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
55
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ben Sasse.md
Normal file
55
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Ben Sasse.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- BenSasse
|
||||
- UnitedStatesSenate
|
||||
- SenateJudiciaryCommittee
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- OfficeOfProfessionalResponsibility
|
||||
- InQTel
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Benjamin Sasse
|
||||
- Benjamin Eric Sasse
|
||||
- Senator Ben Sasse
|
||||
summary: "Nebraska Republican senator from 2015 to 2023 whose 2018 letters prompted the Justice Department's internal review of the Epstein non-prosecution agreement, later a paid trustee of the CIA-founded In-Q-Tel."
|
||||
born: 1972-02-22
|
||||
location: "Nebraska"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Judiciary Committee]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[In-Q-Tel]]"
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Benjamin Eric Sasse (born February 22, 1972) is a former Republican senator from [[Nebraska]] who served in the [[United States Senate]] from January 6, 2015 until his resignation on January 8, 2023. As a member of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] he wrote on December 3, 2018 to the [[Department of Justice]] asking its [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] to investigate the prosecutors who negotiated [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]], and the office opened that investigation on February 6, 2019. Two days after Epstein's death in August 2019 his subcommittee sent the Attorney General a letter on the circumstances. [[In-Q-Tel]], the venture capital corporation founded by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], lists him as a paid trustee on its Form 990 for the fiscal year ending March 2025.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2018 Letters and the OPR Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Miami Herald]] began publishing [[Julie K. Brown]]'s series on the Epstein case on November 28, 2018. On December 3 Sasse wrote to the Office of Professional Responsibility asking it to "open an investigation into the instances identified in this reporting of possible misconduct by Department of Justice attorneys." On February 6, 2019 the department's Office of Legislative Affairs told his office that the investigation had been opened. His press release that day, headed "DOJ Responds to Sasse, Opens Epstein Investigation," identified him as "a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee" and quoted him: "Jeffrey Epstein is a child rapist and there's not a single mom or dad in America who shouldn't be horrified by the fact that he received a pathetically soft sentence. The victims of Epstein's child sex trafficking ring deserve this investigation, and so do the American people and the members of law enforcement who work to put these kinds of monsters behind bars."[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The office's report of November 2020 found that the former U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]] "exercised poor judgment" in resolving the federal investigation through the agreement and found no professional misconduct by him or by the other subjects, who included [[Drew Oosterbaan]] of the Criminal Division.[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The August 2019 Letter
|
||||
|
||||
The Justice Department's Executive Secretariat logged as received on August 12, 2019, two days after Epstein was found dead in the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York|Metropolitan Correctional Center]], a congressional-priority letter "FROM: The Honorable Ben Sasse, United States Senate ... TO: AG," described as a "Ltr from Chmn Sasse, Subcomte on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, requesting information regarding the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein...while being held in Federal Bureau of Prisons custody." The control sheet assigned the reply to the Office of Legislative Affairs and routed copies for information to the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### In-Q-Tel
|
||||
|
||||
In-Q-Tel's Form 990 for the fiscal year ending March 2025 lists "B Sasse (Trustee)" with compensation of 35,000 dollars, alongside Admiral [[Mike Mullen]], [[Ted Schlein]] and [[Stephanie O'Sullivan]], formerly the CIA's director of science and technology, at the same figure. The corporation's filings from 2018 onward list trustees who have included the former CIA director [[George Tenet]] and the former CIA deputy director for intelligence [[Jami Miscik]].[^4][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, legislators-historical.json (birth date and Senate 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]: Office of Senator Ben Sasse, "DOJ Responds to Sasse, Opens Epstein Investigation," press release, February 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20221110180105/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/2/doj-responds-to-sasse-opens-epstein-investigation
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00175125, DataSet 9, Executive Secretariat control sheet, Workflow ID 431394P, received August 12, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00175125.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: In-Q-Tel, Inc., Internal Revenue Service Form 990, fiscal year ending March 2025, Part VII compensation of officers, directors and trustees, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, EIN 52-2149962. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/522149962
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, report, Office of Professional Responsibility, "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, Executive Summary pp. v to vii and n. 6. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, report of November 2020, Chapter V, filed as Document 204-3, United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117012446/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/United%20States%20v.%20Maxwell,%20No.%20120-cr-00330%20(S.D.N.Y.%202020)/204-03.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: In-Q-Tel, Inc., Internal Revenue Service Form 990, fiscal years 2011 to 2025, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/522149962
|
||||
83
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Drew Oosterbaan.md
Normal file
83
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Drew Oosterbaan.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- DrewOosterbaan
|
||||
- DepartmentOfJustice
|
||||
- ChildExploitationAndObscenitySection
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- NonProsecutionAgreement
|
||||
- OfficeOfProfessionalResponsibility
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Andrew Oosterbaan
|
||||
- Andrew G. Oosterbaan
|
||||
- Drew Oosterbaan
|
||||
summary: "Justice Department prosecutor who as chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section pressed for Jeffrey Epstein's federal prosecution in 2007, then issued the 2008 review letter leaving the decision to Alexander Acosta."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
|
||||
role: "assistant U.S. attorney"
|
||||
end: 2000
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section]]"
|
||||
role: "chief"
|
||||
start: 2001-11-14
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[John Ashcroft]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section"
|
||||
start: 2001-11-14
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
|
||||
role: "Criminal Division reviewer"
|
||||
start: 2007-05-10
|
||||
end: 2008-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Office of Professional Responsibility]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "subject; no misconduct found"
|
||||
start: 2019-02-06
|
||||
end: 2020-11
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Andrew G. "Drew" Oosterbaan is a former federal prosecutor who was chief of the [[Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section]] (CEOS) of the [[Department of Justice]] Criminal Division during the 2006 to 2008 federal investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. He reviewed the prosecution memorandum of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], offered his section's attorneys for trial, attended [[Alexander Acosta]]'s first meeting with Epstein's defense team, and in May 2008 signed the Criminal Division's letter finding that a federal prosecution "would not be improper or inappropriate." The [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] examined his role in its 2019 to 2020 investigation and found no professional misconduct by any subject.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Oosterbaan was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida for nearly ten years, where he "managed a trial-intensive section and individually handled complex grand jury investigations and prosecutions involving public corruption, violent crime, computerized child pornography/exploitation, and the crash of [[ValuJet Flight 592]]." He became deputy chief of CEOS in January 2000 and helped run [[Operation Avalanche]], an undercover investigation of subscribers to online child pornography sites. Attorney General [[John Ashcroft]] appointed him chief of the section on November 14, 2001, calling him "a strong leader and aggressive career prosecutor who will diligently investigate and prosecute child exploitation and obscenity crimes." A footnote to the OPR report describes him and [[Andrew Lourie]], a senior official of the Florida office on the Epstein matter, as "good friends."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Review, 2007
|
||||
|
||||
On May 10, 2007 Lourie sent Oosterbaan the prosecution memorandum of Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana|Marie Villafaña]], describing the case as "highly sensitive" and involving "a high profile, very rich defendant." Oosterbaan called the memorandum "exhaustive" and "well done" and offered a CEOS attorney to assist. On July 18, 2007 he wrote to [[Jeffrey Sloman]], [[Matthew Menchel]] and Lourie that Villafaña "did a terrific job," that her "charging decisions are legally sound," and that he would send "whatever and whoever you need."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A privilege log filed in the victims' [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] litigation lists his correspondence that August: an August 7, 2007 email from Villafaña "regarding Epstein meeting"; an August 7 chain from Sloman to Oosterbaan, Villafaña and Acosta on the same subject; August 8 emails with Villafaña "regarding case staffing and plea negotiations"; and an August 8 chain among Oosterbaan, Acosta, Villafaña and others "regarding 'The meeting on Epstein.'"[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 31, 2007 he traveled to [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] to review the file so that he could represent "the interests of the prosecution team," told Villafaña the case was "really good," and offered to help at trial. On September 6 Villafaña told Sloman that consulting the victims before any resolution was, "as [Oosterbaan] politely reminded me, ... required under the law." The victims were not consulted before Epstein's June 2008 plea. OPR dates Acosta's first meeting with Epstein's defense team, which Oosterbaan attended at the West Palm Beach office, to September 7, 2007. A chronological log prepared for the same litigation records a meeting on September 10, 2007 attended for the government by Acosta, Oosterbaan, Sloman, Villafaña and John McMillan and for Epstein by [[Kenneth Starr]], [[Jay Lefkowitz]] and [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]].[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
When Villafaña circulated a revised draft of the agreement that month, Oosterbaan answered that "the counter-offering is unfortunate, but I suppose it's understandable"; he later told OPR he did not recall reading the draft at that point and "had no involvement with it." The agreement was signed on September 24, 2007. On November 28, 2007, asked by Lourie for his view, he wrote that he was "not thrilled" with it, that Epstein's conduct was unusually "egregious ... particularly because of its serial nature," and that the agreement was "pretty advantageous for the defendant and not all that helpful to the victims," adding that Assistant Attorney General [[Alice Fisher]] "would not and should not consider or address the NPA other than to say that she agrees with it."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Criminal Division Review, 2008
|
||||
|
||||
In February 2008 Epstein's lawyers told Acosta they wanted review above Oosterbaan's level; Acosta replied that they could seek whomever they wished but that the review would proceed with him. A CEOS trial attorney whom Oosterbaan had assigned to prepare the case had by then met with the victims; after the defense obtained the Criminal Division review, Oosterbaan instructed her to stop work on it, and she told OPR that "things just stopped." On March 12, 2008 Oosterbaan and Deputy Assistant Attorney General [[Sigal Mandelker]] met Starr, Lefkowitz and [[Martin Weinberg]]; a CEOS deputy present called it largely a "listening session," with Starr "saying some outrageous things." The privilege log lists March 19 to 21, 2008 emails among Villafaña, Oosterbaan, Andrew Gelber of CEOS, Sloman and Robert Senior "about meeting between Epstein counsel and CEOS and follow-up questions," and April 4 to 7 emails "regarding status of CEOS review of Epstein matter."[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
His letter to Lefkowitz of May 15, 2008, cleared in advance by Mandelker, Fisher, the Criminal Division's Appellate Section and its Office of Enforcement Operations, concluded that on its "narrow" review "federal prosecution in this case would not be improper or inappropriate," that Acosta "could properly use his discretion to authorize prosecution in this case," and that "Mr. Acosta can soundly exercise his authority to decide to pursue a prosecution even though it might involve a novel application of a federal statute." The letter stated that CEOS had not reviewed the agreement's terms. Acosta resolved the case through the state plea. After the plea in June 2008 Oosterbaan wrote to Villafaña, "Congratulations, Marie," and "at long last! Your work on this matter was truly exceptional, and you obtained a very significant result that will serve the victims well."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The OPR Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
After Senator [[Ben Sasse]]'s letters of December 2018, OPR opened its investigation on February 6, 2019. Oosterbaan told investigators that the U.S. Attorney's Office's position that the Crime Victims' Rights Act did not require pre-charge consultation was a "serious and legitimate disagreement" rather than misconduct, and added, "maybe I should have been more aggressive with how ... I dealt with [the USAO]." The November 2020 report found that Acosta "exercised poor judgment" in resolving the investigation through the agreement and found no professional misconduct by any subject.[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Ashcroft Appoints Andrew G. Oosterbaan as Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section," press release no. 593, November 14, 2001. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2001/November/01_crm_593.htm
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "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, Chapters IV to VII and note 39, filed as Document 204-3, United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117012446/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/United%20States%20v.%20Maxwell,%20No.%20120-cr-00330%20(S.D.N.Y.%202020)/204-03.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00191199, DataSet 9, privilege log of withheld 2007 to 2008 Justice Department documents, Crime Victims' Rights Act litigation. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00191199.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, Exhibit A-1, chronological log of the Epstein investigation and plea negotiations, Crime Victims' Rights Act litigation. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Office of Senator Ben Sasse, "DOJ Responds to Sasse, Opens Epstein Investigation," press release, February 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20221110180105/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/2/doj-responds-to-sasse-opens-epstein-investigation
|
||||
68
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Haley Robson.md
Normal file
68
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Haley Robson.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- HaleyRobson
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- PalmBeach
|
||||
- SarahKellen
|
||||
- EpsteinFilesTransparencyAct
|
||||
- Victim
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Haley Robson
|
||||
summary: "West Palm Beach woman whom Jeffrey Epstein recruited as a teenager and paid to bring other girls to his house, named in the 2006 police affidavit and a 2008 civil suit."
|
||||
location: "West Palm Beach, Florida"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2005-03-15
|
||||
end: 2006-02
|
||||
role: "named with Epstein and Sarah Kellen as a subject of the sexual battery investigation"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Douglas M. McIntosh]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2008
|
||||
role: "counsel on her motion to quash service in Doe v. Epstein"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Haley Robson is a woman from [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]], [[Florida]], who met [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as a high school student in 2002, was paid to give him massages at his house at [[358 El Brillo Way]] in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], and was then paid to bring other girls there. The [[Palm Beach Police Department]]'s 2006 probable cause affidavit named her, with Epstein and his assistant [[Sarah Kellen]], as a subject of its 2005 to 2006 sexual battery investigation, and a 2008 federal civil suit named her as a co-defendant. She has spoken publicly under her own name since at least 2021. In January 2026 the government transmitted letters she wrote about the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] to the judges presiding over the closed criminal cases against Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]].[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Recruitment
|
||||
|
||||
Robson told [[CBS News]] in December 2021 that she was 16 and in high school in West Palm Beach when a classmate recruited her in 2002. "I was told it would be possibly in your bra and underwear, but it would just be a massage," she said, and of the encounter, "I did not understand that I was being sexually abused." She said that Epstein then offered her 200 dollars for each girl she brought to him, that she was told to recruit younger girls, and that she went on to recruit eight others: "I was told the more you do, the more you make." She described her reasoning at the time: "When I was 16, I felt like, 'Hey, you know, I made money like, do you guys want to make money.'" She said she never met Maxwell and was not part of the government's case against her.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The probable cause affidavit sworn by Detective [[Joseph Recarey]] on May 1, 2006 gave her age at first contact as 17 and recorded that she had been approached at the Canopy Beach Resort in [[Riviera Beach, Florida|Riviera Beach]] and offered 200 dollars to give Epstein a massage. According to her statement to police, Epstein grabbed her buttocks during that massage: "He tried to touch me and I stopped him." He paid her 200 dollars and told her afterward that he understood she was uncomfortable, "but he would pay her if she brought over some girls. He told her the younger the better." The affidavit recorded that Robson then brought other girls to the house "to perform massages for Epstein, for which Robson received monetary compensation," and that the girls were introduced to Kellen, who "would record their telephone numbers and name." The girls were paid 200 to 1,000 dollars a visit.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Palm Beach Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
The Palm Beach Police Department opened its case on March 15, 2005, after a complaint from the family of a 14-year-old girl. Recarey's affidavit summarized it: "From March 15, 2005, through February 2006, the Palm Beach Police Department conducted a sexual battery investigation involving Jeffrey Epstein, Sarah Kellen and Haley Robson. Sworn taped statements were taken from five victims and seventeen witnesses." Detectives matched Kellen's telephone records against the arrival dates of Epstein's aircraft at [[Palm Beach International Airport]]. The case was referred to the [[State Attorney's Office for Palm Beach County|Palm Beach County State Attorney]] under [[Barry Krischer]] and then to the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], and it ended in Epstein's 2008 state guilty plea under the federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Doe v. Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
In 2008 a victim suing under a pseudonym filed *Doe v. Epstein*, No. 9:08-cv-80804, in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida]], naming Epstein, Kellen and Robson as defendants. The court record includes sworn affidavits from Robson's parents and an "Agreed Order on Defendant Haley Robson's Motion to Quash Service of Process." Her counsel in the case was [[Douglas M. McIntosh]] of the [[Fort Lauderdale]] firm McIntosh, Sawran, Peltz & Cartaya, P.A.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Public Statements
|
||||
|
||||
In the 2021 interview Robson compared her position with Maxwell's: "She used her gender to ultimately build trust with underage girls," she said, and "It's not like she's 16 and doesn't know any better, she's an adult." Of her own recruiting she said, "The guilt will never go away," and "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the other girls."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On February 3, 2022 Robson and [[Courtney Wild]] sued the [[Miami Herald]] journalist [[Julie K. Brown]] for defamation in the circuit court of [[Miami-Dade County, Florida|Miami-Dade County]] over Brown's 2021 book *Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story*. Robson alleged that after she declined an interview Brown told her she was "making the biggest mistake of your life," and that the book then presented her as a member of Epstein's inner circle rather than as a victim. The complaint sought a public apology and damages. Brown told the *Florida Bulldog* on the day of filing that she had not yet seen the suit.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2026 Letters
|
||||
|
||||
After the Epstein Files Transparency Act required the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Justice Department]] to release its Epstein records, Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Sean Buckley]] filed on January 20, 2026 two letters from Robson dated that day: one addressed to Judge [[Paul Engelmayer|Paul A. Engelmayer]] in *[[United States v. Maxwell]]* (ECF No. 843) and one addressed to Judge [[Richard M. Berman]] in *[[United States v. Epstein]]* (ECF No. 95). Representatives [[Thomas Massie]] and [[Ro Khanna]], the Act's sponsors, cited victims' letters including Robson's in their request for "a special master or independent monitor" over the Department's compliance. Engelmayer denied that request on January 21, 2026, holding that "[t]his federal criminal case does not give the Court jurisdiction over, or authority to supervise, [[Department of Justice|DOJ]]'s compliance with the EFTA, a civil records-disclosure statute." Berman answered Robson on January 23 that there was "no relevant case on my docket at this time." Status letters on the Department's review in both cases went out over the name of the U.S. Attorney for the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], [[Jay Clayton]].[^4][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Jeffrey Epstein accuser reflects on being a sex trafficking victim, and recruiting other girls," *CBS Mornings,* CBS News, December 3, 2021 (Mola Lenghi). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-accuser-sex-trafficking-haley-robson/
|
||||
[^2]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02749901, Court Records (Doe v. Epstein, No. 9:08-cv-80804 (S.D. Fla. 2008)), filings including the Agreed Order on Defendant Haley Robson's Motion to Quash Service of Process, 2008. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Doe%20v.%20Epstein%2C%20No.%20908-cv-80804%20(S.D.%20Fla.%202008)/EFTA02749901.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), letter by USA addressed to Judge Paul A. Engelmayer from Haley Robson dated January 20, 2026, ECF No. 843; letters re Epstein Files Transparency Act review, ECF Nos. 839 (Jan. 15, 2026) and 847 (Jan. 31, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "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," Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. iii-v. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
|
||||
[^6]: Complaint, *Wild and Robson v. Brown* (Fla. 11th Jud. Cir., Miami-Dade County, filed Feb. 3, 2022), paragraphs 5-13 and prayer for relief. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/wild-brown-complaint.pdf ; "Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein sue reporter/author Julie Brown for defamation," *Florida Bulldog,* February 2022. https://www.floridabulldog.org/2022/02/two-victims-jeffrey-epstein-sue-reporter-author-julie-brown-defamation/
|
||||
[^7]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844, denying motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna (ECF Nos. 837, 838). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: United States v. Epstein, No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), letter by USA addressed to Judge Richard M. Berman from Haley Robson dated January 20, 2026, ECF No. 95, and related letters, ECF Nos. 94-105 (Jan. 15 to Feb. 5, 2026), CourtListener docket 15887848. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/
|
||||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
- TaxIncentives
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Henry Smock, Esq.
|
||||
- Attorney Smock
|
||||
summary: "St. Thomas lawyer and former territorial judge who helped Epstein buy Little St. James, counseled the board that granted his tax benefits, and was Governor Bryan's proposed mediator for the estate settlement."
|
||||
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
74
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jamie Raskin.md
Normal file
74
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jamie Raskin.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- JamieRaskin
|
||||
- Congress
|
||||
- HouseJudiciaryCommittee
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- GhislaineMaxwell
|
||||
- FederalPrisonCampBryan
|
||||
- BardCollege
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Rep. Jamie Raskin
|
||||
- Representative Jamie Raskin
|
||||
summary: "Maryland Democratic congressman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee who from 2025 pursued Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a Texas prison camp, her reported treatment there and Epstein's gifts to Bard College."
|
||||
born: 1962-12-13
|
||||
location: "Maryland"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Committee on the Judiciary]]"
|
||||
role: "ranking member"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-08-12
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Tanisha Hall]]"
|
||||
start: 2025-10-30
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Bard College]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06-17
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jamie Raskin (born December 13, 1962) is a Democratic member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from the eighth district of [[Maryland]], in office since January 3, 2017, and the ranking member of the [[House Committee on the Judiciary]]. From August 2025 he wrote to the [[Department of Justice]], the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], the warden of [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]] and President [[Donald Trump]] about [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s transfer to the minimum-security camp after her interview by Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], and about her treatment there. With [[Jim Jordan]] he managed the House debate on the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], and in 2026 he wrote to [[Bard College]] about [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s gifts to it.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Maxwell's Transfer
|
||||
|
||||
Blanche interviewed Maxwell under a grant of limited use immunity in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] on July 24 and 25, 2025, and on August 1 she was moved from the low-security prison there to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in [[Texas]]. On August 12, 2025 Raskin, with other Judiciary Committee Democrats, wrote to Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] and Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall III about the transfer. On October 30 he wrote to the camp's warden, [[Tanisha Hall]], that neither the department nor the bureau had answered, and that the transfer appeared to be "in apparent flagrant violation of BOP policies, including one that prohibits sex offenders from placement in such facilities."[^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The October 30 letter drew on an October 11, 2025 investigation by [[The Wall Street Journal]]. It stated that in mid-August "hundreds of inmates were locked down during their usual outdoor recreation time while Ms. Maxwell met with multiple unidentified visitors in the prison chapel," that one inmate reported Maxwell returned "with a smile on her face," saying the meeting "went well," that guards delivered meals to her dormitory room, and that she was escorted to the recreation area for late-night workouts. It stated that an inmate who told a British newspaper in August that "Human trafficking is a violent crime" was removed from a training program and transferred to the Federal Detention Center in [[Houston]], and quoted her attorney: "Nobody's going to say anything about Ghislaine Maxwell now." Raskin wrote that he sought to determine "why you appear to have joined this Administration's efforts to cover up the decades-long, international, multi-billion dollar Epstein-Maxwell sex trafficking conspiracy."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The November 2025 Letter to Trump
|
||||
|
||||
On November 9, 2025 Raskin wrote to Trump, citing "documents and information received over the last several days," that "under Dr. Tanisha Hall, the warden of Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan, the federal law enforcement staff working at the camp have been waiting on Ms. Maxwell hand and foot," that "Ms. Maxwell's meals have been customized and prepared by federal prison camp staff and then personally delivered to her in her cell by longtime federal employees," and that Maxwell "is working on filing a 'Commutation Application.'" The letter attributed to whistleblower information provided to the committee's minority an account that a top official at the camp had complained he was "sick of having to be Maxwell's bitch." It stated that the camp was "a facility Ms. Maxwell was actually ineligible to be transferred to due to her convicted sex offender status." It demanded that Blanche testify "immediately" to "answer for this corrupt misuse of law enforcement resources and potential exchange of favors for false testimony exonerating you and other Epstein accomplices," and quoted Maxwell's lawyer's public remark that "there's always a quid pro quo."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The letter stated that in the Blanche interview Maxwell "recited the same lies that originally led [DOJ] to charge her with perjury in 2020," including that she "never interacted with anyone underage" and never saw Epstein have "inappropriate sexual contact with anyone," and that she had called [[Virginia Giuffre]]'s allegations against [[Prince Andrew]] "bullshit." Raskin called her testimony "the demonstrable actual 'bullshit' in this episode."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The January 2026 Letter
|
||||
|
||||
On January 23, 2026 Raskin and [[Robert Garcia]], ranking member of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], 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." They wrote 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," and that "the Warden sends out Ms. Maxwell's mail under the Warden's own name"; that the warden "fired those who made protected disclosures to Congress"; and that inmates alleged "widespread sexual abuse and misconduct" at the camp. They asked that the department make "Warden Tanisha Hall available for a transcribed interview," asked the inspector general to "initiate an investigation into the reported staff misconduct," and announced a visit to the camp the following month.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Files Transparency Act
|
||||
|
||||
The House passed the [[Epstein Files]] Transparency Act, H.R. 4405, under suspension of the rules on November 18, 2025 by 427 to 1; Jordan and Raskin managed the debate.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bard College
|
||||
|
||||
On June 17, 2026 Raskin wrote to [[James Cox Chambers]], chair of Bard's trustees, that a review by [[WilmerHale]] of the college president [[Leon Botstein]]'s dealings with Epstein was "too narrowly tailored." His letter stated that Epstein gave Bard 125,000 dollars in 2011 and 2012 and laptops in 2015, against Botstein's account of a 75,000 dollar gift and 66 laptops, and that Botstein "apparently knew that a 2014 donation to the college by apparent co-conspirator [[Leon Black]] was made at Mr. Epstein's behest." Black has denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. The letter asked Bard to make Botstein available for a transcribed interview and to produce records on Epstein, [[Richard Kahn]], [[Darren Indyke]], Black, Maxwell and [[Gratitude America]].[^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]: Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Committee on the Judiciary, letter to Dr. Tanisha Hall, Warden, Federal Prison Camp Bryan, October 30, 2025, citing his letter to Pamela J. Bondi and William K. Marshall III of August 12, 2025. https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-10-30-raskin-to-hall-fpcbryan-re-maxwell-1.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 784, 785 (July 18, 2025), CourtListener docket 17318376. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/ ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas," *CNN,* August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas
|
||||
[^5]: Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Committee on the Judiciary, letter to President Donald J. Trump, November 9, 2025. https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-11-09-raskin-to-trump-wh-re-maxwell.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: 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
|
||||
[^7]: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 289, H.R. 4405, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289 ; Congressional Record, vol. 171, November 18, 2025, H4725. https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/11/18/171/194/modified/CREC-2025-11-18-pt1-PgH4725-2.htm
|
||||
[^8]: Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Committee on the Judiciary, letter to James Cox Chambers, Chair, Board of Trustees, Bard College, June 17, 2026. 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
|
||||
|
|
@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Jed S. Rakoff
|
||||
- Jed Saul Rakoff
|
||||
- Judge Rakoff
|
||||
- Judge Jed Rakoff
|
||||
- Jed Rakoff
|
||||
summary: "Former chief of securities fraud prosecutions in Manhattan, appointed a federal judge by Bill Clinton, who rejected the SEC's Citigroup settlement in 2011 and presided over the 2023 Epstein suits against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank."
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
66
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kash Patel.md
Normal file
66
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kash Patel.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- KashPatel
|
||||
- FederalBureauOfInvestigation
|
||||
- HousePermanentSelectCommitteeOnIntelligence
|
||||
- NationalSecurityCouncil
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- EpsteinFiles
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Kashyap Patel
|
||||
- FBI Director Kash Patel
|
||||
summary: "Former federal prosecutor and House intelligence committee counsel, confirmed 51 to 49 as FBI director in 2025, whose bureau joined the July 2025 memo finding no Epstein client list warranting further disclosure."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
start: 2025-02-20
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "national security prosecutor"
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
|
||||
role: "national security advisor and senior counsel"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[National Security Council]]"
|
||||
role: "deputy assistant to the president for counterterrorism"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Kashyap "Kash" Patel is the director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], confirmed by the Senate 51 to 49 on February 20, 2025. A former public defender and [[Department of Justice]] national security prosecutor, he was senior counsel to the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] and served in [[Donald Trump]]'s first administration on the [[National Security Council]] and as chief of staff to the acting Secretary of Defense. In his first year as director the bureau was tasked with House requests on the declassification of its [[Jeffrey Epstein]] holdings, joined the unsigned Justice Department memorandum of July 7, 2025 finding "no incriminating 'client list,'" and faced Senate questioning on the files.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
Patel graduated from the [[University of Richmond]] in 2002 with a degree in criminal justice and history, took a law degree and a certificate in international law from [[University College London]], and worked as a public defender in [[Florida]] from 2005. From 2014 he was a national security prosecutor in the Justice Department, prosecuting defendants linked to [[al-Qaeda]] and the [[Islamic State]], and served as the department's liaison officer to [[Joint Special Operations Command]]. As national security advisor and senior counsel to the House intelligence committee he led its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and, in the FBI's own biography of him, "unearthed U.S. intelligence malpractice during the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation." In the first Trump administration he was deputy assistant to the president for counterterrorism on the National Security Council and then chief of staff to the acting Secretary of Defense. He is the author of *Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy* (2023).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Confirmation
|
||||
|
||||
Trump nominated "Kashyap Patel, of Nevada, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a term of ten years" (PN12-35). The Senate confirmed him on February 20, 2025, 51 to 49 (Vote No. 61), with the Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting no with all Democrats.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Epstein Files
|
||||
|
||||
On February 21, 2025, the day after his confirmation, the bureau'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," addressed to Patel from [[James Comer]] of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] and [[Anna Paulina Luna]]. The attachments were titled for the [[September 11 attacks]], an "Assassination" letter, [[COVID-19]] origins, unidentified anomalous phenomena and Epstein. The next day an official wrote to the team, "to get ahead of this inevitable data call, please assign for action Monday am with a COB Monday deadline. We'll need a RIDS inventory of what we have on these five subjects in the below categories: Vault posts / Preprocessed / Requests in progress / UAP state of play / Any open litigations and status."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The unsigned two-page memorandum of July 7, 2025, on Justice Department and FBI letterhead, stated that searches had "uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence," that the "systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list,'" that there was "no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions," that "Epstein harmed over one thousand victims," and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." It stated that FBI investigators "concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York|Metropolitan Correctional Center]] in [[New York City]] on August 10, 2019," and that the bureau had "enhanced" the jail camera footage "by increasing its contrast, balancing the color, and improving its sharpness," releasing "full raw and enhanced" versions.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 18, 2025 the ranking member of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]], [[Dick Durbin]], wrote to Patel citing reports that bureau personnel "were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned" during the review, and quoting Patel's post of July 12 on reported friction with Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] and Deputy Director [[Dan Bongino]]: "The conspiracy theories just aren't true, never have been." Durbin asked for answers by August 1, 2025.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
At a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on September 16, 2025, Senator [[John Kennedy]] of Louisiana asked Patel to whom Epstein had trafficked his victims besides himself. Patel answered: "There is no credible information, none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals." He added, "I am not saying that others were not trafficked and others were not involved," and said the bureau held only "limited search warrants" from the Florida investigation of 2006 and 2007.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Director Kash Patel," official leadership biography. https://www.fbi.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/director-patel
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote No. 61, 119th Congress, 1st Session, "On the Nomination PN12-35: Kashyap Patel, of Nevada, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a term of ten years," February 20, 2025. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00061.xml
|
||||
[^3]: 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
|
||||
[^4]: 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
|
||||
[^5]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, letter to FBI Director Kash Patel regarding Epstein files, July 18, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-fbi-director-patel-re-epstein?download=1
|
||||
[^6]: Nik Popli, "Kash Patel Says There's No Credible Information Epstein Trafficked Girls to Others," *Time,* September 16, 2025. https://time.com/7317646/kash-patel-jeffrey-epstein-files/
|
||||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Stratfor
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Loretta A. Preska
|
||||
- Judge Preska
|
||||
- Judge Loretta Preska
|
||||
- Loretta Preska
|
||||
summary: "Manhattan federal judge appointed by George H.W. Bush, chief judge from 2009 to 2016, who inherited the sealed Giuffre v. Maxwell record in 2019 and managed its unsealing through 2026."
|
||||
|
|
@ -60,7 +59,7 @@ Preska held further hearings on the protocol in 2021 and 2022, ruled on a reques
|
|||
|
||||
On July 23, 2025, three months after Giuffre's death, a panel of Judges Cabranes, Raggi and [[Myrna Pérez]] held that "a judicial document determination is properly made by evaluating the relevant materials at the time of their filing with the court," vacated "the district court's December 2019 and January 2020 Orders in their entirety," vacated in part the November 2022 ruling, including its treatment of Giuffre's Florida deposition as carrying only a "barely cognizable" presumption of access, and remanded "for individualized review of materials." The mandate issued on January 8, 2026.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On January 30, 2026 the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] moved for disclosure (ECF No. 1353). Maxwell's opposition attached the record of a grand jury subpoena and an April 9, 2019 order in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM), under which prosecutors had obtained the civil discovery from Boies Schiller Flexner months before Epstein's arrest. On August 11, 2026 Preska granted the motion (ECF No. 1367), adding to the 2016 protective order a paragraph authorizing the government to produce "documents that it received from Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, in response to a grand jury subpoena and pursuant to the April 9, 2019, order issued in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19MC149 (CM) (S.D.N.Y.), in accordance with the Government's obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act." On September 3, 2026 she substituted [[Ian Torrington Blatchford]], interim administrator of Giuffre's estate, as plaintiff, and the case continued as Blatchford v. Maxwell.[^8]
|
||||
On January 30, 2026 the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] moved for disclosure (ECF No. 1353). Maxwell's opposition attached the record of a grand jury subpoena and an April 9, 2019 order in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM), under which prosecutors had obtained the civil discovery from Boies Schiller Flexner months before Epstein's arrest. On August 11, 2026 Preska granted the motion (ECF No. 1367), adding to the 2016 protective order a paragraph authorizing the government to produce "documents that it received from [[Boies Schiller Flexner|Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP]], in response to a grand jury subpoena and pursuant to the April 9, 2019, order issued in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19MC149 (CM) (S.D.N.Y.), in accordance with the Government's obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act." On September 3, 2026 she substituted [[Ian Torrington Blatchford]], interim administrator of Giuffre's estate, as plaintiff, and the case continued as Blatchford v. Maxwell.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
55
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Marc Rowan.md
Normal file
55
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Marc Rowan.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- MarcRowan
|
||||
- Apollo
|
||||
- PrivateEquity
|
||||
- LeonBlack
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- Wharton
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Marc Rowan
|
||||
summary: "Apollo Global Management co-founder who met Jeffrey Epstein at his Manhattan house from 2013 to 2016, fielded Epstein's inquiry about buying his jet, and succeeded Leon Black as chief executive in 2021."
|
||||
location: "New York, New York"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Apollo Global Management]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Apollo Global Management]]"
|
||||
start: 2021-03-22
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Marc Rowan is an American private equity investor who co-founded [[Apollo Global Management]] with [[Leon Black]] and [[Josh Harris]] and became its chief executive on March 22, 2021, when Black stepped down after the law firm [[Dechert]] reviewed his payments to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. Records released by the [[U.S. Department of Justice|Justice Department]] on January 30, 2026 show Rowan in contact with Epstein from 2013 to 2016, including breakfasts at Epstein's [[Manhattan]] house, a 2016 inquiry from Epstein's office about buying Rowan's private jet, and introductions made in both directions. A spokesperson said Rowan provided information to Epstein only in connection with Epstein's tax work for Black and denied any business relationship, and that "Apollo never did any business with Mr Epstein." Rowan holds bachelor's and MBA degrees from the [[Wharton School]] and was the outgoing chair of its Board of Advisors in February 2026.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Apollo
|
||||
|
||||
Rowan earned a Wharton bachelor's degree in 1984 and an MBA in 1985, and co-founded Apollo with Black and Harris. In 2011 Epstein's company [[Financial Trust Company]] bought 263,257 shares in Apollo's initial public offering through a directed share program. Dechert's January 2021 report to Apollo's conflicts committee found that Black had paid Epstein 158 million dollars for work from 2012 through 2017; Dechert interviewed Rowan and Harris among more than twenty witnesses. On March 22, 2021 Apollo announced that Rowan would be chief executive and [[Jay Clayton]] non-executive chairman, and Black cited "my wife Debra's and my health issues."[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Meetings With Epstein
|
||||
|
||||
The earliest exchange in the released records dates from August 2013, when Epstein asked whether Rowan could plan for "the morning of the 4th"; Rowan was out of town. Rowan's assistant arranged a meeting for September 8, 2013 at 8 a.m., "to be held at Jeffery's home." For October 22, 2013 a meeting was arranged between Epstein and Apollo principals including "Leon" and "Josh," and Rowan's assistant asked whether Rowan wanted to "see Jeffrey for 1:1" beforehand; Epstein's calendar for that day reads "8:00am Breakfast w/Marc Rowan."[^1][^4] In 2014 Black's office told Epstein that Black had asked Rowan to call him about "Donor Advised Funds."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In December 2015 Black's assistant wrote that "Marc said if Jeffrey wants early breakfast that works for him, he will bring coffee!!!" An email then confirmed that "Marc will come see Jeffrey tomorrow for breakfast at 8am at Jeffrey's home," and the breakfast took place on January 6, 2016; Rowan's assistant wrote, "Marc is looking forward to seeing Jeffrey." Five days later Epstein's assistant asked to arrange a call because "Jeffrey would like to speak with Marc today," and Rowan's assistant answered that "MR will reach out to Jeffrey tonight."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Jet
|
||||
|
||||
The next day Epstein's assistant wrote to Rowan's assistant: "Jeffrey is asking if he could get the details of Marc's plane for sale...the hours, photos, any pertinent information! Possible?" At the assistant's request a representative of Hagerty Jet Group sent Epstein's assistant the aircraft's details and a price of 18.9 million dollars.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Introductions
|
||||
|
||||
On January 14, 2016 Rowan met representatives of the Swiss bank [[Edmond de Rothschild]] at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse together with "Rowan's 'partner Imran.'" Rowan's spokesperson said: "Mr Rowan met with the CEO of Edmund de Rothschild bank at a meeting in 2016 arranged by Mr Epstein that Mr Epstein did not attend." In March 2016 Epstein wrote that he would introduce Rowan to [[Nicholas Ribis]], a former executive of [[Donald Trump]]'s casino resorts. In August 2016 the lawyer Perry Shwachman thanked Rowan for introducing him to Epstein and wrote to Epstein, "It would be great to talk to you about helping with potential new [[U.S. Virgin Islands|USVI]] insurance regulations."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The spokesperson said: "In select instances, Mr Rowan provided information to Mr Epstein in connection with his tax work for Mr Black," and added that Rowan had no business ties to Epstein and that "Apollo never did any business with Mr Epstein." A [[University of Pennsylvania]] spokesperson declined to comment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Jain, Arti, and Alex Dash. Report on Marc Rowan's correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein in the Justice Department release, *The Daily Pennsylvanian,* February 2, 2026. https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/02/penn-marc-rowan-jeffrey-epstein-files-emails
|
||||
[^2]: 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
|
||||
[^3]: 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 (accession 0001193125-21-016405), pp. 1-4, 17-18, 21-22. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02122940, DataSet 10, calendar alert, "8:00am Breakfast w/Marc Rowan," October 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02122940.pdf
|
||||
|
|
@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Chief Michael Reiter
|
||||
- Michael S. Reiter
|
||||
- Chief Reiter
|
||||
summary: "Michael Reiter was the Palm Beach police chief from 2001 to 2009 who opened the 2005 Epstein investigation, sought the State Attorney's disqualification, and referred the case to the FBI."
|
||||
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Partly declassified [[Central Intelligence Agency]] records show the agency had
|
|||
|
||||
### Arrest and DEA Debriefing
|
||||
|
||||
Peña and Jairo Meneses were arrested on cocaine trafficking charges in November 1984. Agents found a kilo of cocaine in the trunk of Peña's car. At an apartment Jairo maintained in Oakland as a cocaine storehouse, the DEA found half a kilo. Peña pleaded guilty in March 1985 and received a two-year sentence. During DEA debriefing, Peña said "the CIA was allowing the Contras to fly drugs into the United States, sell them, and keep the proceeds," the Justice Department Inspector General reported. Jairo had told him "the United States was aware of these dealings and that it was highly unlikely that I would even get in trouble." Both Meneses and [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] told him they raised money for the Contras through drug dealing; Blandón claimed "the Contras would not have been able to operate without drug proceeds." FDN leader Bermúdez "was aware of the drug dealing" and Peña described him as "a CIA agent."[^3]
|
||||
Peña and Jairo Meneses were arrested on cocaine trafficking charges in November 1984. Agents found a kilo of cocaine in the trunk of Peña's car. At an apartment Jairo maintained in Oakland as a cocaine storehouse, the DEA found half a kilo. Peña pleaded guilty in March 1985 and received a two-year sentence. During DEA debriefing, Peña said "the CIA was allowing the Contras to fly drugs into the United States, sell them, and keep the proceeds," the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Inspector General]] reported. Jairo had told him "the United States was aware of these dealings and that it was highly unlikely that I would even get in trouble." Both Meneses and [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] told him they raised money for the Contras through drug dealing; Blandón claimed "the Contras would not have been able to operate without drug proceeds." FDN leader Bermúdez "was aware of the drug dealing" and Peña described him as "a CIA agent."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
In later interviews with CIA and Justice Department inspectors, despite facing deportation, Peña insisted: "The CIA knows about all these things... The CIA decided to recruit Meneses so that drug sales could be used to support the Contras. Bermúdez could not have recruited Meneses on his own... but would have had to follow orders." A DEA informant independently corroborated Peña's testimony in spring 1986.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ Ross moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, with Mary Bronner and their children, taking $30
|
|||
|
||||
Blandón called from Miami, dropping hints about cheap cocaine. Ross had checked prices in Cincinnati and found kilos selling for $50,000, compared to $12,000 in L.A. "Ounces were like $2,400. It was like when I first started." When Blandón called from Detroit in the fall of 1987 and offered fifteen kilos at a good price, Ross accepted. "I told him to bring them to me. I'll take them." He was back in play.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Ross expanded methodically, first into Lincoln Heights, then Over-the-Rhine, Avondale, Mt. Airy, Bond Hill, St. Bernard, Lockland, and Walnut Hills, using the same marketing techniques from L.A.: free cocaine, smoke parties, volume discounts. "I knew the recipe. It's just like it was in L.A. If you want to get in with the blacks, you find out who the shot-caller is. And you talk to him and you get him on your side." Once operations were running, Ross called L.A. and invited friends to staff them. "The recruits were given apartments, beepers, cocaine, and instructions on how to conduct street sales," the Justice Department Inspector General reported. "Most of these people were members of gangs, most notably the Crips." Suddenly Cincinnati had two problems it had never had before: Crips and crack.[^9]
|
||||
Ross expanded methodically, first into Lincoln Heights, then Over-the-Rhine, Avondale, Mt. Airy, Bond Hill, St. Bernard, Lockland, and Walnut Hills, using the same marketing techniques from L.A.: free cocaine, smoke parties, volume discounts. "I knew the recipe. It's just like it was in L.A. If you want to get in with the blacks, you find out who the shot-caller is. And you talk to him and you get him on your side." Once operations were running, Ross called L.A. and invited friends to staff them. "The recruits were given apartments, beepers, cocaine, and instructions on how to conduct street sales," the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department Inspector General]] reported. "Most of these people were members of gangs, most notably the Crips." Suddenly Cincinnati had two problems it had never had before: Crips and crack.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Ross did not limit himself to Cincinnati. His dope turned up in Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, [[Atlanta]], Texas, and as far away as Seattle, where police viewed his ring as "the single most important group distributing crack cocaine in the Seattle-Tacoma area." In ten months, Ross said, he sold 300 or 400 kilos of Blandón's cocaine in the Midwest, netting around $2 million. He flew to Miami once a month to drop off cash, and met with Blandón and a Colombian named Tony in [[New York City]] to place orders. At other times, his L.A. friends stuck dope on a Greyhound bus.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ tags:
|
|||
alias:
|
||||
- Robert Sweet
|
||||
- Robert Workman Sweet
|
||||
- Judge Sweet
|
||||
- Judge Robert W. Sweet
|
||||
- Robert W. Sweet
|
||||
summary: "Former New York deputy mayor and Carter-appointed Manhattan federal judge who sentenced Towers Financial's Steven Hoffenberg in 1997 and presided over the sealed Giuffre v. Maxwell record until his death in 2019."
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
68
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Scott Rothstein.md
Normal file
68
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Scott Rothstein.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- ScottRothstein
|
||||
- PonziScheme
|
||||
- RothsteinRosenfeldtAdler
|
||||
- FortLauderdale
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- BradleyEdwards
|
||||
- Conviction
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Scott Rothstein
|
||||
- Scott W. Rothstein
|
||||
summary: "Disbarred Fort Lauderdale lawyer who ran a 1.2 billion dollar Ponzi scheme through his firm, including sham investments in legal settlements, and whom Jeffrey Epstein sued in 2009 alongside Bradley Edwards."
|
||||
location: "Fort Lauderdale, Florida"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler]]"
|
||||
role: "founder and chairman"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2009-12-01
|
||||
end: 2010-06-09
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Epstein v. Rothstein]]"
|
||||
role: "defendant"
|
||||
start: 2009
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Scott W. Rothstein is a disbarred [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] lawyer, the founder and chairman of the firm [[Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler]], who pleaded guilty in January 2010 to racketeering conspiracy and related charges for running, from about 2005 through November 2009, a Ponzi scheme that took about 1.2 billion dollars from investors, partly through purported interests in confidential legal settlements. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] sued him in 2009 together with [[Bradley Edwards]], a lawyer who had joined the firm and was representing Epstein's victims, alleging that the firm had marketed cases against Epstein, "real or fabricated," to investors. In 2011 the government filed a motion to reduce his sentence for cooperation, and in 2017 withdrew it, stating that he had provided false information.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Scheme
|
||||
|
||||
According to court records and statements made at his plea, Rothstein used the firm to induce investors to lend money to non-existent borrowers on promissory notes and requests for short-term bridge loans, and to invest in anticipated payouts from purported confidential civil settlement agreements, which he said could be bought at a discount and would be repaid at full value from the firm's trust account. Neither investment existed. Rothstein and his co-conspirators moved and laundered the money through accounts at [[TD Bank]], N.A., [[Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust]] and other institutions, and created false bank documents, false online account information and false settlement agreements to show investors. In one case the firm secretly settled a suit it had brought for its own clients in favor of the defendant, and Rothstein and others then created a false federal court order, "purportedly signed by a U.S. District Judge," stating that the clients had won a judgment of about 23 million dollars that the defendant had moved to the [[Cayman Islands]]; told that they had to post bonds to recover it, the clients wired about 57 million dollars to a trust account Rothstein controlled.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The proceeds funded the firm and paid for "contributions to federal, state, and local political candidates," donations to charities, exotic cars, jewelry and boats, and were used "to hire local police officers to provide security, and to provide gratuities to high ranking members of police agencies," to buy controlling interests in restaurants and other businesses, "and to socialize with politicians and sports figures." U.S. Attorney [[Wifredo A. Ferrer]] said that Rothstein "manipulated and abused the trust of all whom he knew," including "his friends, family, business partners, legal colleagues, political figures, and even charitable organizations."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Plea, Sentence and Cooperation
|
||||
|
||||
On a criminal information of December 1, 2009, Rothstein pleaded guilty on January 27, 2010 to conspiracy to violate the [[Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act|RICO]] statute, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. On June 9, 2010 Judge [[James I. Cohn]] of the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida]] sentenced him, at 47, to 50 years in prison and three years of supervised release, with forfeiture of his real property, vehicles, bank accounts and investments. The prosecutors were Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence D. LaVecchio, Paul F. Schwartz and Jeffrey N. Kaplan.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Under his cooperation agreement Rothstein undertook, if the government asked, to work "in an undercover role to contact and negotiate with others suspected and believed to be involved in criminal misconduct," and agreed that the government would have "sole and unreviewable" discretion to judge the "quality and significance" of his cooperation. In June 2011 the government filed a motion under Rule 35(b) for a reduction of sentence, which it later called a "placeholder motion," reserving the right to withdraw it if he should "fail to testify truthfully, or falsely implicate any person or entity." On September 26, 2017, with the motion still undecided, the government moved to withdraw it, having concluded that Rothstein "provided false material information to [the Government] and violated the terms of his plea agreement." The district court granted the withdrawal without an evidentiary hearing, and on September 30, 2019 a panel of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit|Eleventh Circuit]] (Tjoflat, William Pryor and Grant) affirmed, holding that Rothstein "cannot credibly claim that he had no idea that withdrawal was a possibility."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Epstein v. Rothstein
|
||||
|
||||
In 2009 Epstein sued Rothstein and Edwards in the circuit court for [[Palm Beach County]], Epstein v. Rothstein, No. 50-2009-CA-040800, for civil racketeering and fraud, alleging that Edwards had fabricated claims and helped Rothstein market bogus settlement rights involving the sexual abuse claims against Epstein. Edwards had worked briefly at the firm; in May 2009 he signed emails as "Partner, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler," including an exchange with the [[Palm Beach Post]] courts reporter Susan Spencer-Wendel about the sealed [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]: "The case in which the Non-prosecution agreement was released to the victims and victim's attorneys is Jane Doe v. United States of America. 08-80736. It was released pursuant to protective order which is why I cannot discuss the contents." Edwards was not implicated in Rothstein's fraud.[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein's witness and exhibit list named "SCOTT ROTHSTEIN individually" and a former employee of the firm as a witness. His requests for production sought "[e]ach investor and potential investor who reviewed approximately ten (10) boxes of cases, real or fabricated, against Jeffrey Epstein" shown by Rothstein "to solicit third party investments"; any agreements "relating to any case (real or fabricated) involving Jeffrey Epstein and Scott W. Rothstein"; documents purporting to show "any transfer of funds or property to investors from Jeffrey Epstein by way of RRA for the settlement of any case, real or fabricated, against Jeffrey Epstein"; "[t]he entire bankruptcy file In Re: Rothstein Rosenfeldt"; and all "Q-Task Projects" referring to Epstein or "Jane Doe."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein dropped his claims against Edwards in August 2012, and Edwards counterclaimed for malicious prosecution, alleging that the suit was designed to intimidate him and his clients into abandoning their cases. [[Paul Cassell]] and [[Jay Howell]] appeared as limited intervenor co-counsel for three of Epstein's victims; on March 7, 2018 Howell filed an emergency notice of appearance "for the victims" in the case, then styled Jeffrey Epstein, Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant, v. Scott Rothstein and Bradley J. Edwards. On February 25, 2018 Epstein wrote to the former [[White House]] Counsel [[Kathryn Ruemmler]] about a newly discovered "email trail": "now the issue is how to use, it, [[Crime Victims' Rights Act|CVRA]]? marie? Bar. USA[?]. scoff rothsteins prosecutors that w[i]thdrew his r[ule] 35 [ ] filing. nurik, rothsteins lawyer on some of t[h]e emails. Judge marra, cvra.? press? move f[o]r sanctions? strategy time." Ruemmler replied: "How did you discover it? Let's discuss in the a.m." On November 9, 2018 Epstein's counsel, among them [[Jack Goldberger]], moved for in camera inspection of 302 emails withheld on a 1,607-entry privilege log by Edwards and Cassell, arguing that most were "e-mails among attorneys and staff" and "with media sources." Epstein settled the counterclaim in December 2018 with a written apology to Edwards.[^2][^6][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, "Fort Lauderdale Attorney Sentenced to 50 Years in Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme," press release, June 9, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/fls/PressReleases/2010/100609-01.html
|
||||
[^2]: "Millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apologizes in settling malicious prosecution suit," *CNN,* December 4, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/04/politics/jeffrey-epstein-lawsuit-settled ; "Wealthy Sex Offender Settles Suit, Averting Accusers' Testimony," *Courthouse News Service,* December 4, 2018. https://www.courthousenews.com/wealthy-sex-offender-settles-suit-averting-accusers-testimony/
|
||||
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02764032, Court Records (Epstein v. Rothstein, No. 50-2009-CA-040800-XXXX-MB (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct. 2009)), Plaintiff Jeffrey Epstein's Witness and Exhibit List and Request for Production, pp. 1, 8 to 9 (EFTA02764040). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Epstein%20v.%20Rothstein%2C%20No.%2050-2009-CA-040800-XXXX-MB%20(Fla.%2015th%20Cir.%20Ct.%202009)/EFTA02764032.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: *United States v. Rothstein*, No. 18-11796 (11th Cir. Sept. 30, 2019) (Tjoflat, W. Pryor, Grant, JJ.), D.C. Docket No. 0:09-cr-60331-JIC-1. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201811796.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01099665, DataSet 9, email exchange, Bradley J. Edwards, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, and Susan Spencer-Wendel, *Palm Beach Post,* May 22 to 28, 2009. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01099665.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00800879, DataSet 9, Emergency Notice of Appearance of Jay C. Howell, Jay Howell & Associates, Epstein v. Rothstein, No. 50-2009-CA-040800 (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct.), March 7, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00800879.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02522534, DataSet 11, email chain, Jeffrey Epstein and Kathy Ruemmler, "Re: this email trail was discovered today," February 25 to 26, 2018 (duplicate at EFTA02522094). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02522534.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02768436, Court Records (Epstein v. Rothstein, No. 50-2009-CA-040800-XXXX-MB (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct. 2009)), Counter-Defendant Jeffrey Epstein's Motion for an In Camera Inspection of E-mails, e-filed November 9, 2018, pp. 1, 3, 17, 21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Epstein%20v.%20Rothstein%2C%20No.%2050-2009-CA-040800-XXXX-MB%20(Fla.%2015th%20Cir.%20Ct.%202009)/EFTA02768436.pdf
|
||||
122
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Stacey Plaskett.md
Normal file
122
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Stacey Plaskett.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- StaceyPlaskett
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- Congress
|
||||
- CampaignFinance
|
||||
- HousePermanentSelectCommitteeOnIntelligence
|
||||
- EconomicDevelopmentCommission
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Stacey E. Plaskett
|
||||
- Delegate Stacey Plaskett
|
||||
- Del. Stacey Plaskett
|
||||
summary: "Virgin Islands delegate to Congress since 2015, formerly counsel to the territory's Economic Development Commission, whose 2014 island meeting, campaign receipts and 2019 hearing texts with Jeffrey Epstein drew a failed 2025 censure."
|
||||
born: 1966-05-13
|
||||
location: "Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "campaign contributor"
|
||||
start: 2016-08-04
|
||||
end: 2018-07-23
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "campaign contributor"
|
||||
start: 2014-07-03
|
||||
end: 2018-07-23
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "campaign contributor"
|
||||
start: 2014-07-03
|
||||
end: 2018-07-23
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Lesley Groff]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "campaign contributor"
|
||||
start: 2014-07-15
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||
role: "defendant"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-22
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Stacey E. Plaskett (born May 13, 1966, in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City|New York]]) is the Democratic delegate of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]], a seat she has held since January 6, 2015. Before her election she was a Bronx prosecutor, counsel to the House ethics committee, a lawyer in the [[Department of Justice]] Civil Division and, from 2007 to 2014, general counsel of the territory's [[Economic Development Commission]]. In August 2014 she accepted an invitation from [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s office to meet him on [[Little St. James]]. Epstein and three members of his staff gave 32,100 dollars to her campaign committee between 2014 and 2018. Documents released by the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] in November 2025 included text messages Epstein exchanged with her during the February 27, 2019 hearing at which [[Michael Cohen]] testified, and a resolution to censure her and remove her from the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]] failed by five votes on November 18, 2025.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career Before Congress
|
||||
|
||||
Plaskett was born to parents from [[St. Croix]]. She graduated from the School of Foreign Service of [[Georgetown University]] in 1988 and from the Washington College of Law of [[American University]] in 1994. She served as an assistant district attorney in the Narcotics Bureau of the [[Bronx]] District Attorney's office and as counsel to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. At the Department of Justice she was counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division and acting deputy assistant attorney general for the Torts Branch, working with the Terrorism Litigation Task Force and the [[September 11th Victim Compensation Fund]]. She was then deputy general counsel of [[UnitedHealth Group]]'s Medicare and Medicaid division before moving to the Virgin Islands.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
From 2007 to 2014 she was general counsel of the Economic Development Commission and the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]], the bodies that administered the territory's tax-exemption program. In those years the commission amended the benefits of Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] in 2012 and issued the January 24, 2014 certificate of [[Southern Trust Company]], both over the signature of its chairman, [[Albert Bryan]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The August 2014 Meeting on Little St. James
|
||||
|
||||
On August 14, 2014 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to Plaskett, copying the Virgin Islands trust lawyer [[Erika Kellerhals]]: "Hello Stacey, just circling back...will you be able to meet with Jeffrey on his island on Monday Aug. 18th at 11am? Erika, if Stacey is available for this, will you be going as well?" Plaskett, signing as "Stacey Plaskett, Esq.," answered, "Let me know what is convenient for Jeffrey late morning Monday," and then, "I thought I responded yes I will be available. Please share details on time and transportation to Jeffrey." Groff replied that the woman who managed Epstein's island would coordinate. Groff had contributed 2,600 dollars to Plaskett's campaign on July 15, 2014, a month earlier. Plaskett won the delegate's seat that November.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Campaign Contributions
|
||||
|
||||
Itemized receipts filed with the [[Federal Election Commission]] by her principal campaign committee, Virgin Islands for Plaskett, record the following contributions from Epstein and his staff:
|
||||
|
||||
| Contributor | Date | Amount (dollars) |
|
||||
|---|---|---|
|
||||
| [[Darren Indyke]] | July 3, 2014 | 2,600 |
|
||||
| [[Richard Kahn]] | July 3, 2014 | 2,600 |
|
||||
| Lesley Groff | July 15, 2014 | 2,600 |
|
||||
| Jeffrey Epstein | August 4, 2016 | 2,700 (two contributions) |
|
||||
| Darren Indyke | August 4, 2016 | 2,700 (two contributions) |
|
||||
| Richard Kahn | August 4, 2016 | 2,700 (two contributions) |
|
||||
| Jeffrey Epstein | July 23, 2018 | 2,700 |
|
||||
| Darren Indyke | July 23, 2018 | 2,700 |
|
||||
| Richard Kahn | July 23, 2018 | 2,700 |
|
||||
|
||||
The total is 32,100 dollars: 8,100 from Epstein, 10,700 each from Indyke and Kahn, who later became the co-executors of his estate, and 2,600 from Groff.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 8, 2019, two days after Epstein's arrest, her spokesman told [[CNBC]] she was "pretty sure" she would not return the money. She reversed the next day: "In light of new information and allegations that have been made against Jeffrey Epstein I have decided to make contributions to Virgin Islands organizations that work with women and children in the amount of his previous contributions." She said her "litmus test for accepting campaign contributions has been based on whether the donor's money was made legally or by ill-gotten means and that the contributor will not ask of me or my Congressional office for any special favors," and that "in this case however, I am uncomfortable having received money from someone who has been accused of these egregious actions multiple times." Her office said the money would go to the Women's Coalition and the Family Resource Center.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Cohen Hearing Texts
|
||||
|
||||
On February 27, 2019 Michael Cohen, [[Donald Trump]]'s former personal lawyer, testified before the House Oversight Committee on Trump's business practices and payments. Among the Epstein estate documents the committee released in November 2025 were text messages, the recipient's name redacted, that the [[Washington Post]] matched to Plaskett by content and timing and that her office confirmed. Epstein wrote, "Cohen brought up RONA - keeper of the secrets," a reference to the Trump assistant [[Rhona Graff]]. Plaskett answered, "RONA??" and at 2:25 p.m., "Quick I'm up next is that an acronym." Epstein replied, "Thats his assistant." Plaskett began questioning Cohen at 2:28 p.m. and asked about Graff and other Trump associates. At 2:34 p.m., a minute after she finished, Epstein wrote, "Good work." In another exchange Epstein wrote, "Hes opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at trump org," and Plaskett replied, "Yup. Very aware and waiting my turn."[^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Her spokesperson said: "During the hearing, Congresswoman Plaskett received texts from staff, constituents and the public at large offering advice, support and in some cases partisan vitriol, including from Epstein. As a former prosecutor she welcomes information that helps her get at the truth and took on the GOP that was trying to bury the truth. The congresswoman has previously made clear her long record combating sexual assault and human trafficking, her disgust over Epstein's deviant behavior and her support for his victims."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Censure Resolution
|
||||
|
||||
On November 18, 2025 Representative [[Ralph Norman]] of South Carolina and twenty other Republicans introduced H.Res. 888, "Censuring and condemning Delegate Stacey Plaskett and removing her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for conduct that reflects discreditably on the House of Representatives for colluding with convicted felony sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing." Its preamble recited the hearing texts, Epstein's 2008 Florida plea and her Justice Department service. It would have directed the [[House Committee on Ethics]] to investigate "the extent of Plaskett's ties to Epstein and any potential further improprieties" and removed her from the intelligence committee.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
A motion to refer the resolution to the Ethics Committee failed that afternoon, 213 to 214. The resolution itself failed at 9:07 p.m., 209 to 214, with three members voting present. Three Republicans, [[Don Bacon]] of Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas and David Joyce of Ohio, voted against it; Andrew Garbarino of New York, Daniel Meuser of Pennsylvania and Jay Obernolte of California voted present. No Democrat voted for it. Plaskett remained on the intelligence committee in the 119th Congress, assigned to its subcommittees on the National Intelligence Enterprise and on Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture, and also sat on the Ways and Means and Budget committees.[^3][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands
|
||||
|
||||
On November 22, 2023 six women using pseudonyms, represented by Jordan Merson of Merson Law, sued the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|Government of the Virgin Islands]], former Governor [[John de Jongh]] and [[Cecile de Jongh]], Governor [[Kenneth Mapp]], Attorney General [[Vincent Frazer]], Senators [[Celestino White]] and [[Carlton Dowe]], Plaskett and one hundred unnamed defendants in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]], under the [[Trafficking Victims Protection Act]], negligence law and the civil provisions of [[RICO]], alleging that territorial officials "negligently and/or intentionally provided special treatment to Epstein and his sex-trafficking venture." The case was assigned to Judge [[Arun Subramanian]]. Plaskett was served on February 7, 2024 and was represented by Eric Breslin. The district court docket closed on September 23, 2025. An appeal to the [[Second Circuit]], No. 26-1316, was docketed on May 13, 2026 and names her among the appellees; it remained open in September 2026. Plaskett's office has described her disgust at Epstein's conduct and her support for his victims.[^7][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, "Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.)," member biography, March 17, 2021. https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/111335/witnesses/HHRG-117-IF14-Bio-P000610-20210317.pdf ; U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, "PLASKETT, Stacey E.," History, Art & Archives. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032410230 ; 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]: Suzanne Carlson, "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html ; Suzanne Carlson, "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
|
||||
[^3]: unitedstates/congress-legislators project, committee-membership-current.json, 119th Congress, accessed September 25, 2026. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/committee-membership-current.json
|
||||
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02099269, DataSet 10, email chain, Lesley Groff, Stacey Plaskett and Erika Kellerhals, August 14, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02099269.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, Committee ID C00528182 (Virgin Islands for Plaskett), contributors "EPSTEIN, JEFFREY," "INDYKE, DARREN," "KAHN, RICHARD," "GROFF, LESLEY," accessed via the OpenFEC API, September 25, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?committee_id=C00528182&contributor_name=EPSTEIN
|
||||
[^6]: Brian Schwartz, "Democratic congresswoman will return Jeffrey Epstein donation," *CNBC,* July 9, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/democratic-congresswoman-will-return-jeffrey-epstein-donation.html
|
||||
[^7]: Annie Grayer and Kaanita Iyer, "House Democrat exchanged texts with Epstein during 2019 congressional hearing," *CNN,* November 14, 2025, updated November 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/politics/epstein-texts-stacey-plaskett
|
||||
[^8]: U.S. House of Representatives, H.Res. 888, 119th Congress, 1st Session, introduced November 18, 2025. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hres888ih/html/BILLS-119hres888ih.htm
|
||||
[^9]: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 293 (On Motion to Refer) and Roll Call 297 (On Agreeing to the Resolution), H.Res. 888, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/roll293.xml ; https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/roll297.xml
|
||||
[^10]: Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 1:23-cv-10301 (S.D.N.Y.), complaint filed November 22, 2023, amended December 13, 2023, affidavit of service on Stacey Plaskett (February 7, 2024), terminated September 23, 2025, CourtListener docket 68031620. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68031620/doe-1-v-government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/ ; Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 26-1316 (2d Cir.), docketed May 13, 2026, CourtListener docket 73544397. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73544397/doe-1-v-government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue