and [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]]; within days Epstein added [[Kenneth Starr]] and [[Jay Lefkowitz]] of [[Kirkland & Ellis]], the former firm of U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]]. A December 11, 2007 letter from the office to Lefkowitz, written over Acosta's name by the line prosecutor, placed Black at a negotiating meeting alongside Lefkowitz. The agreement was signed on September 24, 2007 by Epstein, Lefcourt and Sanchez.[^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Acosta later wrote that the defense team, which he said included Dershowitz, Starr and Black, had waged "a year-long assault on the prosecution and the prosecutors," and that "[d]efense counsel investigated individual prosecutors and their families." In May or June 2008 the office discussed a call from Black proposing that Epstein be allowed to plead in state court to 60 days' imprisonment. Epstein pleaded guilty in Palm Beach County on June 30, 2008.[^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Breach Notices and Work Release
|
||||
|
||||
On July 30, 2008, a month after the state plea, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] asked Black by email whether he was available "to discuss the Epstein matter." Black answered that he was out of town and asked what it concerned; the prosecutor replied: "It relates to the performance of the criminal Non-Prosecution Agreement."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
On November 24, 2008 the line prosecutor, [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]], wrote to Black that Epstein had breached the agreement by "failing to remain incarcerated twenty-four hours a day," after learning that the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] had placed him on work release at the [[Florida Science Foundation]]. Black forwarded the notice to First Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Jeffrey Sloman]], writing that Villafaña "is very concerned about anything Epstein does" and that the defense would "abide by" Sloman's decision. Acosta had by then recused himself from matters involving Kirkland & Ellis because he was discussing employment with the firm, and Sloman was the senior official on the case. No indictment followed.[^9][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 5, 2008 an email addressed "Dear Roy and Jay" reported that "[t]his afternoon [[Bradley Edwards|Brad Edwards]] filed the Non-Prosecution Agreement with the Court in the Jane Does I USA case. He filed it under seal and then asked the Court to unseal it. I will fax his papers to you on Monday." Black replied: "It seems like this case will never end." On June 15, 2009 Villafaña wrote to Lefkowitz, Black and [[Jack Goldberger]] on the history of Epstein's performance under the agreement.[^11][^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Doe v. United States and Later Contact
|
||||
|
||||
In March 2011 the petitioners in Doe v. [[United States]] moved to use the plea correspondence between prosecutors and defense counsel as evidence and to unseal it. On April 7, 2011 Black, [[Martin Weinberg]] and Lefkowitz moved to intervene in their own names; the former prosecutor [[Bruce Reinhart]] moved to intervene on May 3, 2011, and Epstein on September 2, 2011.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 22, 2012 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to Black: "Jeffrey would like to meet with you along with Reid Weingarten on Friday March 2nd in Miami," adding that "Reid is requesting as early as possible because he needs to fly to NY that evening." Black answered: "No problem I can do Friday afternoon." [[Reid Weingarten]] later appeared for Epstein at his 2019 detention hearing in New York.[^14][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Associated Press, "Roy Black, lawyer who represented William Kennedy Smith and Jeffrey Epstein, dies at 80," *NBC News,* July 24, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/roy-black-lawyer-represented-william-kennedy-smith-jeffrey-epstein-die-rcna220973
|
||||
[^2]: "Roy Black, defense lawyer for William Kennedy Smith and Epstein, dies at 80," *WLRN,* July 25, 2025. https://www.wlrn.org/south-florida/2025-07-25/roy-black-defense-lawyer-for-william-kennedy-smith-and-epstein-dies-at-80
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility, report, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," November 2020, pp. 8, 14 to 15, 22 to 24, 35, 59, 85, 156. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 9, 12 to 14, 19 to 20. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00013538, DataSet 8, letter, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida to Jay P. Lefkowitz, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," December 11, 2007, p. 3. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00013538.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Conchita Sarnoff and Lee Aitken, "Jeffrey Epstein: How the Hedge Fund Mogul Pedophile Got Off Easy," *The Daily Beast,* March 25, 2011, quoting R. Alexander Acosta's 2011 letter. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-how-the-hedge-fund-mogul-pedophile-got-off-easy/ ; Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 3, 7 to 8. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, pp. 34 to 38. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00223581, DataSet 9, email chain, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach, and Roy Black, July 30, 2008. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00223581.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 3), pp. 114 to 118 and nn. 181, 183 to 184, 187 (EFTA02847423 to EFTA02847427).
|
||||
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 3), p. 152 and n. 224; pp. 18, 21 and nn. 21, 28 to 31.
|
||||
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00216004, DataSet 9, email chain addressed "Dear Roy and Jay," with reply of Roy Black, December 5, 2008. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00216004.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, pp. 45 to 51. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: Docket, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), ECF Nos. 46 to 51, 55, 56, 68, 70, 93 (March to September 2011), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
|
||||
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00419255, DataSet 9, email chain, Lesley Groff and Roy Black, scheduling a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein and Reid Weingarten, February 22, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00419255.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 31, Letter from Marc Fernich, Martin Weinberg, and Reid Weingarten, July 18, 2019. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/
|
||||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ summary: "DEA agent in Costa Rica who handled Norwin Meneses as an informant and
|
|||
|
||||
Gonzalez made no official record of Meneses as an informant for at least a year. Meneses's name did not appear in the DEA's database of informers until 1987. Gonzalez explained this to Justice Department investigators by saying Meneses "initially refused to sign DEA's informant registration." Gonzalez admitted this was unusual but said he "[allowed] it because of Meneses' background and potential to make cases." The practical effect was that "other DEA offices could not get information on Meneses' use by the DEA through this database." Meneses was wanted by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in San Francisco for trafficking, and the off-the-books arrangement effectively protected him from other law enforcement agencies.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Justice Department's Inspector General found that the vague and sometimes wildly misleading accusations Meneses made against other traffickers included the claim that [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]], who had helped start the [[FDN]] offices in California, "was a Sandinista sympathizer."[^1]
|
||||
The [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] found that the vague and sometimes wildly misleading accusations Meneses made against other traffickers included the claim that [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]], who had helped start the [[FDN]] offices in California, "was a Sandinista sympathizer."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### CIA Collaboration
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
71
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Tom Barrack.md
Normal file
71
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Tom Barrack.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- TomBarrack
|
||||
- ColonyCapital
|
||||
- DonaldTrump
|
||||
- UnitedArabEmirates
|
||||
- ForeignAgent
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- Turkey
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Tom Barrack
|
||||
- Thomas Barrack
|
||||
- Thomas Joseph Barrack
|
||||
- TOM Barrack
|
||||
summary: "Colony Capital founder and chairman of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, acquitted in 2022 of acting as a UAE agent, in regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein from 2009, and ambassador to Turkey from 2025."
|
||||
location: "Santa Monica, California"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Colony Capital]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2021-07-20
|
||||
end: 2022-11-04
|
||||
role: "unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates, obstruction and false statements; acquitted"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2025-04
|
||||
role: "U.S. ambassador to Turkey, later special envoy for Syria"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Thomas Joseph Barrack is an American real estate investor, the founder of [[Colony Capital]], and a longtime friend of [[Donald Trump]], whose 2016 campaign he advised and whose 2017 [[Presidential Inaugural Committee]] he chaired. In July 2021 he was indicted in the [[U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York|Eastern District of New York]] on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the [[United Arab Emirates]]; a jury acquitted him of all counts in November 2022. Records released by the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in 2026 show regular contact with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] from September 2009, an August 2016 lunch at Epstein's house with [[Ehud Barak]] and the Russian ambassador to the [[United Nations]], [[Vitaly Churkin]], and Epstein's instruction to move their communications to [[Signal (messaging app)|Signal]]. The Senate confirmed him as ambassador to [[Turkey]] in April 2025.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Contact With Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
In September 2009, months after Epstein's release from custody in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], Barrack wrote to him: "Thinking about u, hope u r good and life is calm again." A [[CBS News]] analysis of more than 100 texts and emails in the released files described regular contact over the following years, in which Epstein arranged introductions between Barrack and [[Peter Thiel]], Barak and Churkin. In April 2016, while Barrack was working on the Trump campaign, Epstein forwarded him an email about a civil suit filed under the pseudonym "Katie Johnson" alleging that Epstein and Trump had raped her in 1994, with the comment "nuts but i thought you guys should know." The suit was withdrawn, and Trump has denied wrongdoing. CBS News stated that it found no evidence that Barrack took part in or knew of any criminal conduct by Epstein.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
An iMessage thread with the contact "Tom Barrack Private" runs from August 28 to 30, 2016. At 9:28 a.m. on August 28 Barrack wrote: "Met ur Saudi friend! He loves u!! How r u." Epstein replied: "Great. Download signal app if you have not already. When are you in New York? Tonite? Dinner with Woody?" Barrack answered: "I am in turkey. There Monday. I will call u. Will download now." On August 30 Barrack sent a contact card. The Signal messages were not among the records the government released.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Churkin Lunch
|
||||
|
||||
On August 28, 2016 Epstein wrote to Churkin: "Don't know if you have any interest . Ehud Barak and TOM Barrack at house tomorw . You are always welcome." Churkin asked the time and accepted 1 p.m.[^5] That afternoon Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] circulated the notice "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," listing the party as "JE, [redacted], Tom Barrack and Churkin. 4 total," and the calendar for August 29 read "12:30pm LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin."[^4] The next day, according to CBS News, Epstein bought about 1 million dollars of stock in Colony Capital.[^1] Eight days after the lunch Epstein offered Churkin a meeting with [[Tom Pritzker]] and told him that [[Thorbjørn Jagland]] "will be staying with me."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On the day after Trump's election in November 2016, a senior Saudi official texted Epstein to ask about the protocol for King [[Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud|Salman]] to telephone the president-elect with congratulations. Epstein replied: "TOM barrack is your point person."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Foreign Agent Case
|
||||
|
||||
A seven-count indictment unsealed on July 20, 2021 charged Barrack, then 74, of [[Santa Monica, California|Santa Monica]]; Matthew Grimes, 27, an employee of his firm; and [[Rashid Al Malik|Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi]], 43, a UAE national, with acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018, and charged Barrack with obstruction of justice and with false statements in a June 20, 2019 interview with federal agents. The indictment stated that Barrack was an informal adviser to the campaign from April to November 2016, chaired the inaugural committee from November 2016 to January 2017, then informally advised senior officials on [[Middle East]] policy and sought appointment as Special Envoy to the Middle East. It alleged that he inserted language praising the UAE into a May 2016 campaign speech on energy policy and sent a draft to Alshahhi for senior UAE officials, took talking points from UAE officials before national press appearances, and after one such appearance emailed Alshahhi, "I nailed it. . . for the home team." Barrack referred to Alshahhi as the UAE's "secret weapon." Acting Assistant Attorney General [[Mark Lesko]] of the [[National Security Division]] said the defendants "repeatedly capitalized on Barrack's friendships and access to a candidate who was eventually elected President," and called the conduct "nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the [[United States]], including the former President."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
At trial in [[Brooklyn]] the prosecutor Ryan Harris told jurors that Barrack schemed to become the "eyes, ears and the voice" of the UAE and used his access to draw tens of millions of dollars from the Emirates into an office building he was developing and one of his investment funds. The former Treasury Secretary [[Steven Mnuchin]] testified for the defense that Barrack was one of hundreds of business people who offered him advice. The defense said Barrack had made no attempt to hide his relationship with Al Malik. On November 4, 2022, after three days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Barrack and Grimes on all counts. "I'm so thankful for this system," Barrack said.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ambassador to Turkey
|
||||
|
||||
Trump nominated Barrack as ambassador to Turkey after the 2024 election, and the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 60 to 36 in April 2025. He presented his credentials to President [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] on May 14, 2025 and was then named special envoy for [[Syria]]. CBS News said it had sought comment from Barrack, Trump, Thiel, Barak and [[Nicole Junkermann]] on the Epstein records and received no replies; the U.S. embassy in [[Ankara]] did not respond.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Tom Barrack, now US ambassador to Turkey, kept in contact with Epstein for years: report," *Turkish Minute,* February 17, 2026, summarizing a CBS News analysis of the Justice Department's Epstein file release. http://web.archive.org/web/20260222094654/https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/02/17/tom-barrack-now-us-ambassador-to-turkey-kept-in-contact-with-epstein-for-years-report/
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Former Advisor to Presidential Candidate Among Three Defendants Charged with Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government," press release, July 20, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20260827040112/https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-advisor-presidential-candidate-among-three-defendants-charged-acting-agents-foreign
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01614233, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Tom Barrack Private," August 28-30, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01614233.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016; and EFTA02045038, DataSet 10, calendar alert "LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin," August 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02045038.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," May 23, 2016 to September 7, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Hays, Tom. "Jury finds Trump ally Tom Barrack not guilty of foreign agent charges," *Associated Press,* via *PBS NewsHour,* November 4, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/jury-finds-trump-ally-tom-barrack-not-guilty-of-foreign-agent-charges
|
||||
|
|
@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Grasheim strenuously denied involvement with either the Contras or drugs and bel
|
|||
|
||||
### CIA Infiltration of Castillo's Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
The Justice Department Inspector General's report partially confirmed Grasheim's account. Castillo's informant Murga, who directed Castillo toward Grasheim by fingering him as "head of smuggling operations at Ilopango," was indeed a CIA asset and had been for some time. Soon after putting Castillo onto Grasheim, the CIA demanded Murga back. Castillo's boss Robert Stia "recalled being asked by the CIA station chief in El Salvador to relinquish the use of informant" Murga. "The Station Chief had explained that the CIA had established the informant before he had ever worked for the DEA" and wanted the DEA to stop using him because "he was currently a CIA informant." Stia complied but complained internally that the CIA had cost the DEA a valuable asset.[^1]
|
||||
The [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Inspector General]]'s report partially confirmed Grasheim's account. Castillo's informant Murga, who directed Castillo toward Grasheim by fingering him as "head of smuggling operations at Ilopango," was indeed a CIA asset and had been for some time. Soon after putting Castillo onto Grasheim, the CIA demanded Murga back. Castillo's boss Robert Stia "recalled being asked by the CIA station chief in El Salvador to relinquish the use of informant" Murga. "The Station Chief had explained that the CIA had established the informant before he had ever worked for the DEA" and wanted the DEA to stop using him because "he was currently a CIA informant." Stia complied but complained internally that the CIA had cost the DEA a valuable asset.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
49
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Woody Allen.md
Normal file
49
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Woody Allen.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Other"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- WoodyAllen
|
||||
- SoonYiPrevin
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- PrinceAndrew
|
||||
- BardCollege
|
||||
- Film
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Woody Allen
|
||||
summary: "American filmmaker who dined with Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew in 2010, exchanged messages with Epstein into 2016, and whose household thanked Epstein in 2017 over a Bard admission."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Woody Allen is an American filmmaker. Records released by the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Justice Department]] under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] show him and [[Soon-Yi Previn]] among the guests at a December 2, 2010 dinner for [[Prince Andrew]] at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s [[Manhattan]] house, seventeen months after Epstein's release from custody in [[Florida]]; a direct text-message exchange with Epstein on New Year's Eve 2015; a May 2015 request from Epstein to the former [[White House Counsel]] [[Kathryn Ruemmler]] about a [[White House]] tour for the couple; Epstein's use of a proposed dinner with Allen in August 2016 to arrange a meeting with [[Tom Barrack]]; and a January 2017 message from Allen's household thanking Epstein for a [[Bard College]] admission, which Bard denied Epstein had influenced.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Dinner for Prince Andrew
|
||||
|
||||
On December 1, 2010 the publicist [[Peggy Siegal]] wrote to the [[ABC News]] anchor [[George Stephanopoulos]]: "I am putting together a very last minute casual dinner for Prince Andrew, who is in New York on an unofficial private visit." Her guest list read: "Prince Andrew, Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, [[Katie Couric]]....Jeffrey Epstein, where Andrew is staying. Jeffrey's house is one the largest single dwellings in New York...it's beautiful." Stephanopoulos accepted, and Siegal told him the dinner would begin at 8 p.m.: "So come on time and you will have private time with Andrew because he is staying at the house." The chain was preserved in Epstein's email account.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The White House Tour
|
||||
|
||||
In May 2015 Epstein asked Ruemmler, then in private practice, about arranging a White House tour for Allen and Previn, writing, "I assume woody would be too politically sensitive?" Ruemmler indicated that she could arrange it, and White House records show that the tour took place in December 2015.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### New Year's Eve 2015
|
||||
|
||||
A forensic extraction of one of Epstein's devices, produced in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] release, contains an iMessage thread with a contact saved as "Woody Allen" running from December 31, 2015 to January 1, 2016. The messages concern a dinner that night: "Tomorw ok as well whatever easy"; Epstein asked, "Are you coming over?"; the reply was "That's specific. ;)"; and later, "We're running late. We won't be leaving here until 9 o'clock...If you need us to come and get in the car at 8:25 we can leave our guests. Please advise."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Barrack Dinner
|
||||
|
||||
On August 28, 2016, when Barrack, then a senior adviser to [[Donald Trump]]'s campaign, reported that he had met Epstein's "Saudi friend," Epstein told him to download the encrypted messaging application [[Signal (messaging app)|Signal]] and asked, "When are you in New York? Tonite? Dinner with Woody?" Barrack replied that he was in [[Turkey]] and would download the application.[^4][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bard College
|
||||
|
||||
In January 2017 the daughter of Allen and Previn wrote to Bard's president, [[Leon Botstein]], that Bard was her first choice; Botstein replied on January 10 that he would pass her sentiments "on to the admissions committee," and Previn forwarded the exchange to Epstein. On January 12, 2017 Allen's household wrote to Epstein by iMessage: "I can't thank you enough for getting [her] into Bard ... Thank you for coming through for us." Bard denied that Epstein had any role in the admission decision. On June 17, 2026 Representative [[Jamie Raskin]], ranking member of the [[House Judiciary Committee]], wrote to the chair of Bard's board of trustees about the college's relationship with Epstein, quoting a [[WilmerHale]] memorandum to the trustees.[^5][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02411832, DataSet 11, email chain between Peggy Siegal and George Stephanopoulos, "Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew," December 1-3, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02411832.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01214962, DataSet 9, forensic phone-extraction report, iMessage thread with contact "Woody Allen," December 31, 2015 to January 1, 2016 (continued at EFTA01214963 and EFTA01214964). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01214962.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Kathryn Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel and her correspondence with Epstein. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01614233, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Tom Barrack Private," August 28-30, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01614233.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00710494, DataSet 9, email from Soon-Yi Previn to Jeffrey Epstein forwarding a reply from Leon Botstein, January 10, 2017; EFTA01208496, DataSet 9, extracted iMessage log, January 12, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00710494.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01208496.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: "Tom Barrack, now US ambassador to Turkey, kept in contact with Epstein for years: report," *Turkish Minute,* February 17, 2026, summarizing a CBS News analysis of the Justice Department's Epstein file release. http://web.archive.org/web/20260222094654/https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/02/17/tom-barrack-now-us-ambassador-to-turkey-kept-in-contact-with-epstein-for-years-report/
|
||||
[^7]: Letter from Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Committee on the Judiciary, to James Cox Chambers, Chair, Board of Trustees, Bard College, June 17, 2026, quoting the WilmerHale memorandum to the Bard trustees of April 30, 2026 and citing EFTA02047292, EFTA01208496, EFTA00710494, EFTA02491562 and EFTA00968343. https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-06-17-raskin-to-chambers-bard-re-epstein.pdf
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue