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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- AirGhislaine
- ShellCompany
- Aircraft
- Delaware
- JPMorgan
alias:
- Air Ghislaine
- Air Ghislaine Inc
- Air Ghislaine Inc.
- Air Ghislaine, Inc
- Shmitka Air, Inc.
- Shmitka Air Inc.
- Shmitka Air Inc
- Shmitka Air
- Freedom Air International, Inc.
- Freedom Air International Inc.
- Freedom Air International Inc
- Freedom Air International
summary: "Delaware aircraft company of Jeffrey Epstein, bearing Ghislaine Maxwell's first name, that held jet shares and helicopters from 2000, was renamed Shmitka Air and then Freedom Air International in 2010, and dissolved in 2012."
start: 2000-01-29
end: 2012-12-07
location: "Wilmington, Delaware; New York, New York"
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Larry Visoski]]"
reverse: true
role: "director of aviation, director of operations and director of maintenance on FAA filings"
start: 2002-11-13
end: 2011-08
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
reverse: true
role: "vice president, signatory on every FAA filing after the February 2010 name change"
start: 2010-02-23
end: 2012-04-30
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "100 percent owner of Freedom Air International, per a forensic accountant's entity table"
end: 2012-12-07
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
reverse: true
role: "moved a 7.4 million dollar Epstein wire into the company's JPMorgan account the day she received it"
start: 2007-06-15
fn: 2
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Sikorsky Aircraft]]"
reverse: true
role: "7,352,825 dollar down payment on an S-76C helicopter, N908GM"
start: 2007-06-18
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
role: "Air Ghislaine named as a search term in an FAA registry search; N722JE singled out for follow-up"
start: 2021-08-18
end: 2021-09-29
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Air Ghislaine, Inc. was a [[Delaware]] corporation, registered at an address in [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]] and at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s office address in [[New York City|New York]], 10022, that held fractional jet shares and helicopters from at least January 2000. It carried the first name of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]. On February 11, 2010 it changed its name to Shmitka Air, Inc., and on July 6, 2010 to Freedom Air International, Inc. A forensic accountant's table of Epstein entities lists Freedom Air International as "100% owned by Epstein," citing a "Corporate Dissolution or Liquidation, Freedom Air International, Inc., Consent of Sole Stockholder" dated December 7, 2012.[^1][^2] Maxwell's name appears on none of the company's filings with the [[Federal Aviation Administration]]; its signing officers were Epstein's chief pilot [[Larry Visoski]] until the 2010 renaming and Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] afterward.[^1] The company is distinct from Freedom Air Petroleum LLC, a [[U.S. Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]] company registered in 2011 that listed Visoski as a member.[^3]
### Aircraft
The FAA's registration files, as summarized in 2021 by a special agent of the agency's Law Enforcement Assistance Program in [[Atlanta]] for federal prosecutors, record the following transactions:[^1]
| Date | Transaction |
|---|---|
| January 29, 2000 | Air Ghislaine Inc., Wichita, Kansas, buys a 6.25 percent share of a Beech 400A jet, serial RK-260, N787TA, through [[Flight Options]] |
| October 30, 2002 | Air Ghislaine Inc., New York, buys a [[Bell 407]] helicopter, serial 53375, from the [[United Kingdom]] (ex G-IORB); registered N491GM on November 13, 2002, with a signature that "looks like that of VISOSKI" |
| December 30, 2008 | Air Ghislaine Inc. buys a Sikorsky S-76C-2, serial 760750, N750A; "Larry VISOSKI" signs as director of aviation |
| May 1, 2009 | Air Ghislaine sells the RK-260 share to Flight Options LLC and the same day buys a 6.25 percent share of Beech 400A serial RK-244, N439LX |
| February 23, 2010 | N491GM re-registered to Shmitka Air Inc.; "Darren K. INDYKE" signs as vice president |
| March 2010 | N750A becomes N722JE; Visoski signs "as Director of Operations for Shmitka Air Inc., f/k/a Air Ghislaine Inc." |
| August 25, 2010 | N722JE and N491GM registered to Freedom Air International Inc.; Indyke signs as vice president |
| June 2, 2011 | Freedom Air International sells the N439LX share to Flight Options LLC, Cleveland |
| July 26, 2011 | Freedom Air International (Indyke) sells N722JE to [[ASI Wings]] LLC of Hartford, [[Connecticut]] |
| August 2011 | A 1997 Sikorsky S-76C, serial 760472, N162AE, from ASI Wings, registered to Freedom Air International (Indyke, vice president); renumbered N162AD, Visoski signing as "Director of Maintenance" |
| February 9, 2012 | Freedom Air International (Indyke) sells N162AD to Greenwich Aerogroup Inc. and Brazil Leasing Inc. of Middletown, Delaware; deregistered April 10, 2013 for export to [[Brazil]] |
| April 30, 2012 | Freedom Air International (Indyke) sells N491GM to [[Eagle Copters]] Ltd. of [[Calgary]]; deregistered May 7, 2012 for export to [[Canada]] |
For both fractional shares the bills of sale were signed by Flight Options executives as attorneys-in-fact for the company, and the agent wrote: "To identify the persons behind Air Ghislaine Inc., contact Flight Options LLC in Ohio."[^1] N722JE was bought back from ASI Wings on June 13, 2019 by [[Hyperion Air]] LLC of [[St. Thomas]], with Visoski signing as manager, and was sold again on May 13, 2021.[^1]
### The Maxwell Wire
A third helicopter does not appear in the FAA agent's search. The forensic accountant [[Jorge Amador]], retained by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] in [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|its suit against JPMorgan Chase]], reported under the heading "Direct Payments to Ghislaine Maxwell":[^2]
> Further, Epstein facilitated Maxwell's purchase of a Sikorsky helicopter in July 2007. On June 15, 2007, Maxwell received a $7.4 million wire into her JPMorgan account 6312 from Epstein's Mellon Bank account. On the same day, Maxwell transferred those same funds to Air Ghislaine, Inc. JPMorgan account 4324. Then on June 18, 2007, $7,352,825.00 was transferred to Sikorsky Aircraft as a down payment for the purchase of a green helicopter . . .
The report identified the aircraft as a Sikorsky S76C and added: "According to the Aviation Database, as of June 27, 2007, the helicopter with tail number N908GM was registered to Air Ghislaine, Inc."
The wire was made during the federal investigation of Epstein in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], three months before the September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^4]
### The JPMorgan Account
[[JPMorgan Chase]] held the company's account, number ending 4324, which it tracked as a single account whose name "changed three times: Air Ghislaine, Inc., Shmitka Air, Inc., and Freedom Air International, Inc." The bank prepared a "Confidential Due Diligence Report" on Air Ghislaine, Inc. dated January 23, 2009 and another on Freedom Air International, Inc. dated July 18, 2011. It described the account's purpose, as it did that of [[JEGE, Inc.]], as "Operational management of one of his business entities that result from his financial advisory business," while it described the accounts of Hyperion Air and [[Plan D LLC]] as serving "operational expenses related to personal aircraft." Amador counted ten Epstein entities "purportedly related to Epstein's personal aircraft," and noted that "Thomas World Air, LLC is also an Epstein-related entity, but it did not have a JPMorgan account."[^2]
### The 2021 Search
On August 18, 2021 an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], preparing the trial of Maxwell, gave the FAA agent a list of search terms: "Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Air Ghislaine, Thomas World Air LLC, Hyperion Air LLC, Freedom Air Petroleum LLC, NES LLC, Maple, Inc., Nautilus Inc." The agent reported "No other aircraft registered to or indexed to" Hyperion, Plan D, Ossa Properties Inc., Epstein, Maxwell, Thomas World Air, Freedom Air Petroleum, NES, Maple or Nautilus. On September 29, 2021 the prosecutor wrote back that "we'd like to learn more about one aircraft in particular," pasted the agent's notes on the Air Ghislaine Sikorsky N750A, later N722JE, and asked for contacts at the title companies that had handled it; the agent, who was retiring the next day, recommended contacting the title company for its file, adding: "They accept summons and subpoenas."[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00021675 to EFTA00021684, DataSet 8, email chain "RE: FAA Question" between a Special Agent, Federal Aviation Administration, Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Atlanta, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, August 17 to September 29, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00021675.pdf
[^2]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), pp. 9 and n. 19, 18-19 and nn. 71-74, 20 and nn. 126-127 (citing MP-00003267, JPM-SDNYLIT-00037023, JPM-SDNYLIT-00037065). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^3]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraphs 137 to 139, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/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)/001-01.pdf
[^4]: 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), pp. 1, 4-6, 11. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf

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start: 2020-10
end: 2021-01
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[WilmerHale]]"
reverse: true
role: "review of reputational-risk practices"
end: 2021-01
fn: 5
---
Apollo Global Management is an American alternative-asset management firm founded in 1990 and headquartered in [[New York]]. It was built by [[Leon Black]] and other alumni of the collapsed investment bank [[Drexel Burnham|Drexel Burnham Lambert]] into one of the largest managers of private-equity, credit, and insurance assets in the world. The firm's co-founder and longtime leader, Black, resigned as chief executive and chairman in 2021 after the disclosure that he had paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] about 158 million dollars for tax and estate advice, a relationship that prompted an independent board review, a U.S. Senate investigation, and, in 2026, shareholder suits alleging the firm concealed the extent of the ties.[^1][^2]

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- Foundation
- LeonBlack
- JeffreyEpstein
- Philanthropy
- HarvardUniversity
alias:
- Debra and Leon Black Family Foundation
- Debra And Leon Black Family Foundation
- Leon Black Family Foundation
- Leon and Debra Black Family Foundation
summary: "Private foundation of Leon and Debra Black, established in 1997 with Jeffrey Epstein among its initial directors, which listed him on its tax returns until 2012 and funded Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics."
start: 1997
location: "445 Park Avenue, New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
reverse: true
role: "founder; appointed the initial directors"
start: 1997
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]"
role: "1,000,000 dollars, a gift introduced by Epstein"
start: 2015-10-30
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The Black Family Foundation, registered with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as the Debra And Leon Black Family Foundation, is the private foundation of the financier [[Leon Black]], cofounder of [[Apollo Global Management]], and his wife, [[Debra Black]]. It is administered in care of the family office, [[Elysium Management]], at 445 Park Avenue in [[New York City|New York]]. Its employer identification number is 13-3947890; the IRS recognized its exemption as of August 1, 1998 and classifies it as a private non-operating foundation.[^1] [[Jeffrey Epstein]] was one of its directors from its establishment in 1997 and was listed as one on its tax returns until 2012.[^2][^3]
### Epstein's Directorship
According to the report that the law firm [[Dechert]] prepared in January 2021 for the conflicts committee of Apollo's board, Black was introduced to Epstein "in the mid-1990's by a mutual friend," and Epstein "introduced Black to well-regarded researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and encouraged Black to donate to charitable causes that supported scientific development." The report continued:[^2]
> In 1997, Black appointed Epstein as one of the initial directors of the Black Family Foundation, which was established for the purpose of facilitating contributions by Black and his family to philanthropic endeavors. Black was further impressed when he learned that David Rockefeller had appointed Epstein as a director to the Board of Rockefeller University.
The reference is to [[David Rockefeller]] and [[Rockefeller University]]. Epstein was one of the foundation's seven original trustees. Black's representative told the investigators reviewing Epstein's ties to [[Harvard University]] that Epstein resigned in July 2007 "at the family's request."[^4] The Dechert report put the resignation in "mid-2007" and stated: "However, due to an oversight, the IRS Form 990s filed for the Black Family Foundation during the period 2008-2012 failed to reflect his resignation. Following discovery of the error in or around 2013, the Black Family Foundation issued a confirmation of his earlier resignation." Epstein pleaded guilty in [[Florida]] in 2008 to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. Dechert found that Black did not engage Epstein for any services until 2012.[^2] In a July 2019 email to Apollo staff reported by *[[Forbes]]*, Black attributed the listing to a "recording error" and said he had stepped down in 2007.[^3]
A 108-page "Assignment and Assumption Agreement" dated June 7, 2007, in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases, transferred limited-partner, member and stockholder interests to a separate Black entity, [[Black Family Partners]], L.P., with signature blocks for "Debra Black, Trustee" and "[[Barry Cohen]], Trustee."[^5]
### Grants
The foundation's reported revenue, which consists of contributions, was 500,001 dollars in 2011, 1,000,009 dollars in 2012, 1,750,002 dollars in 2013, 12,142,003 dollars in 2014, 4,598,706 dollars in 2015 and 3,816,952 dollars in 2019; its reported year-end assets did not exceed 640,058 dollars in any of those years.[^1]
On October 30, 2015 the foundation gave 1,000,000 dollars to [[Martin Nowak]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] at Harvard, the last of three gifts totaling 7 million dollars that followed gifts of 2 million dollars in November 2011 and 4 million dollars in December 2014 from Leon and Debra Black personally. Harvard's review listed them among gifts from donors whom Epstein had introduced, at a time when the university had stopped accepting Epstein's own money; Epstein's accountant and staff acted as intermediaries, and the gift letters earmarked the money for Nowak's research and permitted its use for the program's rent at One Brattle Square. Black's representative told Harvard's investigators that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein" and that "no attempt was made to conceal the source of these gifts."[^4]
Dechert found that Black made donations at Epstein's request to the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Harvard, the [[Arizona State University]] Origins Project and the [[Peace Initiative Foundation]], and a 10 million dollar donation in October 2015 to Epstein's [[Gratitude America]]; Epstein, at Black's request, made "significant donations" on at least two occasions to the [[Melanoma Research Alliance]], "a charitable foundation established by Black and his wife." A 2015 IRS filing showed the 10 million dollar gift to Gratitude America coming from a company called [[BV70]] at the address of Black's family investment firm.[^2][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Debra And Leon Black Family Foundation," EIN 13-3947890 (IRS Business Master File and Form 990-PF extracts, ruling date August 1, 1998, foundation code 4), accessed September 25, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/133947890.json
[^2]: 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, pp. 5-6, 18-19. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
[^3]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^4]: 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. 10-15 and nn. 9, 15. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^5]: 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

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- BoiesSchillerFlexner
- DavidBoies
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- VirginiaGiuffre
- BlackCube
- HarveyWeinstein
alias:
- Boies Schiller Flexner
- Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
- Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP
- Boies, Schiller & Flexner
- Boies Schiller
summary: "New York law firm founded by David Boies in 1997 that hired Black Cube for Harvey Weinstein, represented Virginia Giuffre and Epstein victims, and surrendered its Giuffre v. Maxwell discovery to a 2019 grand jury."
start: 1997
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[David Boies]]"
reverse: true
role: "founder and chairman, 1997 to 2024"
start: 1997
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Virginia Giuffre]]"
start: 2015-09-21
fn: 5
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]"
role: "counsel for the plaintiff"
start: 2015-09-21
fn: 5
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Black Cube]]"
reverse: true
role: "private intelligence contractor, engaged on behalf of Harvey Weinstein"
start: 2016-10
end: 2017
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[Harvey Weinstein]]"
start: 2016
end: 2017
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP is an American litigation firm founded in 1997 by [[David Boies]], who chaired it until 2024. In 2016 and 2017 it contracted and paid the Israeli private intelligence company [[Black Cube]] on behalf of [[Harvey Weinstein]], a company to which the former Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]] had introduced Weinstein. Through [[Sigrid McCawley]] and others it represented [[Virginia Giuffre]] against [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] from 2015; in the spring of 2019, months before [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s arrest, it produced the confidential discovery from that case to federal prosecutors under a grand jury subpoena. It later represented Epstein's victims in class actions against [[JPMorgan Chase]], [[Deutsche Bank]] and his estate's co-executors, taking court-approved fees of 30 percent in the bank settlements.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### Founder and Government Service
Boies was chief counsel and staff director of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] in 1979, counsel to the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] from 1991 to 1993, Special Trial Counsel for the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in United States v. [[Microsoft]] from 1998 to 2000, and lead counsel for [[Al Gore]] in the litigation over the 2000 Florida vote count.[^1]
### Black Cube
On October 28, 2016 the firm wired Black Cube the first 100,000 dollars toward what became a 600,000 dollar invoice. A contract dated July 11, 2017 and bearing Boies's signature listed as its "primary objectives" to "provide intelligence which will help the Client's efforts to completely stop the publication of a new negative article in a leading NY newspaper" and to "obtain additional content of a book which currently being written and includes harmful negative information on and about the Client," identified as Weinstein. Boies signed while the firm was also representing [[The New York Times]], including in a libel case. On November 8, 2017, two days after the arrangement was reported, Epstein asked Barak by email whether Boies had reached "the mossad guys" through him.[^2][^3]
### Giuffre v. Maxwell and the 2019 Subpoena
Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation on September 21, 2015 before Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]], represented by McCawley and other lawyers of the firm; Maxwell was represented by [[Laura Menninger]] and Jeffrey S. Pagliuca of [[Haddon, Morgan and Foreman]]. Sweet's protective order of March 17, 2016 placed deposition transcripts and exhibits under seal, and the parties settled on May 24, 2017.[^5]
In the spring of 2019 prosecutors of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] served a grand jury subpoena on the firm for the confidential [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] discovery; an order of April 9, 2019 in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM), permitted it to comply, and the material was produced. Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019. In the later criminal case against Maxwell, Pagliuca told Judge [[Alison Nathan]] on August 24, 2020 that the government had subpoenaed nearly 90,000 pages of the civil discovery, more than half of the 165,000 pages of criminal discovery. On August 11, 2026 Judge [[Loretta Preska]] authorized 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" under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], over Maxwell's objection.[^4][^6][^7]
On August 20, 2019, ten days after Epstein's death, McCawley wrote to the [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] Public Liaison of the [[Executive Office for United States Attorneys]] to renew eight requests, made for a client, for Epstein records held by the U.S. Attorney's Offices for [[New Mexico]], the Southern District of New York, the Virgin Islands, the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]] and the Northern District of Georgia: "As Jeffrey Epstein is now deceased, any privacy concerns are extinguished." The file ends with the [[New York City]] death transcript listing [[Mark Epstein]] as informant.[^8]
### The Bank Settlements
With [[Edwards Pottinger]], the firm represented a victim suing as Jane Doe on behalf of a class against Deutsche Bank, which agreed in May 2023 to pay 75 million dollars; it also represented the class against JPMorgan Chase, which agreed in June 2023 to pay 290 million dollars. Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] approved both. The firm reported fees of 87 million dollars from the JPMorgan settlement and 22.5 million dollars from the Deutsche Bank settlement, 30 percent of each, and quoted Rakoff on final approval of the JPMorgan settlement: "in my 27 years on the bench, I have not seen such a good settlement arrive in such a short order, of a case of similar complexity." Its announcement noted that "Epstein became a customer of Deutsche Bank after JPMorgan ended its banking relationship with him."[^9][^10]
### Doe 3 v. Indyke
Victims represented by the firm sued Epstein's co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] personally in 2024 (Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204, before Judge [[Arun Subramanian]]), alleging that they built "a complex web of corporations and bank accounts" that let Epstein hide the abuse and pay victims and recruiters while they were "richly compensated." On February 19, 2026 the estate agreed to pay up to 35 million dollars. Indyke's lawyer, Daniel H. Weiner, said that "[n]either of the co-executors has made any admission or concession of misconduct," and Weiner and Kahn's lawyer, Daniel Ruzumna, said their clients "emphatically reject" any allegation of complicity in or knowledge of Epstein's crimes.[^11][^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, "David Boies," firm biography. https://www.bsfllp.com/people/david-boies.html
[^2]: Farrow, Ronan. "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies." *The New Yorker,* November 6, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies ; "Ehud Barak referred Weinstein to ex-Mossad agents he hired to quash allegations." *The Times of Israel,* November 8, 2017. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ehud-barak-referred-weinstein-to-ex-mossad-agents-he-hired-to-quash-allegations/
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00964912, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, November 8, 2017, 15:54 GMT. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964912.pdf ; EFTA00964979, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, November 8, 2017, 16:49 GMT. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964979.pdf ; EFTA00965384, DataSet 9, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, November 9, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00965384.pdf
[^4]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1360 with Exhibits 2 to 9 (Feb. 20, 2026), describing In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM) (April 9, 2019 order); Order, ECF No. 1367 (Aug. 11, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
[^5]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), Complaint, ECF No. 1 (Sept. 21, 2015); Answer, ECF No. 54 (March 14, 2016); Protective Order, ECF No. 62 (March 17, 2016). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00088205, DataSet 9, letter, Jeffrey S. Pagliuca, Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., to Hon. Alison J. Nathan, "Re: Reply in Support of Request to Modify Protective Order (Under Seal), United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN)," August 24, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00088205.pdf
[^7]: "Jeffrey Epstein operated a vast sex-trafficking network of underage girls who recruited other victims, prosecutors say." *CNN,* July 8, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/08/us/jeffrey-epstein-monday-court-appearance
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00032431, DataSet 8, letter of Sigrid S. McCawley, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, to FOIA Public Liaison, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, August 20, 2019, with City of New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene death transcript, Certificate No. 156-19-032838 (EFTA00032431 to EFTA00032437). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00032431.pdf
[^9]: Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, "U.S. District Judge Grants Final Settlement Approval for Jeffrey Epstein Survivors," case result, October 20 to November 9, 2023. https://www.bsfllp.com/news-events/us-district-judge-grants-final-settlement-approval-for-jeffrey-epstein-survivors.html
[^10]: "Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to Epstein victims in groundbreaking settlement, lawyers say," *PBS NewsHour / Associated Press,* 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/deutsche-bank-to-pay-75-million-to-epstein-victims-in-groundbreaking-settlement-lawyers-say ; "US judge approves Deutsche Bank $75 million settlement with Epstein accusers," *CNN Business,* October 20, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/business/deutsche-bank-settlement-epstein-accusers
[^11]: Reuters, "Epstein estate agrees to $35 million settlement in victim class action," *NBC News,* February 20, 2026; Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204 (S.D.N.Y., filed February 16, 2024), docket. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-estate-agrees-35-million-settlement-victim-class-action-rcna259863 ; https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68260876/doe-3-v-indyke/
[^12]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis

2
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@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Black asked for an outside review at an October 20, 2020 meeting of Apollo's boa
Dechert reported that Black paid Epstein 158 million dollars for work from 2012 through 2017: 50 million dollars for 2013, 70 million for 2014, 30 million for 2015, nothing for 2016 amid a fee dispute, and 8 million for 2017. It found that Epstein had told Black he generally charged clients 40 million dollars a year; that his first project, resolving a flaw in a 2006 [[Grantor Retained Annuity Trust]] that exposed Black's estate to an estimated 500 million dollars or more in tax, was called a "grand slam" by outside counsel; that Black and witnesses believed Epstein's advice conferred more than one billion and as much as two billion dollars in value; and that "the compensation paid by Black to Epstein far exceeded any amounts Black paid to his other professional advisors." It also recorded that many of Epstein's ideas "did not hold up under scrutiny."[^1]
The report documented Black's separate loans of 22.5 million and 8 million dollars in early 2017 from his entity BV70 LLC to Epstein's Plan D LLC, of which Epstein repaid 10 million dollars; Black's appointment of Epstein in 1997 as an initial director of the Black Family Foundation; and a 10 million dollar donation from Black to Epstein's [[Gratitude America]] in October 2015. It found that Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] bought 263,257 shares in Apollo's March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program, that the shares passed to [[Southern Financial LLC]] and were held through at least September 2019, and that Financial Trust Company had invested in AP SHL Investors LLC and AP Technology Partners LLC, vehicles formed by Apollo executives, and alongside Black's family in [[Environmental Solutions Worldwide]]. Dechert concluded that Black's and Apollo's public statements about the relationship were substantially accurate and that it had "seen no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein's criminal activities."[^1]
The report documented Black's separate loans of 22.5 million and 8 million dollars in early 2017 from his entity BV70 LLC to Epstein's Plan D LLC, of which Epstein repaid 10 million dollars; Black's appointment of Epstein in 1997 as an initial director of the [[Black Family Foundation]]; and a 10 million dollar donation from Black to Epstein's [[Gratitude America]] in October 2015. It found that Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] bought 263,257 shares in Apollo's March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program, that the shares passed to [[Southern Financial LLC]] and were held through at least September 2019, and that Financial Trust Company had invested in AP SHL Investors LLC and AP Technology Partners LLC, vehicles formed by Apollo executives, and alongside Black's family in [[Environmental Solutions Worldwide]]. Dechert concluded that Black's and Apollo's public statements about the relationship were substantially accurate and that it had "seen no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein's criminal activities."[^1]
On the day of release Black told Apollo's limited partners that the report "confirms several important facts that were previously disclosed. Apollo did no business with Mr. Epstein," announced that he would step down as chief executive by July 2021, and disclosed that Apollo had separately engaged [[WilmerHale]] to review its reputational-risk practices.[^4]

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@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- VictimCompensation
- EpsteinEstate
- KennethFeinberg
- VirginIslands
- Settlement
alias:
- Epstein Victim Compensation Program
- Epstein Victims Compensation Program
- Independent Epstein Victims' Compensation Program
- Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund
- EVCP
summary: "Voluntary claims program funded by Jeffrey Epstein's estate and run by Jordana Feldman, which paid about 121 to 125 million dollars to some 136 to 150 claimants in exchange for releases, its records sealed."
start: 2020
end: 2021
location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Jordana Feldman]]"
reverse: true
role: "administrator"
start: 2020
end: 2021
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
reverse: true
role: "co-executor of the Epstein estate"
start: 2020
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
reverse: true
role: "co-executor of the Epstein estate"
start: 2020
fn: 3
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Kenneth Feinberg]]"
reverse: true
role: "co-designer"
fn: 1
---
The Epstein Victims' Compensation Program was a voluntary claims program funded by the estate of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and administered by Jordana H. Feldman, which operated from 2020 to 2021. It offered compensation to anyone alleging sexual abuse by Epstein in exchange for a release of claims and the dismissal of pending suits against the estate and related parties. The estate's co-executors, [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]], retained [[Kenneth Feinberg]], Camille Biros and Feldman to design it. The [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] intervened against the proposed release in 2019. According to the executors' lawyers it paid about 121 million dollars to 136 claimants; Feldman gave the figure as nearly 125 million dollars to 150 eligible claimants. Its records remain under seal.[^1][^2][^3]
### Design
A draft protocol dated January 9, 2020 and filed the next day as an exhibit in Doe v. Indyke in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] states: "The Estate of Jeffrey Epstein... has retained the services of nationally recognized claims administration experts Kenneth R. Feinberg, Camille S. Biros and Jordana H. Feldman to design the Program. Ms. Feldman will also serve as the Administrator." It describes the program as "purely voluntary," stating that it "does not affect any rights a victim may have unless and until the Claimant accepts the offered compensation and executes a Release," and as "independent," to "in no way be administered, controlled or overseen by the Estate," with the administrator's decisions "not subject to review or modification in any way by the Estate or any other party or entity." It states there is "no cap or limitation on the aggregate amount of funds available to compensate all eligible Claimants."[^1]
The protocol opened the program to claimants "regardless of where they were harmed, when they were harmed, whether the claim is time-barred," and regardless of a prior settlement. A person who "was over 21 at the time and who allegedly assisted Epstein in procuring other victims/survivors may participate... where there is a credible basis to determine that the individual acted under duress as a result of her own sexual abuse by Epstein." As a condition of payment "the Claimant must dismiss with prejudice any existing lawsuits or legal actions or claims filed against the Estate or related entities and/or individuals."[^1]
### The Virgin Islands Intervention
The estate proposed the program in November 2019. The [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice|Virgin Islands Attorney General]] [[Denise George]] intervened, objecting that the proposed release ran to "any person or entity arising from or related to Mr. Epstein's conduct" and alleging that the program would "shield its participants from liability." After the intervention an advocate was retained for claimants.[^2]
### Payments
Feldman made individual determinations; Biros described the amounts: "There's no sort of scientific answer to that... It's just really what you feel is appropriate for somebody that went through that kind of thing, and the amount of money that you can have." Lawyers for Indyke and Kahn put the payments at about 121 million dollars to 136 claimants; Feldman announced in 2021 that the program had paid nearly 125 million dollars to 150 eligible claimants, with more than 90 percent of offers accepted. The estate separately settled claims by 58 other women for about 48 million dollars. The program's records, including claimant identities and payments, are sealed.[^3]
[[Annie Farmer]] testified at the 2021 trial of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] that she had accepted 1.5 million dollars from the program. At Maxwell's sentencing in June 2022 the government did not seek restitution because the testifying victims had already been compensated through the program and civil settlements.[^4][^5]
A July 23, 2021 message in an email chain between Feldman and a special agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s New York child exploitation and human trafficking squad referred to "the compensation program for Epstein victims" and forwarded "the most recent of many similar emails and voicemails" from "a disgruntled claimant, threatening bodily harm." In late August 2021 Feldman wrote to the agent: "I just received another concerning email from this claimant, which I will forward to you. The allegations are completely without merit and nonsensical, but I am very troubled by the personal information she invokes and the tone of her email."[^6]
On November 22, 2023 Judge [[Jed Rakoff]], presiding over the Virgin Islands' suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]], ordered JPMorgan and [[Deutsche Bank]] to pay the program 563,365.51 dollars and 187,788.50 dollars respectively for the cost of complying with their subpoenas.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Independent Epstein Victims' Compensation Program, Protocol, Draft 1" (January 9, 2020), Exhibit, Doe v. Indyke, No. 1:19-cv-08673-KPF-DCF (S.D.N.Y.), Document 42-6, filed January 10, 2020. http://web.archive.org/web/20260117010149/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Doe%20v.%20Indyke,%20No.%20119-cv-08673%20(S.D.N.Y.%202019)/042-06.pdf
[^2]: U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice, "U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate of Jeffrey Epstein and Co-Defendants for Over $105 Million," 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/ ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66683865/government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands-v-jpmorgan-chase-bank-na/
[^3]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis
[^4]: "Ghislaine Maxwell trial accuser Annie Farmer testifies she was violated at age 16," *CBS News,* December 10, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-accuser-annie-farmer-testifies-violated-age-16/
[^5]: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors," press release, June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00155137, DataSet 9, email chain, Jordana Feldman and an FBI New York special agent, July 23 to August 30, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00155137.pdf
[^7]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 66683865, order of November 22, 2023. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66683865/government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands-v-jpmorgan-chase-bank-na/

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@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ The articles do not name Epstein. Epstein's own 2009 verified complaint against
According to documents released by the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] in February 2020, Epstein was first granted tax benefits for Financial Trust Co., Inc. in 1999 by the authority's predecessor, the Virgin Islands [[Industrial Development Commission]]. The certificate, signed by commission director [[Frandelle Gerard]], granted a 90 percent exemption from income tax and 100 percent exemptions from gross-receipts and excise taxes for ten years, and a 100 percent exemption of taxes "on real property used for the business of financial and economic consulting, money management, investment advisory and fiduciary services for its clients."[^5]
The certificate was amended in 2012 under the [[Economic Development Commission]], which added "special conditions": at least 100,000 dollars a year to "various Virgin Islands charities, youth sports organizations and clubs; and symposiums held in the Virgin Islands," scholarships of 10,000 dollars a year for five years at Kean and Charlotte Amalie high schools, 22,500 dollars to the commission's Workforce Development fund, and 3,000 dollars a year to the Territorial Scholarship fund. The amended certificate was signed by the commission's chairman, [[Albert Bryan]], then serving under Governor [[John de Jongh]]; Bryan also signed the later certificate for Southern Trust Company and was elected governor in 2018. De Jongh's wife, [[Cecile de Jongh]], worked for Epstein from 1998 and was listed as the office manager of both companies.[^5][^6]
The certificate was amended in 2012 under the [[Economic Development Commission]], which added "special conditions": at least 100,000 dollars a year to "various Virgin Islands charities, youth sports organizations and clubs; and symposiums held in the Virgin Islands," scholarships of 10,000 dollars a year for five years at Kean and [[Charlotte Amalie]] high schools, 22,500 dollars to the commission's Workforce Development fund, and 3,000 dollars a year to the Territorial Scholarship fund. The amended certificate was signed by the commission's chairman, [[Albert Bryan]], then serving under Governor [[John de Jongh]]; Bryan also signed the later certificate for Southern Trust Company and was elected governor in 2018. De Jongh's wife, [[Cecile de Jongh]], worked for Epstein from 1998 and was listed as the office manager of both companies.[^5][^6]
In January 2020 the authority's assistant chief executive, [[Wayne Biggs Jr.]], told the Virgin Islands Daily News that Epstein "was in the program before he was convicted of any sex crimes under Financial Trust. And he changed from Financial Trust to Southern Trust." Authority officials declined to disclose how much any of the commission's 72 beneficiary companies received in tax breaks each year, and the value of the Financial Trust exemptions was not published at the time. The same reporting noted that Epstein owned 50 percent of [[American Yacht Harbor]] in Red Hook, where Southern Trust kept its office, and that the marina was still receiving commission tax breaks in 2020.[^5]
@ -61,17 +61,17 @@ In January 2020 the authority's assistant chief executive, [[Wayne Biggs Jr.]],
Financial Trust was Epstein's principal vehicle for his long relationship with Bear Stearns, where he had worked from 1976 to 1981. In an August 5, 2009 verified complaint filed in the [[District Court of the Virgin Islands]], the company stated that "Epstein has had a relationship with Bear Stearns beginning in 1976. Since 1981, Epstein has conducted hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions with Bear Stearns for his own, as well as his clients', accounts and he conducted this business with the senior management of Bear Stearns." Financial Trust then held 120,000 Bear Stearns shares in a [[Merrill Lynch]] brokerage account, and Epstein alone made its investment decisions on the stock.[^2]
The complaint alleged that Bear Stearns induced Financial Trust to keep its shares because "other large investors would view Financial Trust's sale of a significant block of shares of Bear Stearns stock as a loss of confidence in Bear Stearns by a company owned and managed by a person seen by such large investors as close to the firm," at a time when the firm's valuations were being examined by the press, "including Landon Thomas at the [[New York Times]]," after the collapse of two [[Bear Stearns Asset Management]] hedge funds in the summer of 2007. Financial Trust sold 56,350 shares on August 6, 2007 at 101.38 dollars. That day, according to the complaint, Epstein spoke by telephone from the Virgin Islands with chief executive [[James Cayne]], who told him the problems were "contained to those two funds," described a pending one billion dollar capital infusion from [[CITIC Group|China Citic Group]], and advised him to "hold tight." The company sold its remaining 120,000 shares for 34.99 dollars (20,000 shares, March 14, 2008) and 3.41 dollars (100,000 shares, March 17, 2008) as [[JPMorgan Chase]] took over the firm. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages for fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, naming Cayne, [[Alan Greenberg]], [[Warren Spector]], [[Samuel Molinaro]] and [[Alan Schwartz]] as the officers whose statements Epstein had relied on. It was verified by the company's vice president and filed by the St. Croix lawyer [[John K. Dema]].[^2]
The complaint alleged that Bear Stearns induced Financial Trust to keep its shares because "other large investors would view Financial Trust's sale of a significant block of shares of Bear Stearns stock as a loss of confidence in Bear Stearns by a company owned and managed by a person seen by such large investors as close to the firm," at a time when the firm's valuations were being examined by the press, "including Landon Thomas at the [[New York Times]]," after the collapse of two [[Bear Stearns Asset Management]] hedge funds in the summer of 2007. Financial Trust sold 56,350 shares on August 6, 2007 at 101.38 dollars. That day, according to the complaint, Epstein spoke by telephone from the Virgin Islands with chief executive [[James Cayne]], who told him the problems were "contained to those two funds," described a pending one billion dollar capital infusion from [[CITIC Group|China Citic Group]], and advised him to "hold tight." The company sold its remaining 120,000 shares for 34.99 dollars (20,000 shares, March 14, 2008) and 3.41 dollars (100,000 shares, March 17, 2008) as [[JPMorgan Chase]] took over the firm. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages for fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, naming Cayne, [[Alan Greenberg]], [[Warren Spector]], [[Samuel Molinaro]] and [[Alan Schwartz]] as the officers whose statements Epstein had relied on. It was verified by the company's vice president and filed by the [[St. Croix]] lawyer [[John K. Dema]].[^2]
Epstein was also an investor in the funds themselves. Fox Business reported in 2019 that he had put about 60 million dollars into the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, "making him one of its largest investors," and that a plan for investors to take control of the fund was put to him in the summer of 2007 and "fizzled." The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] charged the funds' managers, [[Ralph Cioffi]] and [[Matthew Tannin]], in June 2008 with misleading investors before the funds collapsed in June 2007 with losses of about 1.8 billion dollars; the release does not name individual investors.[^7][^8]
### Apollo Shares and the Leon Black Payments
The law firm [[Dechert]], reporting to the conflicts committee of Apollo Global Management in January 2021, found that "in 2011, one of Epstein's entities, Financial Trust Company, purchased 263,257 shares of Apollo's stock in its initial public offering" through a directed share offering program, and that the shares "appear to have later been transferred to a second Epstein entity, Southern Financial LLC, and appear to have been held through at least September 2019." The same review found that Apollo's co-founder [[Leon Black]] paid Epstein 158 million dollars for work performed from 2012 through 2017; the written 2013 service agreement it described was with Southern Trust Company, Inc., which received the first payments. Dechert reported no evidence that Black paid Epstein for anything other than "legitimate advice."[^9]
The law firm [[Dechert]], reporting to the conflicts committee of Apollo Global Management in January 2021, found that "in 2011, one of Epstein's entities, Financial Trust Company, purchased 263,257 shares of Apollo's stock in its initial public offering" through a directed share offering program, and that the shares "appear to have later been transferred to a second Epstein entity, [[Southern Financial LLC]], and appear to have been held through at least September 2019." The same review found that Apollo's co-founder [[Leon Black]] paid Epstein 158 million dollars for work performed from 2012 through 2017; the written 2013 service agreement it described was with Southern Trust Company, Inc., which received the first payments. Dechert reported no evidence that Black paid Epstein for anything other than "legitimate advice."[^9]
### The 2007 Grand Jury Subpoena
The company was subpoenaed in the federal investigation that ended in Epstein's [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. The investigation timeline kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records subpoenas on May 31, 2007 to Financial Trust Company, Inc., returnable June 12, 2007, and to the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc., J. Epstein & Company, Inc. and "Epstein Interests," returnable June 21, 2007, with the defense lawyer [[Gerald Lefcourt]] as the correspondent, and a "Production response to 5/31/07 subpoenas" from all four on June 13, 2007. The same log lists earlier subpoenas to Chase and JPMorgan Chase in 2006 and 2007 and a subpoena to Bear Stearns returnable September 4, 2007.[^10]
The company was subpoenaed in the federal investigation that ended in Epstein's [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. The investigation timeline kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records subpoenas on May 31, 2007 to Financial Trust Company, Inc., returnable June 12, 2007, and to the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc.]], J. Epstein & Company, Inc. and "Epstein Interests," returnable June 21, 2007, with the defense lawyer [[Gerald Lefcourt]] as the correspondent, and a "Production response to 5/31/07 subpoenas" from all four on June 13, 2007. The same log lists earlier subpoenas to Chase and JPMorgan Chase in 2006 and 2007 and a subpoena to Bear Stearns returnable September 4, 2007.[^10]
### The Towers Financial Allegations

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@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- GoodwinProcter
- MIT
- MITMediaLab
- JeffreyEpstein
- InternalInvestigation
- JoiIto
- SethLloyd
alias:
- Goodwin Procter
- Goodwin Procter LLP
summary: "Boston law firm founded in 1912 whose January 2020 report for MIT documented ten Epstein donations totaling 850,000 dollars and found that MIT's senior team had approved post-conviction gifts."
start: 1912-07-01
location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Robert Eliot Goodwin]]"
reverse: true
start: 1912-07-01
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Joseph Osborne Procter Jr.]]"
reverse: true
start: 1912-07-01
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]"
role: "outside investigator of Jeffrey Epstein's interactions with MIT"
start: 2019-09
end: 2020-01-10
fn: 3
- type: represented
with: "[[Marc Benioff]]"
role: "counsel to Marc and Lynne Benioff in the purchase of Time"
start: 2018-09
fn: 11
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Goodwin Procter LLP is an American law firm founded in [[Boston]] on July 1, 1912 by two former [[Harvard University|Harvard]] classmates, Robert Eliot Goodwin and Joseph Osborne Procter Jr., and now employing more than 1,800 lawyers. After [[Joi Ito]] resigned as director of the [[MIT Media Lab]] on September 7, 2019, the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] engaged the firm to investigate [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s interactions with the institute. Its report of January 10, 2020 found that Epstein had made ten donations to MIT totaling 850,000 dollars between 2002 and 2017, nine of them after his 2008 conviction, that three members of MIT's senior team had approved the post-conviction gifts in 2013 knowing of his record, and that the physicist [[Seth Lloyd]] had "purposefully failed to inform MIT" that Epstein was the source of his 2012 gifts.[^1][^2][^3]
### The MIT Engagement
Ito resigned one day after [[Ronan Farrow]] reported in the *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* that the lab had concealed Epstein's donations. Goodwin Procter conducted 73 interviews and, with [[Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison]], retained separately by MIT's Executive Committee, reviewed more than 610,000 emails and documents. The committee's chairman, Robert Millard, whom Ito had asked in 2016 for help getting "money from JE," recused himself from oversight of the investigation.[^3][^4][^5]
### Findings
The first donation, 100,000 dollars from Epstein's C.O.U.Q. Foundation in 2002, supported the research of [[Marvin Minsky]]; the report quoted a March 2013 email in which the Media Lab co-founder [[Nicholas Negroponte]] described Minsky as Epstein's closest friend at MIT, who had "even visited him in jail." The nine gifts after the conviction went to the Media Lab (525,000 dollars) or to Lloyd (225,000 dollars), including two donations of 50,000 dollars in 2012 and one of 125,000 dollars in 2017. The report found that the post-conviction visits and gifts were driven by Ito or by Lloyd, and that the 2012 gifts served Epstein as "a trial balloon" to test MIT's willingness to take his money.[^3][^6]
Lloyd, who had known Epstein since a 2004 dinner organized by the literary agent [[John Brockman]], had personally received a 60,000 dollar gift from him in about 2005 or 2006 that MIT never recorded, and visited him at his office during his work release. On June 7, 2012 he told MIT staff to expect a donation without naming the donor, giving only the name of Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] as the person "taking care of the donation from the donor's end." The investigators concluded that "the only reasonable inference is that Professor Lloyd did this to obscure the fact that Epstein was the donor." A presidential acknowledgment letter bearing the signature of [[L. Rafael Reif]] and dated August 16, 2012 thanked Epstein for the gift. MIT placed Lloyd on paid administrative leave the day the report was released and imposed five years of restrictions on him in December 2020.[^3][^7]
The report confirmed that MIT's senior team, General Counsel R. Gregory Morgan, Vice President Jeffrey Newton and Treasurer Israel Ruiz, approved a framework for anonymous Epstein gifts in June 2013: "We do not want his name appearing on any list of supporters or donors in any form." It found that they "made significant mistakes of judgment," but that "no Senior Team member violated any law, breached any MIT policy, or acted in pursuit of personal gain," and that Reif "was not contemporaneously aware of Epstein's donations."[^3][^8]
### Gates, Black and the "Disqualified" Code
Epstein claimed in 2014, according to the report, to have arranged an anonymous 2 million dollar gift to the lab from [[Bill Gates]] and a 5 million dollar anonymous gift from [[Leon Black]]. Gates's representatives told the investigators that he "flatly denies" Epstein had anything to do with his donation; the investigators found no evidence that the money of either man was Epstein's.[^3][^9]
Farrow had reported that Epstein was listed as "disqualified" in MIT's donor database. The report disputed this: "Contrary to certain media reports, neither Epstein nor his foundations was ever coded as 'disqualified' in MIT's donor systems. Further, the code 'disqualified' does not mean that a person or entity is 'blacklisted' or prohibited from donating to the Institute. Rather, the term 'disqualified' is a database code for any donor who previously donated to MIT but presently is dormant or is no longer interested in giving to MIT."[^8][^10]
### Other Clients
In September 2018 Goodwin Procter, with BDT & Company, advised [[Marc Benioff]] and [[Lynne Benioff]] on their 190 million dollar purchase of *[[Time]]* from the [[Meredith Corporation]].[^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Goodwin Procter LLP, "Goodwin Procter 100 Years: Our Firm is Established," press release, January 1, 2012. https://www.goodwinlaw.com/en/news-and-events/news/2012/01/goodwin-procter-100-years-our-firm-is-established
[^2]: Goodwin Procter LLP, "About Us: Our Story." https://www.goodwinlaw.com/en/about/about-us
[^3]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,* January 10, 2020, pp. 3 to 5, 10, 20 to 21 and nn. 5, 22 to 24. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf ; "MIT releases results of fact-finding on engagements with Jeffrey Epstein," *MIT News,* January 10, 2020. https://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-releases-results-fact-finding-report-jeffrey-epstein-0110
[^4]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^5]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report,* January 10, 2020, pp. 40 to 41 and n. 42, on Ito's November 3, 2016 email to Millard and Millard's recusal. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^6]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report,* January 10, 2020, pp. 9, 16. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf ; "Eight revelations from MIT's Jeffrey Epstein report," *MIT Technology Review,* January 10, 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/01/10/130928/mit-jeffrey-epstein-donations-media-lab-joi-ito-seth-lloyd-funding-ethics/
[^7]: Schmidt, Martin A., Provost. "Decision on Professor Seth Lloyd." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, December 18, 2020. https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/decision-professor-seth-lloyd
[^8]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report,* January 10, 2020, pp. 5, 10, 27 to 28 and nn. 28 to 30. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^9]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,* January 10, 2020 (Gates and Black gifts). https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^10]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019, on the "disqualified" listing. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^11]: Meredith Corporation, "Meredith Corporation To Sell TIME Media Brand To Marc And Lynne Benioff," PR Newswire, September 16, 2018. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meredith-corporation-to-sell-time-media-brand-to-marc-and-lynne-benioff-300713440.html

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@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Checks of "Gratitude America, Ltd," with an account address in New York, New Yor
### Other Grantees
Gratitude America was listed with the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation]] and the C.O.U.Q. Foundation among the funders of [[John Brockman]]'s [[Edge Foundation]]; financial records reviewed by *BuzzFeed News* showed that the Epstein entities together provided 638,000 dollars of the roughly 857,000 dollars Edge received from 2001 to 2017.[^12] In June 2026 Representative [[Jamie Raskin]], ranking Democrat on the [[House Judiciary Committee]], asked Bard for all records of payments from a list of Epstein-linked entities that included "Gratitude America Ltd.," the Butterfly Trust, Southern Trust Company, Inc., Southern Financial LLC, Plan D, LLC and the "Haze Trust."[^13]
Gratitude America was listed with the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation]] and the C.O.U.Q. Foundation among the funders of [[John Brockman]]'s [[Edge Foundation]]; financial records reviewed by *BuzzFeed News* showed that the Epstein entities together provided 638,000 dollars of the roughly 857,000 dollars Edge received from 2001 to 2017.[^12] In June 2026 Representative [[Jamie Raskin]], ranking Democrat on the [[House Judiciary Committee]], asked Bard for all records of payments from a list of Epstein-linked entities that included "Gratitude America Ltd.," the Butterfly Trust, Southern Trust Company, Inc., [[Southern Financial LLC]], Plan D, LLC and the "Haze Trust."[^13]
### Footnotes

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- HaddonMorganAndForeman
- GhislaineMaxwell
- JeffreyEpstein
- Denver
- GaryHart
- CriminalDefense
alias:
- Haddon, Morgan and Foreman
- Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C.
- Haddon Morgan and Foreman
- Haddon Morgan & Foreman
summary: "Denver criminal defense firm founded in 1976 by former public defenders, whose clients included Kobe Bryant, John Ramsey and Ghislaine Maxwell, and which sued Maxwell's family in 2022 for unpaid fees."
start: 1976
location: "Denver, Colorado"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Harold Haddon]]"
reverse: true
role: "founding partner"
start: 1976
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
role: "defense counsel in Giuffre v. Maxwell and United States v. Maxwell"
start: 2015
end: 2022
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Laura Menninger]]"
reverse: true
role: "shareholder"
start: 2012
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]"
role: "counsel for the defendant"
start: 2015-09-21
fn: 3
- type: participant_in
with: "[[United States v. Maxwell]]"
role: "defense counsel"
start: 2020
fn: 5
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C. is a criminal defense and civil trial firm in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], founded in 1976 by [[Harold Haddon]] and Bryan Morgan, both former Colorado public defenders, and joined in 1977 by Lee Foreman. Haddon ran [[Gary Hart]]'s Senate campaigns of 1974 and 1980 and was national political director of Hart's 1987 presidential campaign. Through its lawyers [[Laura Menninger|Laura A. Menninger]] and Jeffrey S. Pagliuca the firm represented [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] from 2015 and in the criminal case [[United States v. Maxwell]] from 2020, and in 2022 it sued Maxwell, her brother [[Kevin Maxwell]] and her husband [[Scott Borgerson]] for more than 878,000 dollars in unpaid fees.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Founders and Politics
Harold "Hal" Haddon had been Chief Trial Deputy of the Colorado Public Defender's Office. According to the firm's biography of him, "Hal was the Campaign Manager for Colorado U.S. Senator Gary Hart's 1974 and 1980 campaigns as well as the National Political Director for Senator Hart's Presidential Campaign in 1987. He also served as the Finance Chairman for Colorado Governor Richard Lamm's 1978 campaign." Haddon served from 2005 to 2008 as personal representative of the estate of [[Hunter S. Thompson]], whom he had defended in 1990 and 1991 on sexual assault, explosives and drug charges that were dismissed after a preliminary hearing.[^1]
### Clients
The firm's biography of Haddon lists representations of the basketball player [[Kobe Bryant]], whose 2003 Colorado sexual assault charge was dismissed during jury selection; [[John Ramsey]], father of [[JonBenét Ramsey]], in the Colorado state grand jury investigation of her 1996 murder, whom the district attorney publicly exonerated in July 2008 after DNA testing; [[Qwest Communications]] in a federal securities fraud investigation from 2002 to 2010 that produced no corporate indictment; [[Rockwell International]] in the federal environmental crimes investigation of the [[Rocky Flats]] nuclear weapons plant from 1989 to 1998, which ended in a 1992 corporate guilty plea and an 18.5 million dollar fine; [[McGraw-Hill]] in a 2003 federal false statements investigation that produced no indictment; and the [[University of Colorado]] in a patent fraud case against a division of Wyeth, retried to an affirmed 58 million dollar judgment.[^1]
### Maxwell
Menninger, a former law clerk to Judge [[Lewis A. Kaplan]] of the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]], joined the firm as a shareholder in 2012 after the Colorado State Public Defender and [[Holland & Hart]]. [[Virginia Giuffre]] sued Maxwell for defamation on September 21, 2015 before Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]], represented by [[Boies Schiller Flexner]]; Menninger and Pagliuca represented Maxwell. The case settled on May 24, 2017, but its sealed record, produced under Sweet's March 17, 2016 protective order, was litigated for a further nine years.[^2][^3]
In the criminal case, Pagliuca wrote to Judge [[Alison Nathan]] on August 24, 2020 that the government had subpoenaed from Giuffre's lawyers nearly 90,000 pages of civil discovery still under the Giuffre v. Maxwell protective order, more than half of the 165,000 pages of criminal discovery, while the [[Second Circuit]] and Judge [[Loretta Preska]] were considering whether to unseal the same material, and warned that "the cat will be out of the bag." The firm's lawyers, with Mark S. Cohen of [[Cohen & Gresser]] and [[Bobbi Sternheim|Bobbi C. Sternheim]], moved to dismiss for breach of the 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]; Nathan denied the motion on April 16, 2021. On November 1, 2021 the firm served a defense expert disclosure concerning the memory researcher [[Elizabeth Loftus]]. Maxwell was convicted on December 29, 2021.[^5][^6][^7]
### The Fee Suit
The firm filed suit in Denver on August 22, 2022 against Maxwell, Kevin Maxwell and Borgerson, alleging that it had not been paid more than 878,000 dollars for its work at trial and on appeal. It alleged that Maxwell had put her brother in charge of her legal fees after her arrest, that he paid "a fraction" of the bills through trial while urging the firm to continue on appeal issues, that he blamed Borgerson for obstructing payment, and that Borgerson formed a limited liability company to buy real estate so as to shield his wife's assets from creditors. Messages for Maxwell's other trial lawyers, [[Christian Everdell]] and Sternheim, were not returned, and [[Ian Maxwell]] said that no family member, including Ghislaine, would comment.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., "Attorney Harold Haddon," firm biography (archived October 13, 2024). https://web.archive.org/web/20241013041914/https://www.hmflaw.com/attorney-harold-haddon/
[^2]: Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., "Attorney Laura A. Menninger," firm biography (archived September 13, 2024). https://web.archive.org/web/20240913034618/https://www.hmflaw.com/attorney-laura-menninger/
[^3]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), Complaint, ECF No. 1 (Sept. 21, 2015); Motion to Dismiss and to Stay Discovery, ECF Nos. 14, 15, 17 (Dec. 1, 2015); Answer, ECF No. 54 (March 14, 2016); Protective Order, ECF No. 62 (March 17, 2016). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
[^4]: Associated Press, "Ghislaine Maxwell's Lawyers Sue for Over $878K in Fees," *NBC Los Angeles,* August 24, 2022. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/ghislaine-maxwells-lawyers-sue-for-over-878k-in-fees/2971199/
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00088205, DataSet 9, letter, Jeffrey S. Pagliuca, Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., to Hon. Alison J. Nathan, "Re: Reply in Support of Request to Modify Protective Order (Under Seal), United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN)," August 24, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00088205.pdf
[^6]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Notice of Motion to Dismiss Superseding Indictment for Breach of Non-Prosecution Agreement, ECF No. 141 (filed Feb. 4, 2021). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.141.0.pdf ; Opinion and Order, ECF No. 207 (April 16, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00016268, DataSet 8, letter, Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C., defense expert disclosure, United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (S.D.N.Y.), November 1, 2021 (duplicate at EFTA02835304, Court Records). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00016268.pdf

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- HighbridgeCapital
- HedgeFund
- GlennDubin
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
- JesStaley
alias:
- Highbridge Capital Management
- Highbridge Capital Management, LLC
- Highbridge Capital Corp.
- Highbridge Capital
- Highbridge
summary: "New York hedge fund founded in 1992 by Glenn Dubin and Henry Swieca, with Jeffrey Epstein as a founding investor, whose 2004 sale to JPMorgan Epstein helped broker."
start: 1992-09
location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Glenn Dubin]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-09
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Henry Swieca]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-09
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "founding investor"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Glenn Dubin]]"
reverse: true
end: 2013
role: "chief executive"
fn: 5
---
Highbridge Capital Management is a [[New York City|New York]] hedge fund founded in September 1992 by [[Glenn Dubin]] and [[Henry Swieca]]. A March 2004 [[JPMorgan Chase]] memorandum described [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as "a founding investor in Highbridge," and Epstein advised Dubin and Swieca in their negotiations with JPMorgan over the bank's purchase of a majority stake that year, at a time when he was also a private-banking client of JPMorgan and a correspondent of its executive [[Jes Staley]]. JPMorgan raised its stake to 77.5 percent in 2009. Dubin led the firm until 2013. In 2010 Highbridge answered a subpoena in an arbitration between Epstein's companies and the Fortress Value Recovery Fund and [[D.B. Zwirn & Co.]] entities, and in 2020 the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]] subpoenaed its records in its suit against Epstein's estate.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### Founding
Dubin and Swieca grew up in [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]], "a working-class neighborhood in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge," and launched Highbridge as an actively managed hedge fund in September 1992. The fund had 128 million dollars in assets during the 1994 bond market rout and about 6 billion dollars by June 2004, when [[Institutional Investor]] listed JPMorgan Chase and [[Citigroup]] among the money-center banks that were its clients.[^1]
### The 2004 JPMorgan Purchase
Staley told the [[United Kingdom]]'s Upper Tribunal in 2025 that JPMorgan's 2004 purchase of a majority stake in Highbridge was the largest acquisition of a hedge fund to that time, and that Epstein played an important role in it while acting as an adviser to another party. A memorandum of March 18, 2004 to [[Jamie Dimon]], then still chairman of [[Bank One Corporation]], and to JPMorgan chairman [[William B. Harrison Jr.]] and [[David Coulter]] stated: "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 Staley read: "We continue to be concerned about the role Jeffrey Epstein is or is not playing. One concern that we have is that Jeffrey has been educating Glenn & Henry about our structure and valuation thoughts."[^2][^3][^6]
Dimon testified in 2023 that he "had ultimate approval of the transaction," that he did not know of any role Epstein played, and that he did not recall the March memorandum. Asked why Staley would have written to him about Highbridge and Epstein, he said, "You got me." JPMorgan raised its stake to 77.5 percent in 2009. In September 2025 Senator [[Ron Wyden]] asked the bank to describe any payments to Epstein for services, "such as the reported $15 million paid by JPMC to Epstein related to the acquisition of Highbridge"; the bank did not answer.[^6][^7][^8]
### The Fortress and Zwirn Arbitration
On November 9, 2010 Highbridge Capital Management, LLC was served, as a non-party, with a subpoena duces tecum in an arbitration before JAMS in New York, Reference No. 1425006537, captioned *Fortress VRF I LLC and Fortress Value Recovery Fund I LLC v. Jeepers, Inc.* In the same proceeding [[Financial Trust Company]], Inc. and Jeepers, Inc. were counter-claimants and third-party claimants against Fortress Value Recovery Fund I LLC and against D.B. Zwirn Partners, LLC, D.B. Zwirn & Co., L.P., DBZ GP, LLC, Zwirn Holdings, LLC and [[Daniel Zwirn]]. Highbridge's responses and objections to the subpoena were later produced by JPMorgan in the Virgin Islands litigation under the Bates number JPM-SDNY-00061119.[^4]
### Project Jeep and the Virgin Islands Subpoena
On July 22, 2019, after Epstein's arrest, JPMorgan's global head of financial crimes compliance wrote to two chief compliance officers that "Top of house requested that we expand our analysis to related parties and put together slides," and that "There is a highbridge angle and one dating back to Bear," referring to [[Bear Stearns]]. The summary produced by the review, code-named Project Jeep, grouped messages concerning "lawsuits and litigation involving Epstein, JPMC, Bear Stearns, Highbridge, Zwirn etc."[^9]
On September 3, 2020 the Virgin Islands attorney general, [[Denise George]], in her suit against Epstein's estate, issued subpoenas to Dubin, his wife [[Eva Andersson-Dubin]] and Highbridge, seeking records of financial transactions and communications with Epstein from 1998 onward, including three wire transfers between 2014 and 2016.[^5]
### 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]: 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
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01581714, DataSet 10, Responses and Objections of Non-Party Highbridge Capital Management, LLC to the Subpoena Duces Tecum dated November 9, 2010, JAMS Ref. No. 1425006537 (JPM-SDNY-00061119). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01581714.pdf
[^5]: "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
[^6]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), transcript pp. 51-57, 179-180, 218, 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^7]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), report pp. 6, 16-17, 24, 46. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^8]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., September 24, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_senator_wyden_to_jpmorgan_chase_epstein_accounts_09-24-25pdf.pdf
[^9]: 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 ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808647, Court Records (same case), Exhibit 3 to ECF No. 191, email "Project Jeep Current Review," October 27-28, 2019. 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)/EFTA02808647.pdf

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- HyperionAir
- ShellCompany
- Aircraft
- VirginIslands
- Delaware
- CashTransactions
alias:
- Hyperion Air, Inc.
- Hyperion Air Inc.
- Hyperion Air Inc
- Hyperion Air, LLC
- Hyperion Air LLC
- Hyperion Inc
summary: "Two Jeffrey Epstein aircraft companies: a Delaware corporation that held his Gulfstream N909JE from 1994 and a St. Thomas LLC, formed in 2012, that held his helicopters."
start: 1994
location: "Wilmington, Delaware; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
reverse: true
role: "corporate secretary of Hyperion Air, Inc.; name on filings in 1999 and 2013"
start: 1999
end: 2013
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "sole member of Hyperion Air, LLC under its operating agreement"
start: 2012-10-19
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Larry Visoski]]"
reverse: true
role: "manager of Hyperion Air, LLC, signing the 2019 purchase and 2021 sale of N722JE"
start: 2019-06-13
end: 2021-05-13
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[David Rodgers]]"
reverse: true
role: "chief pilot, signatory on the 1994 Gulfstream purchase"
start: 1994
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
reverse: true
role: "grand jury subpoena returnable August 18, 2006"
start: 2006-08-18
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
role: "named as a search term in an FAA registry search requested by an Assistant U.S. Attorney"
start: 2021-08-18
fn: 1
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
reverse: true
role: "Hyperion Air, LLC named as a defendant in the territory's suit against the Epstein estate"
start: 2020
end: 2022-12-01
fn: 8
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Hyperion Air is the name of two companies that held aircraft for [[Jeffrey Epstein]]: Hyperion Air, Inc., a [[Delaware]] corporation with a registered address in [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], which bought his Gulfstream jet N909JE in 1994, and Hyperion Air, LLC, organized in [[St. Thomas]], [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], on October 19, 2012, which held his helicopters until after his death. A 2007 federal draft indictment described Epstein as "president, sole director, and sole shareholder" of Hyperion Air, Inc., whose "sole business activities related to the operation and ownership of a Gulfstream G-1159B aircraft bearing tail number N909JE."[^1][^2] The corporation's account at [[JPMorgan Chase]] carried Epstein's aviation cash withdrawals from about 2011.[^3]
### Hyperion Air, Inc.
In 1994 [[Gulfstream Aerospace|Gulfstream]] sold a 1974 Gulfstream G-1159B, serial number 151, registered N979GA, to Hyperion Air Inc. of Wilmington. Epstein's pilot [[David Rodgers]] signed as chief pilot and Epstein signed as president; a special agent of the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] later noted that "the signature of EPSTEIN looks similar" to his signature on another aircraft's documents. The registration was changed to N909JE in May 1994. The name of [[Darren Indyke]], Epstein's lawyer, appears on documents filed for Hyperion Air Inc. in 1999 and 2013. In November 2013 Hyperion sold N909JE to [[Starbridge Landing]] Inc. of Dover, Delaware, and on December 2, 2014 the aircraft was deregistered for export to [[Venezuela]].[^1]
In March 2012 a 2001 [[Bell 430]] helicopter, serial number 49078, registered N901RL, was registered to Hyperion Air Inc., with Indyke signing the application as corporate secretary. The registration was changed to N331JE in June 2012, and in August 2013 the helicopter was transferred to Hyperion Air LLC in St. Thomas. The FAA agent wrote that "the same players in the Inc and LLC are on the FAA registration paperwork," naming Indyke and Lawrence Visoski.[^1]
### The 2006 Subpoena and the 2007 Draft Indictment
The chronological log of the [[Operation Leap Year]] investigation kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records grand jury subpoenas returnable August 18, 2006 to Epstein's aviation companies Hyperion Air, Inc. and [[JEGE, Inc.]], issued with subpoenas to Chase, [[Colonial Bank]], [[Washington Mutual]] and [[Capital One]].[^4] The draft indictment prepared in that office in 2007 recited overt acts in which girls identified as Jane Does traveled "aboard the Gulfstream aircraft owned by Hyperion Air, Inc." NBC News reported that a May 2007 prosecution memorandum released in the [[Epstein Files]] sought approval to charge Epstein, JEGE, Inc., Hyperion Air, Inc. and three redacted co-conspirators in a sealed 60-count indictment.[^2][^5] No indictment was filed. The [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] of September 2007 disposed of the federal case, and Hyperion kept the Gulfstream for another six years.[^1][^6]
### The JPMorgan Account
JPMorgan's due diligence report on Hyperion Air, Inc., dated January 23, 2009, noted that "This entity is 100% owned by Jeffrey Epstein"; the bank's internal description of the account's purpose, approved in November 2006, was "Managing payments for operational expenses of personal aircraft." The forensic accountant [[Jorge Amador]], retained by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] in [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|its suit against JPMorgan]], identified eight JPMorgan accounts and ten entities "purportedly related to Epstein's personal aircraft."[^3]
Of at least 134 currency transaction reports JPMorgan filed on Epstein accounts between September 3, 2003 and November 1, 2013, 15 concerned the Hyperion account ending 4332. Amador wrote that "beginning in or around 2011, Epstein's cash transactions were funneled through Hyperion Air," which "it appears, was done per the advice of" [[John Duffy]], then chief executive of JPMorgan's private bank. A March 28, 2012 internal email quoted Duffy:[^3]
> This is a better fact pattern than I thought. JE and I spoke about his pattern of cash withdrawals. His answer was "fuel payments in foreign countries." Some of the countries were OFAC listed. I did ask him to withdraw this cash from his aviation account for these payments. Clearly he is doing this.
The reference is to the sanctions lists of the [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]]. Between October 2011 and November 2013 the Hyperion account issued 548,751.87 dollars in checks payable to "Cash," most in round amounts of 30,000 or 40,000 dollars, which Epstein's accountant [[Harry Beller]] signed and endorsed. A JPMorgan "Verify & Confirm" review of March 9, 2013 recorded that the "large cash withdrawals from the account [were] for fuel expenses when traveling to foreign countries." Amador found no fuel receipts or other documentation in the account records, and noted that Epstein continued to pay two fuel vendors from his personal account between March 2011 and July 2013. Between 2011 and 2013 the Hyperion account also made eleven foreign currency transactions totaling 224,655.79 dollars, nine of them purchases of euros or British pounds, on none of which JPMorgan filed a currency transaction report.[^3]
In a December 2014 email a [[Southern Trust Company]] employee was described as "currently working on the scanning and shredding for all of the entities, FTC, LSJ, Zorro, NES, JEGE, Hyperion, and JEVIF," hired "as a temporary college intern-type person to deal with shredding sensitive documents as a summer project."[^7]
### Hyperion Air, LLC
The operating agreement of Hyperion Air, LLC, dated October 19, 2012, was signed by Epstein as "Sole Member."[^3] The territory's complaint against his estate described the company as organized that day with Epstein and his chief pilot [[Larry Visoski]] as managers, and as the owner of a Bell helicopter (N331JE) and a "Keystone" helicopter (N722JE) that Epstein used "to transport young women and underage girls between St. Thomas and [[Little St. James]]"; the complaint dated Epstein's shell-company formations to the period after his 2010 registration as a sex offender in the territory, stating that "most of these companies were created in 2011 and 2012."[^8]
N722JE was a 2008 Sikorsky S-76C-2 that Epstein's company [[Air Ghislaine, Inc.]], later Freedom Air International, had bought in 2008 and sold on July 26, 2011 to [[ASI Wings]] LLC of Hartford, [[Connecticut]]. On June 13, 2019, three weeks before Epstein's arrest at [[Teterboro Airport|Teterboro]], ASI Wings sold it back to Hyperion Air LLC, with "Lawrence P. VISOSKI Jr." signing as manager. Visoski signed the bill of sale of May 13, 2021 by which Hyperion sold it to Industrial Integrity Solutions Inc. of Ontario, California. N331JE was sold in May 2020 to CMG Aircraft Leasing Inc. of [[Miami]], a broker, which resold it the same day to QIR Air Resources LLC of [[Salt Lake City]]; its registration became N430D in July 2020.[^1]
### Federal Interest
On August 18, 2021 an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], then preparing the trial of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], sent the FAA's Law Enforcement Assistance Program in [[Atlanta]] a list of search terms that included "Hyperion Air LLC," "Air Ghislaine," "Thomas World Air LLC" and "Freedom Air Petroleum LLC." The FAA special agent replied the same day: "In 2015/2016, DEA S/A was interested in EPSTEIN and his aircraft," naming an agent of the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]]'s Saint Thomas Resident Office, and "In August 2019, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in Atlanta, GA was interested in aircraft linked to EPSTEIN." The agent's search found "No other aircraft registered to or indexed to Hyperion Inc or LLC, and none to Ossa Properties Inc."[^1]
The territory named Hyperion Air, LLC as a defendant, with Indyke, [[Richard Kahn]], the estate, [[Plan D LLC]] and other Epstein companies, in the suit it settled on December 1, 2022 for more than 105 million dollars.[^8][^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00021675 to EFTA00021684, DataSet 8, email chain "RE: FAA Question" between a Special Agent, Federal Aviation Administration, Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Atlanta, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, August 17 to September 29, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00021675.pdf
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01703108 to EFTA01703163, DataSet 10, draft indictment, United States v. Epstein (S.D. Fla., unfiled, 2007), paragraphs 5 and 6 and overt acts. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01703108.pdf
[^3]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), pp. 9 and n. 22-23, 18-19 and nn. 69-70, 24-27 and nn. 87, 97-98, 49 and nn. 131-132, 64 and nn. 154-155 (citing JPM-SDNYLIT-00025446, JPM-SDNYLIT-00036884, JPM-SDNYLIT-269656, JPM-SDNYLIT-00020772, JPM-SDNYLIT-00036291; the report labels the account ending 4332 as belonging both to Hyperion Air, Inc. and to Hyperion Air, LLC). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^4]: 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), pp. 1, 4-6, 11. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^5]: "Epstein files live updates: Trump DOJ releases millions more pages of records," NBC News, January 30, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/live-blog/epstein-files-trump-doj-release-live-updates-rcna256639
[^6]: 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, 359 F. Supp. 3d 1201. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^7]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023 (JPMorgan exhibits, December 2014 email). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
[^8]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraphs 33 to 36, 137 to 139, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/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)/001-01.pdf
[^9]: "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/

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@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- JEGE
- ShellCompany
- Aircraft
- LolitaExpress
- VirginIslands
- Delaware
alias:
- JEGE
- JEGE Inc.
- JEGE Inc
- JEGE, INC.
- JEGE, LLC
- JEGE LLC
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's Delaware corporation that owned his Boeing 727, N908JE, from 2001 to 2019, with a namesake St. Thomas LLC formed in 2012 that held a Gulfstream IV and passed to new owners in 2019."
start: 2001-01-19
location: "New York, New York; West Palm Beach, Florida; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
reverse: true
role: "vice president of JEGE, Inc., signing the 2013 re-registration of N908JE"
start: 2013
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "member of JEGE, LLC"
start: 2012-10-19
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Larry Visoski]]"
reverse: true
role: "member of JEGE, LLC"
start: 2012-10-19
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Larry Visoski]]"
reverse: true
role: "manager of JEGE, LLC on FAA filings"
start: 2013-05-30
end: 2017-08
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
reverse: true
role: "grand jury subpoena returnable August 18, 2006"
start: 2006-08-18
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
JEGE, Inc. was a [[Delaware]] corporation through which [[Jeffrey Epstein]] owned the Boeing 727-31 registered N908JE, the aircraft the press called the [[Lolita Express]]. A 2007 federal draft indictment stated that Epstein "was the principal owner of JEGE, INC., a Delaware corporation," that its "sole business activities related to the operation and ownership of a Boeing 727-31 aircraft bearing tail number N908JE," and that he "served as president, sole director, and sole shareholder of JEGE, INC., and had the power to direct all of its operations." A separate company, JEGE, LLC, was organized in [[St. Thomas]], [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], on October 19, 2012, with Epstein and his chief pilot [[Larry Visoski]] as members.[^1][^2]
### The Boeing 727
On January 19, 2001 Real Estate Exchange Inc. of Portland, Oregon sold a 1969 Boeing 727, serial number 20115, registered N505LS, to JEGE Inc. at an address in [[New York City|New York]], 10022; the signature on the registration application was illegible, over the title "President." The registration was changed to N908JE in April 2001. On JEGE's Part 125 operating certificate "the CEO was Jeffrey EPSTEIN," at an address in [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]]. The aircraft had "a business configuration with a kitchen and bedroom" and about 25 seats that "aren't economy seats," was certificated for passengers only, and "was used for private business not charter flights." On the 2013 re-registration "Darren K. INDYKE, Vice President signed as Vice President of JEGE Inc." JEGE remained the registered owner until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019, two months after Epstein's death. In August 2021 a special agent of the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] told prosecutors that "N908JE might be in Brunswick, Georgia."[^1]
### The 2006 Subpoena and the 2007 Draft Indictment
The chronological log of the [[Operation Leap Year]] investigation kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records grand jury subpoenas returnable August 18, 2006 to Epstein's aviation companies [[Hyperion Air]], Inc. and JEGE, Inc.[^3] The draft indictment prepared in that office in 2007 recited overt acts in which girls identified as Jane Does were flown "aboard the Boeing 727 aircraft owned by JEGE, INC." NBC News reported that a May 2007 prosecution memorandum sought approval to charge Epstein, JEGE, Inc., Hyperion Air, Inc. and three redacted co-conspirators in a sealed 60-count indictment. No indictment was filed; the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] of September 2007 disposed of the federal case, and JEGE kept the 727 for another twelve years.[^2][^4]
### The JPMorgan Accounts
[[JPMorgan Chase]] prepared a "Confidential Due Diligence Report" on JEGE, Inc. dated March 4, 2010, and another in March 2013 noting that "This is an entity 100% owned by Jeffrey Epstein"; a JPMorgan entity account application for JEGE LLC signed February 11, 2013 identified Epstein as its sole owner. The bank described the purpose of the JEGE accounts, as it did that of [[Air Ghislaine, Inc.]], as "Operational management of one of his business entities that result from his financial advisory business."[^5]
In a December 2014 email a [[Southern Trust Company]] employee was described as "currently working on the scanning and shredding for all of the entities, FTC, LSJ, Zorro, NES, JEGE, Hyperion, and JEVIF."[^6]
### JEGE, LLC
On May 30, 2013 a 1988 Gulfstream G-IV, serial number 1085, registered N423TT, was registered to JEGE, LLC of St. Thomas, with Lawrence Visoski signing as manager. The company's 2013 statement to the FAA gave its formation date as October 19, 2012 and its members as "Jeffrey EPSTEIN and Lawrence VISOSKI." Visoski changed the registration to N212JE in July 2013 and to N120JE in August 2017; the number N212JE then passed to the Gulfstream G550 of [[Plan D LLC]].[^1] The territory's 2022 complaint against Epstein's estate listed JEGE LLC among the Virgin Islands companies in what it called the Epstein Enterprise, most of which were "created in 2011 and 2012, soon after Epstein registered as a sex offender in the Virgin Islands."[^7]
On September 8, 2014 a flight chartered by JEGE LLC carried five passengers, among them the [[New Mexico]] attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial nominee [[Gary King]] and his running mate, [[Deb Haaland]], from Santa Fe to Washington; the campaign reported paying 22,060 dollars to the charter company [[Injet]], and at 5:36 a.m. the next day a charter booker emailed Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] and Visoski that the plane was "on the ground at IAD." King later said his staff had told him that [[Bill Richardson]] was helping to arrange an airplane and that "we didn't have any reason to know or believe that it was a plane that was owned by Jeffrey Epstein"; a spokesperson for Haaland said the way the plane was chartered "was never communicated to her."[^8][^9]
### The 2019 Transfer
The company's 2019 statement to the FAA gave the same formation date but named its member as [[Aviation Development Group]] LLC and its manager as [[Thomas Huff|Thomas H. Huff]]. In June 2019, the month before Epstein's arrest, an aircraft security agreement for 2,800,000 dollars on N120JE was filed with the FAA naming JEGE Inc. of Powder Springs, Georgia as assignor. The FAA agent described Huff as a pilot "involved in aviation at the Cobb County airport (RYY), in Kennesaw, GA for many years" and wrote: "He is of interest to DEA S/A [redacted] in Atlanta, GA. The aircraft is still registered to JEGE LLC, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. I suspect HUFF bought JEGE LLC which included the aircraft." The reference is to a special agent of the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00021675 to EFTA00021684, DataSet 8, email chain "RE: FAA Question" between a Special Agent, Federal Aviation Administration, Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Atlanta, and an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, August 17 to September 29, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00021675.pdf
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01703108 to EFTA01703163, DataSet 10, draft indictment, United States v. Epstein (S.D. Fla., unfiled, 2007), paragraphs 3 and 4 and overt acts. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01703108.pdf
[^3]: 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), pp. 1, 4-6, 11. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^4]: "Epstein files live updates: Trump DOJ releases millions more pages of records," NBC News, January 30, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/live-blog/epstein-files-trump-doj-release-live-updates-rcna256639
[^5]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Expert Report of Jorge Amador, ECF No. 238-31 (filed July 25, 2023), pp. 9-10 and nn. 29-30, 18-19 and n. 74 (citing JPM-SDNYLIT-00036338, JPM-SDNYLIT-00025011, JPM-SDNYLIT-00037171). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^6]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023 (JPMorgan exhibits, December 2014 email). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
[^7]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraphs 137 to 139, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/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)/001-01.pdf
[^8]: Paras, Julian, and Pat Davis. "Records show Gary King, Deb Haaland used Epstein-linked jet during 2014 campaign." *New Mexico Political Report,* February 17, 2026. https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2026/02/17/records-show-gary-king-deb-haaland-used-epstein-linked-jet-during-2014-campaign/
[^9]: Davis, Pat, and Julian Paras. "Gary King campaigned on prosecuting child sex offenders, while courting Epstein at lunch and accepting donations through companies designed to avoid 'press coverage' for King." *New Mexico Political Report,* February 23, 2026. https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2026/02/23/gary-king-campaigned-on-his-record-prosecuting-child-sex-offenders-then-invited-epstein-to-lunch-and-accepted-epstein-donations-through-companies-designed-to-avoid-press-coverage-for-king/

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@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ A May 2003 due-diligence report stated that "Jeffrey Epstein, through the tradin
After the 2006 arrest the bank's Rapid Response Team met on October 17, 2006 and, "after internal discussion with Jes Staley, Mary Erdoes, Catherine Keating, John Duffy and Mary Casey," decided to "keep Mr. Epstein solely as a banking client and on a 'reactive', client service basis," not proactively soliciting new investment business from him. His balances rose from about 32 million dollars in October 2006 to about 121.5 million dollars by July 2008 and 156 million dollars in September 2008. An August 28, 2008 email from Casey counted his assets as a probable outflow "as I can't imagine it will stay (pending Dimon review)." A 2009 due-diligence report recorded that after his conviction "Jes Staley conferred with Stephen Cutler and the decision was made to keep Mr. Epstein as a PB client," for "banking and custody only," with brokerage execution withdrawn.[^4][^7] In 2005 the bank had approved a one million dollar standby letter of credit in Epstein's name backing a [[Mellon United National Bank]] loan to [[MC2 Model Management]], the agency of [[Jean-Luc Brunel]], and renewed it on annual review; a 2011 report by the bank's Global Corporate Security division said it was "unknown if the money was given as a secret investment or payment for services as a procurer."[^4][^7]
The chronological log of the [[Operation Leap Year]] investigation kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records a grand jury subpoena to Chase returnable August 18, 2006, issued alongside subpoenas to [[Colonial Bank]], [[Washington Mutual]] and [[Capital One]] and to Epstein's aviation companies Hyperion Air, Inc. and JEGE, Inc.; a subpoena to "JP Morgan Chase" returnable March 6, 2007; and a subpoena to Chase Bank USA, N.A. returnable April 24, 2007. The same log lists subpoenas to [[Financial Trust Company]], Inc., returnable June 12, 2007, and to [[Bear Stearns]], returnable September 4, 2007, and an April 2007 email between Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]] and the Justice Department's money-laundering specialist [[Stefan Cassella]] "re money laundering question."[^9] On September 21, 2012 Epstein's bookkeeper Harry Beller faxed JPMorgan a memorandum directing it to wire 5,000 dollars from Epstein's account, for further credit to the [[St. Thomas]] law firm Kellerhals Ferguson LLP, referenced to the Southern Trust Company application fee; Epstein's September 2012 JPMorgan statement records the debit as "Southern Trust Company Application Fee." [[Southern Trust Company]] applied for its Virgin Islands tax benefits the following month.[^10]
The chronological log of the [[Operation Leap Year]] investigation kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] records a grand jury subpoena to Chase returnable August 18, 2006, issued alongside subpoenas to [[Colonial Bank]], [[Washington Mutual]] and [[Capital One]] and to Epstein's aviation companies [[Hyperion Air|Hyperion Air, Inc.]] and [[JEGE, Inc.]]; a subpoena to "JP Morgan Chase" returnable March 6, 2007; and a subpoena to Chase Bank USA, N.A. returnable April 24, 2007. The same log lists subpoenas to [[Financial Trust Company]], Inc., returnable June 12, 2007, and to [[Bear Stearns]], returnable September 4, 2007, and an April 2007 email between Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]] and the Justice Department's money-laundering specialist [[Stefan Cassella]] "re money laundering question."[^9] On September 21, 2012 Epstein's bookkeeper Harry Beller faxed JPMorgan a memorandum directing it to wire 5,000 dollars from Epstein's account, for further credit to the [[St. Thomas]] law firm Kellerhals Ferguson LLP, referenced to the Southern Trust Company application fee; Epstein's September 2012 JPMorgan statement records the debit as "Southern Trust Company Application Fee." [[Southern Trust Company]] applied for its Virgin Islands tax benefits the following month.[^10]
In December 2010 anti-money-laundering official [[Philip DeLuca]] wrote to the bank's AML director [[William Langford]] about "that scum Epstein," and Langford replied, "Let me know if McCleerey waffles on Epstein. No patience for this." In January 2011 Langford asked the private bank to re-evaluate its sponsorship of Epstein and "request re-approval from Steve Cutler if we wanted to retain"; the banker [[Paul Morris]] answered, "I thought we decided this was not necessary." A 2011 email recorded that AML operations had asked at a private-bank risk meeting "that we exit this relationship," that no one on a later call favored keeping him, "Seems it is all due to Jes's personal relationship," and that he had "about 212 mil in the bank." In August 2010 [[Alan Greenberg|Alan "Ace" Greenberg]], the former Bear Stearns chairman who had mentored Epstein there, asked Cutler for an exception to the bank's felon policy to keep doing business with him.[^4][^7]
@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ JPMorgan's 2004 purchase of a majority stake in the hedge fund [[Highbridge Capi
Seven suspicious activity reports on Epstein filed by JPMorgan between April 2002 and September 2016 covered about 4.3 million dollars. The bank filed no report between April 15, 2003 and August 15, 2008, a span in which Epstein withdrew more than 3.5 million dollars in cash, and none between August 2008 and August 8, 2013; the 2013 report covered activity back to January 2009, and a report filed in March 2015 covered activity from 2006 and 2007. On August 13, 2019, five weeks after his July 6, 2019 arrest, the bank filed a report on 469 wires totaling about 201 million dollars, including payments to women in Russia, Belarus and Turkmenistan through correspondent accounts at Russian banks, among them [[Sberbank]] and [[Alfa-Bank]], and on September 26, 2019 a report on 4,725 wires totaling 1,081,819,653 dollars from October 2003 to July 2019. The reports described counterparties who had "been in a relationship with Epstein" or were "procurers of women as part of trafficking," and activity "consistent with negative media involving alleged sex trafficking of minors, the use of multiple accounts, the misappropriation of funds as a money manager and the high-risk jurisdiction of the Russian federation."[^4]
The Virgin Islands' forensic accountant found that Epstein withdrew more than 7 million dollars in cash from JPMorgan accounts from 2002 to 2013 and paid more than 3 million dollars to dozens of women. A former JPMorgan executive testified at Maxwell's 2021 trial that Epstein paid Maxwell at least 31 million dollars, about 25 million from JPMorgan accounts; on June 15, 2007 Maxwell received a 7.4 million dollar wire from Epstein, moved it the same day to her company Air Ghislaine's JPMorgan account, and paid 7,352,825 dollars to [[Sikorsky Aircraft]] three days later toward an S-76C helicopter registered N908GM.[^4][^6] In March 2026 Wyden told the Senate that "there could be more than $1.5 billion in suspicious Epstein transactions" in the Treasury records his staff had reviewed, and that JPMorgan "waited until after he died to flag more than 99 percent of his suspicious payments."[^17]
The Virgin Islands' forensic accountant found that Epstein withdrew more than 7 million dollars in cash from JPMorgan accounts from 2002 to 2013 and paid more than 3 million dollars to dozens of women. A former JPMorgan executive testified at Maxwell's 2021 trial that Epstein paid Maxwell at least 31 million dollars, about 25 million from JPMorgan accounts; on June 15, 2007 Maxwell received a 7.4 million dollar wire from Epstein, moved it the same day to her company [[Air Ghislaine, Inc.|Air Ghislaine]]'s JPMorgan account, and paid 7,352,825 dollars to [[Sikorsky Aircraft]] three days later toward an S-76C helicopter registered N908GM.[^4][^6] In March 2026 Wyden told the Senate that "there could be more than $1.5 billion in suspicious Epstein transactions" in the Treasury records his staff had reviewed, and that JPMorgan "waited until after he died to flag more than 99 percent of his suspicious payments."[^17]
### The 2023 Litigation Before Judge Rakoff

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@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- VirginIslands
- Foundation
- ScienceFunding
- ReputationManagement
- ShellCompany
alias:
- Enhanced Education
- J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation
- J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc.
- J Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation Inc
- Jeffrey Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation
- Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, Inc.
- Epstein VI Foundation
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's St. Thomas private foundation, registered with the IRS as Enhanced Education, which funded scientists and Edge, issued inflated gift claims, filed one tax return, and paid young models through Darren Indyke."
start: 2000-06
location: "6100 Red Hook Quarter, Suite B3, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 2000-06
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Origins Project]]"
start: 2010-12
end: 2017-04
role: "250,000 dollars as Enhanced Education"
fn: 10
- type: funded
with: "[[Edge Foundation]]"
role: "listed funder with other Epstein entities"
fn: 12
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, incorporated as J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc., is a tax-exempt private foundation founded by [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in June 2000 and registered in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]]. The [[Internal Revenue Service]] carries it under employer identification number 66-0585379 with the name "Enhanced Education" and the sort name "J Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation Inc," at the Red Hook Quarter address on [[St. Thomas]] shared with [[Southern Trust Company]] and [[Southern Financial LLC]]. Under both names it gave money to scientists and to [[John Brockman|John Brockman's]] [[Edge Foundation]], and its name appeared on press releases and a fundraising letter that misstated Epstein's gifts to [[Harvard University]]. The IRS record shows a single return, for 2002. Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]], its president from at least 2007, signed foundation checks between 2015 and 2019 for more than 400,000 dollars to young female models and actresses.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Names and Registration
The IRS Business Master File lists EIN 66-0585379 as a section 501(c)(3) organization named "Enhanced Education" at "6100 Red Hook Quarter - Suite B3," St. Thomas, with the sort name "J Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation Inc." The only return on file for the number is a Form 990-PF for the tax period ending December 2002, processed in 2004. The Virgin Islands government's 2022 complaint against Epstein's estate described the "J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc." as "a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt private foundation that was founded in June 2000 and registered in the Virgin Islands," with Indyke listed as president as of October 23, 2007 and a signatory on its checking accounts. An internal inventory of Epstein's web presence dated February 26, 2014 tracked his foundation sites, including jeffreyepsteinfoundation.com, jeffreyepsteinscience.com and jeffreyepsteineducation.com, and business-directory listings under the name "Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation."[^1][^2][^5][^6]
On May 31, 2007, during the federal investigation in Florida that ended in Epstein's [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]], the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] subpoenaed the "J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc.," with [[Financial Trust Company]], J. Epstein & Company and "Epstein Interests," with the defense lawyer [[Gerald Lefcourt]] as correspondent. A Bear Stearns wire ledger from 2008, filed as an exhibit in the territory's suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]], lists several transfers of more than 550,000 dollars each with the reference "ENHANCED EDUCATION...FOUNDATION...ST THOMAS" routed through [[Bear Stearns]] in New York.[^7][^8]
On June 28, 2016 a [[Deutsche Bank]] employee listed the balances of Epstein's accounts at the bank in an internal email headed "Southern Financial - IA Request": 98,610,505.00 dollars for Southern Financial LLC, 41,108,732.17 dollars for the Haze Trust, 7,668,026.80 dollars for Southern Trust Company, 7,108,576.30 dollars for Jeepers Inc., 1,367,641.87 dollars for "J EPSTEIN VIRGIN ISLANDS FOUNDATION INC 6100 RED HOOK QUARTER B3 ST THOMAS VI 00802," and 667,218.67 dollars for Epstein personally.[^9]
### Science Funding
Records obtained by *[[BuzzFeed News]]* under Arizona's public records law showed that Enhanced Education paid the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss|Lawrence Krauss's]] [[Origins Project]] at [[Arizona State University]] 250,000 dollars between December 2010 and April 2017; one Origins accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education," a reference to Epstein's client [[Leon Black]], who with [[Debra Black]] gave the project 2 million dollars in 2014 and 2015. When the university closed the project in 2018 it returned 25,000 dollars in unspent funds to Enhanced Education. Epstein foundation websites listed the physicist [[Frank Wilczek]] as a funding recipient; Wilczek said, "I did not receive financial support from Mr. Epstein," and the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]'s investigators found no such donation. MIT's donor files for Epstein's foundations Epstein Interests and Enhanced Education carried the alert: "There is to be [no] contact with Epstein without contacting VP Jeff Newton first. Sensitive situation, no presidential acknowledgement."[^10][^11]
The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, with Epstein's [[Gratitude America]] and the [[C.O.U.Q. Foundation]], was among the listed funders of the Edge Foundation; financial records reviewed by *BuzzFeed News* showed that the Epstein entities together provided 638,000 dollars of the roughly 857,000 dollars Edge received from 2001 to 2017.[^12]
### Harvard Claims
Press releases issued in the name of the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation between 2012 and 2014 stated that Epstein had given 30 million dollars to [[Martin Nowak|Martin Nowak's]] [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] at Harvard; a Harvard source said the figure "does not reflect the actual gift," and Harvard's 2020 review found a 6.5 million dollar gift from Epstein in 2003 and no 30 million dollar pledge. In 2013 Epstein's publicist asked the program for links because "Jeffrey is trying to boost his foundation's websites and a link on Harvard's network would be very helpful."[^4][^6][^13]
In 2014 the program applied to the [[John Templeton Foundation]] for a 3 million dollar grant; Templeton offered half and required proof of matching funds. Epstein wrote to Nowak and his accountant, "im not sure if [an Epstein foundation] should sign instead." The resulting letter, from Enhanced Education, stated that "[i]n 2003 Enhanced Education established a gift to the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics." Enhanced Education had never funded the program. Templeton granted 1.5 million dollars in 2015, and in 2018 the program's administrator had a researcher write on the close-out form, "We used a gift from Enhanced Education to Harvard University fund 347150 for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics." Harvard's review found that Nowak and the administrator "provided false information to the Templeton Foundation."[^13]
### Payments Through Indyke
According to the territory's complaint against the estate, between September 2015 and June 2019 Indyke signed foundation checks for more than 400,000 dollars payable to young female models and actresses, including more than 380,000 dollars in monthly payments of 8,333 dollars to a former model over three and a half years, ending in mid-2019. In November 2017 he signed a foundation check to a New York immigration lawyer involved in marriages the complaint alleged were arranged among Epstein's victims to secure immigration status, with a memo line referencing the model's surname. Earlier in 2017 he signed a foundation check for 160,000 dollars to resolve a fine Epstein had incurred for construction on [[Great St. James]] that violated territorial environmental rules, and "attempted to make the payment appear to be a charitable donation"; the estate repaid the amount to the foundation more than two years later "after questions were raised to Epstein's lawyer about the propriety of the Foundation payment." The complaint alleged that the payments "were inconsistent with the charitable purpose of the Foundation and designed to serve the private benefit and criminal activities of Epstein." The Great St. James fine had been reduced from 280,000 dollars to 160,000 dollars in a settlement with the government of Governor [[Kenneth Mapp]]. Indyke and his co-executor [[Richard Kahn]] were not charged and have denied wrongdoing; the estate settled the territory's case in 2022.[^2][^14][^15]
S. 2746, the [[Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act]] introduced by Senator [[Ron Wyden]] in September 2025, lists "J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation Inc." among the entities whose Treasury records it would require to be produced, with Gratitude America and Southern Financial LLC.[^16]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Internal Revenue Service, Business Master File record for EIN 66-0585379 ("Enhanced Education," sort name "J Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation Inc," 6100 Red Hook Quarter, Suite B3, St. Thomas; subsection 501(c)(3)) and filing index (Form 990-PF, tax period December 2002), as indexed by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/660585379.json
[^2]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Darren K. Indyke et al., No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint (filed November 30, 2022), paragraphs 80 and 83 to 88; reproduced as ECF No. 1-1 in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y., filed December 27, 2022), ECF pp. 19 to 20. https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/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)/001-01.pdf
[^3]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^4]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3, 5, 15-17, 20-23, on the 6.5 million dollar gift, the absence of a 30 million dollar pledge, and the Enhanced Education letter. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01133367, DataSet 9, "Internet Related Information as of February 26, 2014." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01133367.pdf
[^6]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, on the 30 million dollar press-release claim and the Harvard source's statement. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^7]: 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), pp. 1, 4-7. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02816240, 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 155, Bear Stearns wire-transaction ledger, 2008, filed August 15, 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)/EFTA02816240.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01372777, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank internal email, Vahe Stepanian to Andrew Xu and Roddy Moore, "RE: Southern Financial - IA Request," June 28, 2016 (DB-SDNY-0066645). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372777.pdf
[^10]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, updated July 13, 2019; Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations ; https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^11]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,* January 10, 2020, pp. 27-28 and nn. 28-30. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^12]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on the Epstein-linked contributions of 638,000 dollars of nearly 857,000 dollars received 2001 to 2017. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^13]: Lopez, Gershengorn and Murphy, *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University,* May 2020, pp. 13-17, 20-23 and n. 12, on the gift table, the Templeton application, Epstein's emails, the Enhanced Education letter, the 2018 close-out form, and the publicist's requests. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^14]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Files reveal Epstein's efforts to influence V.I. officials; emails with Mapp." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026 (reduction of the Great St. James fine). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/files-reveal-epstein-s-efforts-to-influence-v-i-officials-emails-with-mapp/article_2dd4fe69-4daf-4dc2-b3b8-37a929002bb6.html
[^15]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026 (Kahn and Indyke not charged, denial of wrongdoing). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^16]: S. 2746, 119th Congress, "Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act," introduced September 9, 2025, section 2(b)(2)(H), (Q) and (R). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s2746is/html/BILLS-119s2746is.htm

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JohnTempletonFoundation
- Philanthropy
- MartinNowak
- ProgramForEvolutionaryDynamics
- JeffreyEpstein
- EnhancedEducation
- Harvard
alias:
- John Templeton Foundation
- Templeton Foundation
summary: "Foundation established in 1987 by Sir John Templeton that granted Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics 1.5 million dollars in 2015 after receiving a false Jeffrey Epstein matching-funds letter."
start: 1987
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[John Templeton]]"
reverse: true
start: 1987
fn: 1
---
The John Templeton Foundation is an American philanthropic foundation established in 1987 by the investor [[John Templeton|Sir John Templeton]]. In 2015 it granted 1.5 million dollars to [[Harvard University]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]], directed by [[Martin Nowak]], a member of the foundation's Board of Advisors, after [[Jeffrey Epstein]] sent the foundation a letter on the stationery of his [[U.S. Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]] foundation, [[Enhanced Education]], stating falsely that [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|Enhanced Education]] had established a gift to the program in 2003. Harvard's 2020 review found that Nowak and the program's administrator "provided false information to the Templeton Foundation." In 2014 [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]] also invoked a possible Templeton matching gift in asking Epstein for a donation; the foundation said it had no record of any such plan.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### The Foundation
Templeton established the foundation in 1987, the year he was made a Knight Bachelor. In 2005 he gave it an additional 500 million dollars, after which it became one of the sixty largest foundations in the [[United States]] by assets. Its stated aspiration is "to create a world where people are curious about the wonders of the universe, free to pursue lives of meaning and purpose, and motivated by great and selfless love." Templeton died in [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], [[Bahamas]], in 2008.[^1] The foundation is listed among the "major philanthropic supporters" of the [[Foundation for American Innovation]].[^5]
### The Harvard Grant
In 2014 the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics applied to the foundation for a 3 million dollar grant. The foundation offered half and required proof that matching funds had been secured. By then Harvard had accepted no gifts from Epstein since the decision of its president, [[Drew Faust]], no later than November 2008, and Epstein's 6.5 million dollar founding gift of 2003 had been spent. The program held money from [[Leon Black]] that could have served as the match, but Nowak sought a letter from Epstein. Epstein wrote to his accountant and Nowak, "im not sure if [an Epstein foundation] should sign instead," and separately to a Templeton executive vice president, "martin wants to send a letter showing funds but using my name, i thought you might have a view." The executive replied, "Sure, just send me a draft if you like."[^2]
The letter, dated November 24, 2015 and sent on Enhanced Education letterhead from 6100 Red Hook Quarter, Suite B-3, [[St. Thomas]], was addressed by Epstein to [[Barnaby Marsh]], the foundation's Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Managing Director of its Philanthropic Leadership Network:[^3]
> Martin Nowak has been telling me about his proposed new research applications of evolutionary game theory to the behavioral sciences . . . I understand that the John Templeton Foundation is currently considering a project proposal, in which Enhanced Education would have the opportunity to partner with the John Templeton Foundation by providing additional funding of $1,500,328 . . . specifically from Harvard University fund 347150 that has been budgeted for this project. In 2003 Enhanced Education established a gift to the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics to support precisely this type of cutting edge research.
The 1,500,328 dollars comprised 1,304,633 dollars in direct costs and 195,695 dollars in indirect costs. Enhanced Education had never funded the program. The foundation made its 1.5 million dollar grant in 2015. In 2018 the program's administrator told a researcher completing the foundation's close-out form to write, "We used a gift from Enhanced Education to Harvard University fund 347150 for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics." Harvard's review, conducted by its Office of the General Counsel with [[Foley Hoag]] and released in May 2020, found that Nowak and the administrator "provided false information to the Templeton Foundation," and that the foundation "has no record of this statement in its files."[^2][^3]
### The MIT Proposal
In late 2014 Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, asked Epstein for an initial donation of up to 5 million dollars to trigger a matching gift that Ito said the foundation had discussed. The foundation told the journalist [[Ronan Farrow]] that it had "no records related to any such plan," and no such gift was made. The law firm [[Goodwin Procter]] reviewed the proposal in its January 2020 report to [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]].[^4][^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: John Templeton Foundation, "About," foundation website, accessed September 25, 2026. https://www.templeton.org/about
[^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 2020, pp. 10-17 and n. 12, on Faust's decision, the Templeton application, Epstein's emails, the Enhanced Education letter, the 2018 close-out form, and the finding of false statements. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01102163, DataSet 9, letter from Jeffrey Epstein, Enhanced Education, to Barnaby Marsh, John Templeton Foundation, November 24, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01102163.pdf
[^4]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^5]: Foundation for American Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.thefai.org/about-us
[^6]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,* January 10, 2020, pp. 32-33, 40, on the Templeton matching proposal. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- KirklandAndEllis
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- RevolvingDoor
- AlexanderAcosta
- WilliamBarr
alias:
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Kirkland & Ellis LLP
- Kirkland and Ellis
summary: "American law firm whose partners Jay Lefkowitz and Kenneth Starr negotiated Jeffrey Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement with Alexander Acosta, a former Kirkland associate, and which later employed William Barr."
location: "Chicago, Illinois"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "defense counsel in the non-prosecution agreement negotiations, through Jay Lefkowitz and Kenneth Starr"
start: 2007-08
end: 2009
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Alexander Acosta]]"
reverse: true
role: "associate, Washington office"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jay Lefkowitz]]"
reverse: true
role: "litigation partner"
end: 2026-03
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Kenneth Starr]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner, later of counsel"
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[William Barr]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009
end: 2019
fn: 12
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "defense counsel"
start: 2007-08
end: 2008
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an American law firm with a large Washington office. Two of its lawyers, the litigation partner [[Jay Lefkowitz]] and [[Kenneth Starr]], then of counsel, represented [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2007 and 2008 in negotiating the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], whose head, [[Alexander Acosta]], had been an associate in the firm's Washington office. Lefkowitz was at the same time the [[George W. Bush]] administration's part-time Special Envoy for Human Rights in [[North Korea]]. In late 2008 Acosta recused himself from matters involving the firm because he had begun to discuss employment with it. [[William Barr]] joined the firm in 2009 and, as Attorney General in 2019, recused himself from the Justice Department's review of the Florida agreement because of that tie.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Acosta
Acosta graduated from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1994, clerked for Judge [[Samuel Alito]] on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]], and then practiced as an associate in Kirkland's Washington office, specializing in employment and labor law. He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the [[Department of Justice]] Civil Rights Division from 2001 to 2002, on the [[National Labor Relations Board]] from December 2002 to August 2003, and as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights from August 2003 to June 2005, when Bush appointed him U.S. Attorney in [[Miami]].[^1]
### Lefkowitz and Starr
Lefkowitz had served under [[George H.W. Bush]] as deputy executive secretary of the [[Domestic Policy Council]] and director of cabinet affairs, was a partner in Kirkland's Washington office, became general counsel of the [[Office of Management and Budget]] in March 2001 and Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in 2002, and was appointed Special Envoy on August 19, 2005 under the [[North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004]]. The [[State Department]]'s 2006 biography described him as "also a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP." Starr, a former judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|D.C. Circuit]], Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993 and the [[Whitewater]] independent counsel who investigated President [[Bill Clinton]], had been a Kirkland partner and was of counsel to the firm while dean of the [[Pepperdine University School of Law]].[^2][^3][^5]
Epstein's defense had been conducted since 2006 by [[Roy Black]], [[Alan Dershowitz]], [[Gerald Lefcourt]], [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]] and others. In early August 2007, immediately after the federal office presented a term sheet requiring a state guilty plea, jail time, sex offender registration and civil damages, Epstein added Lefkowitz and Starr. Acosta had worked on at least one matter with each of them at the firm; a colleague told the [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] that he once entered Acosta's office as Acosta finished a telephone call and Acosta said, "[T]hat was Ken Starr." On the evening of August 6, 2007, First Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Jeffrey Sloman]] emailed Acosta: "Just saw Menchel. I didn't know Kirkland made a call into you. You were right. Unbelievable." Acosta answered that the Kirkland lawyers "are likely to go to DC. We should strategize a bit. We are not changing positions, and that should be made clear."[^4][^5]
The final terms were worked out in September 2007 in email between the line prosecutor, [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]], and Epstein's counsel, principally Lefkowitz. On September 13 she wrote that she had been "spending some quality time with Title 18 looking for misdemeanors," and defense counsel answered that he was "[a]lready thinking about the same statutes." The agreement was signed on September 24, 2007. On December 11, 2007 the office wrote to Lefkowitz at Kirkland's New York office, over Acosta's name, answering what the letter called "the ever-increasing attacks on my role in the investigation and negotiations," and noting that "[t]he agreement itself was signed by Mr. Epstein, Ms. Sanchez, and Mr. Lefcourt, whose experience speaks for itself." On December 17 Starr and Lefkowitz sent Acosta a 110-page letter, and through the first half of 2008 they appealed the agreement to the Justice Department's Criminal Division and to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, which declined to intervene on June 23, 2008.[^5][^6][^7]
The Office of Professional Responsibility wrote in 2020 that "a reasonable inference can be drawn that Epstein believed that hiring attorneys with relationships to the prosecutors would be beneficial to him," naming Starr and Lefkowitz of "Kirkland & Ellis, Acosta's former firm," among others.[^8]
### Acosta's Recusal
In late 2008, "when Acosta anticipated leaving the USAO and was considering pursuing employment with Kirkland & Ellis," he told Sloman to stop copying him on Epstein emails. On November 26, 2008 the office told the Department that Acosta was recused from matters involving the firm, and on December 8, 2008 the Department approved the recusal because he had "begun to discuss possible employment" with it. Sloman became the senior official responsible for final decisions on Epstein, including the prosecutors' notice that Epstein's work release breached the agreement. Acosta left the office in June 2009 to become dean of the law school at [[Florida International University]].[^8][^9]
### After the Plea
On December 15, 2010 a correspondent writing as "jagesq" told Epstein that former [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] had lunched with a New York criminal defense lawyer, and added: "We may want to think about using him with the registration stuff unless we are too invested with Kirkland. probably help us with Krischer." In Epstein's New York sex offender registration appeal, People v. Jeffrey E. Epstein, a motion to unseal in the Appellate Division, First Department, attached a press article stating: "Like Acosta, Starr had worked at the prestigious law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Epstein also tapped Jay Lefkowitz, also of Kirkland, who worked as a domestic policy advisor and later as a special envoy to North Korea during the George W. Bush presidency."[^10][^11]
### Barr
Barr joined Kirkland & Ellis in 2009. After Epstein's July 2019 arrest in New York, Barr told reporters on July 8, 2019: "I'm recused from that matter because one of the law firms that represented Epstein long ago was a firm I subsequently joined for a period of time." The next day a Justice Department official said that Barr had consulted career ethics officials and "concluded he did not have to recuse himself from the current prosecution" in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], and that "[d]ue to his prior association with Kirkland and Ellis, the Attorney General has and will remain recused from any retrospective review of the resolution of the earlier [Southern District of Florida] matter." The former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] assistant director [[Frank Figliuzzi]] called the distinction "a distinction without a difference," saying the two matters were "inexorably linked," and also pointed to reports that Barr's father, [[Donald Barr]], as headmaster of the [[Dalton School]] in the 1970s, had hired Epstein to teach mathematics although Epstein had no college degree.[^12]
### Lefkowitz's Retirement
Lefkowitz retired from the firm in March 2026 after three decades, saying: "Although I believe everyone is entitled to representation no matter how heinous their crimes, knowing what we all know now, I would not have taken on the Epstein matter." A Kirkland spokesperson said: "To say the least, we deeply regret the firm's 2007 representation of Jeffrey Epstein."[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: The White House (George W. Bush archives), "Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta," official biography. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/racosta-bio.html ; U.S. Department of Labor, "Hall of Secretaries: Alexander Acosta." https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/acosta
[^2]: U.S. Department of State, "Jay Lefkowitz, Special Envoy, Human Rights in North Korea," biography, released May 25, 2006. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/66929.htm ; The White House (George W. Bush archives), "Personnel Announcement," January 31, 2002. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020131-10.html
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Disgraced Lawyer Jay Lefkowitz Who Secured Sweetheart Deal Leaves Firm," *The Daily Beast,* March 2026, quoting Lefkowitz's retirement statement and a Kirkland & Ellis spokesperson. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-disgraced-lawyer-jay-lefkowitz-who-secured-sweetheart-deal-leaves-firm/
[^4]: 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. 9, 59, 62 to 64, 76, 97 to 99, 101, 105, 109 to 110, 150 to 152. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General, "Solicitor General: Kenneth W. Starr," historical biography (updated September 18, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/osg/bio/kenneth-w-starr ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 4), pp. 62 to 63, 94 to 99, 105 to 113.
[^6]: 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 (Marra, J.), reported at 359 F. Supp. 3d 1201, quoting ECF No. 407 and the agreement (ECF No. 361-62). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^7]: 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, Citigroup Center, New York, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," December 11, 2007, pp. 1, 3. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00013538.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 4), pp. 150 to 155 and n. 224 (EFTA02847459 to EFTA02847464).
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 4), pp. 18, 21 and nn. 21, 28 to 31; pp. 115 to 118 and nn. 183 to 184.
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01830557, DataSet 10, email, "jagesq" to Jeffrey Epstein, "krischer richardson," December 15, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01830557.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00798522, DataSet 9, Affirmation of John M. Browning in Support of Motion to Unseal, People v. Jeffrey E. Epstein, App. Div. No. 6081 (N.Y. App. Div., 1st Dep't), with press article exhibit. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00798522.pdf
[^12]: "Attorney General Bill Barr will not recuse himself from Jeffrey Epstein child sex prosecution," *CNBC,* July 9, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/bill-barr-will-not-recuse-himself-in-jeffrey-epstein-prosecution.html

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- KobreAndKim
- RevolvingDoor
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- GovernmentEnforcementDefense
- AssetRecovery
alias:
- Kobre & Kim
- Kobre & Kim LLP
- Kobre and Kim
summary: "Litigation firm founded by two former Manhattan federal securities fraud prosecutors, which hired Matthew Menchel and Andrew Lourie, two supervisors of the 2006 to 2007 Epstein investigation, on leaving government."
start: 2003
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Steven Kobre]]"
reverse: true
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Michael Kim]]"
reverse: true
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Matthew Menchel]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner, government enforcement defense"
start: 2007-08
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Andrew Lourie]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner, government enforcement defense"
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Kobre & Kim LLP is a litigation firm founded in [[New York]] by [[Steven Kobre]] and [[Michael Kim]], former Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the securities and commodities fraud unit of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]. It describes itself as a "conflict-free, litigation-only" firm for cross-border disputes, government investigations and asset recovery, with offices in several countries, and most of its business referred by other law firms. Two supervisors of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]'s 2006 to 2007 investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] joined it on leaving government: [[Matthew Menchel]], chief of the Criminal Division, who left in August 2007 while the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] was being negotiated, and [[Andrew Lourie]], who left the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in February 2008.[^1][^2][^3]
### Founders and Model
Kobre had been an Assistant District Attorney in the [[Manhattan District Attorney's Office|New York County District Attorney's Office]] and clerked for Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. of the [[U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] before serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division in Manhattan. In a 2014 interview he said that he and Kim had been prosecutors "in the unit of the Southern District of New York that handles cases involving securities and commodities frauds," that at first the firm "focused primarily on white collar investigations, lawsuits involving financial institutions, and asset forfeiture and recovery matters," and that eleven years on "approximately 80 to 90 percent of our business today comes by way of referrals from other law firms." The firm then employed English solicitors and barristers, including three Queen's Counsel, and offshore lawyers in the [[Cayman Islands]] and the [[British Virgin Islands]].[^1][^2]
### Menchel
Menchel was chief of the Criminal Division of the Miami office from October 2006 to August 2007, the months in which the office declined to approve an indictment of Epstein and offered him instead a two-year state plea. He communicated the offer to Epstein's lawyers. After the office presented its term sheet on July 31, 2007, the defense lawyer [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]] wrote to him on August 2 proposing two years of home confinement; the office's reply of August 3, addressed "Dear Lilly" and signed by Menchel under U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]]'s name, stated that the two-year term was "a non-negotiable minimum." It was Menchel's last day in the office before he joined Kobre & Kim; he told the [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] that the timing was a "total coincidence."[^4][^5]
The Office of Professional Responsibility found that Menchel had dated, in 2003, a former deputy who by 2007 was one of Epstein's defense lawyers, that his supervisors did not know it, and that it "would have been prudent" for him to tell them; it found no evidence supporting a 2018 claim that the two-year offer was a favor to defense counsel. Epstein estate records released by the [[House Oversight Committee]] in October 2025 show appointments, telephone calls and dinners between Menchel and Epstein in 2011, 2013 and 2017. Menchel has said he had no business relationship with Epstein "at any point, not before, during or after my tenure," and has denied skiing with him.[^3][^6]
At Kobre & Kim Menchel became a partner in the government enforcement defense practice, a Fellow of the [[American College of Trial Lawyers]] and head of the firm's trial advocacy program. The firm credits him with the "landmark acquittal" of the [[UBS]] banker [[Raoul Weil]] and with a defense verdict "against the CFTC on all causes of action" for the trading firm DRW.[^4]
### Lourie
Lourie was a deputy chief of the Criminal Division and manager of the [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] branch, supervising the Epstein investigation. He had twice been detailed to Washington as acting chief of the department's [[Public Integrity Section]], where, according to his Kobre & Kim biography, he supervised public corruption prosecutions including investigations arising from the prosecution of the lobbyist [[Jack Abramoff]]. He left Miami in September 2007, while the agreement was being negotiated, to become Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and chief of staff to [[Alice Fisher]], head of the Criminal Division, and left the department in February 2008. At Kobre & Kim he became a partner in the same government enforcement defense practice as Menchel, handling commodities manipulation, spoofing, insider trading and [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]] matters; in 2015 the firm quoted the Chambers guide that his "skills are extraordinary, and his judgment is first-rate." The Office of Professional Responsibility named him one of five subjects of its Epstein investigation and found no professional misconduct. He later became of counsel at the Miami firm [[Tein Malone]].[^7][^8][^9]
### Epstein as Recipient
On June 21, 2017 the firm sent Epstein a client alert, "Kobre & Kim Update: China's State Secret Laws: Five Unique Risks for Working With SOEs".[^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "The Counsel's Counsel: An Interview with Steven G. Kobre, Co-Founder, Kobre & Kim LLP," *LEADERS Magazine,* October 2014. https://www.leadersmag.com/issues/2014.4_oct/New_York_City/LEADERS-Steven-Kobre-Kobre-Kim.html
[^2]: Kobre & Kim, "Steven G. Kobre" (firm biography). https://kobrekim.com/people/steven-g-kobre
[^3]: Debra Cassens Weiss, "Jeffrey Epstein had dinners with top criminal prosecutor in years following favorable deal, documents show," *ABA Journal,* October 20, 2025. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/jeffrey-epstein-had-dinners-with-top-criminal-prosecutor-in-years-following-favorable-deal-documents-show
[^4]: Kobre & Kim, "Matthew I. Menchel" (firm biography). https://kobrekim.com/people/matthew-i-menchel
[^5]: 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. 5 to 7, 54 to 58 (EFTA02847314 to EFTA02847316). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 5), pp. 150 to 155 and nn. 226 to 228 (EFTA02847459 to EFTA02847464).
[^7]: Kobre & Kim, "Andrew C. Lourie" (firm biography, Chinese-language edition). https://kobrekim.com/zh_cmn/people-cn/andrew-c-lourie-cn ; Tein Malone, "Andrew Lourie" (firm biography). https://www.teinmalone.com/andrewlourie
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 5), pp. 5 to 6 and Executive Summary, pp. vi, ix to x (EFTA02847291, EFTA02847294 to EFTA02847295, EFTA02847314 to EFTA02847315).
[^9]: Kobre & Kim, "Kobre & Kim Receives Top Rankings in the 2015 Edition of Chambers & Partners," May 19, 2015. https://kobrekim.com/news/accolades/kobre-and-kim-receives-top-rankings-in-the-2015-edition-of-chambers-and-partners
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02339358, DataSet 11, email, Kobre & Kim to Jeffrey Epstein, "Kobre & Kim Update: China's State Secret Laws: Five Unique Risks for Working With SOEs," June 21, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02339358.pdf

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- MotleyRice
- VirginIslands
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorganChase
- ProjectJeep
- TobaccoLitigation
- MassTort
alias:
- Motley Rice
- Motley Rice LLC
summary: "Mount Pleasant, South Carolina plaintiffs' firm of the 1998 tobacco settlement negotiators, contingency counsel to the Virgin Islands against Epstein's estate and JPMorgan Chase, which took more than 43 million dollars in fees."
start: 2003-04
location: "Mount Pleasant, South Carolina"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Ron Motley]]"
reverse: true
start: 2003-04
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Joe Rice]]"
reverse: true
start: 2003-04
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
role: "contingency counsel against the Epstein estate and JPMorgan Chase"
start: 2020
end: 2023-10
fn: 4
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank]]"
role: "counsel for the plaintiff"
start: 2022-12-27
end: 2023-10-18
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Motley Rice LLC is a plaintiffs' litigation firm founded in [[Mount Pleasant, South Carolina]], in April 2003 by [[Ron Motley]] (1944 to 2013) and [[Joe Rice]] (1954 to 2026), who as lead private counsel for state attorneys general negotiated the 246 billion dollar tobacco [[Master Settlement Agreement]] of 1998. On contingency, it represented the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] in its 2020 suit against the estate of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], which settled in 2022 for 105 million dollars, and in [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank]], which settled in 2023 for 75 million dollars. The firm stood to receive more than 23 million dollars of the first settlement and received 20 million dollars of the second.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### The Firm
Motley and Rice began working together in the 1970s in asbestos litigation at a firm in Barnwell, South Carolina, later Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole. The firm credits itself with more than 50 cases in the aviation litigation arising from the [[September 11 attacks]] and with representing more than 6,600 family members, survivors and first responders in continuing litigation; with the terrorism-financing case Linde v. [[Arab Bank]] under the [[Anti-Terrorism Act]]; as co-lead negotiator of the [[Deepwater Horizon]] class settlement with [[BP]]; and as co-lead counsel for more than 2,700 communities in the National Prescription Opiate multidistrict litigation.[^1][^2]
### The Estate Case
On January 15, 2020 Attorney General [[Denise George]] sued Epstein's estate in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands under the territory's Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, naming the co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] and Epstein's companies. According to [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] notes of her October 2, 2023 interview, George consulted Governor [[Albert Bryan]] before filing and was told, "He's dead go for it," and Motley Rice's forensic accountants traced companies and limited liability companies connected to Epstein's [[Southern Trust Company]]. When the firm began interviewing estate employees, who she said "had nondisclosure agreements and were informed if questioned by law enforcement to say nothing and alert Kellerhals," Bryan's chief legal counsel, [[David Bornn]], a former employee of the estate lawyer [[Erika Kellerhals]], called George to relay that Kellerhals wanted to know what she was investigating. According to the same notes, George told the FBI that Bryan later asked her, "originally when I said go ahead I didn't think it was going to go this far. I can't get you to let this go?" Bryan has denied wrongdoing in his dealings with Epstein.[^5][^6]
The case settled on December 1, 2022. The estate agreed to pay 105 million dollars in cash, to return more than 80 million dollars in economic development tax benefits obtained through Southern Trust's certificate, to give the territory half the proceeds of the sale of [[Little St. James]], and to pay 450,000 dollars for remediation on [[Great St. James]]. Motley Rice stood to receive more than 23 million dollars of the 105 million. Indyke and Kahn were not charged and have denied wrongdoing.[^3][^4][^5]
### The JPMorgan Case
George filed the territory's suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]] on December 27, 2022 before Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]], alleging that the bank had knowingly facilitated and profited from Epstein's sex trafficking while keeping him as a client from 1998 to 2013. Bryan removed her four days later. The territory's lawyers of record included [[Linda Singer]] and Elizabeth Paige Boggs of Motley Rice.[^7][^8]
In February 2023 the firm sought to serve [[Leslie Wexner]] with a document subpoena. According to its sworn declaration, Wexner's longtime [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]] lawyer John W. Zeiger of [[Zeiger, Tigges & Little]] did not return calls about accepting service, and his partner Marion Little said that Zeiger would not accept it "without being given a detailed description of the Subpoena's contents," and, after hearing a general description, "instructed me not to send him the Subpoena." The territory moved on February 17, 2023 to serve Wexner by certified mail.[^9]
Singer examined JPMorgan's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]], on May 26, 2023, and objected on the record to "counsel coaching the witness on answers," which she said "has happened a number of times." Dimon testified that the bank "did not need introductions to anybody."[^10]
On May 28, 2023 JPMorgan produced a 22-page summary of its internal "Project Jeep" review. On June 7, 2023 Motley Rice asked Rakoff to reopen depositions, citing the summary's "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including "[[Andrew Farkas]], [[Boris Nikolic]], [[Bill Gates]], and [[Peter Mandelson]]"; emails showing that the former [[Bear Stearns]] chairman [[Alan Greenberg]] had gone to general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein; a January 19, 2011 message from a JPMorgan Securities employee to Epstein ("Ace would love to speak to Jeffrey"); and a 2008 email stating that "JPM requires top of the house ok for clients who are convicted felons. (ie PCS Legal to Asset Mgt Legal to Cutler to Jaime Daimnon [sic])." The bank's counsel at [[WilmerHale]] answered that "top of the house" meant Cutler. In August 2023 Rakoff ordered production of records concerning newly identified women Epstein had paid, but denied the request "to compel production of all documents and information concerning 'Project Jeep' or other investigations by JPMorgan that occurred after Epstein's 2019 arrest."[^11][^12]
On September 26, 2023 JPMorgan agreed to pay the territory 75 million dollars without admitting wrongdoing: 30 million dollars to organizations combating human trafficking, 25 million dollars to strengthen the territory's law enforcement, and 20 million dollars in attorneys' fees. The territory received about 180 million dollars in Epstein-related settlements after Motley Rice's fees; as of January 2026 the Bryan administration had not filed the accounting of the money that a 2024 territorial law requires.[^5][^6][^13]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Motley Rice LLC, "About Motley Rice" (Our Founders; Our History). https://www.motleyrice.com/about ; Motley Rice LLC, "Motley Rice Co-Founding Member Joe Rice Awarded SCAJ Top Honor." https://www.motleyrice.com/news/joe-rice-scaj-founders-award
[^2]: Motley Rice LLC, "Ronald L. Motley," attorney profile. https://www.motleyrice.com/attorneys/ronald-l-motley
[^3]: "U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate Of Jeffrey Epstein And Co-Defendants For Over $105 Million," *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/
[^4]: Carlson, Suzanne. "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
[^5]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026, reporting four pages of FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George released January 30, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^6]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Bryan unapologetic for texts with Epstein, doubles down on denial of wrongdoing." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 3, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/bryan-unapologetic-for-texts-with-epstein-doubles-down-on-denial-of-wrongdoing/article_8bab46a1-6075-4c7c-abec-6efb19622e62.html
[^7]: Docket, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 17, 343 to 348, CourtListener docket 66683865. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66683865/government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands-v-jpmorgan-chase-bank-na/
[^8]: "U.S. Virgin Islands fires attorney general in Jeffrey Epstein cases," *PBS NewsHour / Associated Press,* January 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-virgin-islands-fires-attorney-general-in-jeffrey-epstein-cases
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02806221, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), Declaration in support of motion for alternative service of subpoena upon Leslie Wexner, ECF No. 50-4, February 17, 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)/EFTA02806221.pdf
[^10]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^11]: 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), pp. 3 to 5. 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 ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808625, Court Records (same case), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, ECF No. 187, June 9, 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)/EFTA02808625.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02814941, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), Order of Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Dkt. 212, August 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)/EFTA02814941.pdf
[^13]: "JPMorgan Chase settles Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking suit by U.S. Virgin Islands for $75 million," *CNBC,* September 26, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/jpmorgan-to-settle-jeffrey-epstein-suit-by-virgin-islands.html

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- VirginIslands
- ShellCompany
- DeutscheBank
- ApolloGlobalManagement
- LeonBlack
alias:
- Southern Financial, LLC
- Southern Financial
- Southern Financial L.L.C.
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's St. Thomas limited liability company, registered in 2013, which held his Apollo Global Management shares and anchored a Deutsche Bank relationship worth about 98.6 million dollars in 2016."
start: 2013-02-25
location: "6100 Red Hook Quarter, B3, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 2013-02-25
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Southern Financial LLC is a [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] limited liability company of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], registered on February 25, 2013 "to provide services," with an address at 6100 Red Hook Quarter on [[St. Thomas]] shared with [[Southern Trust Company]], the Haze Trust, Jeepers Inc. and the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation]]. It received the 263,257 shares of [[Apollo Global Management]] that Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] bought in Apollo's 2011 initial public offering and held them through at least September 2019. With Southern Trust it opened Epstein's relationship with [[Deutsche Bank]] in August 2013, and bank staff referred to the accounts as "the entire Southern Financial relationship that is funded by Jeffrey Epstein." Its brokerage accounts at the bank held 98,610,505 dollars in June 2016.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### Registration
The Virgin Islands government's 2022 complaint against Epstein's estate listed Southern Financial among the Epstein entities, "registered February 25, 2013 to provide services," alongside LSJ Employees, LLC (October 27, 2011) and LSJ Emergency, LLC (December 2, 2015). The complaint stated that most of Epstein's territorial companies "were created in 2011 and 2012, soon after Epstein registered as a sex offender in the Virgin Islands," that Epstein, though "often absent in the original incorporation or registration documents or annual filings," ultimately appeared as president, director, manager or sole member of each, and that their purpose was "to allow Epstein to shelter his assets in order to fund, carry out, and conceal his identity and pattern of criminal conduct." Southern Trust Company, incorporated in November 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc., held the territorial tax-incentive certificate that the [[Economic Development Commission]] dated January 24, 2014.[^1][^6]
### The Apollo Shares
In January 2021 the law firm [[Dechert]], reporting to the conflicts committee of Apollo, found that "in 2011, one of Epstein's entities, Financial Trust Company, purchased 263,257 shares of Apollo's stock in its initial public offering" through a directed share program, and that the shares "appear to have later been transferred to a second Epstein entity, Southern Financial LLC, and appear to have been held through at least September 2019." Apollo and its co-founder [[Leon Black]] had stated that the firm never did business with Epstein; Black did not recall the purchase. The same review found that Black paid Epstein 158 million dollars for work from 2012 through 2017, first through Southern Trust Company under a 2013 service agreement, and reported no evidence that Black paid him for anything other than "legitimate advice."[^2]
### Deutsche Bank
Epstein moved his accounts to Deutsche Bank in 2013, brought in by a relationship manager who had joined the bank's private wealth department in November 2012. According to the 2020 consent order of the [[New York State Department of Financial Services]], the relationship "officially began on August 19, 2013," when the bank opened brokerage accounts for Southern Trust Company Inc. and Southern Financial LLC; Epstein, his entities and his associates eventually opened more than 40 accounts. The bank classified him as high-risk.[^3]
On June 28, 2016 a bank employee answering a request headed "Southern Financial - IA Request" listed the balances of the Epstein accounts: 98,610,505.00 dollars for Southern Financial LLC, 41,108,732.17 dollars for the Haze Trust, of which Epstein and his lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] were trustees, 7,668,026.80 dollars for Southern Trust Company, 7,108,576.30 dollars for Jeepers Inc., 1,367,641.87 dollars for the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, and 667,218.67 dollars for Epstein personally, adding that "just in the brokerage accts there are > $100mm in assets."[^5]
On March 6, 2017, under the subject "Southern Financial/Epstein accounts," an assistant vice president of Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas wrote to Charlie Burrows, managing director and head of deposit products and banking services for the Americas: "Back office is requesting that you confirm that this approval is applied for the entire Southern Financial relationship that is funded by Jeffrey Epstein. Please confirm that all DB AG accounts opened under this relationship is approved." Burrows replied: "Yes... Approved as you outlined below for the entire Southern Financial relationship and their DBAGNY accounts." In June 2017 the bank's automated screening generated alerts matching the name "Southern Financial LLC" against unrelated South Carolina and [[North Carolina]] companies that had faced fraud actions by the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]].[^4][^7]
### Congressional Requests
S. 2746, the [[Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act]] introduced by Senator [[Ron Wyden]] on September 9, 2025, lists "Southern Financial LLC" among the entities whose Treasury records, including suspicious activity reports, it would require to be produced. In June 2026 Representative [[Jamie Raskin]], ranking Democrat on the [[House Judiciary Committee]], asked [[Bard College]] for records of any payments from a list of Epstein-linked entities that included Southern Financial LLC, [[Gratitude America]], the [[Butterfly Trust]], Southern Trust Company, Plan D, LLC and the Haze Trust.[^8][^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Darren K. Indyke et al., No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint (filed November 30, 2022), paragraphs 137 to 141; reproduced as ECF No. 1-1 in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y., filed December 27, 2022), ECF pp. 29 to 30. https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/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)/001-01.pdf
[^2]: 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, pp. 3 to 4, 16 to 17, 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
[^3]: New York State Department of Financial Services, In the Matter of Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch, and Deutsche Bank Trust Company of the Americas, Consent Order Under New York Banking Law sections 39 and 44 (executed July 6, 2020), paras. 16-58. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01407773, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas email chain, "Southern Financial/Epstein accounts," March 6, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01407773.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01372777, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank internal email, Vahe Stepanian to Andrew Xu and Roddy Moore, "RE: Southern Financial - IA Request," June 28, 2016 (DB-SDNY-0066645). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372777.pdf
[^6]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023, on the January 24, 2014 Southern Trust certificate. https://web.archive.org/web/20240721172424/https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/06/16/v-i-officials-enabled-epstein-to-act-with-impunity-jpmorgan-alleges-in-latest-salvo/
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01372526, EFTA01372527, EFTA01372529 and EFTA01372530, DataSet 10, "Deutsche Bank Private Bank Alert," tracking ID KYC 1790655, June 15, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372526.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372527.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372529.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372530.pdf
[^8]: S. 2746, 119th Congress, "Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act," introduced September 9, 2025, section 2(b)(2)(H). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s2746is/html/BILLS-119s2746is.htm
[^9]: 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, p. 7. 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

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@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ According to the territory's Second Amended Complaint, Southern Trust employed 1
The complaint stated that "virtually all of Southern Trust Company's income came from a single source (including related entities)," which "paid $158 million to Defendant Southern Trust Company from 2013 to 2017, which constitutes 85% of the total revenues reported," and that the funds "appear to have not been used to pay for informatics or datamining services." The complaint does not name the source.[^1]
The review of [[Leon Black]]'s dealings with Epstein that the law firm [[Dechert]] prepared for [[Apollo Global Management]] in January 2021 found that Black signed a written service agreement with "Southern Trust Company, Inc., an Epstein affiliate" on February 13, 2013, paying 15 million dollars on February 15, 2013 and 8.5 million dollars on October 15, 2013 into Southern Trust for work on a 2006 grantor retained annuity trust. Black's payments to Epstein then totaled 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million dollars in 2014 and 30 million dollars in 2015, nothing in 2016, and a final 8 million dollars in April 2017, 158 million dollars in all; Epstein had told Black the payments would be tax deductible. Southern Trust's reported net income for the same years was 50.3, 67.5, 52.8, 4.8 and 17.1 million dollars. In early 2017 Black also lent Epstein 22.5 million dollars and 8 million dollars through BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC, an Epstein company later named as a defendant in the territory's suit; Epstein repaid part in 2018. Dechert reported no evidence that Black paid Epstein for anything other than "legitimate advice" and found that the value Epstein's advice conferred on Black was more than 1 billion dollars. The same review found that Financial Trust Company bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the firm's 2011 initial public offering, which appear to have been transferred in 2013 to Southern Financial LLC, an Epstein company registered in the Virgin Islands on February 25, 2013, and held through at least September 2019. Black paid the territory 62.5 million dollars in January 2023 to resolve potential Epstein-related claims, without any admission of liability, in a settlement countersigned by Acting Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]], whom Bryan had appointed after removing George at the end of December 2022.[^1][^12][^13][^14]
The review of [[Leon Black]]'s dealings with Epstein that the law firm [[Dechert]] prepared for [[Apollo Global Management]] in January 2021 found that Black signed a written service agreement with "Southern Trust Company, Inc., an Epstein affiliate" on February 13, 2013, paying 15 million dollars on February 15, 2013 and 8.5 million dollars on October 15, 2013 into Southern Trust for work on a 2006 grantor retained annuity trust. Black's payments to Epstein then totaled 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million dollars in 2014 and 30 million dollars in 2015, nothing in 2016, and a final 8 million dollars in April 2017, 158 million dollars in all; Epstein had told Black the payments would be tax deductible. Southern Trust's reported net income for the same years was 50.3, 67.5, 52.8, 4.8 and 17.1 million dollars. In early 2017 Black also lent Epstein 22.5 million dollars and 8 million dollars through BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC, an Epstein company later named as a defendant in the territory's suit; Epstein repaid part in 2018. Dechert reported no evidence that Black paid Epstein for anything other than "legitimate advice" and found that the value Epstein's advice conferred on Black was more than 1 billion dollars. The same review found that Financial Trust Company bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the firm's 2011 initial public offering, which appear to have been transferred in 2013 to [[Southern Financial LLC]], an Epstein company registered in the Virgin Islands on February 25, 2013, and held through at least September 2019. Black paid the territory 62.5 million dollars in January 2023 to resolve potential Epstein-related claims, without any admission of liability, in a settlement countersigned by Acting Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]], whom Bryan had appointed after removing George at the end of December 2022.[^1][^12][^13][^14]
### Disclosure and Nondisclosure

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### Ownership
On September 16, 2018, the [[Meredith Corporation]], which had acquired Time Inc., announced that it would sell the Time brand to [[Marc Benioff]] and [[Lynne Benioff]] for 190 million dollars in cash. The purchase was personal to the Benioffs and "unrelated to Salesforce.com," and the couple were not to be "involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions," which remained with the editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal. Citigroup and Cooley advised Meredith; BDT & Company and Goodwin Procter advised the Benioffs. Meredith applied the proceeds to reducing its debt. "TIME has always been a trusted reflection of the state of the world," the Benioffs said.[^3]
On September 16, 2018, the [[Meredith Corporation]], which had acquired Time Inc., announced that it would sell the Time brand to [[Marc Benioff]] and [[Lynne Benioff]] for 190 million dollars in cash. The purchase was personal to the Benioffs and "unrelated to Salesforce.com," and the couple were not to be "involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions," which remained with the editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal. Citigroup and Cooley advised Meredith; BDT & Company and [[Goodwin Procter]] advised the Benioffs. Meredith applied the proceeds to reducing its debt. "TIME has always been a trusted reflection of the state of the world," the Benioffs said.[^3]
### BCCI Reporting

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- TroutmanSanders
- JeffreyEpstein
- FinancialTrustCompany
- StevenHoffenberg
- TowersFinancial
- EpsteinEstate
alias:
- Troutman Sanders
- Troutman Sanders LLP
- Troutman Pepper
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
- Troutman Pepper Locke
summary: "Atlanta-rooted law firm that defended Jeffrey Epstein and Financial Trust Company against Steven Hoffenberg's Towers Financial suits in 2016 and 2018 and Epstein's estate in 2020, later Troutman Pepper Locke."
location: "Atlanta, Georgia"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "defense counsel against suits by Steven Hoffenberg and Towers Financial noteholders"
start: 2016-06
end: 2018-10
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Financial Trust Company]]"
start: 2016-06
end: 2020-05
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
role: "co-executor of the Epstein estate, in the VE suit"
start: 2020-05-12
fn: 8
- type: represented
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
role: "co-executor of the Epstein estate, in the VE suit"
start: 2020-05-12
fn: 8
- type: represented
with: "[[Nine East 71st Street Corporation]]"
start: 2020-05-12
fn: 8
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Troutman Sanders LLP was an [[Atlanta]] law firm that on July 1, 2020 combined with the [[Philadelphia]] firm Pepper Hamilton as Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP, a firm of 1,100 lawyers in 23 cities, now Troutman Pepper Locke. Through its partner Bennet J. Moskowitz it represented [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and his [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] company [[Financial Trust Company]] in 2016 and 2018 against suits by [[Steven Hoffenberg]], the convicted former chief executive of [[Towers Financial Corporation]], and by Towers noteholders, who alleged that Epstein had been a participant in the Towers fraud and had capitalized Financial Trust with its proceeds; both suits ended within weeks. After Epstein's death its lawyer Charles L. Glover appeared in 2020 for the estate's co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] and for Financial Trust in a suit by a pseudonymous plaintiff.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Hoffenberg v. Epstein
On May 27, 2016 Hoffenberg sued Epstein and "The Financial Trust Company" in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] (No. 1:16-cv-03989) "individually, and as constructive trustee of the Noteholders and Bondholders of Towers Financial Corporation." Moskowitz wrote to Judge [[Richard J. Sullivan]] on June 28, 2016 that Hoffenberg lacked standing, that his claims "expired at least 15 years ago," that he was barred by in pari delicto, and that he failed to state a claim. The letter also stated that at a December 2013 conference in Hoffenberg's criminal case "Judge Sweet stated he was unaware of Epstein"; at that conference, on December 5, 2013, Hoffenberg's counsel had told Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]] that "Mr. Epstein is a critical player here." Hoffenberg withdrew the complaint with prejudice by letter of July 1, 2016, and Sullivan dismissed the case on July 5, 2016, five weeks after filing.[^1][^5][^6]
### Gerber v. The Financial Trust Company
On August 20, 2018 two Towers noteholders, Marvin Gerber and Kalma Koenig, filed a putative class action against Epstein and Financial Trust (No. 1:18-cv-07580), alleging that Epstein "raised over five hundred million dollars" for the scheme and used its proceeds "to start and grow" Financial Trust. It attached Hoffenberg's affidavit of August 17, 2018 swearing that "Epstein and the corporations he formed were my co-conspirators," that "during the course of my criminal trial, Prosecutors offered me a reduced sentence in exchange for information about Epstein's role," and that the 2016 suit "was eventually withdrawn with prejudice and the full extent of Epstein's involvement in my crimes and the related frauds was never exposed." Moskowitz moved to dismiss with prejudice on September 14, 2018, filing the 1998 Financial Trust articles of incorporation among his exhibits, and the case was terminated on October 5, 2018 after a sanctions threat, the plaintiffs preserving the right to refile. Epstein was never charged in connection with Towers.[^2][^3]
A draft of the firm's memorandum of law for Epstein and "The Financial Trust Company," marked "Privileged and Confidential; Attorney Work Product," is among the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases. Headed "Multiple SDNY Judges Warned the Person Driving This Action Against Such Frivolous Lawsuits," it recounted that Judge [[Richard M. Berman]] had warned Hoffenberg in 2001 that "he may not assert baseless claims or abuse the judicial process through the instigation of frivolous or duplicative suits," that Sweet had found in 2003 that Hoffenberg "will be enjoined from filing any further litigation ... without prior approval," and that Judge [[P. Kevin Castel]] had found a 2013 Hoffenberg petition "appears in several respects to be a frivolous pleading filed in violation of Rule 11(b)." It summarized the complaint as alleging that Hoffenberg hired Epstein "as a consultant back in 1987," and stated: "Defendants have never been found guilty of any wrongdoing related to Hoffenberg's fraud."[^7]
### The Estate
After Epstein's death on August 10, 2019, a plaintiff identified as "VE" sued the co-executors, [[Nine East 71st Street Corporation]], Financial Trust Company, Inc. and NES, LLC (No. 1:19-cv-07625). On May 12, 2020 Glover of Troutman Sanders filed a notice of appearance for all of them. Indyke and Kahn have denied complicity in or knowledge of Epstein's crimes.[^8][^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Letter of Bennet J. Moskowitz, Troutman Sanders LLP, counsel for Jeffrey E. Epstein and The Financial Trust Company, to Hon. Richard J. Sullivan, June 28, 2016, Hoffenberg v. Epstein, No. 1:16-cv-03989-RJS (S.D.N.Y.), filed as Exhibit G, ECF No. 16-7, in No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.7.pdf
[^2]: Marvin Gerber and Kalma Koenig v. The Financial Trust Company, XYZ Corp., ABC, Inc., and Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), Complaint, ECF No. 7 (filed August 21, 2018), paragraphs 15 to 58, with Exhibit B, Affidavit of Steven J. Hoffenberg sworn August 17, 2018, ECF No. 7-2. https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Gerber-v-The-Financial-Trust-Co-complaint.pdf
[^3]: Gerber v. The Financial Trust Company, No. 1:18-cv-07580 (S.D.N.Y.), docket (filed August 20, 2018; terminated October 5, 2018; Judge J. Paul Oetken), including Declaration of Bennet J. Moskowitz in support of motion to dismiss, ECF No. 16 (September 14, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7698990/gerber-v-the-financial-trust-company/ ; Joseph N. DiStefano, "Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's old boss says he knows where the mystery millions came from," *Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 11, 2019. https://www.inquirer.com/business/jeffrey-epstein-hoffenberg-trump-clinton-20190711.html
[^4]: "Troutman Pepper Officially Launches," *PR Newswire,* July 1, 2020. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/troutman-pepper-officially-launches-301086794.html ; Troutman Pepper Locke, firm website. https://www.troutman.com/about/
[^5]: Hoffenberg v. Epstein, No. 1:16-cv-03989 (RJS) (S.D.N.Y.), docket (filed May 27, 2016; terminated July 5, 2016; counsel Mintz & Fraade, P.C. and Troutman Sanders LLP), and Order of Judge Richard J. Sullivan, July 5, 2016, filed as Exhibit I, ECF No. 16-9, in No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/13248845/hoffenberg-v-epstein/ ; https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.9.pdf
[^6]: Transcript of conference, United States v. Steven Hoffenberg, 94 Cr. 213 (RWS) (S.D.N.Y.), December 5, 2013, filed as Exhibit L, ECF No. 16-12, in No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.12.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00802452, DataSet 9, draft Defendants' Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss, Gerber v. The Financial Trust Company, No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), Troutman Sanders LLP, September 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00802452.pdf
[^8]: VE v. Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn, as Joint Personal Representatives of the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, Nine East 71st Street, Corporation, Financial Trust Company, Inc., NES, LLC, No. 1:19-cv-07625-AJN (S.D.N.Y.), Notice of Appearance of Charles L. Glover, Troutman Sanders LLP, May 12, 2020 (ECF No. 62). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117012714/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/VE%20v.%20Nine%20East%2071st%20Street,%20No.%20119-cv-07625%20(S.D.N.Y.%202019)/062.pdf
[^9]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- University
- VirginIslands
- JeffreyEpstein
- TaxHaven
- StudentVisas
- Philanthropy
alias:
- UVI
- U.V.I.
- University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park
- UVI Research and Technology Park
- RTPark
- RT Park
summary: "Public land-grant university of the U.S. Virgin Islands whose research park declined Jeffrey Epstein around 2012, while its president kept soliciting him for a medical-school gift and its classes enrolled women connected to him."
start: 1962
location: "U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[David Hall (academic)]]"
reverse: true
role: "president"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The University of the Virgin Islands is a public, co-educational, land-grant historically Black university in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], founded in 1962. Its Research and Technology Park is a territorial tax-incentive vehicle on which [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] lawyer [[Erika Kellerhals]] advised clients alongside the [[Economic Development Commission]]. In October 2011 [[Cecile de Jongh]], wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]] and office manager of Epstein's companies, sent Epstein her assessments of candidates for the park's board. In 2013 she arranged the enrollment of women connected to Epstein in the university's English classes while asking what visas they held. In 2023 the university stated that its park and trustees had declined Epstein's approaches around 2011 and 2012 and denied the allegations about the classes; documents released in 2026 showed its president continuing to seek a major gift from Epstein in 2014. The attorney [[Henry Smock]], who assisted Epstein's 1998 purchase of [[Little St. James]], served for years as counsel to its board.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### The Research and Technology Park
The park operates through the University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park Corporation and a Research and Technology Park Protected Cell Corporation. A blank application and release-authorization packet for the protected cell corporation is among the documents released by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] from Epstein's files; no Epstein entity is named in it. Kellerhals's firm biography described advising clients "on obtaining economic development incentives from the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission and the University of the Virgin Islands Research & Technology Park."[^2][^6]
On October 19, 2011 Cecile de Jongh sent Epstein ("JEE") an email profiling candidates for the park's board, annotated in capitals. Of the university's president, [[David Hall (academic)|David Hall]], she wrote, "DO NOT KNOW HIM THAT WELL AND HE IS NEW TO THE VI"; of the university's board chairman, Alex Moorhead, a retired vice president for government affairs of the [[HOVENSA]] refinery, "I HAVE KNOWN HIM FOR YEARS - QUIET AND CONSERVATIVE." Three entries, among them that of Smock, a former judge of the Territorial Court, ended with the word "FRIEND." The email closed: "John has two other appointments to make."[^5]
In May 2012 Kellerhals raised in an email, regarding Epstein's application to the park, concern that his background "may conflict with the 'guiding principles' of the RT Park." According to the university's later account, "the RTPark board voted not to have a relationship with him," and "the UVI Board of Trustees made the same decision and declined to accept his offer of a major gift." The Economic Development Commission heard the tax-incentive application of Epstein's company [[Southern Trust Company]] on November 15, 2012.[^3][^4][^7]
### The English Classes
In May 2013 Cecile de Jongh corresponded with the university's Vice President for Institutional Advancement, [[Dionne Jackson]], about English as a Second Language classes, after Epstein wrote that two women, whose names are redacted in the released exhibits, would sign up. On May 29, 2013 she wrote to Jackson that "the total cost for the course (for up to 10 students) is $8,868 which we will pay. We have two students to enroll," and asked Epstein, "What kind of visas do these ladies currently have?" after a university official told her that an I-20 student visa form was issued only for degree programs. On June 5 she wrote that the women "need to go down and enroll and show the ability to pay. I can draft a letter for them to present. Think about whether you should sign it or one of us," and on June 27 that the university was "structuring the class around the ladies."[^8]
The trafficking suit filed against the territory in 2023, [[Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands]], alleged that Cecile de Jongh "Setup ESL classes for other USVI victims," "Obtained I-20 visa for another victim" and received a "$20,000 donation to University for student visas," and listed "University Virgin Islands student visas" in its entry for John de Jongh. The claims against the de Jonghs were dismissed in March 2025 for lack of personal jurisdiction in New York. Hall said in 2023 that he "was not aware of the activities described" and never approved a course for people connected with Epstein.[^8][^9][^10]
### The 2023 Denial and the 2026 Documents
On September 29, 2023, responding to reporting based on exhibits in the territory's suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]], Hall wrote that "there is absolutely no truth to the allegations stated in court documents filed by JP Morgan Chase," that the university had not "created a special course specifically for people connected with Mr. Epstein," and that "no such funds were received by the University" with respect to a disputed 20,000 dollar figure. He described the park board's vote and the trustees' refusal of Epstein's gift around 2011 and 2012.[^3]
Documents released by the Justice Department in 2026 include an August 2012 message asking, "Can he keep meeting with Dr. David Hall tomorrow, Sat. Aug.25th at 10am?" and an April 2014 entry on Epstein's schedule for a "5:30pm Phone Date w/David Hall." In April 2014 Hall wrote to Cecile de Jongh that the trustees had approved moving forward on a medical school and that he had been "authorized... to execute a gift agreement for a major gift that will serve as the foundational gift." In October 2014, after Epstein apparently declined to fund it, Hall wrote to her that the medical school's interim dean "is acquainted with individuals at Harvard who know Jeffrey and he is interested in meeting him." Hall's 2014 employment contract set a base salary of 350,000 dollars and fundraising targets of 22.5 million dollars over five years. A university spokesperson, Tamika Thomas Williams, said the university had "recently obtained historical communications" it had not previously held and had begun an "independent, comprehensive investigation," a step she called "precautionary." Hall could not be reached for comment.[^4]
### Board Counsel and Alumni
Smock, who served as counsel to the university's board and to that of the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]], was named in 2023 by the former Attorney General [[Denise George]] as the mediator Governor [[Albert Bryan]] told her to use in settling the territory's case against Epstein's estate. Bryan himself earned an MBA from the university in 2003.[^11][^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: University of the Virgin Islands, "History," accessed September 25, 2026 ("Founded in 1962, UVI is a public, co-ed, land-grant HBCU in the United States Virgin Islands"). https://www.uvi.edu/about/history.html
[^2]: Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC, "Erika Kellerhals," attorney biography, captured August 10, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190810121434/https://www.kellfer.com/attorneys/erika-kellerhals/
[^3]: University of the Virgin Islands, news release reproducing a letter to the editor by President David Hall, September 29, 2023. https://www.uvi.edu/news/2023/23_098_uvi_addresses_false_allegations_editorial.html
[^4]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs reveal former UVI president's outreach to Epstein for donation to medical school." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 26, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-reveal-former-uvi-presidents-outreach-to-epstein-for-donation-to-medical-school/article_53f1ab08-029d-43e8-9b0a-9e6740b039cb.html
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00720076, DataSet 9, email from Cecile de Jongh to "JEE," October 19, 2011 (duplicate EFTA02035483, DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00720076.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01221503, DataSet 9, University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park Corporation application and release-authorization packet for the Research and Technology Park Protected Cell Corporation. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01221503.pdf
[^7]: 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. 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
[^8]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Court filings show V.I. First Lady's loyalty to Epstein." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* June 21, 2023 (JPMorgan exhibits: UVI ESL emails of May and June 2013; Hall statement). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/court-filings-show-v-i-first-ladys-loyalty-to-epstein/article_c2dca0a7-a243-5365-88c0-389c576ad022.html
[^9]: 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), chart, pp. 6 to 8. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.112.0.pdf
[^10]: 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). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.202.0.pdf
[^11]: 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; Smock as counsel to the university and authority boards). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^12]: "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

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- LawFirm
- WilmerHale
- JPMorganChase
- JeffreyEpstein
- ProjectJeep
- RevolvingDoor
- InternalInvestigation
- RobertMueller
alias:
- WilmerHale
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
- Wilmer Hale
- Hale and Dorr
summary: "Law firm formed by the 2004 merger of Hale and Dorr and Wilmer Cutler Pickering, which defended JPMorgan Chase in the Virgin Islands Epstein suit and investigated Epstein ties for Bard College and Apollo."
start: 2004
location: "Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "outside counsel in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank"
start: 2023
end: 2023-10
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Stephen Cutler]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner and co-chair of the Securities Department"
start: 2005-10
end: 2007-02
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Robert Mueller]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner"
start: 2014-03
end: 2017
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Robert Mueller]]"
reverse: true
role: "partner"
start: 2019-10
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[Bard College]]"
role: "reviewer for the board of trustees of Leon Botstein's relationship with Epstein"
start: 2026-02
end: 2026-04-30
fn: 9
- type: represented
with: "[[Apollo Global Management]]"
role: "reviewer of reputational-risk practices"
start: 2021-01
fn: 8
- type: represented
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
role: "counsel to the board's special committee review of the November 2023 removal of Sam Altman"
start: 2023-12-08
end: 2024-03-08
fn: 10
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
WilmerHale (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) is an American law firm formed in 2004 by the merger of the [[Boston]] firm Hale and Dorr and the [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering. Its partner John J. Butts defended [[JPMorgan Chase]] in [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank]], the 2022 to 2023 suit over the bank's banking of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], including over a 2008 decision on Epstein's accounts attributed to the bank's general counsel, [[Stephen Cutler]], a former WilmerHale partner and former enforcement director of the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]]. The firm also reviewed Epstein-related conduct for [[Apollo Global Management]] in 2021 and for the trustees of [[Bard College]] in 2026. [[Robert Mueller]] was a partner of Hale and Dorr from 1993 to 1995 and of WilmerHale from 2014 to 2017, before and after his service as special counsel.[^1][^2][^3]
### Mueller
The firm announced on March 24, 2014 that Mueller was joining as a partner after twelve years as Director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], a post he took one week before the [[September 11 attacks]]. Co-managing partner Robert Novick said that he brought "his broad range of experience as a career prosecutor, an ability to lead the most sensitive investigations, his steady hand in a crisis and unquestioned integrity." Mueller left in 2017 on his appointment as special counsel for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the firm announced his return as a partner in October 2019. He said: "I'm glad to be at WilmerHale once again, a firm with a tradition of honoring public service."[^1][^2]
### Cutler
Cutler was Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement from October 2001 to May 2005, a period in which the division brought the [[Enron]]-related action that JPMorgan Chase settled for 135 million dollars in July 2003. He joined WilmerHale in October 2005 as a partner and co-chair of its Securities Department. On December 12, 2006 JPMorgan Chase announced that he would become its Executive Vice President and General Counsel from February 2007, reporting to chief executive [[Jamie Dimon]].[^4][^5]
### The Virgin Islands Suit
The [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] sued JPMorgan on December 27, 2022 before Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]]. On May 28, 2023, near the close of discovery, JPMorgan produced a 22-page summary from an internal review begun after Epstein's 2019 arrest and code-named "Project Jeep." On June 7, 2023 the territory's counsel, [[Motley Rice]], asked Rakoff to reopen depositions, citing emails showing that the former [[Bear Stearns]] chairman [[Alan Greenberg]] had gone to Cutler "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein and a 2008 email stating that "JPM requires top of the house ok for clients who are convicted felons. (ie PCS Legal to Asset Mgt Legal to Cutler to Jaime Daimnon [sic])."[^3][^6]
Butts answered for the bank on June 9, 2023 that the summary was compiled after Epstein's death by employees with "no contemporaneous knowledge" of the relationship, that 216 of its 222 underlying emails had been produced months earlier, that Dimon had testified he did not recognize the name "Project Jeep" and had instructed the general counsel to "do everything" to establish the facts, that the author of a 2019 email had confirmed "top of house" there meant then general counsel [[Stacey Friedman]], and that a follow-up sent eight minutes after the 2008 email showed that "top of the house" referred to Cutler. The letter stated that after Epstein's 2008 plea "people from legacy Bear Stearns, including Mr. Greenberg, in connection with post-acquisition transition of accounts, may have attempted to speak with Stephen Cutler, then JPMC's General Counsel, about application of JPMC's corporate policy requiring approval of its General Counsel ... to retain a brokerage account for a client with a felony conviction," that the decision "was made by Mr. Cutler," and that there was "no evidence that Mr. Greenberg had anything to do with Epstein's accounts at the Private Bank." In August 2023 Rakoff declined to compel production of all Project Jeep materials. JPMorgan settled with the territory on September 26, 2023 for 75 million dollars without admitting wrongdoing.[^3][^7]
### Apollo and Bard
On January 25, 2021, the day the [[Dechert]] review of [[Leon Black]]'s 158 million dollars in payments to Epstein was released, Black told Apollo's limited partners that he would retire as chief executive and disclosed that Apollo had engaged WilmerHale to review its reputational-risk and corporate-citizenship practices.[^8]
After the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s releases under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], Bard's trustees retained the firm in February 2026 to review the communications and financial dealings of the college's president, [[Leon Botstein]], with Epstein. Its summary of April 30, 2026 recorded 25 visits by Botstein to Epstein's Manhattan townhouse between 2012 and 2019 and a two-day visit to the island, reported that Epstein twice visited Bard "accompanied by multiple women who have since been identified as victims of Epstein," and quoted Botstein: "I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work." It concluded that he "did not do anything illegal," but that he "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein." His retirement was announced the next day.[^9]
### OpenAI
On December 8, 2023 the special committee of the [[OpenAI]] board, [[Bret Taylor]] and [[Larry Summers]], selected Anjan Sahni and Hallie B. Levin of WilmerHale to review the November 17, 2023 removal of [[Sam Altman]] and [[Greg Brockman]]. The summary released on March 8, 2024 found that the prior board's decision "did not arise out of concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI's finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners," and that Altman's "conduct did not mandate removal."[^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: WilmerHale, "Former Director of the FBI Robert Mueller III Joins WilmerHale," March 24, 2014. https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/insights/news/former-director-of-the-fbi-robert-mueller-iii-joins-wilmerhale
[^2]: National Association of Former United States Attorneys, "Bob Mueller Rejoins Wilmer Hale," October 7, 2019. https://www.nafusa.org/2019/10/bob-mueller-rejoins-wilmer-hale/
[^3]: 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). 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
[^4]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "Stephen M. Cutler Named SEC Enforcement Director," Press Release 2001-120, October 25, 2001. https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2001-120.txt ; "SEC Settles Enforcement Proceedings against J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup," Press Release 2003-87, July 28, 2003. https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-87.htm ; "Enforcement Director Stephen M. Cutler to Leave SEC," Press Release 2005-56, April 14, 2005. https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-56.htm
[^5]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2006, "Executive officers of the registrant." https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000019617/000095012307003015/y30834e10vk.htm ; WilmerHale, "WilmerHale Partner Stephen M. Cutler Named Executive Vice President, General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase," December 12, 2006. https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/insights/news/wilmerhale-partner-stephen-m-cutler-named-executive-vice-president-general-counsel-of-jpmorgan-chase-december-12-2006
[^6]: 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
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02814941, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), Order of Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Dkt. 212, August 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)/EFTA02814941.pdf ; "JPMorgan Chase settles Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking suit by U.S. Virgin Islands for $75 million," *CNBC,* September 26, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/jpmorgan-to-settle-jeffrey-epstein-suit-by-virgin-islands.html
[^8]: Leon D. Black, Letter to Apollo Limited Partners, January 25, 2021, filed as Exhibit 99.2 to Apollo Global Management, Inc. Form 8-K, January 25, 2021. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex992.htm
[^9]: 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. 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 ; "Bard College's president to retire after scrutiny of relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," *Associated Press,* via *NPR,* May 2, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/05/02/nx-s1-5808942/bard-college-president-leon-botstein-retire-jeffrey-epstein
[^10]: OpenAI, "Sam Altman returns as CEO, OpenAI has a new initial board," November 29, 2023, with update of December 8, 2023 (archived September 13, 2026). http://web.archive.org/web/20260913004743/https://openai.com/index/sam-altman-returns-as-ceo-openai-has-a-new-initial-board/ ; OpenAI, "Review completed & Altman, Brockman to continue to lead OpenAI," March 8, 2024 (archived September 13, 2026). http://web.archive.org/web/20260913014725/https://openai.com/index/review-completed-altman-brockman-to-continue-to-lead-openai/

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- Transhumanism
- NickBostrom
- JeffreyEpstein
- ArtificialIntelligence
- Philanthropy
alias:
- Humanity Plus
- Humanity+
- Humanity Plus Inc
- Humanity Plus, Inc.
- World Transhumanist Association (Humanity+)
summary: "Transhumanist membership organization founded in 1998 by Nick Bostrom and David Pearce, later renamed Humanity+, which received Jeffrey Epstein money in 2010 and from his Gratitude America in 2018."
start: 1998
location: "Glastonbury, Connecticut (registered address)"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Nick Bostrom]]"
reverse: true
start: 1998
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[David Pearce]]"
reverse: true
start: 1998
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[James Hughes]]"
reverse: true
role: "secretary"
start: 2001
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Gratitude America]]"
reverse: true
role: "100,000 dollars"
start: 2018
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[Natasha Vita-More]]"
reverse: true
role: "executive director of Humanity+, as of August 2019"
fn: 3
- type: director_of
with: "[[Ben Goertzel]]"
reverse: true
role: "director of Humanity+, as of August 2019"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The World Transhumanist Association (WTA), later renamed Humanity+, is a membership organization that promotes [[transhumanism]], the use of technology to overcome the biological limits of human beings. It was founded in early 1998 by the philosophers [[Nick Bostrom]] and [[David Pearce]] and was incorporated as a non-profit in the early 2000s; the [[Internal Revenue Service]] recognized its tax exemption as of February 1, 2003, under employer identification number 01-0575214, now in the name of Humanity Plus Inc of Glastonbury, [[Connecticut]].[^1][^2] In 2010 it received 20,000 dollars from the [[Jeffrey Epstein]] entity [[Epstein Interests]], and in 2018 it received 100,000 dollars from his foundation [[Gratitude America]].[^3][^4]
### Founding and Organization
Bostrom wrote in 2005 that the association was founded "to provide a general organizational basis for all transhumanist groups and interests, across the political spectrum," and to "develop a more mature and academically respectable form of transhumanism, freed from the 'cultishness' which, at least in the eyes of some critics, had afflicted some of its earlier convocations." Its two founding documents were the Transhumanist Declaration and the Transhumanist FAQ, version 1.0, which Bostrom produced with contributions from more than fifty people, among them Pearce, the [[Extropianism|extropian]] philosopher [[Max More]], the activist [[Kathryn Aegis]] and the Swedish neuroscience student [[Anders Sandberg]]. Its activities were Internet discussion, documents, media work, an annual TransVision conference and the online *Journal of Transhumanism*, later renamed the *[[Journal of Evolution and Technology]]*.[^1]
According to Bostrom, the association "entered its next phase after a meeting in 2001" between the sociologist [[James Hughes]] of [[Trinity College]] in Hartford, the philosopher [[Mark Walker]] of the [[University of Toronto]], then editor of the journal, and Bostrom, then teaching at [[Yale University|Yale]]. Hughes was elected secretary, and "within short order, the WTA adopted a constitution, incorporated as a non-profit, and began building up a vigorous international network of local groups and volunteers." Bostrom put its membership in 2005 at "approximately 3,000 members from more than 100 countries." The [[Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies]] was established in 2004.[^1] By 2013, as Humanity+, the organization reported about 6,000 members in more than 100 countries and more than two dozen chapters, described itself as a 501(c)(3) public charity whose supporting and sustaining members elected its board, and stated that it had adopted the Declaration and the FAQ "developed by WTA."[^5]
### Epstein Interests and the Hong Kong Project
The 2010 tax return of Epstein Interests recorded a 20,000 dollar payment to the association, made two years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea in [[Florida]].[^3] Epstein Interests was one of the Epstein entities to which the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] issued grand jury subpoenas on May 31, 2007, alongside the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation|J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation]], J. Epstein & Company and [[Financial Trust Company]].[^6]
In October 2010 [[OpenCog]], the open-source artificial general intelligence project of [[Ben Goertzel]], announced a two-year project at the M-Lab of [[Hong Kong Polytechnic University]] to build intelligent video game characters, with 380,000 dollars in funding, "the majority of which is supplied by ITF, with a minority supplied by [[Novamente]] in collaboration with Epstein Interests and Humanity+." The project was to be led by the M-Lab faculty members [[Gino Yu]] and [[Wilson Yuen]], with Goertzel overseeing its artificial intelligence work, and to draw graduate students from [[Xiamen University]] in China, where Goertzel was co-supervising an OpenCog robotics project. The announcement described the goal as a "Sputnik of AGI."[^7] [[Natasha Vita-More]], executive director of Humanity+, told BuzzFeed News in 2019 that the Epstein money "was used for AI research" and that "When Mr. Epstein did make a donation to Humanity+, it was long before any news broke about his unethical behavior"; Goertzel was then a director of Humanity+.[^3] In 2009 Epstein's C.O.U.Q. Foundation gave 50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, now the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]].[^3]
### The Gratitude America Gift
In a statement issued in August 2019 Humanity+ said that "Gratitude America, Ltd. made a donation to Humanity+ in 2018" of 100,000 dollars that "did not include Mr. Jeffrey Epstein's name," and that its Schedule B stated the money "was granted to educational research and development of Artificial Intelligence, the ethical use of AI, and increasing awareness of how AI can benefit humanity." It stated that it "had no knowledge of Mr. Epstein's horrific alleged criminal activity, and we strongly condemn it," that "Epstein was never a member of Humanity+, nor affiliated with any known transhumanist organization," and that "Epstein's egocentric ideas about eugenics ardently conflict with the philosophy of transhumanism." The *[[The New York Times|New York Times]]* had reported in July 2019 that Epstein told scientists of plans to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his [[Zorro Ranch]] in [[New Mexico]].[^4][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Bostrom, Nick. "A History of Transhumanist Thought." *Journal of Evolution and Technology* 14, no. 1 (April 2005), section 4. https://jetpress.org/volume14/bostrom.pdf ; reprint at https://nickbostrom.com/papers/a-history-of-transhumanist-thought/
[^2]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Humanity Plus Inc," EIN 01-0575214 (IRS Business Master File extract, ruling date February 1, 2003, subsection 501(c)(3), foundation code 16; Form 990 and 990-EZ filings for tax periods ending June 2009, December 2009 and June 2010), accessed September 25, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/10575214.json
[^3]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019 (citing the 2010 Form 990 of Epstein Interests, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6188966-Epstein-Interests-2010-990.html). https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^4]: Humanity+, "Humanity+ Clarification of Epstein Donation," August 4, 2019, archived December 24, 2020, Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20201224085040/https://humanityplus.org/humanity-clarification-of-epstein-donation/
[^5]: Humanity+, "About," archived January 16, 2013, Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20130116101752/http://humanityplus.org/about/
[^6]: 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 May 31, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^7]: OpenCog, "OpenCog-based game characters at Hong Kong Poly U," October 2010, archived January 22, 2021, Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20210122170135/https://opencog.org/2010/10/opencog-based-game-characters-at-hong-kong-poly-u/
[^8]: Stewart, James B., Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg. "Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA." *New York Times,* July 31, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/business/jeffrey-epstein-eugenics.html