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- 2026-09-23T2022 · [[_manifest]] - 2026-09-25T1902 · [[Thiel Influence Network]]
- 2026-09-23T2022 · [[Jonathan Buma]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Zorro Ranch]]
- 2026-09-23T2022 · [[Charles C. Johnson]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Little St. James]]
- 2026-09-23T2022 · [[Elon Musk]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Great St. James]]
- 2026-09-23T2022 · [[Igor Kurganov]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[9 East 71st Street]]
- 2026-09-23T2021 · [[KEY INDIVIDUALS]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[358 El Brillo Way]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[Los Alamos]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Towers Financial Corporation]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[FISA Section 702]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Southern Trust Company]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[Terrorgram Collective]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[MIT Media Lab]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[Office of Technical Service]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[LippoBank]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[Department of Defense]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Lippo Group]]
- 2026-09-23T2020 · [[William J. Donovan]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[JPMorgan Chase]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[CRESS]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Camp Peary]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Edge Foundation]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Dialog]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Deutsche Bank]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Army Chemical Corps]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[China Resources]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Carbyne]]
- 2026-09-23T2019 · [[Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Apollo Global Management]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[ABIN]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Peter Thiel]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[Gestapo]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Mark Zuckerberg]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[SS]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Leslie Wexner]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[Aman]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Donald Trump]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[GRU]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Tom Pritzker]]
- 2026-09-23T2017 · [[DISIP]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Mochtar Riady]]
- 2026-09-23T2013 · [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Martin Nowak]]
- 2026-09-23T2013 · [[CIA Western Hemisphere Division]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Jes Staley]]
- 2026-09-23T2012 · [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[James Riady]]
- 2026-09-23T2012 · [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Steven Hoffenberg]]
- 2026-09-23T2011 · [[National Reconnaissance Office]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Robert Maxwell]]
- 2026-09-23T2011 · [[Counter Terrorism Policing]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Reid Hoffman]]
- 2026-09-23T2011 · [[Europol]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Marvin Minsky]]
- 2026-09-23T2011 · [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Jonathan Levin]]
- 2026-09-23T2009 · [[United States Information Agency]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Joi Ito]]
- 2026-09-23T2009 · [[Commodity Credit Corporation]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]
- 2026-09-23T2009 · [[Overseas Private Investment Corporation]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Elon Musk]]
- 2026-09-23T2009 · [[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Cecile de Jongh]]
- 2026-09-23T2009 · [[National Security Act of 1947]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Adnan Khashoggi]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[Director of National Intelligence]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[William Burns]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Virginia Giuffre]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[Homeland Security Investigations]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Steve Bannon]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[Department of Homeland Security]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Prince Andrew]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[Federal Election Commission]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Leon Black]]
- 2026-09-23T2005 · [[United States Secret Service]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Jonathan Buma]]
- 2026-09-23T2001 · [[_NOTES_G5_foreign_services]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[John Brockman]]
- 2026-09-23T2000 · [[_NOTES_G2_oversight_law]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Jeffrey Epstein]]
- 2026-09-23T1958 · [[_NOTES_G4_intel_agencies]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Jean-Luc Brunel]]
- 2026-09-23T1955 · [[_NOTES_G3_military_research]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Ehud Barak]]
- 2026-09-23T1952 · [[_NOTES_G1_federal]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Denise George]]
- 2026-09-23T1837 · [[Fort Lauderdale]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[David Grusch]]
- 2026-09-23T1837 · [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Bill Clinton]]
- 2026-09-23T1836 · [[Institute of Noetic Science]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Alexander Acosta]]
- 2026-09-23T1836 · [[Metropolitan Police]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Sarah Kellen]]
- 2026-09-23T1836 · [[Mordecai Vanunu]] - 2026-09-25T1901 · [[Bill Gates]]
- 2026-09-23T1836 · [[Mohammed Mossadegh]] - 2026-09-25T1859 · [[_manifest]]
- 2026-09-23T1836 · [[Muammar Qaddafi]] - 2026-09-25T1858 · [[Barry Krischer]]
- 2026-09-23T1827 · [[Time]] - 2026-09-25T1858 · [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[A.Q. Khan]] - 2026-09-25T1858 · [[Alan Dershowitz]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Grand Cayman]] - 2026-09-25T1858 · [[Ric Bradshaw]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[China Resources]] - 2026-09-25T1858 · [[Nicholas Tartaglione]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[National Bank of Oman]] - 2026-09-25T1855 · [[Douglas Leese]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Ghulam Ishaq Khan]] - 2026-09-25T1855 · [[Vitaly Churkin]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Hong Kong China Limited]] - 2026-09-25T1855 · [[Peter Mandelson]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Raymond Banoun]] - 2026-09-25T1855 · [[Terje Rød-Larsen]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Dennis DeConcini]] - 2026-09-25T1854 · [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Saigol family]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Michael Thomas]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Pakistan People's Party]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Tova Noel]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Ayub Khan]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Maurene Comey]]
- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Arshad Pervez]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Michael Reiter]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Real Justice PAC]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Boris Nikolic]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Center for a New American Security]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Leon Botstein]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] - 2026-09-25T1853 · [[Gratitude America]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Omidyar Network]] - 2026-09-25T1851 · [[David Boies]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Foundation for American Innovation]] - 2026-09-25T1851 · [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]]
- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Federation of American Scientists]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Richard Kahn]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Greg Brockman]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Darren Indyke]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Financial Trust Company]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Nate Thomas]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Bear Stearns]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Mary Erdoes]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Jamie Dimon]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Paul Christiano]] - 2026-09-25T1849 · [[Stephen Cutler]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Bret Taylor]] - 2026-09-25T1838 · [[Kathryn Ruemmler]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Elie Hassenfeld]] - 2026-09-25T1837 · [[Noam Chomsky]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Ajeya Cotra]] - 2026-09-25T1837 · [[Howard Lutnick]]
- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Alignment Research Center]] - 2026-09-25T1837 · [[Larry Summers]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Olney House Investigation]] - 2026-09-25T1827 · [[_NOTES_EFTA_library2]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Eugene Horsch]] - 2026-09-25T1811 · [[Mega Group]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[In the Year of the Pig]] - 2026-09-25T1811 · [[International Assets Group]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania]] - 2026-09-25T1811 · [[J. Epstein & Co.]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] - 2026-09-25T1807 · [[_DELTA_Epstein_E1_money]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Nobody's Girl]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[John Krol]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[MC2 Model Management]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Sarah Ransome]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Maria Farmer]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Annie Farmer]]
- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia Police Department]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Johanna Sjoberg]]
- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Brendan Bordelon]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Alfredo Rodriguez]]
- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Stanford Social Innovation Review]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Adriana Ross]]
- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Washington Examiner]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Nadia Marcinkova]]
- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Politico]] - 2026-09-25T1806 · [[Lesley Groff]]

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- AlanDershowitz
- JeffreyEpstein
- HarvardLawSchool
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- VirginiaGiuffre
- Defamation
alias:
- Alan M. Dershowitz
- Alan Morton Dershowitz
- Professor Dershowitz
summary: "Alan Dershowitz is a Harvard law professor emeritus who was on Jeffrey Epstein's 2006 to 2008 defense team, was accused by Virginia Giuffre, denied it, and settled the litigation in 2016 and 2022."
born: 1938-09-01
location: "Brooklyn, New York (born)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Harvard Law School faculty; Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law"
start: 1964
end: 2013
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "member of defense team, Florida investigation"
start: 2006
end: 2008
fn: 5
- type: represented
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
role: "Senate impeachment trial defense"
start: 2020-01
end: 2020-02
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Alan M. Dershowitz (born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and professor emeritus at [[Harvard University|Harvard Law School]] who was a member of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s defense team during the 2006 to 2008 federal investigation in [[Florida]] that ended in the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]. In December 2014 lawyers for [[Virginia Giuffre]] alleged in a court filing that Epstein had trafficked her to Dershowitz when she was a minor; Dershowitz denied the allegation from the outset, and it was withdrawn by her lawyers in a 2016 settlement and by Giuffre herself in a 2022 settlement in which she said she "may have made a mistake."[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Dershowitz was born in Brooklyn and graduated from [[Brooklyn College]] and [[Yale Law School]]. He clerked for Judge [[David Bazelon]] of the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice [[Arthur Goldberg]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], and joined the Harvard Law School faculty at 25, becoming the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law. He retired from teaching in 2013. As an appellate and criminal lawyer he won the reversal of [[Claus von Bülow]]'s attempted murder conviction, served as an appellate adviser to [[O. J. Simpson]]'s defense in 1995, and in January 2020 joined [[Donald Trump]]'s defense team for his first Senate impeachment trial.[^1][^4]
### The Epstein Defense
Dershowitz was among the lawyers Epstein assembled after the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] investigation and the 2006 federal referral, alongside [[Jay Lefkowitz]], [[Kenneth Starr]], [[Roy Black]], [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]], and others. The U.S. Attorney's Office under [[Alexander Acosta]] had drafted a 53-page federal indictment by May 2007 and instead signed the non-prosecution agreement on September 24, 2007, which immunized Epstein and "any potential co-conspirators." In a 2011 letter defending the agreement, Acosta wrote that the team, which he said included Dershowitz, Starr, and Black, had waged "a year-long assault on the prosecution and the prosecutors," that "[d]efense counsel investigated individual prosecutors and their families," and that one member of the team had warned him that "the office's excess zeal in forcing a good man to serve time in jail might be the subject of a book if we continued."[^3][^5]
### In the Prosecutors' Record
The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] described Dershowitz as "a self-described close friend of Epstein." Palm Beach State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] told the office that Epstein's local counsel brought Dershowitz to see him and the assistant state attorney on the case, and that Dershowitz was "overly aggressive" and threatened, "We're going to destroy your witnesses; don't go to court because we're going to destroy those girls"; according to Krischer, Dershowitz so "tainted the waters" that Epstein also hired the local attorney [[Jack Goldberger]]. In the federal phase Dershowitz joined [[Gerald Lefcourt]] and Roy Black. He and Black met the line prosecutors on February 20, 2007 to present "witness issues," and on June 26, 2007 he led the defense presentation at a meeting at the Miami U.S. Attorney's Office with First Assistant [[Jeffrey Sloman]], Criminal Division chief [[Matthew Menchel]] and others, arguing that the state should handle the case because these were "traditionally state offenses."[^6]
The federal prosecutors' 51-page chronology of the case lists a document from Lefcourt and Dershowitz to Menchel titled "Data that strongly supports the arguments made that no charge can or should be made under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b)." In September 2007 the lawyer Nathan Z. Dershowitz represented Epstein's employee [[Harry Beller]] and a second Epstein employee when they were subpoenaed to the federal grand jury, and on September 12 he told the prosecutor that Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]], also subpoenaed, would proceed by interview rather than testify. In late November 2007, after the agreement was signed, the chronology records an "Unscheduled meeting between Jay Lefkowitz, Alan Dershowitz and Jeff Sloman," a drop-in by Lefkowitz and Dershowitz. On December 7, 2007 the former federal judge [[Herbert J. Stern]] sent Dershowitz a 27-page letter, and the defense forwarded to the office the "independent ethics opinions" of Stern and the former Justice Department official [[Joe D. Whitley]] on the federal investigation.[^7]
In May 2008 the U.S. Attorney's Office's Professional Responsibility Officer asked the Department whether Alexander Acosta should recuse himself from the case because he was considering a visiting professorship at [[Harvard Law School]] in 2009, while Dershowitz, a Harvard Law professor, was representing Epstein "as a private, paying client"; the Department found no basis for recusal. In March 2009, while Epstein was on work release, Sloman met Dershowitz in Miami for what Dershowitz called "a relaxed drink and conversation." Dershowitz then thanked him for his "assurance that the feds will not interfere with how the Palm Beach sheriff administers" Epstein's sentence "as long as he is treated like any similarly situated inmate"; Sloman replied that the office would not interfere but would object to alternative custody or home detention if asked. A week later Dershowitz thanked Sloman for his "willingness to call the sheriff and advise him that your office would take no position on how he handled Epstein's sentence," adding, "[L]et's put any call off for a while." In December 2009 Sloman told Dershowitz that the office opposed early termination of Epstein's community control and would object to transferring his supervision to the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]].[^8]
### The Giuffre Allegation and the Edwards-Cassell Suit
In December 2014 [[Bradley Edwards]] and [[Paul Cassell]] filed a motion in the victims' [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] case, [[Doe v. United States]], seeking to add a client identified as Jane Doe 3, later publicly identified as Giuffre. The filing alleged that Epstein had trafficked her as a minor to Dershowitz, among others. Dershowitz said he had never met her, called the accusation fabricated, and said the lawyers should be disbarred. In April 2015 Judge [[Kenneth Marra]] struck the allegations as "immaterial and impertinent" to the case without ruling on their truth. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation, and Dershowitz countersued.[^2][^9]
The suits settled on April 8, 2016. In a joint statement issued through the mediator Jeffrey Streitfeld, "Edwards and Cassell acknowledge that it was a mistake to have filed sexual misconduct accusations against Dershowitz," and Dershowitz withdrew his accusations that they had acted unethically. The statement said the dispute concerned the lawyers' due diligence and "not whether the acts of alleged misconduct in fact occurred." Giuffre was not a party and stood by her allegations at the time. Dershowitz required that the financial terms remain confidential. He released a statement by former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[Louis Freeh]], whom he had given access to his records, that "[t]he totality of the evidence found during the investigation refutes the allegations made against Professor Dershowitz."[^2][^9]
### Giuffre v. Dershowitz
Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] in April 2019, and he countersued in November 2019. Dershowitz separately sued her lawyer [[David Boies]], alleging an effort to pressure Giuffre into false statements. In November 2022 the parties and Boies settled all of the litigation with prejudice, without costs or fees, in a resolution that the parties said "does not involve the payment of any money by anyone." Giuffre stated: "I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz. However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has from the beginning consistently denied these allegations." She added that she "may have made a mistake" in identifying him. Dershowitz described the result as vindication. Giuffre died in April 2025.[^3][^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Harvard Law School, "Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus," faculty biography. https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/alan-m-dershowitz/ ; "Alan Dershowitz," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Dershowitz
[^2]: "Lawyers Call Sexual Misconduct Case Against Dershowitz 'A Mistake,'" *The Harvard Crimson,* April 11, 2016. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/4/11/lawyers-drop-dershowitz-case/ ; Wiley Rein LLP, statement of Alan Dershowitz, April 8, 2016. https://www.wiley.law/assets/htmldocuments/April%208%202016%20AD%20Statement.pdf
[^3]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake,'" *CNN,* November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped ; "Epstein victim drops her lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz," *NBC News,* November 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-victim-drops-lawsuit-lawyer-alan-dershowitz-rcna56250
[^4]: *The Harvard Crimson* and *Encyclopaedia Britannica* on the von Bülow reversal, the Simpson defense, and the 2020 impeachment defense. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Dershowitz
[^5]: Conchita Sarnoff and Lee Aitken, "Jeffrey Epstein: How the Hedge Fund Mogul Pedophile Got Off Easy," *The Daily Beast,* March 25, 2011, quoting R. Alexander Acosta's 2011 letter. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-how-the-hedge-fund-mogul-pedophile-got-off-easy/ ; Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 3, 7-8. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 8, 14 to 15, 35, 156. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 9, 12, 14, 23, 26. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), pp. 117 to 118, 152 n. 224.
[^9]: "Settlement Reached In Litigation Between Alan Dershowitz, Paul Cassell, And Bradley Edwards," *Above the Law,* April 2016. https://abovethelaw.com/2016/04/settlement-reached-in-litigation-between-alan-dershowitz-paul-cassell-and-bradley-edwards/ ; "Sex allegations against Dershowitz called 'mistake,'" *The Boston Globe,* April 8, 2016. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/04/08/settlement-reached-alan-dershowitz-defamation-case/JJ7u49HDH0gNb888f9v06J/story.html
[^10]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake,'" *CNN,* November 8, 2022, on the April 2019 complaint, the November 2019 counterclaim, the claims against David Boies, and the terms of the global settlement. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped

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---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- VirginIslands
- Governor
- EconomicDevelopmentCommission
- GovernmentCapture
- SouthernTrust
alias:
- Albert Bryan Jr.
- Albert Bryan, Jr.
- Albert Bryan Jr
- Governor Albert Bryan
- Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.
summary: "Albert Bryan Jr. is the ninth governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who chaired the Economic Development Commission when it certified Jeffrey Epstein's Southern Trust Company and later fired the attorney general suing JPMorgan."
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
start: 2007-05-03
end: 2015-01-05
role: "Commissioner of Labor"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Economic Development Commission]]"
start: 2013
end: 2014
role: "chairman"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
start: 2019-01-07
role: "governor"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Denise George]]"
start: 2019-03
end: 2022-12-31
role: "attorney general, fired December 31, 2022"
fn: 9
- type: appointed
with: "[[Gordon Rhea]]"
start: 2024
role: "attorney general"
fn: 3
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Yolanda Bryan]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Albert Bryan Jr. is the ninth governor of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], in office since January 7, 2019. He served as the territory's Commissioner of Labor under Governor [[John de Jongh]] from 2007 to 2015 and, while still Labor Commissioner, chaired the [[Economic Development Commission]], the tax-incentive body that on January 24, 2014 issued [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] [[Southern Trust Company]] a certificate of benefits bearing Bryan's signature. As governor he appointed [[Denise George]] as attorney general in 2019 and fired her on December 31, 2022, four days after she sued [[JPMorgan Chase]] over its handling of Epstein's accounts. George later told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] that Bryan had pressed her for a waiver of Epstein's sex-offender travel-reporting requirement and later to settle the territory's case against the Epstein estate for less than it recovered. Bryan has denied that Epstein received any special treatment from his administration.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Early Life and Career
Bryan was born on [[St. Thomas]], the oldest of five sons of Albert Bryan Sr. and Genevieve Pilgrim, and grew up in the Savan neighborhood of [[Charlotte Amalie]]. He moved to [[St. Croix]] as a teenager, graduated from St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School in 1985, took a bachelor's degree in economics from [[Wittenberg University]] in 1989, and earned an MBA from the [[University of the Virgin Islands]] in 2003. He worked at the [[Hess Corporation|Hess]] oil operation on St. Croix, the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, and [[Innovative Communications Corporation|Innovative Communications]].[^1]
Governor John de Jongh appointed Bryan Commissioner of Labor on May 3, 2007, the year de Jongh took office and the year de Jongh's wife, [[Cecile de Jongh]], began drawing a salary as office manager of Epstein's territorial companies. Bryan held the post through the end of de Jongh's second term on January 5, 2015. After leaving government he ran the consulting firm Aabra Group and the recruiting firm Master Strategies and served as executive director of the Virgin Islands chapter of [[Junior Achievement]].[^1]
### Chairman of the Economic Development Commission
Epstein's companies held Economic Development Commission certificates from 1999, first through [[Financial Trust Company]] and then through Southern Trust Company, and the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] granted him tax benefits that Carlyn Irwin, a consultant retained by JPMorgan, later put at about 300 million dollars. Southern Trust applied for benefits in October 2012, and at a public hearing before the commission on November 15, 2012, Epstein and his attorney [[Erika Kellerhals|Ericka Kellerhals]] described the company as providing "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics." According to the transcript of that presentation, no commissioner asked about Epstein's 2008 conviction or his status as a registered sex offender.[^2][^3][^5]
The certificate awarding Southern Trust its benefits is dated January 24, 2014 and bears the signatures of Bryan, as chairman of the commission, and Epstein, as the company's president. The same day, Cecile de Jongh emailed Epstein: "I have been fundraising for John's final State of the Territory reception on Monday night. I have raised $15K of the total $35K budget. Would you be willing to match that? John and I will cover the balance." An hour later she asked Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] to "prepare a check for $15,000 made payable to Governor's Special Events Fund." Bryan was serving as commission chairman and Labor Commissioner at once in 2013, and both he and Governor de Jongh signed off on an extension of Southern Trust's benefits.[^2][^3]
The package ran from February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2023, with a 90 percent exemption from income taxes and full exemptions from gross-receipts, excise, and withholding taxes. The territory's 2022 complaint against the Epstein estate put the taxes Epstein avoided through the Southern Trust certificate at 80,576,236 dollars and alleged that the company had no visible clients and performed no informatics work.[^5]
### The 2018 Election and Epstein's Money
Bryan announced his candidacy for governor in April 2018 with [[Tregenza Roach]] as running mate, won the August 4 Democratic primary with 39.23 percent, and defeated the incumbent [[Kenneth Mapp]] in a November 2018 runoff. On December 20, 2018, Cecile de Jongh emailed Epstein: "I got a call from the Bryan/Roach Inaugural Committee and they asked for a $25,000 donation to the inaugural events. They are trying to raise all the money privately. Please let me know your thoughts." Two minutes later she wrote that "Albert asked that the $30k go to the VI Little League"; on December 6 she had written that "Albert suggested a school for autistic children." The JPMorgan exhibits do not show whether Epstein paid the inaugural committee. In July 2019 Government House communications director [[Richard Motta Jr.]] told the Virgin Islands Daily News that "to the best of my knowledge the Bryan-Roach Campaign have not received any contributions from Mr. Epstein."[^1][^6]
In December 2014 Cecile de Jongh had asked Epstein "to confirm that you want to donate $10,000 to the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee and that it should come from Southern Trust," a payment Irwin later reported as made, and on September 1, 2016 Epstein told de Jongh to "prepare a check for mapps super pac. For 75k." In May 2025 the journalist [[Lee Fang]] published a territorial campaign-finance record showing a check from Kellerhals to Bryan's 2018 campaign.[^3][^6][^7]
### Governor: Texts With Epstein
Epstein contacted Bryan days after the January 2019 inauguration, and the two men corresponded in the months before Epstein's July 2019 arrest. In May 2019 Bryan's nominee for commissioner of the [[Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources|Department of Planning and Natural Resources]], [[Jean-Pierre Oriol]], said publicly that Epstein was continuing construction on [[Great St. James]] despite a stop-work order. Epstein complained to Bryan, "Jp going after me in the press!! Army corps told us ok. This is very wrong!" and "Accusing me of illegality!!!" Bryan replied "We got u." Bryan did not answer the Daily News's questions about why he told Oriol to recuse himself.[^4]
At a March 2, 2026 press briefing Bryan made no apology for the messages. "The record is clear, there's no concessions made. I don't even know why this is a story," he said, adding that the Organic Act gave the governor supervision of every department: "I could just tell them do it, you don't do it, you're fired." He said the record "shows no instance where he was afforded any special privilege by this administration," that his campaign had "no record of any contributions from Jeffrey Epstein," and that he would "absolutely" support a legislative inquiry: "even if I had told DPNR to grant his permit, it's perfectly within the right and power of the governor of the Virgin Islands... So what would the investigation be about?" Asked about territorial oversight of Epstein, he said, "Are there any victims in the Virgin Islands saying they were abused?" At the same briefing he defended his renomination of the former senator [[Celestino White]] to the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]] board after the files showed White had offered to work on Epstein's behalf, including on the purchase of government-owned Dog Island.[^4][^8]
### The Travel Waiver
Registered sex offenders in the territory must generally give 21 days' notice before travel. A prior attorney general, [[Vincent Frazer]], had allowed Epstein to give 24 hours' notice; George told the FBI she believed Frazer "was pressured by then Governor John De Jongh." Acting Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]] rescinded that arrangement in March 2019 after Epstein was detained in the [[Dominican Republic]]. According to the FBI's notes of its October 2, 2023 interview with George, Bryan told her within her first two weeks as attorney general that Epstein "wanted a waiver for a 21 day reporting requirement," and texted her that "you need to make a decision on the Epstein matter." George did not grant the waiver, and Bryan replied by email, "Thank you for your work on this." In July 2019 Kellerhals asked George for a meeting about the waiver; Epstein was arrested on July 6, before it took place.[^3]
### The Estate Case and the Firing
George told the FBI that she consulted Bryan before suing the Epstein estate in January 2020 and that he told her, "He's dead go for it." She said his tone later shifted from "Go for it" to "End it quickly," that he questioned why she was interviewing certain people and requesting documents, and that he told 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?" When the territory's outside counsel [[Motley Rice]] began interviewing estate employees, George received a call from [[David Bornn]], Bryan's chief legal counsel and a former employee of Kellerhals, relaying that Kellerhals wanted to know what George was investigating.[^3]
According to the FBI notes, Bryan told George to settle with the estate for 80 million dollars "and to pursue mediation and select Henry Smock" as mediator, told her "that the Epstein estate just wanted to clear people," and later said "he was sick of her not doing what she was told to do." [[Henry Smock]] had assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of [[Little St. James]] and served as counsel to the boards of the Economic Development Authority and the University of the Virgin Islands. George said Bryan sent [[Carlton Dowe]], director of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, to press her to settle; Dowe told her he "does things for Bryan too but has a line he won't cross," and that it "would be political suicide to fire her at least before the election." The estate settled on November 30, 2022 for 105 million dollars plus half the proceeds of the sale of Little St. James.[^3][^9]
George filed the territory's suit against JPMorgan Chase on December 27, 2022. Bryan fired her on December 31. He said the dismissal was unrelated to the suit but that he could not have an attorney general filing lawsuits he did not know about; George told the FBI that "a listed reason was that no attorney general was going to file anything without notifying the Governor." Government House spokespersons did not respond to questions about the FBI notes when they were released in January 2026, and Bryan later dismissed the account as "noise" that was nothing new.[^3][^4][^10]
### Yolanda Bryan and the Settlement Money
After Bryan took office, the Economic Development Authority created the post of "Business Ambassador," held by his wife, [[Yolanda Bryan]], while she was first lady. On July 10, 2019, four days after Epstein's arrest, EDA spokeswoman Shanell Petersen wrote to her about two press inquiries concerning "Jeffrey Epstein being an active EDC Beneficiary": "I recommend contacting Southern Trust and IYG (companies which he has ownership interest) to update them that we have provided public information based on the Sunshine Act... Informing them will allow them to prepare their PR team." Smock was part of the EDA's nine-step protocol for answering media requests after the arrest. Bryan filed for divorce in 2023 after 27 years of marriage; Smock represented him and obtained an order sealing the case records.[^3]
In 2024 Bryan appointed [[Gordon Rhea]] attorney general. Rhea had represented Richard Kahn in the territory's case against the estate and said he would recuse himself from Epstein matters. The territory received about 180 million dollars in Epstein-related settlements after Motley Rice's fees. Bryan cited the money in his January 26, 2026 State of the Territory address; his administration had not filed the full accounting of its use that a 2024 territorial law requires.[^3][^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "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 (birth, family, education, early career, Labor Commissioner May 3, 2007 to January 5, 2015, 2018 campaign and primary result, inauguration).
[^2]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/ (EDC chaired by Bryan; 2012 presentation transcript; January 24, 2014 certificate signed by Bryan and Epstein; same-day de Jongh emails to Epstein and Kahn).
[^3]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (reporting on four pages of FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George, released by the Department of Justice on January 30, 2026; the quoted lines are the FBI agent's notes of George's account).
[^4]: 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
[^5]: 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 157 to 176, 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), ECF pp. 33 to 37. 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
[^6]: 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 (Bryan/Roach inaugural committee email of December 20, 2018; Mapp-Potter and Mapp super PAC donations; Motta statement of July 2019).
[^7]: Fang, Lee. "Jeffrey Epstein Exploited the U.S. Virgin Islands for a Reason." *Lee Fang* (Substack), May 26, 2025. https://www.leefang.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-exploited-the-us (image of a Kellerhals check to Bryan's 2018 campaign).
[^8]: "Bryan 'Absolutely' Supports an Epstein Inquiry, Denies Wrongdoing." *St. Thomas Source,* March 2, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260809212846/https://stthomassource.com/content/2026/03/02/bryan-absolutely-supports-an-epstein-inquiry-denies-wrongdoing/
[^9]: "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/ (George "appointed" by Bryan in 2019).
[^10]: "Virgin Islands prosecutor fired after accusing JPMorgan of aiding Epstein's sex trafficking ring." *The Washington Times,* January 3, 2023. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/3/virgin-islands-prosecutor-fired-after-accusing-jpm/

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alexander Acosta.md
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@ -11,65 +11,151 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Alex Acosta - Alex Acosta
- Rene Alexander Acosta - Rene Alexander Acosta
summary: "Alexander Acosta is the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who negotiated Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 non-prosecution agreement, later found by a federal judge to have violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act and by the DOJ to reflect poor judgment, and who resigned as US Secretary of Labor in July 2019." - R. Alexander Acosta
- Alexander Acosta
summary: "Alexander Acosta is the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who approved Jeffrey Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement and resigned as Secretary of Labor in July 2019."
born: 1969-01-16 born: 1969-01-16
location: "Miami, Florida (born)" location: "Miami, Florida (born)"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
role: "U.S. Attorney"
start: 2005-06
end: 2009-06
fn: 7
- type: appointed
with: "[[George W. Bush]]"
reverse: true
role: "U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Florida"
start: 2005
fn: 4
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
role: "Secretary of Labor"
start: 2017-04
end: 2019-07-12
fn: 7
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Kirkland & Ellis]]"
role: "associate, Washington office"
fn: 3
- type: investigated
with: "[[Office of Professional Responsibility]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-02-06
end: 2020-11
fn: 7
--- ---
Alexander Acosta (born January 16, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as [[United States Attorney]] for the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]] from 2005 to 2009 and as United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019. As US Attorney he supervised the office that negotiated the 2008 non-prosecution agreement with [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]], an arrangement under which Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida, served a 13-month jail term with work release, and obtained federal immunity for himself and named co-conspirators. A federal judge later ruled that prosecutors violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act|Crime Victims' Rights Act]] by concealing the deal from victims, and Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor in July 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the agreement.[^1][^2] Alexander Acosta (born January 16, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as [[United States Attorney]] for the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]] from 2005 to 2009 and as United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019. As US Attorney he supervised the office that negotiated the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|2008 non-prosecution agreement]] with [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]], an arrangement under which Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida, served a 13-month jail term with work release, and obtained federal immunity for himself and named co-conspirators. A federal judge later ruled that prosecutors violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act|Crime Victims' Rights Act]] by concealing the deal from victims, and Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor in July 2019 amid renewed scrutiny of the agreement.[^1][^2]
### Early Career and Kirkland & Ellis
Acosta was born in [[Miami]] to Cuban refugee parents and received his undergraduate and law degrees from [[Harvard University]], graduating from Harvard Law School in 1994. He clerked for Judge [[Samuel Alito]] on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] and then practiced as an associate in the Washington office of [[Kirkland & Ellis]], 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, as a member of 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, all under President [[George W. Bush]], who then appointed him U.S. Attorney in Miami.[^3][^4]
As U.S. Attorney he oversaw the 2006 prosecution of the [[Cali Drug Cartel]] leaders [[Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela]] and [[Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela]], who pleaded guilty on September 26, 2006 and received thirty-year sentences; under the plea agreements 28 relatives gave up their interests in the family's businesses and the government agreed not to prosecute six of them.[^5]
### The 2008 Non-Prosecution Agreement ### The 2008 Non-Prosecution Agreement
Federal investigators in the Southern District of Florida identified roughly 30, and ultimately more than 30, minors whom Epstein was alleged to have sexually abused, after the Palm Beach Police Department referred the case to the FBI on concerns that the local prosecution would be too lenient. By May 2007 government lawyers had prepared an 82-page prosecution memorandum and a 53-page draft federal indictment charging Epstein with multiple federal sex offenses. Acosta decided in 2007 to negotiate with Epstein's defense team rather than seek that indictment.[^1][^3] Federal investigators in the Southern District of Florida identified roughly 30, and ultimately more than 30, minors whom Epstein was alleged to have sexually abused, after the Palm Beach Police Department referred the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] on concerns that the local prosecution would be too lenient. By May 2007 government lawyers had prepared an 82-page prosecution memorandum and a 53-page draft federal indictment charging Epstein with multiple federal sex offenses; the Justice Department later described the draft as a 60-count indictment. Acosta decided in 2007 to negotiate with Epstein's defense team rather than seek that indictment. At a July 31, 2007 meeting with Epstein's lawyers, his office offered to end the investigation if Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, served at least two years, registered as a sex offender, and agreed to a damages mechanism for victims. Acosta did not sign the agreement but, according to the Justice Department's later review, "participated in its drafting and approved it, with knowledge of its terms."[^1][^6][^7]
The non-prosecution agreement, negotiated through 2007 and executed in stages, required Epstein to plead guilty in Palm Beach County court, which he did in June 2008, to state charges including soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months, of which he served roughly 13, under conditions that allowed extensive work release, permitting him to spend up to 16 hours a day, six or seven days a week, away from the county jail. Epstein's defense team included high-profile lawyers such as [[Alan Dershowitz|Alan Dershowitz]], [[Kenneth Starr|Kenneth Starr]], and [[Roy Black|Roy Black]], who pressed the office for concessions.[^1][^3] The non-prosecution agreement, negotiated through 2007 and executed in stages, required Epstein to plead guilty in Palm Beach County court, which he did in June 2008, to state charges including soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months, of which he served roughly 13, under conditions that allowed extensive work release. The Justice Department's review recorded that from October 2008 he spent "12 hours a day purportedly working at the '[[Florida Science Foundation]],' an entity Epstein had recently incorporated that was co-located at the West Palm Beach office of one of Epstein's attorneys"; later reporting on sheriff's records described him leaving the jail for up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The foundation paid the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] 128,136 dollars during his incarceration. Epstein's defense team included high-profile lawyers such as [[Alan Dershowitz|Alan Dershowitz]], [[Kenneth Starr|Kenneth Starr]], and [[Roy Black|Roy Black]], who pressed the office for concessions.[^1][^6][^7][^8][^9][^10]
The agreement extended immunity from federal prosecution to Epstein, to four named co-conspirators, and to unnamed "potential co-conspirators," language read as shielding others who helped recruit or conceal the abuse. The terms were not disclosed to the identified victims while the deal was being finalized, and the agreement was sealed. The breadth of the immunity provisions, the sealing, and the leniency of the sentence became the basis for years of subsequent litigation and official review. The attorney [[Bradley Edwards|Bradley Edwards]], representing victims, led the legal challenge to the agreement.[^1][^4] The agreement extended immunity from federal prosecution to Epstein, to four named co-conspirators, and to unnamed "potential co-conspirators," language read as shielding others who helped recruit or conceal the abuse. The terms were not disclosed to the identified victims while the deal was being finalized, and the agreement was sealed. The breadth of the immunity provisions, the sealing, and the leniency of the sentence became the basis for years of subsequent litigation and official review. The attorney [[Bradley Edwards|Bradley Edwards]], representing victims, led the legal challenge to the agreement.[^1][^11]
### The Negotiators and the Breakfast
Epstein's lead negotiator was [[Jay Lefkowitz]], a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Acosta's former firm, and a former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. On August 19, 2005 Bush had named Lefkowitz the first Special Envoy for Human Rights in [[North Korea]], a part-time post he held while practicing law in New York until January 2009, so that he represented Epstein in 2007 and 2008 while serving in the administration that had appointed Acosta. Starr was also a Kirkland & Ellis partner.[^12][^13]
The agreement's terms were settled in September 2007 in email between Lefkowitz and the line prosecutor, [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]]. On September 21, three days before signing, Palm Beach State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] wrote to her: "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing." On September 24, as the agreement was executed, Lefkowitz asked her to "do whatever you can to keep this from becoming public," and she reported that she had forwarded his message "only to [United States Attorney] Alex, Andy, and Roland."[^14]
On October 10, 2007 Lefkowitz wrote to Acosta that "[n]either federal agents nor anyone from your Office should contact the identified individuals." Acosta then met him for breakfast, and Lefkowitz's follow-up letter thanked Acosta "for the commitment you made to me during our October 12 meeting in which you . . . assured me that your Office would not . . . contact any of the identified individuals, potential witnesses, or potential civil claimants." The breakfast followed the September 24 signing, and the Justice Department's later review found no evidence that it "led to the NPA, which had been signed weeks earlier, or to any other significant decision that benefited Epstein."[^7][^14]
On November 30, 2007 Acosta wrote to Starr: "I am directing our prosecutors not to issue victim notification letters until this Friday at 5 p.m., to provide you with time to review these options with your client." On December 19, 2007 he wrote to the defense lawyer [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]] that his office would provide notice of the federal resolution but would "defer to the discretion of the State Attorney regarding whether he wishes to provide victims with notices of the state proceedings." Epstein's lawyers then spent six months seeking review from the Criminal Division and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, which declined to intervene on June 23, 2008.[^7][^14]
In a 2011 letter defending the agreement, Acosta wrote that Epstein's team had waged "a year-long assault on the prosecution and the prosecutors," that "[d]efense counsel investigated individual prosecutors and their families," and that they would "obtain concessions as part of a negotiation and agree to proceed, only to change their minds, and appeal the office's position to Washington."[^8]
On his retirement from Kirkland & Ellis in March 2026, Lefkowitz said: "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."[^15]
### The Prosecutors' Chronology
A 51-page "Epstein Investigation Timeline," marked privileged and as containing grand jury material and stamped Exhibit A-1, logs Acosta's part in the negotiation document by document. In the summer of 2007 Criminal Division chief Matthew Menchel announced to the case team that Acosta would offer a two-year state plea, and in August the office told the defense that two years of incarceration was a non-negotiable minimum, that Acosta was not inclined to meet Epstein's counsel, and that Epstein had until August 17 to decide. In September 2007 Acosta, [[Drew Oosterbaan]], chief of the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, First Assistant [[Jeffrey Sloman]], Villafaña and John McMillan met Starr, Lefkowitz and Lilly Ann Sanchez, and on September 11 a draft agreement incorporating Acosta's edits went to [[Gerald Lefcourt]]. On September 23 Acosta told Lefkowitz to deal directly with [[Andrew Lourie]] and Villafaña, and on September 24 he sent his final edits before the signing.[^16]
After the signing the chronology records a November 30, 2007 letter from Acosta to Starr asking for a statement signed by Epstein that he would abide by every term by December 14 or the office would proceed with prosecution, a companion letter saying the office stood ready to unwind the agreement if Epstein was dissatisfied with it, and a December 14, 2007 draft letter from Acosta to Krischer about Epstein registering as a sex offender. In early January 2008, according to the chronology, Lefkowitz admitted to Acosta in a telephone call that he had never intended Epstein to plead guilty to an offense requiring sex offender registration. After the Criminal Division rejected Epstein's appeal in May 2008, Villafaña asked to indict, and Sloman and Acosta advised that Epstein would be given the chance to perform. On May 16, 2008 Sloman told Villafaña, "We got approved," adding: "Alex called to tell me. He said the ltr needs to be tweaked which we'll do on Monday. I wouldn't call the FBI yet."[^16][^17]
The Office of Professional Responsibility recorded two recusal questions. In May 2008 the office's Professional Responsibility Officer asked the Department whether Acosta should step aside because he was considering a visiting professorship at [[Harvard Law School]] in 2009 while Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard Law professor, was representing Epstein "as a private, paying client"; the Department advised that there was no basis for 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, and the Department approved his recusal because he had "begun to discuss possible employment" with the firm that represented Epstein.[^18]
### Crime Victims' Rights Act Ruling ### Crime Victims' Rights Act Ruling
In the case styled Doe v. United States, No. 08-80736, brought by victims including [[Courtney Wild|Courtney Wild]] and [[Jane Doe 2|Jane Doe 2]] to enforce their rights, United States District Judge [[Kenneth Marra|Kenneth Marra]] ruled on February 21, 2019, that the government had violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by failing to confer with the victims before entering the non-prosecution agreement. Marra wrote that "particularly problematic was the government's decision to conceal the existence of the" agreement and to "mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility," finding that prosecutors had counseled the victims to have "patience" while the deal was being finalized.[^5] In the case styled Doe v. United States, No. 08-80736, brought by victims including [[Courtney Wild|Courtney Wild]] and [[Jane Doe 2|Jane Doe 2]] to enforce their rights, United States District Judge [[Kenneth Marra|Kenneth Marra]] ruled on February 21, 2019, that the government had violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by failing to confer with the victims before entering the non-prosecution agreement. The opinion recorded that "[w]hile the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the NPA with Epstein's attorneys, scant information was shared with victims," and that "[t]he Court is not ruling that the decision not to prosecute was improper." After the ruling the Justice Department recused Acosta's former office from the litigation and assigned the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia to defend it. Marra wrote that "particularly problematic was the government's decision to conceal the existence of the" agreement and to "mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility," finding that prosecutors had counseled the victims to have "patience" after the deal had been signed.[^7][^14]
In a later ruling, Marra declined to invalidate the non-prosecution agreement itself, noting that Epstein had died and that rescission would not restore the victims' position, and he held that the victims were not entitled to monetary damages from the government under the statute. The decisions established the CVRA violation as a finding of fact while leaving the underlying agreement in place.[^6] In a later ruling on September 16, 2019, Marra declined to invalidate the non-prosecution agreement itself, noting that Epstein had died and that rescission would not restore the victims' position, and he held that the victims were not entitled to monetary damages from the government under the statute. He refused the victims' request to order Acosta to meet with them, writing: "The Court has no jurisdiction over Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney, who is now a private citizen." The decisions established the CVRA violation as a finding of fact while leaving the underlying agreement in place.[^19][^20]
The victims' broader effort to overturn the agreement ultimately failed at the appellate level. In April 2021 the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit]], sitting en banc, ruled in Wild's case that the CVRA's protections did not attach before the government filed formal charges, and that because no federal charges had been filed against Epstein, the statute did not give the victims a remedy to set aside the pre-charge agreement. The ruling left the CVRA finding of a conferral failure intact while denying the victims the relief they had sought.[^6] The victims' broader effort to overturn the agreement ultimately failed at the appellate level. In its brief to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit]], the Justice Department argued that "the legal obligations under the CVRA do not attach prior to the government charging a case," while conceding at oral argument that the office had "made a mistake in causing her to believe that the case was ongoing when in fact the NPA had been signed." A three-judge panel adopted the government's position in April 2020, holding that CVRA rights do not attach before charges, but the full court vacated that opinion in August 2020. On April 15, 2021 the en banc court denied Wild's petition by seven votes to four on a narrower ground: the Act does not authorize a victim to seek judicial enforcement of her rights in a freestanding civil action when no charges have been filed. The majority stated that it "needn't decide" whether the rights to confer and to fair treatment attach before charges, and the dissenting judges faulted it for that omission. The ruling left the district court's finding of a conferral violation undisturbed while denying the victims any remedy, and the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] denied certiorari on February 22, 2022.[^7][^21][^22]
### DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility Report ### DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility Report
The Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility|Office of Professional Responsibility]] released a report on November 12, 2020, examining the conduct of Acosta and his subordinates in the Epstein matter. The report concluded that Acosta exercised "poor judgment" in resolving the federal investigation through a state plea agreement, but it did not find professional misconduct, stating that his decision to decline federal prosecution was within the scope of his authority and that there was no evidence the decision was based on corruption or other impermissible considerations.[^2][^7] The review originated in a December 3, 2018 letter from Senator [[Ben Sasse]], chairman of a Senate Judiciary oversight subcommittee, citing the [[Miami Herald]] series; OPR opened its investigation on February 6, 2019. It recorded that a victims' attorney had raised allegations of improper influence in December 2010 and that OPR had declined to open an inquiry then in deference to the pending litigation. The Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility|Office of Professional Responsibility]] released a report on November 12, 2020, examining the conduct of Acosta and his subordinates in the Epstein matter. The report concluded that Acosta exercised "poor judgment" in resolving the federal investigation through a state plea agreement, but it did not find professional misconduct, stating that his decision to decline federal prosecution was within the scope of his authority and that there was no evidence the decision was based on corruption or other impermissible considerations.[^2][^7]
OPR located the "poor judgment" specifically in Acosta's failure to ensure that the state would notify the federally identified victims of Epstein's plea hearing, leaving victims uninformed about the proceeding that resolved an investigation about which the office had communicated with them for months. The report described the non-prosecution agreement as "a flawed mechanism for satisfying the federal interest" that had prompted the investigation, and it documented extensive concessions made to Epstein's lawyers.[^7] OPR located the "poor judgment" specifically in Acosta's failure to ensure that the state would notify the federally identified victims of Epstein's plea hearing, leaving victims uninformed about the proceeding that resolved an investigation about which the office had communicated with them for months. The report described the non-prosecution agreement as "a flawed mechanism for satisfying the federal interest" that had prompted the investigation, and it documented extensive concessions made to Epstein's lawyers. OPR found that Acosta's "application of federalism principles was too expansive, his view of the federal interest in prosecuting Epstein was too narrow, and his understanding of the state system was too imperfect to justify the decision to use the NPA," and that the three other supervisory subjects "left the USAO, were transitioning to other jobs, or were absent at critical junctures." It also concluded that the government's handling "gave victims and the public the misimpression that the government had colluded with Epstein's counsel to keep the NPA secret from the victims."[^7] Before the report was final, the chief of the Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[Southern District of New York]] reviewed the draft and on August 21, 2020 asked for two wording changes, which OPR accepted: "at least one victim known to be a minor" became "at least one victim believed to be a minor," described as "more accurately reflect[ing] our position in the bail arguments regarding Epstein," and a statement that investigators "were aware" Epstein used hidden cameras in his New York residence became that they "had learned" it.[^23]
The report also recorded internal dissent. The line prosecutor [[Ann Marie Villafana|Ann Marie Villafana]] had objected to the access granted to Epstein's defense counsel and to meeting with them, and was overruled by supervisors; a footnote recorded her belief that an email from her supervisor [[Matthew Menchel|Matthew Menchel]] was meant to "put [her] in [her] place," while Menchel described her as having a history of resisting supervisory authority. OPR declined to refer Acosta or other prosecutors for disciplinary action on professional-responsibility grounds, a conclusion that victims' advocates characterized as a whitewash.[^7] The report also recorded internal dissent. The line prosecutor Ann Marie Villafana had objected to the access granted to Epstein's defense counsel and to meeting with them, and was overruled by supervisors; a footnote recorded her belief that an email from her supervisor [[Matthew Menchel|Matthew Menchel]] was meant to "put [her] in [her] place," while Menchel described her as having a history of resisting supervisory authority. OPR declined to refer Acosta or other prosecutors for disciplinary action on professional-responsibility grounds, a conclusion that victims' advocates characterized as a whitewash.[^24]
One of those supervisors was Matthew Menchel, chief of the office's Criminal Division, who left in August 2007, weeks before the agreement was signed, for the law firm [[Kobre & Kim]]. According to reporting on the full OPR report, Menchel had offered the 2007 plea terms to an Epstein lawyer he had formerly dated. 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, but did not deny meeting him after leaving the office.[^25]
### Secretary of Labor and Resignation ### Secretary of Labor and Resignation
President [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump]] nominated Acosta as Secretary of Labor, and he was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in in April 2017, having previously chaired the National Labor Relations Board and served as dean of Florida International University's law school. The Florida agreement drew scrutiny during his 2017 confirmation but did not derail it.[^1] President [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump]] nominated Acosta as Secretary of Labor, and he was confirmed by the Senate on April 17, 2017 and sworn in that month, having previously chaired the National Labor Relations Board and served as dean of Florida International University's law school. The Florida agreement drew scrutiny during his 2017 confirmation but did not derail it; OPR recorded that at his March 2017 hearing he was "questioned only briefly about the Epstein case."[^1][^7]
After the November 2018 Miami Herald investigation "Perversion of Justice" by [[Julie K. Brown|Julie K. Brown]] revived attention to the agreement, and after Epstein's July 2019 federal arrest in New York on new sex-trafficking charges, Acosta held a July 10, 2019, press conference defending his handling of the case, arguing that the state alternative had at least secured Epstein's registration as a sex offender and some jail time where the state had been prepared to offer less. He resigned on July 12, 2019, two days later, saying he did not want the controversy to distract from the administration's work and that it would be "selfish" to remain.[^1][^8] After the November 2018 Miami Herald investigation "Perversion of Justice" by [[Julie K. Brown|Julie K. Brown]] revived attention to the agreement, and after Epstein's July 2019 federal arrest in New York on new sex-trafficking charges, Acosta held a July 10, 2019, press conference defending his handling of the case, arguing that the state alternative had at least secured Epstein's registration as a sex offender and some jail time, and saying that the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office "was ready to allow Epstein to walk free with no jail time, nothing." Krischer answered the same day that Acosta's "recollection of the matter is completely wrong" and that "Mr. Acosta should not be allowed to rewrite history." He resigned on July 12, 2019, two days later, saying he did not want the controversy to distract from the administration's work and that it would be "selfish" to remain.[^1][^26][^27]
In September 2025 Acosta appeared for a closed-door deposition before the [[House Oversight Committee|House Oversight Committee]] as part of its renewed inquiry into the federal handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases, testifying for roughly six hours; the committee released the transcript on October 17, 2025. Chairman [[James Comer|James Comer]] said Acosta had cooperated, and the committee separately sought records and testimony from other former officials.[^9] On September 19, 2025 Acosta sat for a voluntary transcribed interview with the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] as part of its renewed inquiry into the federal handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases; the committee released the transcript on October 17, 2025, together with Epstein estate records. Chairman [[James Comer|James Comer]] said Acosta had cooperated, and the committee separately sought records and testimony from other former officials. Acosta told the committee that prosecutors had avoided trial partly because some underage victims did not want to testify and a conviction was not assured, and he said he did not recall reading Villafaña's recommendation of a 60-count indictment. Lawmakers questioned him about the records of Menchel's later contacts with Epstein and about a photograph said to show the two skiing, which was not produced.[^25][^28]
### Intelligence Claim ### Intelligence Claim
In a July 2019 article for [[The Daily Beast|The Daily Beast]], journalist [[Vicky Ward|Vicky Ward]] reported that, according to an anonymous former senior [[White House]] official, Acosta had explained the lenient Epstein deal during his Labor Secretary vetting by saying he had been told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to "leave it alone" because the matter was above his pay grade. Ward's report attributed the account to a single unnamed source, and commentators noted the source could not be independently confirmed. Ward had reported on Epstein for years and had earlier written a 2003 profile of him for Vanity Fair.[^10] In a July 2019 article for [[The Daily Beast|The Daily Beast]], journalist [[Vicky Ward|Vicky Ward]] reported that, according to an anonymous former senior [[White House]] official, Acosta had explained the lenient Epstein deal during his Labor Secretary vetting by saying he had been told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to "leave it alone" because the matter was above his pay grade. Ward's report attributed the account to a single unnamed source, and commentators noted the source could not be independently confirmed. Ward had reported on Epstein for years and had earlier written a 2003 profile of him for Vanity Fair.[^29][^30]
Acosta disputed the characterization. Asked about the reporting at his July 2019 press conference, he said he would "hesitate to take this reporting as fact." Under oath to Justice Department investigators he answered "no" when asked whether he had knowledge of Epstein being an intelligence asset, and the OPR review reported that none of the subjects it interviewed believed Epstein to have been an intelligence asset.[^11][^7] Acosta disputed the characterization. Asked about the reporting at his July 2019 press conference, he said he would "hesitate to take this reporting as fact." Under oath to Justice Department investigators he answered "no" when asked whether he had knowledge of Epstein being an intelligence asset, and the OPR review reported that none of the subjects it interviewed believed Epstein to have been an intelligence asset.[^31][^32]
At his September 2025 House Oversight deposition, Acosta again denied the intelligence account. Asked whether anyone had told him Epstein could not be prosecuted because he was an asset, he said "No one approached me and said that," and he stated that if there had been classified or secure information bearing on the case, established procedures would have been triggered that were never triggered. The intelligence claim remains an attributed, disputed assertion sourced to a single anonymous account rather than an established finding.[^9][^11] At his September 19, 2025 transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee, Acosta again denied the intelligence account. Asked whether anyone had told him Epstein could not be prosecuted because he was an asset, he said "No one approached me and said that," and he stated that if there had been classified or secure information bearing on the case, established procedures would have been triggered that were never triggered. The intelligence claim remains an attributed, disputed assertion sourced to a single anonymous account rather than an established finding.[^28][^31]
[[William Barr]], Attorney General at the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, was asked about the account in an August 18, 2025 deposition before the same committee. Asked whether he was aware of Acosta saying he had been told Epstein "belongs to intelligence and to leave it alone," Barr answered: "No. Other than what's ever been reported in articles over the years." He said he had "no reason to believe he was working for the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] or any intelligence agency, and I'm dubious about claims like that," offered the supposition that Epstein might, "like many other businessmen," have talked to intelligence officers who debrief well-connected people, and said that "if he was an American asset, as opposed to some businessman who shares stuff with the government, I would've heard about it from the intelligence agency."[^33]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Alex Acosta: Trump labour chief defends Jeffrey Epstein plea deal," *Al Jazeera,* July 10, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/7/10/alex-acosta-trump-labour-chief-defends-jeffrey-epstein-plea-deal [^1]: "Alex Acosta: Trump labour chief defends Jeffrey Epstein plea deal," *Al Jazeera,* July 10, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/7/10/alex-acosta-trump-labour-chief-defends-jeffrey-epstein-plea-deal
[^2]: "US Attorney Alex Acosta showed 'poor judgment' when giving Jeffrey Epstein state-based plea deal in 2008: DOJ," *ABC News,* November 12, 2020. https://abcnews.com/US/us-attorney-alex-acosta-showed-poor-judgment-giving/story?id=74178029 [^2]: "US Attorney Alex Acosta showed 'poor judgment' when giving Jeffrey Epstein state-based plea deal in 2008: DOJ," *ABC News,* November 12, 2020. https://abcnews.com/US/us-attorney-alex-acosta-showed-poor-judgment-giving/story?id=74178029
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein 2008 plea deal: poor judgment," *Global News,* November 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/7460232/jeffrey-epstein-2008-plea-deal-poor-judgment/ [^3]: The White House (George W. Bush archives), "Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta," official biography. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/racosta-bio.html
[^4]: "How Bradley Edwards fought Alex Acosta's nonprosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein," *Slate,* July 2019. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/bradley-edwards-jeffrey-epstein-alexander-acosta.html [^4]: U.S. Department of Labor, "Hall of Secretaries: Alexander Acosta." https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/acosta
[^5]: Doe v. United States, No. 08-80736 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), opinion of Judge Kenneth Marra finding a Crime Victims' Rights Act violation. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736/pdf/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736-2.pdf [^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Cali Cartel Leaders Plead Guilty to Drug and Money Laundering Conspiracy Charges," press release 06-646, September 26, 2006. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2006/September/06_crm_646.html
[^6]: "Epstein accusers won't receive damages and plea deal won't be tossed, judge rules," *CNN,* September 16, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/us/jeffrey-epstein-florida-accusers-judge-ruling [^6]: "Jeffrey Epstein 2008 plea deal: poor judgment," *Global News,* November 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/7460232/jeffrey-epstein-2008-plea-deal-poor-judgment/
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein," November 2020. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl [^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein," November 2020. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^8]: "Trump's Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns after criticism over Epstein deal," *Euronews,* July 12, 2019. https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/12/trump-s-labor-secretary-alex-acosta-resigns-after-criticism-over-n1029226 [^8]: Conchita Sarnoff and Lee Aitken, "Jeffrey Epstein: How the Hedge Fund Mogul Pedophile Got Off Easy," *The Daily Beast,* March 25, 2011, quoting R. Alexander Acosta's 2011 letter. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-how-the-hedge-fund-mogul-pedophile-got-off-easy/
[^9]: "Alex Acosta, former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's plea deal, appears before House Oversight Committee," *ABC News,* October 2025 (September 2025 closed-door deposition; transcript released October 17, 2025). https://abcnews.com/Politics/alex-acosta-former-us-attorney-negotiated-epsteins-plea/story?id=125731737 [^9]: "Jeffrey Epstein paid Palm Beach Sheriff's Office $128,000 during incarceration for prostitution charges," *WPTV,* 2019. https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/new-jeffrey-epstein-paid-palm-beach-sheriffs-office-128-000-during-incarceration-for-prostitution
[^10]: "Did Jeffrey Epstein 'Belong to Intelligence'?," *Skeptic,* analyzing Vicky Ward's July 2019 Daily Beast report. https://www.skeptic.com/article/did-jeffrey-epstein-belong-to-intelligence/ [^10]: "Florida authorities find no evidence of criminal activity in state's handling of Jeffrey Epstein case," *NBC News,* May 2021, on the sheriff's work-release program allowing Epstein out up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-authorities-no-evidence-criminal-activity-state-s-handling-jeffrey-n1266888
[^11]: "Acosta once said Epstein 'belonged to intelligence,'" *Newsweek,* July 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/alex-acosta-epstein-sex-trafficking-department-labor-1448568 [^11]: "How Bradley Edwards fought Alex Acosta's nonprosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein," *Slate,* July 2019. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/bradley-edwards-jeffrey-epstein-alexander-acosta.html
[^12]: U.S. Department of State, "Jay Lefkowitz, Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea," official biography, 2005. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/66929.htm ; "Final Report of Jay Lefkowitz, U.S. Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea," January 2009. https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/senk/115268.htm
[^13]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Disgraced Lawyer Jay Lefkowitz Who Secured Sweetheart Deal Leaves Firm," *The Daily Beast,* March 2026, on Lefkowitz's three decades at Kirkland & Ellis and his Bush White House service. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-disgraced-lawyer-jay-lefkowitz-who-secured-sweetheart-deal-leaves-firm/
[^14]: 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 at paragraphs 33, 37, 52, 61, 63, 83, 90, and the court's analysis at 27-33. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^15]: "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/
[^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 9 to 10, 12 to 13, 20, 24 to 29, 34. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^17]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00214486, DataSet 9, email chain, Jeff Sloman and Ann Marie Villafana, "Re: Did u hear?," May 16, 2008. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214486.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, p. 152 and n. 224. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^19]: "Epstein accusers won't receive damages and plea deal won't be tossed, judge rules," *CNN,* September 16, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/us/jeffrey-epstein-florida-accusers-judge-ruling
[^20]: Opinion and Order, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Sept. 16, 2019), ECF No. 478 (Marra, J.). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736/pdf/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736-2.pdf
[^21]: *In re Wild*, No. 19-13843, 994 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. Apr. 15, 2021) (en banc), majority opinion at 2-3, 13; Branch, J., dissenting; Hull, J., dissenting. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf
[^22]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 21-351, order of February 22, 2022 denying certiorari. https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-351.html
[^23]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00077309, DataSet 9, email, Chief, Public Corruption Unit, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and the Office of Professional Responsibility, "RE: Draft OPR Report," August 21, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00077309.pdf
[^24]: "US Attorney Alex Acosta showed 'poor judgment' when giving Jeffrey Epstein state-based plea deal in 2008: DOJ," *ABC News,* November 12, 2020. https://abcnews.com/US/us-attorney-alex-acosta-showed-poor-judgment-giving/story?id=74178029 ; the Villafaña footnote passage appears in the body of the full OPR report of November 2020, not in the executive summary cited at note 7.
[^25]: 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
[^26]: "Trump's Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigns after criticism over Epstein deal," *Euronews,* July 12, 2019. https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/12/trump-s-labor-secretary-alex-acosta-resigns-after-criticism-over-n1029226
[^27]: "Former state's attorney pushes back against Acosta account of Epstein case," *The Hill,* July 10, 2019. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/452527-former-florida-state-attorney-pushes-back-against-acosta-account-of/
[^28]: "Alex Acosta, former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's plea deal, appears before House Oversight Committee," *ABC News,* October 2025 (September 19, 2025 closed-door transcribed interview; transcript released October 17, 2025). https://abcnews.com/Politics/alex-acosta-former-us-attorney-negotiated-epsteins-plea/story?id=125731737
[^29]: Vicky Ward, "Jeffrey Epstein's Sick Story Played Out for Years in Plain Sight," *The Daily Beast,* July 9, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-sick-story-played-out-for-years-in-plain-sight/
[^30]: "Did Jeffrey Epstein 'Belong to Intelligence'?," *Skeptic,* analyzing Vicky Ward's July 2019 Daily Beast report. https://www.skeptic.com/article/did-jeffrey-epstein-belong-to-intelligence/
[^31]: "Acosta once said Epstein 'belonged to intelligence,'" *Newsweek,* July 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/alex-acosta-epstein-sex-trafficking-department-labor-1448568
[^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, full report of November 2020 on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation (report body; the passage does not appear in the executive summary cited at note 7). https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^33]: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, deposition of William P. Barr, August 18, 2025, transcript released September 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Barr-Transcript.pdf

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- AnnieFarmer
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- ZorroRanch
- NewMexico
- Witness
alias:
- Annie Farmer
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell accuser abused at sixteen in 1996 at Epstein's New Mexico ranch, the only one of four accusers to testify under her own name at Maxwell's 2021 trial."
location: "New Mexico"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Maria Farmer]]"
role: "younger sister"
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[United States v. Maxwell]]"
role: "government witness"
start: 2021-12-10
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Annie Farmer is an American woman who was sixteen in 1996 when [[Jeffrey Epstein]] met her in [[New York City]], where her older sister [[Maria Farmer]] was working for him, and who was abused that year by Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] at Epstein's ranch in [[New Mexico]]. She was the fourth and last accuser to testify for the government at Maxwell's 2021 trial in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], and the only one of the four to testify under her own name; the others were identified as "Jane," "Kate," and "Carolyn." Her sister had reported Epstein and Maxwell to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in August 1996, the same year.[^1][^2]
### New York and New Mexico
Farmer testified that Epstein took her to a film in New York in 1996 and reached over to hold her hand and caress her leg: "I felt sick to my stomach. It was not something I was expecting at all." Epstein then invited her to New Mexico and paid for her plane ticket. Her mother, Janice Swain, testified that Epstein told her that her daughter "would be joined by 20 to 25 other students there."[^1]
At the ranch, [[Zorro Ranch]] near Stanley, Farmer testified that Epstein held her hand and rubbed her foot and arm during a film with no effort to hide it from Maxwell, and that Maxwell insisted on giving her a massage, told her to take off her clothes, and "pulled down the sheet and exposed my breasts and starting rubbing on my breasts." "I so badly wanted to get off the table and have the massage be done," she testified. Epstein later climbed into her bed without her permission.[^1]
### Testimony at the Maxwell Trial
Farmer testified on December 10, 2021 before Judge [[Alison Nathan|Alison J. Nathan]]. Her former boyfriend, David James Mulligan, testified that she had told him she was "touched on the breast" during the massage and felt "fearful and awkward and helpless." Her mother testified that Farmer returned "quiet and withdrawn" and told her, "I don't want to talk about it and I'm not going to let it ruin my life." The government rested its case that afternoon. Farmer testified that she had accepted 1.5 million dollars from the [[Epstein Victims' Compensation Program]], the fund established by Epstein's estate.[^1]
The jury convicted Maxwell on December 29, 2021 of five of six counts, including transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; it acquitted on the count of enticement of a minor to travel.[^3]
### The 1996 Reports
In August 1996 Maria Farmer reported to the [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]]'s Sixth Precinct and then by telephone to the FBI that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually assaulted her, that she feared they had abused one of her minor sisters, and that Epstein and Maxwell had stolen nude images she had made of her two minor sisters for her artwork and carried them from [[Ohio]] to New York. According to Maria Farmer's 2025 lawsuit against the [[United States]], the FBI took no action, and federal agents did not interview her until 2006. The FBI's record of her 1996 report was released in December 2025 in the first wave of disclosures under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]].[^2][^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "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/
[^2]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), paras. 2, 4, 95-126, 176-185. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
[^3]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6-7 nn.5-6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^4]: "Maria Farmer and Marsh Law Firm's Persistent Advocacy Vindicated as FBI Releases Farmer's 1996 Report on Jeffrey Epstein," *Marsh Law Firm,* December 23, 2025. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/persistent-advocacy-vindicated/

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- BarryKrischer
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- StateAttorney
- GrandJury
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Barry E. Krischer
- State Attorney Barry Krischer
summary: "Barry Krischer was the Palm Beach County State Attorney from 1993 to 2009 whose office took the 2006 Epstein case to a grand jury that returned a single solicitation count."
location: "Palm Beach County, Florida"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office]]"
role: "State Attorney, 15th Judicial Circuit"
start: 1993
end: 2009
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office]]"
role: "assistant state attorney"
start: 1973
end: 1983
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2006-07-19
end: 2008-06-30
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-08
end: 2021-05
fn: 14
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Barry Krischer is an American lawyer who served as State Attorney for [[Florida]]'s 15th Judicial Circuit, covering [[Palm Beach County]], from 1993 to 2009. His office received the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2006 and presented it to a grand jury, which returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution against a police recommendation of five second-degree felony counts. In September 2007 he congratulated a federal prosecutor on the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] "for reasons I won't put in writing." A [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] review ordered in 2019 found no evidence that he committed any crime.[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Krischer was a prosecutor in Kings County, New York, from 1970 to 1973. He moved to Palm Beach County and joined the [[Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office]], where he served for ten years as an assistant state attorney under State Attorney [[David Bludworth]]. He then entered private defense practice as a partner of the defense attorney [[Michael Salnick]].[^1]
As a defense lawyer Krischer represented William Morser, the driver in a fatal hit-and-run that killed Mark Baltes, a 28-year-old Lake Worth electrician. A judge ruled that Krischer could withhold his client's name under attorney-client privilege, and the driver's identity did not become public for two and a half years; investigators eventually identified him through what Krischer called "dumb luck."[^1]
Krischer was elected State Attorney in 1992 and held the office for sixteen years. In one case during his tenure his office charged Anthony Laster, a 15-year-old eighth-grader with an IQ of 58, with armed robbery for taking two dollars in lunch money from a classmate; Laster spent seven weeks in jail, including Christmas, before Krischer dropped the charges after public criticism. Krischer had defended the charge: "The kids going to school need to know they're going to be safe." He left office in 2009, while Epstein was serving his sentence.[^1]
### The Epstein Grand Jury
The Palm Beach Police Department began investigating Epstein in March 2005. Detective [[Joseph Recarey]]'s probable cause affidavit of May 1, 2006 recommended charging Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor under Florida Statute 794.05(1) and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation under 800.04(5), all second-degree felonies. Krischer's office did not file those charges by information and instead presented the case to a county grand jury.[^3][^4]
In 2006 Police Chief [[Michael Reiter]] wrote to Krischer that his office's treatment of the cases was "highly unusual" and asked him to consider whether "good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from prosecution of these cases."[^1]
The grand jury sat on July 19, 2006. Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] presented the case and called two of the girls, out of roughly two dozen interviewed by police and questioned them about their own conduct in terms that cast doubt on their credibility. The grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution under Florida Statute 796.07. Reiter and Recarey then took the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].[^1][^2][^5]
The transcript remained sealed until a 2024 statute signed by Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] created an exception for the Epstein proceeding. Circuit Judge [[Luis Delgado]] released it on July 1, 2024, writing that "[t]he details in the record will be outrageous to decent people."[^5]
### The Defense Lawyers and the Grand Jury Decision
Krischer later told the Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] that Epstein's local counsel brought [[Alan Dershowitz]] to see him and the assistant state attorney on the case, and that Dershowitz was "overly aggressive" and threatened, "We're going to destroy your witnesses; don't go to court because we're going to destroy those girls." According to Krischer, Dershowitz so "tainted the waters" that Epstein also hired the local attorney [[Jack Goldberger]], with whom Krischer had "a working relationship"; because the husband of the assistant state attorney was Goldberger's law partner, Belohlavek recused that prosecutor and took over the case herself. Krischer told OPR that under state law as it then stood his office prosecuted minors as young as 14 for prostitution, that the possibility that Epstein's victims could themselves be prosecuted caused "great consternation within the office," and that "There were so many issues involving the victim-witnesses that to my mind, in consultation with my [prosecutors], the only way to achieve, to my mind, real justice was to present the case to the grand jury and not to direct-file." Police Chief Michael Reiter testified in a 2009 civil deposition that Krischer had first told him "Let's go for it," and that "it was pretty clear to me that Mr. Krischer did not want to prosecute this case."[^6]
The federal prosecutors' chronology records Reiter's letter of May 2006 urging Krischer to proceed on the probable cause affidavits or to recuse himself, and Reiter's letter of August 2, 2006 stating that he was unhappy with the State Attorney's handling of the case and was referring it to the FBI. On August 16, 2006 the Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told viewers that Reiter believed Krischer was "in the tank for Epstein"; a transcript of the segment was kept among Epstein's own papers.[^7][^8]
### The Federal Agreement
The federal office under [[Alexander Acosta]] negotiated its non-prosecution agreement with Epstein's lawyers in September 2007, structured around a plea in Krischer's jurisdiction to the pending state indictment and a new procurement charge. On September 21, 2007, three days before the agreement was signed, Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]]: "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing. After this is resolved I would love to buy you a cup at Starbucks and have a conversation."[^2]
On September 27, 2007 Villafaña wrote to Krischer and Belohlavek asking when and before which judge Epstein would plead, adding that "the agents and I would really like to be there, 'incognito.'" On December 19, 2007 Acosta wrote to Epstein's lawyer [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]] that his office would "defer to the discretion of the State Attorney" on whether to notify victims of the state proceedings. Epstein pleaded guilty in state court on June 30, 2008, and a copy of the agreement was filed under seal in the state file. On September 17, 2008 Villafaña reminded Krischer by email that the agreement "contain[ed] a confidentiality provision that require[ed] us to inform Mr. Epstein's counsel before making any disclosure."[^2][^3]
### The State Attorney in the Federal Negotiation
In mid-September 2007 Krischer and Belohlavek sat in a joint meeting with federal prosecutors [[Andrew Lourie]], [[Rolando Garcia]] and Villafaña and Epstein's lawyers [[Jay Lefkowitz]], [[Gerald Lefcourt]] and Goldberger, and from September 19 to 25 they exchanged emails with the federal office on meeting Epstein's attorneys. On September 21 Villafaña summarized the State Attorney's Office's negotiations with Goldberger, including Goldberger's request that Epstein not have to register as a sex offender. In December 2007 Acosta's office drafted a letter to Krischer about Epstein registering as a sex offender, and Starr and Lefkowitz wrote to Acosta invoking the State Attorney's Office's belief that Epstein should not have to register. In May and June 2008 Sloman relayed information from Krischer, and Villafaña summarized a meeting with him about Epstein's attempt to negotiate a new state plea deal; the office separately discussed a call from [[Roy Black]] about allowing Epstein to plead to 60 days' imprisonment. In October 2008 Villafaña, Krischer and Belohlavek corresponded about a Palm Beach Daily News request for a copy of the agreement.[^7][^9]
After Epstein was admitted to the sheriff's work-release program, Villafaña wrote to her supervisors on December 3, 2008: "It appears that, since Day 1, Goldberger and Krisher [sic] . . . have been scheming to get Epstein out on work release. For example, the indictment incorrectly charges Epstein for an offense that would have made him ineligible for work release if it had been charged correctly. (Remember that Krisher [sic] also went along with letting us believe that Epstein was pleading to a registrable offense when Epstein's folks and Krisher [sic] believed that . . . the offense was not registrable.) Krisher [sic] and Goldberger also told us that Epstein would be housed at the Palm [Beach County] Jail, not the Stockade, but he would not have been eligible for work release if at the jail. Krischer generally declined in his OPR interview to explain his office's prosecutive decisions; asked about allegations of favoritism to Epstein's defense counsel, he said: "I just don't play that way."[^10][^11]
On December 15, 2010, after Krischer had left office, a correspondent writing as "jagesq" told Epstein: "I know krischer spoke to the governor before he left for Korea. did you get any feedback? By the way Krischer was having lunch the other day with an old friend who is a criminal defense lawyer in NY. We may want to think about using him with the registration stuff unless we are too invested with Kirkland. probably help us with Krischer."[^12]
### The 2019 Exchange with Acosta
At a July 10, 2019 press conference, Acosta said that the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office "was ready to allow Epstein to walk free with no jail time, nothing." Krischer responded the same day that Acosta's "recollection of the matter is completely wrong," that the 53-page federal indictment had been abandoned after "secret negotiations between Mr. Epstein's lawyers and Mr. Acosta," that his office had no part in the "Non-Prosecution Agreement and the unusual confidentiality agreement that kept everything hidden from the victims," and that "Mr. Acosta should not be allowed to rewrite history." Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor two days later.[^3][^13]
### State and Federal Reviews
The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Office of Professional Responsibility interviewed the former State Attorney and the former assistant state attorney in charge of the state case during its 2019 to 2020 review, but stated that it "does not have jurisdiction over state officials" and reached no conclusions about their conduct.[^3]
In August 2019, after a letter from Palm Beach County Sheriff [[Ric Bradshaw]], DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the state's handling of the case. A 24-page FDLE summary released in May 2021 found no evidence that Krischer or Belohlavek "committed any crimes, accepted any bribes or gifts, or did anything improper." A companion FDLE report found that Epstein had "received differential treatment" in the custody of the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] but that it was not criminal.[^14]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html
[^2]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 7, 10, 15, 22 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraphs 33, 59, 90, 153. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. i-ii, iv, vi-vii. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^4]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^5]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking ; "Florida prosecutors knew Epstein raped teenage girls 2 years before cutting deal, transcript shows," *WPTV,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wptv.com/news/epstein/palm-beach-county-judge-calls-jeffrey-epstein-most-infamous-pedophile-in-american-history-as-he-releases-transcripts
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 14 to 16. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 1, 14, 19 to 20, 27 to 28, 34 to 35, 44. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00214226, DataSet 9, FoxNews.com transcript, "The O'Reilly Factor," Talking Points Memo, August 16, 2006. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214226.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00215188, DataSet 9, emails among Barry Krischer, Lanna Belohlavek and the U.S. Attorney's Office, "RE: Meeting with Epstein's attorneys," September 19 to 25, 2007. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00215188.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), p. 116, quoting Villafana's email of December 3, 2008.
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), p. 16 n. 17.
[^12]: 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
[^13]: "Former state's attorney pushes back against Acosta account of Epstein case," *The Hill,* July 10, 2019. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/452527-former-florida-state-attorney-pushes-back-against-acosta-account-of/ ; "Ex-Palm Beach State Attorney Says It Was Acosta's 'Secret Negotiations' With Epstein Lawyers That Tanked Case," *The Daily Beast,* July 10, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-palm-beach-state-attorney-says-it-was-acostas-secret-negotiations-with-epstein-lawyers-that-tanked-case/
[^14]: "Florida authorities find no evidence of criminal activity in state's handling of Jeffrey Epstein case," *NBC News,* May 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-authorities-no-evidence-criminal-activity-state-s-handling-jeffrey-n1266888 ; "FDLE clears PBSO, prosecutors in connection to Epstein's work release privileges," *CBS12,* May 2021. https://cbs12.com/news/local/fdle-clears-pbso-prosecutors-in-connection-to-epsteins-work-release-privileges

4
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Bill Clinton.md
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@ -65,9 +65,9 @@ In a deposition compelled by the [[House Oversight Committee]], conducted behind
Documents unsealed in January 2024 in the defamation case [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] included deposition testimony from [[Johanna Sjoberg]], given in 2015, in which she testified that Epstein had once said "Clinton likes them young," which she clarified referred to "girls." Sjoberg attributed the remark to Epstein as something he said and not as a statement of her own knowledge about Clinton, and said she understood Epstein to have had "dealings" with him. The same filings referenced a 2011 account in which [[Virginia Giuffre]] said she had seen Clinton on Epstein's island; Giuffre later said she did not witness a helicopter flight she had earlier described, and she made no allegation of wrongdoing by Clinton. Reporting on the January 2024 release noted that the documents did not implicate any previously unnamed person and contained no accusation of a crime by Clinton. A judge in the Maxwell litigation had previously denied a request to depose Clinton.[^7][^8] Documents unsealed in January 2024 in the defamation case [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] included deposition testimony from [[Johanna Sjoberg]], given in 2015, in which she testified that Epstein had once said "Clinton likes them young," which she clarified referred to "girls." Sjoberg attributed the remark to Epstein as something he said and not as a statement of her own knowledge about Clinton, and said she understood Epstein to have had "dealings" with him. The same filings referenced a 2011 account in which [[Virginia Giuffre]] said she had seen Clinton on Epstein's island; Giuffre later said she did not witness a helicopter flight she had earlier described, and she made no allegation of wrongdoing by Clinton. Reporting on the January 2024 release noted that the documents did not implicate any previously unnamed person and contained no accusation of a crime by Clinton. A judge in the Maxwell litigation had previously denied a request to depose Clinton.[^7][^8]
Materials released in 2025 by the House Oversight Committee and the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] included flight records, estate documents, and a "birthday book" assembled by Maxwell for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The committee made the contents public in September 2025, and the panel released more than 33,000 pages from the Justice Department on September 2, 2025. The book contained an entry attributed to Clinton, the wording of which, as released by the committee, included the line "It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends," signed "Bill Clinton." Outlets reporting on the documents noted that the materials did not implicate Clinton in any crime.[^9][^10] Materials released in 2025 by the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] and the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] included flight records, estate documents, and a "birthday book" assembled by Maxwell for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003. The committee made the contents public in September 2025, and the panel released more than 33,000 pages from the Justice Department on September 2, 2025. The book contained an entry attributed to Clinton, the wording of which, as released by the committee, included the line "It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and [illegible], and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends," signed "Bill Clinton." Outlets reporting on the documents noted that the materials did not implicate Clinton in any crime.[^9][^10]
On December 19, 2025, in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which set that date as the deadline for Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] to publish the unclassified federal records, the Justice Department released several hundred thousand documents, many heavily redacted. Across the 2025 and 2026 releases, totaling more than 60,000 pages by late 2025, no document established a criminal allegation against Clinton, and reporting consistently noted that his name appeared in connection with the flight logs, social contacts, and the birthday book rather than any accusation by a survivor.[^10][^14] On December 19, 2025, in accordance with the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], which set that date as the deadline for Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] to publish the unclassified federal records, the Justice Department released several hundred thousand documents, many heavily redacted. Across the 2025 and 2026 releases, totaling more than 60,000 pages by late 2025, no document established a criminal allegation against Clinton, and reporting consistently noted that his name appeared in connection with the flight logs, social contacts, and the birthday book rather than any accusation by a survivor.[^10][^14]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Bill Gates.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- BillGates
- Microsoft
- GatesFoundation
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
- Philanthropy
alias:
- Bill Gates
- William H. Gates
- William H. Gates III
- William Henry Gates III
summary: "Bill Gates is the Microsoft co-founder who met Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly from 2011 to 2014 over a proposed JPMorgan charitable fund, and whom Epstein later pressed over a relationship with a Russian bridge player."
born: 1955-10-28
location: "Seattle, Washington"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Microsoft]]"
role: "co-founder"
start: 1975
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Melinda French Gates]]"
role: "husband"
end: 2021
fn: 11
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Boris Nikolic]]"
reverse: true
role: "chief science and technology adviser"
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Bill Gates (William H. Gates III, born October 28, 1955, in [[Seattle]], [[Washington]]) is the co-founder of [[Microsoft]] and co-chair of the [[Gates Foundation]].[^1] Beginning in 2011, three years after [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s Florida guilty plea, Gates met Epstein on numerous occasions, at least three times at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse.[^2] Epstein sought to bring Gates into a multibillion-dollar charitable fund he was trying to build with [[JPMorgan Chase]], and after Gates declined, Epstein wrote to him in 2017 in terms that implied knowledge of Gates's past relationship with a Russian bridge player whose training Epstein had paid for.[^3] Gates testified before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] in June 2026 that the meetings were "a grave error in judgment."[^1]
### The Introduction Through Nikolic
Gates's contact with Epstein ran through [[Boris Nikolic]], his chief science and technology adviser, who had been introduced to Epstein by [[Melanie Walker]].[^4] Both Nikolic and Epstein were private-banking clients of JPMorgan, and people familiar with the bank told [[Bloomberg]] that Epstein helped its bankers attract new wealthy clients.[^4] The *[[New York Times]]* reported in October 2019, citing more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, that Gates had met Epstein many times from 2011 and on at least one occasion stayed at the townhouse late into the night.[^2] Epstein's first call to the former [[White House Counsel]] [[Kathryn Ruemmler]] in 2014 concerned her interest in Gates and his foundation.[^5]
Epstein signed his will on August 8, 2019, two days before his death. It named his attorneys [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] as executors and Nikolic as backup executor. Nikolic said he "was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever."[^4]
### The JPMorgan Fund
Epstein was trying to establish a large donor-advised charitable fund with JPMorgan, partly to rebuild his standing after the 2008 conviction, and he wrote to the bank in terms that suggested he advised Gates. The plan required wealthy donors, Gates among them, to pool money in the fund. Gates did not join, and the fund was never created.[^3]
On July 27, 2011, Epstein outlined the structure to [[Jes Staley]] and [[Mary Erdoes]] of JPMorgan, copying Nikolic: "the mimimum donation would be 100 million. a portfolio will be established for each donor.according to their own critieria, there will be established silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc." Donors could "make presentations for larger gifts , in an on-line forum ( the worlds most exclusive Blog ).. the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^6] On August 27, 2011 he wrote to the same two bankers: "Careful, the people at Gates-", naming four foundation staff members, two of them "the senior people," who "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things. Bill is at his country house. and most likely will not deal with it before wed. There are too many people without direction. lets speak,,"[^7]
After Epstein's 2019 arrest JPMorgan conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." In a June 7, 2023 letter to Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]]' suit against the bank, the territory's counsel, [[Motley Rice]], wrote that the review's e-communications summary confirmed "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including "Andrew Farkas, Boris Nikolic, Bill Gates, and [[Peter Mandelson]]," and quoted the testimony of JPMorgan's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]]: "We did not need introductions to anybody."[^8] JPMorgan later said that "the firm didn't need him as a client" and "didn't need him for introductions," and that "knowing what we know today, we wish we had never done business with him."[^3]
### The MIT Media Lab Gift
In October 2014 Gates gave 2 million dollars to the [[MIT Media Lab]], then directed by [[Joi Ito]]. Internal lab emails described the gift as directed by Epstein, and Epstein claimed in 2014 to have arranged it; the lab recorded Epstein-linked money as anonymous.[^9][^10] Gates's representatives told MIT's outside investigators, the law firm [[Goodwin Procter]], that he "flatly denies" that Epstein had anything to do with the donation, and the investigators found no evidence that the money was Epstein's.[^10]
### Mila Antonova
Gates met the Russian bridge player [[Mila Antonova]] at a bridge tournament in 2010, when she was in her twenties.[^3] Seeking to fund an online bridge-teaching venture, she was introduced to Epstein by Nikolic, and in November 2013 the two met Epstein at the townhouse to pitch it, seeking 500,000 dollars; Epstein did not invest.[^3] Epstein paid for Antonova to attend a software coding school.[^3] A 2026 investigation by *[[Fortune]]* reported that Epstein also organized her U.S. visa application and let her stay at his New York house, and that he used the relationship, together with leverage through two other confidants the two men shared, to press Gates to invest in the fund.[^1] In 2017, after Gates had declined the fund, Epstein emailed Gates asking to be reimbursed for Antonova's tuition, in a message that people who saw it said implied he could disclose the relationship. Gates did not pay.[^3] Antonova told the *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*: "I had no idea that he was a criminal or had any ulterior motive."[^3]
A Gates spokeswoman told the *Journal*: "Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes. Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr. Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates."[^3]
### Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates met Epstein with her husband in 2013. A former foundation employee told the *Journal* that she afterward told Gates she was uncomfortable with Epstein, and the relationship continued.[^11] She met divorce lawyers in October 2019, after the *Times* report, and the couple announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage in May 2021.[^11]
### The 2026 Testimony
Gates appeared voluntarily for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on June 10, 2026, at the request of its chairman, [[James Comer]], after his name appeared in [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] Epstein documents. He said the relationship ran from 2011 to at least late 2014, that he ended it after concluding that Epstein could not deliver the philanthropic money he promised, and that he never visited Epstein's island or his other properties.[^1] "I should never have met with Epstein in the first place," he said. "I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct," and "I have never victimized anyone." He added: "While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated."[^1]
The committee's ranking member, [[Robert Garcia]], said Gates had known of the conviction and "continued to interact with him to seek money for his foundation," which he called "a horrific judgment call." Representative [[Raja Krishnamoorthi]] called Gates "combative" and "not terribly forthcoming or candid"; Representative [[Melanie Stansbury]] said Gates described a "narrow relationship" he regarded as "an acceptable means to access wealthy donors"; Representative [[Tim Burchett]] called the questioning "intense."[^1] Comer said afterward that he would ask [[Alan Dershowitz]] to testify and was in talks with the Justice Department about testimony from the acting attorney general, [[Todd Blanche]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Gates testifies on Epstein: previous Fortune investigation reveals payments to his ex-girlfriend, $1M Microsoft deal." *Fortune,* June 10, 2026. https://fortune.com/2026/06/10/bill-gates-epstein-mistress-bankrolled-testifying-congress/
[^2]: Stewart, James B., Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg. "Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times, Despite His Past." *The New York Times,* October 12, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html
[^3]: Safdar, Khadeeja, and Emily Glazer. "Jeffrey Epstein Apparently Threatened Bill Gates Over Affair." *The Wall Street Journal,* May 21, 2023; summarized in "WSJ: Jeffrey Epstein threatened Bill Gates over affair with Russian bridge player." *Boing Boing,* May 22, 2023. https://boingboing.net/2023/05/22/wsj-jeffrey-epstein-threatened-bill-gates-over-affair-with-russian-bridge-player.html
[^4]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates." *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
[^5]: "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, copied to Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^8]: 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, S.D.N.Y.), Motley Rice letter to Judge Jed S. Rakoff, "Motion Seeking Leave to Reopen Depositions," June 7, 2023, p. 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
[^9]: 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
[^10]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^11]: *Al Jazeera,* May 10, 2021, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal* on Melinda French Gates and Epstein. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/10/melinda-gates-discussed-divorcing-bill-over-epstein-ties-wsj

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- BradleyEdwards
- JeffreyEpstein
- CrimeVictimsRightsAct
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- VictimsRights
- ScottRothstein
alias:
- Brad Edwards
- Bradley J. Edwards
- Bradley James Edwards
summary: "Bradley Edwards is a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who represented Epstein's victims from 2008, litigated the Crime Victims' Rights Act case pro bono, and was sued by Epstein, who later apologized."
location: "Fort Lauderdale, Florida"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Courtney Wild]]"
role: "counsel for Jane Doe 1"
start: 2008-06
end: 2022-02-22
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Doe v. United States]]"
role: "petitioners' counsel"
start: 2008-07-07
end: 2019-09-16
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Virginia Giuffre]]"
role: "co-counsel on December 2014 filing"
start: 2014-12
fn: 8
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler]]"
start: 2009
end: 2009
fn: 7
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Broward County State Attorney's Office]]"
role: "assistant state attorney"
start: 2002
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Bradley J. Edwards is an American lawyer in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]], who has represented victims of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] since June 2008. As counsel for the victim who filed as Jane Doe 1, later identified as [[Courtney Wild]], he brought the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] petition that forced the government to disclose the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] and produced the 2019 ruling that prosecutors had violated the statute. Epstein sued him in 2009 as a participant in [[Scott Rothstein]]'s [[Ponzi scheme]], dropped the suit in 2012, and in December 2018 settled Edwards's malicious prosecution counterclaim with a written apology.[^1][^2][^3]
### Background
Edwards began his legal career in 2002 as an assistant state attorney in the [[Broward County State Attorney's Office]]. He later founded his own firm, which became Edwards Pottinger and then Edwards Henderson, practicing on behalf of crime and trafficking victims. With Brittany Henderson he wrote *Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein*, published by Simon & Schuster in 2020.[^2][^4]
### Learning of the Agreement
In mid-June 2008 Edwards called the federal line prosecutor [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]] to say he represented Jane Doe 1 and, later, Jane Doe 2, and asked to meet to provide information about Epstein's federal crimes. The prosecutor discussed the possibility of future federal charges and asked him to send material for the office to consider; the stipulated record states that he was "led to believe federal charges could still be filed, with no mention whatsoever of the existence of the NPA." The agreement had been signed nine months earlier. On or about June 27, 2008 the office called him to say that Epstein would plead guilty in state court to solicitation; Edwards said he was not told that the plea would resolve the federal case, while the prosecutor said she told him his clients could address the state court.[^1]
On July 3, 2008, three days after Epstein's plea and at the office's direction, Edwards wrote urging "the Attorney General and our United States Attorney to consider the fundamental import of the vigorous enforcement of our Federal laws" and "to move forward with the traditional indictments and criminal prosecution commensurate with the crimes Mr. Epstein has committed." On July 7 he filed the emergency petition that opened [[Doe v. United States]] before Judge [[Kenneth Marra]]. He saw the first reference to the non-prosecution agreement on July 9, 2008, in the government's response.[^1]
### The Crime Victims' Rights Act Case
Edwards moved to compel production of the agreement, which Marra ordered in August 2008 under a protective order, and moved to unseal it, which Marra denied in February 2009. The government's own prosecutor told Epstein's counsel by email that the court had "ordered us to make the Agreement available to the plaintiffs." Jane Doe 2 did not learn the agreement's contents until August 28, 2008, when a copy was given to Edwards. He litigated the case without fee for more than ten years, joined by the law professor and former federal judge [[Paul Cassell]]. On February 21, 2019 Marra held that the government had violated the victims' conferral right; after Epstein's death he denied all remedies, and in April 2021 the en banc [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit|Eleventh Circuit]] held that the Act gave Wild no pre-charge judicial remedy.[^1][^2][^5]
Edwards also alleged, after Epstein's 2019 arrest, that Epstein had engaged in improper sexual contact while on work release at the [[Florida Science Foundation]], the entity through which Epstein spent his days out of the county jail in 2008 and 2009.[^6]
### Epstein v. Rothstein and Edwards
In 2009 Edwards worked briefly at [[Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler]], the Fort Lauderdale firm of Scott Rothstein, who was later convicted of running a Ponzi scheme that sold investors fabricated legal settlements. Epstein sued Rothstein and Edwards in 2009 for civil racketeering and fraud, alleging that Edwards had fabricated claims and helped Rothstein market bogus settlement rights involving the sex abuse claims against Epstein. Edwards was not implicated in Rothstein's fraud. Epstein dropped the claims against Edwards in August 2012, and Edwards counterclaimed for malicious prosecution, alleging that the suit was designed to intimidate him and his clients into abandoning their cases.[^3][^7]
The counterclaim was set for trial in December 2018, with at least seven of Epstein's accusers expected to testify. On December 4, 2018, as jury selection was to begin, Epstein settled on confidential terms and issued an apology, which Edwards read: "The truth is that his aggressive investigation and litigation style was highly effective and therefore troublesome for me. The lawsuit I filed was my unreasonable attempt to damage his business reputation and stop Mr. Edwards from pursuing cases against me. It did not work." The settlement meant the accusers did not testify publicly. Edwards's lawyer [[Jack Scarola]] said the case "focused on [Edwards'] personal vindication" and that the victims' cause remained in the Crime Victims' Rights Act case.[^3][^7]
### The Dershowitz Litigation
In December 2014 Edwards and Cassell filed a motion in the Crime Victims' Rights Act case to add a victim then identified as Jane Doe 3, later publicly identified as [[Virginia Giuffre]], alleging that Epstein had trafficked her as a minor to [[Alan Dershowitz]] among others. Dershowitz denied the allegations and called for Edwards and Cassell to be disbarred; Marra struck the allegations in April 2015 as "immaterial and impertinent" to the case. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation and Dershowitz countersued.[^8]
On April 8, 2016 the parties settled. A joint statement issued by the mediator said that "Edwards and Cassell acknowledge that it was a mistake to have filed sexual misconduct accusations against Dershowitz," that the accusations in the public filings were withdrawn, and that Dershowitz withdrew his accusations that they had acted unethically. The statement specified that the dispute concerned due diligence rather than "whether the acts of alleged misconduct in fact occurred," and that the withdrawal was not an acknowledgment that Giuffre's allegations were mistaken; Giuffre, who was not a party, stood by them at the time. Dershowitz required that the financial terms remain confidential. Giuffre withdrew her allegation against Dershowitz in a separate 2022 settlement, saying she "may have made a mistake."[^8][^9]
### The Bank Cases
Edwards and [[David Boies]] represented Epstein survivors in the 2023 class actions against [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Deutsche Bank]], which alleged that the banks had knowingly benefited from Epstein's trafficking; JPMorgan agreed to pay 290 million dollars and Deutsche Bank 75 million dollars, both without admitting wrongdoing.[^10]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 17-21 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraphs 101-103, 107, 118, 126, 141, 146, and the Edwards declaration, ECF No. 416-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf ; docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
[^2]: Edwards Henderson, "Brad Edwards, Founding Partner" (firm-published biography). https://www.crimevictimlawfirm.com/attorneys/brad-edwards/
[^3]: "Millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apologizes in settling malicious prosecution suit," *CNN,* December 4, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/04/politics/jeffrey-epstein-lawsuit-settled
[^4]: Bradley J. Edwards with Brittany Henderson, *Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein* (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), publisher's page. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Relentless-Pursuit/Bradley-J-Edwards/9781982148140
[^5]: *In re Wild*, No. 19-13843, 994 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. Apr. 15, 2021) (en banc). https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf
[^6]: "Jeffrey Epstein paid Palm Beach Sheriff's Office $128,000 during incarceration for prostitution charges," *WPTV,* 2019. https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/new-jeffrey-epstein-paid-palm-beach-sheriffs-office-128-000-during-incarceration-for-prostitution
[^7]: "Wealthy Sex Offender Settles Suit, Averting Accusers' Testimony," *Courthouse News Service,* December 4, 2018. https://www.courthousenews.com/wealthy-sex-offender-settles-suit-averting-accusers-testimony/
[^8]: "Lawyers Call Sexual Misconduct Case Against Dershowitz 'A Mistake,'" *The Harvard Crimson,* April 11, 2016. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/4/11/lawyers-drop-dershowitz-case/ ; "Settlement Reached In Litigation Between Alan Dershowitz, Paul Cassell, And Bradley Edwards," *Above the Law,* April 2016. https://abovethelaw.com/2016/04/settlement-reached-in-litigation-between-alan-dershowitz-paul-cassell-and-bradley-edwards/
[^9]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake,'" *CNN,* November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped
[^10]: "JPMorgan Chase and Epstein survivor Jane Doe 1 reach $290 million settlement," *NPR,* June 12, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/12/1181675580/epstein-jane-doe-1-290-million-settlement-jpmorgan-chase ; "Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to Epstein victims in groundbreaking settlement, lawyers say," *PBS NewsHour / Associated Press,* May 2023. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/deutsche-bank-to-pay-75-million-to-epstein-victims-in-groundbreaking-settlement-lawyers-say

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- DavidBoies
- BoiesSchillerFlexner
- BlackCube
- HarveyWeinstein
- EhudBarak
- VirginiaGiuffre
- JeffreyEpstein
alias:
- David Boies
- David Boies Jr.
summary: "David Boies is the American trial lawyer and founder of Boies Schiller Flexner who contracted the Israeli firm Black Cube for Harvey Weinstein and represented Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre."
born: 1941-03-11
location: "Sycamore, Illinois (born); New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Boies Schiller Flexner]]"
start: 1997
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Boies Schiller Flexner]]"
role: "chairman"
start: 1997
end: 2024
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[United States Department of Justice]]"
role: "Special Trial Counsel in the Microsoft antitrust suit"
start: 1998
end: 2000
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Al Gore]]"
role: "lead counsel in the 2000 Florida recount litigation"
start: 2000
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Harvey Weinstein]]"
role: "counsel; signed Black Cube contracts"
start: 2016
end: 2017
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[Virginia Giuffre]]"
role: "counsel"
end: 2022
fn: 5
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
David Boies (born March 11, 1941, [[Sycamore, Illinois]]) is an American trial lawyer who founded [[Boies Schiller Flexner]] in 1997 and chaired it until 2024. He was Special Trial Counsel for the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in its antitrust suit against [[Microsoft]] and lead counsel for [[Al Gore]] in the litigation over the 2000 Florida vote count.[^1] In 2016 and 2017 his firm contracted and paid the Israeli private intelligence company [[Black Cube]] on behalf of [[Harvey Weinstein]]; [[Ehud Barak]] had given Weinstein the company's contact information. On November 8, 2017, two days after the arrangement was reported, [[Jeffrey Epstein]] asked Barak by email whether Boies had reached "the mossad guys" through him.[^2][^3][^4] His firm represented [[Virginia Giuffre]] in litigation against [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], and in 2019 it produced the confidential discovery from that case to federal prosecutors in response to a grand jury subpoena.[^5][^6]
### Career
Boies attended the [[University of Redlands]], took a B.S. from [[Northwestern University]] in 1964, an LL.B. from [[Yale Law School|Yale]] in 1966, and an LL.M. from [[New York University]] in 1967. He was chief counsel and staff director of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] in 1979 and its antitrust subcommittee in 1978, and from 1991 to 1993 was counsel to the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]], recovering 1.2 billion dollars from companies that had sold junk bonds to failed savings and loan associations. He founded Boies Schiller Flexner in 1997, served as its chairman from 1997 to 2024, was Special Trial Counsel in *[[United States]] v. Microsoft* from 1998 to 2000, and was co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in *Perry v. Brown*, the challenge to California's Proposition 8.[^1]
### Black Cube and Weinstein
On October 28, 2016 Boies Schiller Flexner wired Black Cube the first 100,000 dollars toward what became a 600,000 dollar invoice; the firm and Black Cube signed a contract that month and several others later. 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 his firm was also representing *[[The New York Times]],* including in a libel case.[^2]
Boies told [[Ronan Farrow]] of *[[The New Yorker]],* whose report appeared on November 6, 2017, that his firm had contracted with and paid two of the agencies, that investigators from one of them sent him reports which were passed to Weinstein, and that he had not selected the firms or directed their work. "We should not have been contracting with and paying investigators that we did not select and direct," he said. "At the time, it seemed a reasonable accommodation for a client, but it was not thought through, and that was my mistake." He denied that the work on the *Times* story was a conflict of interest, saying he had advised Weinstein "that the story could not be stopped by threats or influence and that the only way the story could be stopped was by convincing the *Times* that there was no rape."[^2]
On November 8, 2017 a spokesman for Barak confirmed that Weinstein had asked Barak "if he knew an Israeli company he had heard of" capable of helping him with business issues, that Barak had confirmed "the company he heard of was likely Black Cube" and "gave Weinstein its contact information," and that Barak "was not aware until this morning of the fact the company was hired by Weinstein, or for what purposes or operations." The spokesman placed the referral more than a year earlier.[^3]
At 15:54 GMT the same day Epstein wrote to Barak: "boies said he got to the mossad guys through you? true?" Fifty-five minutes later he wrote again: "Did Boies ask you to help Obtain former mossad agents to do dirty investigations. ? this is getting a lot of press, ." Barak replied the next morning: "Call me.. [number redacted] in Paris."[^4]
### Giuffre, Maxwell, and Dershowitz
Boies represented Virginia Giuffre in her litigation arising from Epstein's abuse.[^5] In the spring of 2019, months before Epstein's July arrest, prosecutors in the [[Southern District of New York]] served a grand jury subpoena on Boies Schiller Flexner for the confidential discovery in *[[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]*, which Giuffre had brought against Maxwell in 2015; an order of April 9, 2019 in In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 19-MC-149 (CM), permitted the firm to comply, and the material was produced. On August 11, 2026 Judge [[Loretta Preska]] authorized the government to release the material under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], over Maxwell's objection.[^6]
After Giuffre accused [[Alan Dershowitz]] of abusing her, which he denied, she sued him for defamation in April 2019 and he countersued; Boies sued Dershowitz over Dershowitz's claims that Boies had pressured Giuffre to lie as part of an extortion plot, and Dershowitz sued Boies in turn. On November 8, 2022 all the suits were dismissed with prejudice under a global settlement that the parties said "does not involve the payment of any money by anyone or anything else." Giuffre stated that she "may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz"; Dershowitz said his allegations "that David Boies engaged in an extortion plot and in suborning perjury were mistake[n]"; Boies said he appreciated Dershowitz's acknowledgment and that Dershowitz had "consistently, and vehemently, denied" the abuse allegation.[^5]
### 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
[^3]: "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/
[^4]: 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 ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, 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 ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00965384, DataSet 9, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, November 9, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00965384.pdf
[^5]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake'." *CNN,* November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped ; "Epstein Victim Drops Claims Against Alan Dershowitz." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 11, 2022. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/11/11/victim-drops-dershowitz-allegations/
[^6]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1360 with Exhibits 2-9 (Feb. 20, 2026); Order, ECF No. 1367 (Aug. 11, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/

2
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/David Grusch.md
View file

@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ location: "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
### Whistleblower Testimony ### Whistleblower Testimony
In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee's National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the U.S. government is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1] In 2023, Grusch went public with his allegations, testifying under oath before the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s National Security Subcommittee. He stated that he was informed of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program during the course of his official duties. He claimed that the U.S. government is in possession of non-human technology and "biologics" from the occupants of these craft.[^1]
Grusch's testimony was a watershed moment in the UAP disclosure movement. As a high-ranking intelligence officer with an impeccable record, his claims have been taken very seriously by Congress and have led to a new level of scrutiny on the so-called "Legacy Program." He has provided hours of classified testimony to congressional committees and the Inspector General, and his allegations have been a major driver of the recent UAP disclosure legislation.[^1] Grusch's testimony was a watershed moment in the UAP disclosure movement. As a high-ranking intelligence officer with an impeccable record, his claims have been taken very seriously by Congress and have led to a new level of scrutiny on the so-called "Legacy Program." He has provided hours of classified testimony to congressional committees and the Inspector General, and his allegations have been a major driver of the recent UAP disclosure legislation.[^1]

80
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Denise George.md
View file

@ -14,31 +14,85 @@ alias:
summary: "Denise George was the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General who sued Jeffrey Epstein's estate and JPMorgan Chase, and who was fired by the governor days after filing the JPMorgan suit." summary: "Denise George was the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General who sued Jeffrey Epstein's estate and JPMorgan Chase, and who was fired by the governor days after filing the JPMorgan suit."
location: "U.S. Virgin Islands" location: "U.S. Virgin Islands"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
start: 2019-05
end: 2022-12-31
role: "attorney general"
fn: 6
- type: investigated
with: "[[Southern Trust Company]]"
start: 2020-01-15
end: 2022-11-30
role: "CICO civil enforcement action against the Epstein estate"
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
start: 2022-12-27
end: 2022-12-31
role: "Trafficking Victims Protection Act suit"
fn: 10
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands]]"
role: "assistant U.S. attorney"
fn: 3
--- ---
Denise George was the seventeenth Attorney General of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], serving from 2019 to 2023. [[Albert Bryan|Governor Albert Bryan Jr.]] nominated her in March 2019, and she took office in May, weeks before [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] July 2019 federal arrest. She brought the territory's January 2020 civil enforcement suit against Epstein's estate and its December 2022 suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Bryan fired her on December 31, 2022, four days after the JPMorgan filing, a sequence that raised questions about whether the litigation prompted her removal.[^1][^2] Denise George was the Attorney General of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] from May 2019 to December 31, 2022, after more than eighteen years as an assistant attorney general and prosecutor in the territory's [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]. [[Albert Bryan|Governor Albert Bryan Jr.]] nominated her in March 2019, and she took office in May, weeks before [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] July 2019 federal arrest. She brought the territory's January 2020 civil enforcement suit against Epstein's estate and its December 2022 suit against [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Bryan fired her on December 31, 2022, four days after the JPMorgan filing. In an October 2023 interview with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], George said Bryan had asked her to grant Epstein a waiver of the territory's sex-offender travel-notice rule and later pressed her to settle the estate case for 80 million dollars through a mediator of his choosing; Bryan has said Epstein received no special privilege from his administration.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Litigation Against the Epstein Estate ### Litigation Against the Epstein Estate
George filed the territory's case against Epstein's estate on January 15, 2020, in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, under the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the territory's racketeering statute. The complaint alleged that Epstein created a network of shell companies, charitable organizations, and individuals that participated in a decades-long pattern of trafficking and sexual abuse of girls and young women at his Virgin Islands properties. She later amended the action to add the estate co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]], [[Southern Trust Company]], and other Epstein-created entities as co-defendants.[^3][^4] George filed the territory's case against Epstein's estate on January 15, 2020, in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, under the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the territory's racketeering statute. The complaint alleged that Epstein created a network of shell companies, charitable organizations, and individuals that participated in a decades-long pattern of trafficking and sexual abuse of girls and young women at his Virgin Islands properties. She later amended the action to add the estate co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]], [[Southern Trust Company]], and other Epstein-created entities as co-defendants.[^5][^6]
The case settled on December 1, 2022. The estate agreed to pay the territory more than 105 million dollars in cash, to return roughly 80 million dollars in tax benefits the territory said Southern Trust Company had obtained fraudulently under the [[Economic Development Commission]] program, and to give the territory half the proceeds of the sale of [[Little St. James]]. George stated that the settlement restored the faith of the people of the Virgin Islands that its laws would be enforced against those who break them. In January 2023 the financier [[Leon Black]] agreed to pay the territory 62.5 million dollars to resolve potential Epstein-related claims.[^4][^5] The case settled on December 1, 2022. The estate agreed to pay the territory 105 million dollars in cash, to return "more than $80 million in economic development tax benefits that Epstein and his co-defendants fraudulently obtained" through Southern Trust Company's [[Economic Development Commission]] certificate (the complaint put the taxes avoided at 80,576,236 dollars), to give the territory half the proceeds of the sale of [[Little St. James]], which came to about 11 million dollars, and to pay 450,000 dollars for environmental remediation on [[Great St. James]]. The settlement resolved only the claims against the estate and the named co-defendants. [[Motley Rice]], the territory's contingency counsel, stood to receive more than 23 million dollars of the 105 million.[^3][^7][^8] George stated that the settlement restored the faith of the people of the Virgin Islands that its laws would be enforced against those who break them. In January 2023 the financier [[Leon Black]] agreed to pay the territory 62.5 million dollars to resolve potential Epstein-related claims.[^6][^9]
### Suit Against JPMorgan Chase and Firing ### Suit Against JPMorgan Chase and Firing
George filed the territory's suit against JPMorgan Chase on December 27, 2022 in federal court in Manhattan, alleging that the bank knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed Epstein's trafficking and benefited financially from the relationship. The complaint invoked the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the territory's Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and the Virgin Islands consumer-protection statute, and the territory later sought 190 million dollars from the bank. The case settled in September 2023, with JPMorgan paying 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands and 290 million dollars to Epstein's victims.[^1][^6] George filed the territory's suit against JPMorgan Chase on December 27, 2022 in federal court in Manhattan, alleging that the bank knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed Epstein's trafficking and benefited financially from the relationship. The complaint invoked the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the territory's Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and the Virgin Islands consumer-protection statute, and the territory later sought 190 million dollars from the bank. The case settled in September 2023, with JPMorgan paying 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands and 290 million dollars to Epstein's victims.[^1][^10]
Governor Bryan fired George on December 31, 2022, four days after the JPMorgan filing and roughly four weeks after the estate settlement closed. Bryan said the firing was unrelated to the suit, but acknowledged that George had filed the action against the largest U.S. bank without first informing him, and stated that he could not have an attorney general launching lawsuits he did not know about. Bloomberg's disclosure of the filing preceded the dismissal. Bryan appointed the assistant attorney general Carol Thomas-Jacobs to serve in the role on an acting basis.[^2][^7] Governor Bryan fired George on December 31, 2022, four days after the JPMorgan filing and roughly four weeks after the estate settlement closed. Bryan said the firing was unrelated to the suit, but acknowledged that George had filed the action against the largest U.S. bank without first informing him, and stated that he could not have an attorney general launching lawsuits he did not know about. Bryan appointed the Chief Deputy Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]], who had worked on the estate case with George, to serve in the role on an acting basis.[^2][^6][^11]
George later said she felt pressure to resolve the matters quickly and to avoid being part of a cover-up, telling Fortune in November 2023 that her bar license and her integrity were more important to her than the position, and that she would lose her job rather than be part of a conspiracy to conceal anything. The timing of the firing relative to the JPMorgan suit was raised again when the Justice Department's later Epstein file releases renewed attention on her account that she had felt threatened during the litigation.[^1][^8] George later said she felt pressure to resolve the matters quickly and to avoid being part of a cover-up, telling Fortune in November 2023 that her bar license and her integrity were more important to her than the position, and that she would lose her job rather than be part of a conspiracy to conceal anything. Her account that she had felt threatened during the litigation drew renewed attention after the Justice Department's 2025 and 2026 Epstein file releases.[^1][^12]
### Career Before the Attorney General's Office
George is a native Virgin Islander. She served more than eighteen years as an assistant attorney general and trial attorney in the criminal, civil, family, juvenile, white-collar, and public-corruption divisions of the territory's Department of Justice, and for more than thirteen years as director and lead prosecutor of its White Collar Crime and Corruption Division. As a member of the Child Abuse Task Force she co-authored the territory's first criminal child-abuse and neglect statute.[^6]
Following Epstein's July 2019 arrest, George told the Virgin Islands Daily News that a civil claim filed in New York alleging abuse on Little St. James was not enough to open a local investigation: "It's not based on that type of hearsay, or news reports from another jurisdiction." She said an investigation could be opened if the woman filed a complaint.[^4]
### The Travel Waiver
Registered sex offenders in the territory must generally give 21 days' notice before travel. George's predecessor [[Vincent Frazer]] had allowed Epstein to give 24 hours' notice, an arrangement George told the FBI she believed Frazer granted under pressure from Governor [[John de Jongh]], whose wife [[Cecile de Jongh]] managed Epstein's territorial office. Acting Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs rescinded the arrangement in March 2019 after Epstein was detained in the [[Dominican Republic]].[^3]
According to the FBI's notes of its October 2, 2023 interview with George, released by the Justice Department on January 30, 2026, Bryan told her within her first two weeks in office that Epstein "wanted a waiver for a 21 day reporting requirement" and texted her that "you need to make a decision on the Epstein matter." She did not grant the waiver, and Bryan answered by email, "Thank you for your work on this." In July 2019 Epstein's attorney [[Erika Kellerhals]] asked George for a meeting about the waiver; Epstein's arrest on July 6 preceded it. The territory's complaint later alleged that at his last address verification, in July 2018, Epstein had refused to let territorial investigators and [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] past the dock of Little St. James, calling it his "front door," and that his March 2019 travel notice for a ten-day trip to [[France]] omitted stops in [[Vienna]] and [[Monaco]].[^3][^7]
### Pressure Over the Estate Case
George told the FBI that she consulted Bryan before filing the estate case and that he told her, "He's dead go for it." She retained Motley Rice, whose forensic accountants traced companies and LLCs connected to Southern Trust. According to the FBI notes, her investigation concluded that the co-executors Kahn and Indyke "were participants in the human trafficking operation," and that "INDYKE was in charge of coordinating female to female marriages to gain immigration status in the United States. The females would be threatened if they attempted divorce." Kahn and Indyke were not charged and have denied wrongdoing. Estate employees, George said, "had nondisclosure agreements and were informed if questioned by law enforcement to say nothing and alert Kellerhals." When Motley Rice began interviewing them, Bryan's chief legal counsel [[David Bornn]], a former Kellerhals employee, called George to relay that Kellerhals wanted to know what she was investigating; George replied that it was none of Kellerhals's business.[^3]
George said Bryan's "original tone of 'Go for it' changed to 'End it quickly,'" that he questioned why she was interviewing certain people and requesting documents, and that he said, "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?" According to the FBI notes, he told her to settle for 80 million dollars "and to pursue mediation and select Henry Smock" as mediator, told her "that the Epstein estate just wanted to clear people," and later said "he was sick of her not doing what she was told to do." [[Henry Smock]] had assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of Little St. James and served as counsel to the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] board. George said Bryan sent [[Carlton Dowe]], director of the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]], to urge a settlement; she told Dowe that Bryan "would have to fire her to get what he wants," and Dowe replied that "it would be political suicide to fire her at least before the election." The estate settled weeks after the November 2022 election for 105 million dollars.[^3][^6]
Early in the case George intervened in the victim compensation program the estate proposed in November 2019, which required claimants to release claims against "any person or entity arising from or related to Mr. Epstein's conduct"; the territory alleged the program would "shield its participants from liability." After the intervention an advocate was retained for claimants, and the fund's independent administrator paid nearly 125 million dollars to about 150 women.[^6][^7]
### After the Firing
George told the FBI that "several reasons were provided to the press but a listed reason was that no attorney general was going to file anything without notifying the Governor." After she gave news interviews about her tenure she received a cease-and-desist letter, and an unknown man came to her house, which she took as "a message that we can reach you at your home." She later joined the [[United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands|U.S. Attorney's Office for the Virgin Islands]] as a federal prosecutor. Government House spokespersons did not respond to questions about the FBI notes; Bryan later called the account "noise" and nothing new, and said at a March 2, 2026 briefing that the record "shows no instance where he was afforded any special privilege by this administration."[^3][^4]
The JPMorgan case was carried to settlement by her successors, including Attorney General [[Ariel Smith]], who had been Civil Division chief on the estate case. In 2024 Bryan appointed [[Gordon Rhea]], who had represented Kahn in the estate litigation, as attorney general; Rhea said he would recuse himself from Epstein matters. The territory received about 180 million dollars in Epstein-related settlements after Motley Rice's fees, and as of January 2026 the Bryan administration had not filed the full accounting of the money that a 2024 territorial law requires.[^3][^4][^6]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Attorney general going after Jeffrey Epstein's estate says she was fired for her dogged pursuit." *Fortune,* November 17, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/11/17/jeffrey-epstein-us-virgin-islands-jpmorgan-attorney-general-investigation-fired/ [^1]: "Attorney general going after Jeffrey Epstein's estate says she was fired for her dogged pursuit." *Fortune,* November 17, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/11/17/jeffrey-epstein-us-virgin-islands-jpmorgan-attorney-general-investigation-fired/
[^2]: "Virgin Islands prosecutor fired after accusing JPMorgan of aiding Epstein's sex trafficking ring." *The Washington Times,* January 3, 2023. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/3/virgin-islands-prosecutor-fired-after-accusing-jpm/ [^2]: "Virgin Islands prosecutor fired after accusing JPMorgan of aiding Epstein's sex trafficking ring." *The Washington Times,* January 3, 2023. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/3/virgin-islands-prosecutor-fired-after-accusing-jpm/
[^3]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct., filed January 15, 2020), brought under the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 14 V.I.C. sections 600 to 614. [^3]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (reporting on four pages of FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with George, released January 30, 2026; quoted lines are the agent's notes of George's account).
[^4]: "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/ [^4]: 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
[^5]: "Financier and MoMA Trustee Leon Black Agrees to Pay $62.5 Million to Settle Jeffrey Epstein-Related Claims in the Virgin Islands." *Artnet News,* 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/leon-black-62-million-settlement-with-virgin-islands-epstein-claims-2341599 [^5]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct., filed January 15, 2020), brought under the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 14 V.I.C. sections 600 to 614. 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://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
[^6]: "US Virgin Islands sue JPMorgan Chase over handling of Jeffrey Epstein accounts." *JURIST,* December 30, 2022. https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/12/us-virgin-islands-sue-jp-morgan-over-handling-of-jeffery-epstein-accounts/ ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022). [^6]: "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/
[^7]: "USVI Attorney General Denise N. George fired." *Virgin Islands News Online,* January 2023. https://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/usvi-attorney-general-denise-n-george-fired/ [^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 133, 134, 142 to 143, and 175, 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), ECF pp. 29 to 31, 37. 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]: "DOJ Epstein File Dump Revives Former USVI AG's Claim She Felt Threatened After Suing Epstein's Estate." *Los Angeles Magazine,* 2025. https://lamag.com/crimeinla/doj-epstein-file-dump-revives-former-usvi-ags-claim-she-felt-threatened-after-suing-epsteins-estate/ [^8]: 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 (Motley Rice share of the estate settlement).
[^9]: "Financier and MoMA Trustee Leon Black Agrees to Pay $62.5 Million to Settle Jeffrey Epstein-Related Claims in the Virgin Islands." *Artnet News,* 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/leon-black-62-million-settlement-with-virgin-islands-epstein-claims-2341599
[^10]: "US Virgin Islands sue JPMorgan Chase over handling of Jeffrey Epstein accounts." *JURIST,* December 30, 2022. https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/12/us-virgin-islands-sue-jp-morgan-over-handling-of-jeffery-epstein-accounts/ ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022).
[^11]: "USVI Attorney General Denise N. George fired." *Virgin Islands News Online,* January 2023. https://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/usvi-attorney-general-denise-n-george-fired/
[^12]: "DOJ Epstein File Dump Revives Former USVI AG's Claim She Felt Threatened After Suing Epstein's Estate." *Los Angeles Magazine,* 2025. https://lamag.com/crimeinla/doj-epstein-file-dump-revives-former-usvi-ags-claim-she-felt-threatened-after-suing-epsteins-estate/

125
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ehud Barak.md
View file

@ -11,51 +11,138 @@ tags:
- Intelligence - Intelligence
alias: alias:
- Ehud Barak - Ehud Barak
summary: "Ehud Barak is an Israeli former prime minister, defense minister, and military intelligence chief whose documented years-long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein included Epstein brokering an introduction to Peter Thiel over Palantir, an April 2014 email proposing a Thiel meeting, and a 2015 arrangement through which Epstein quietly invested approximately one million dollars in the Israeli surveillance-tech startup Carbyne." summary: "Ehud Barak is the former Israeli prime minister and military intelligence chief who was paid 2.3 million dollars by the Epstein-linked Wexner Foundation and channeled Jeffrey Epstein's 2015 investment into Carbyne."
born: 1942-02-12 born: 1942-02-12
location: "Mishmar HaSharon, Mandatory Palestine (born)" location: "Mishmar HaSharon, Mandatory Palestine (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Aman]]"
role: "head of the IDF Intelligence Branch"
start: 1983
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Israel Defense Forces]]"
role: "chief of the General Staff"
start: 1991
end: 1995
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Wexner Foundation]]"
reverse: true
role: "2.3 million dollars for two commissioned studies"
start: 2004
end: 2006
fn: 5
- type: director_of
with: "[[Carbyne]]"
role: "board member"
end: 2019
fn: 8
- type: director_of
with: "[[Carbyne]]"
role: "chairman, by his own description in correspondence"
start: 2019-01
fn: 18
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Nili Priel]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 6
--- ---
Ehud Barak (born Ehud Brog, February 12, 1942, at [[Mishmar HaSharon|Mishmar HaSharon]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]) is an Israeli military and political leader who served as the fourteenth [[Prime Minister of Israel]] (1999-2001), [[Minister of Defense]] (2007-2013), and chief of the General Staff of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (1991-1995). Barak's career spans the command of the [[Sayeret Matkal|Sayeret Matkal]] special forces unit (including the documented [[Operation Spring of Youth|1973 Spring of Youth]] operation), the military intelligence directorate ([[Aman|Aman]]), the IDF chief-of-staff tenure, the prime ministership, and the defense ministry under [[Ehud Olmert|Ehud Olmert]] and [[Benjamin Netanyahu|Benjamin Netanyahu]]. Barak's documented relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] ran from the early 2000s through 2016 and included Epstein brokering an introduction to [[Peter Thiel]] over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]] and an arrangement through which Epstein quietly invested approximately one million dollars in the Israeli surveillance-tech startup [[Carbyne|Carbyne]] in 2015.[^1][^2][^3] Ehud Barak (born Ehud Brog, February 12, 1942, at [[Mishmar HaSharon|Mishmar HaSharon]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]) is an Israeli military and political leader who served as the fourteenth [[Prime Minister of Israel]] (1999-2001), [[Minister of Defense]] (2007-2013), and chief of the General Staff of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (1991-1995). Barak's career spans the command of the [[Sayeret Matkal|Sayeret Matkal]] special forces unit (including the documented [[Operation Spring of Youth|1973 Spring of Youth]] operation), the military intelligence directorate ([[Aman|Aman]]), the IDF chief-of-staff tenure, the prime ministership, and the defense ministry under [[Ehud Olmert|Ehud Olmert]] and [[Benjamin Netanyahu|Benjamin Netanyahu]]. Barak's documented relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] ran from the early 2000s through 2016 in the calendar record (Barak said in 2026 that he ended contact in 2019[^1]) and included Epstein brokering an introduction to [[Peter Thiel]] over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]] and an arrangement through which Epstein quietly invested approximately one million dollars in the Israeli surveillance-tech startup [[Carbyne|Carbyne]] in 2015. Between 2004 and 2006, while he held no public office, the [[Wexner Foundation]], of which Epstein was a trustee, paid Barak 2.3 million dollars for two commissioned studies, one of which was never completed; a 2026 Justice Department release showed Epstein's attorney writing that he had negotiated the contract.[^2][^3][^4][^5][^6]
### The Sayeret Matkal, Aman, and IDF Command Career ### The Sayeret Matkal, Aman, and IDF Command Career
Barak's military career established his intelligence-community standing. He was commissioned into the Sayeret Matkal general-staff reconnaissance unit in the 1960s and commanded the unit through the operations of the 1970s, including [[Operation Isotope|Operation Isotope]] (the 1972 [[Sabena Airlines|Sabena Flight 571]] rescue) and Operation Spring of Youth (the 1973 [[Beirut|Beirut]] operation targeting the [[Black September|Black September]] leadership, in which Barak led the ground team disguised as a woman). Barak rose to head the military intelligence directorate (Aman) and then served as chief of the General Staff of the IDF from 1991 to 1995, covering the [[Oslo Accords|Oslo Accords]] period and the [[Yitzhak Rabin|Rabin]] assassination aftermath.[^1] Barak's military career established his intelligence-community standing. He was commissioned into the Sayeret Matkal general-staff reconnaissance unit in the 1960s and commanded the unit through the operations of the 1970s, including [[Operation Isotope|Operation Isotope]] (the 1972 [[Sabena Airlines|Sabena Flight 571]] rescue) and Operation Spring of Youth (the 1973 [[Beirut|Beirut]] operation targeting the [[Black September|Black September]] leadership, in which Barak led the ground team disguised as a woman). Barak rose to head the military intelligence directorate (Aman) and then served as chief of the General Staff of the IDF from 1991 to 1995, covering the [[Oslo Accords|Oslo Accords]] period and the [[Yitzhak Rabin|Rabin]] assassination aftermath.[^2]
The intelligence-community background underlies the subsequent Epstein and Thiel relationships. Barak's Aman tenure and his Sayeret Matkal command placed him at the center of the Israeli intelligence network, and his post-military and post-political career maintained the relationships with the Israeli intelligence and defense-technology sectors that Epstein and Thiel's pitches engaged.[^1] The intelligence-community background underlies the subsequent Epstein and Thiel relationships. Barak's Aman tenure and his Sayeret Matkal command placed him at the center of the Israeli intelligence network, and his post-military and post-political career maintained the relationships with the Israeli intelligence and defense-technology sectors that Epstein and Thiel's pitches engaged.[^2]
### The Prime Ministership and the Political Career ### The Prime Ministership and the Political Career
Barak entered politics after the military career and served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. His tenure covered the [[2000 Camp David Summit|2000 Camp David Summit]] with [[Yasser Arafat|Yasser Arafat]] and [[Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]], at which Barak offered concessions on [[Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] and the [[West Bank|West Bank]] that Arafat rejected, leading to the collapse of the Oslo process. The summit's failure was followed by the outbreak of the [[Second Intifada|Second Intifada]] in September 2000, which ended the negotiated-track framework for Israeli-Palestinian relations.[^1] Barak entered politics after the military career and served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. His tenure covered the [[2000 Camp David Summit|2000 Camp David Summit]] with [[Yasser Arafat|Yasser Arafat]] and [[Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton]], at which Barak offered concessions on [[Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] and the [[West Bank|West Bank]] that Arafat rejected, leading to the collapse of the Oslo process. The summit's failure was followed by the outbreak of the [[Second Intifada|Second Intifada]] in September 2000, which ended the negotiated-track framework for Israeli-Palestinian relations.[^2]
In May 2000, Barak ordered the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from southern [[Lebanon|Lebanon]], ending the 22-year occupation that had begun under [[Menachem Begin|Menachem Begin]] in 1978. The withdrawal was completed rapidly and produced the documented assessment among Israeli security analysts that the retreat under fire had emboldened [[Hezbollah|Hezbollah]] and established the precedent that armed resistance could force Israeli territorial withdrawals. Barak lost the February 2001 special election to [[Ariel Sharon|Ariel Sharon]] and went into political opposition and the private sector.[^1] In May 2000, Barak ordered the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from southern [[Lebanon|Lebanon]], ending the 22-year occupation that had begun under [[Menachem Begin|Menachem Begin]] in 1978. The withdrawal was completed rapidly and produced the documented assessment among Israeli security analysts that the retreat under fire had emboldened [[Hezbollah|Hezbollah]] and established the precedent that armed resistance could force Israeli territorial withdrawals. Barak lost the February 2001 special election to [[Ariel Sharon|Ariel Sharon]] and went into political opposition and the private sector.[^2]
Barak returned as defense minister under Ehud Olmert from 2007 and continued in the role under Netanyahu through 2013. The defense-ministry tenure covered [[Operation Cast Lead|Operation Cast Lead]] (the 2008-09 Gaza war), the documented expansion of Israel's cyber-intelligence capabilities in the 2010s, the [[Stuxnet|Stuxnet]] operation against Iranian nuclear facilities (attributed to a joint U.S.-Israeli effort), and the broader growth of the Israeli surveillance-technology export sector documented on the [[NSO Group|NSO Group]] and Carbyne pages.[^1] Barak returned as defense minister under Ehud Olmert from 2007 and continued in the role under Netanyahu through 2013. The defense-ministry tenure covered [[Operation Cast Lead|Operation Cast Lead]] (the 2008-09 Gaza war), the documented expansion of Israel's cyber-intelligence capabilities in the 2010s, the [[Stuxnet|Stuxnet]] operation against Iranian nuclear facilities (attributed to a joint U.S.-Israeli effort), and the broader growth of the Israeli surveillance-technology export sector documented on the [[NSO Group|NSO Group]] and Carbyne pages.[^2]
### The Epstein Relationship and the Introduction ### The Epstein Relationship and the Introduction
[[Shimon Peres|Shimon Peres]] introduced Barak to Epstein in 2002, and the relationship continued through 2016. Barak was photographed entering the Epstein Manhattan residence on multiple occasions, and the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]] document the recurring meetings. The Jacobin reporting (March 2026) and the [[Reason|Reason]] piece on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) document the substantive content: Epstein attempted to broker an introduction between Barak and Peter Thiel over Palantir, and an April 2014 Epstein email to Barak (documented in the the Epstein Files Transparency Act releases releases) reads "I have Peter Thiel on the 19th in NY, if you like." A DOJ-released audio recording surfaced in which Epstein suggests to Barak that he reach out to Thiel.[^2][^3][^4] [[Shimon Peres|Shimon Peres]] introduced Barak to Epstein in 2002, and the relationship continued through 2016; Barak himself dated their first meeting to 2003 in a February 2026 interview.[^1] Barak was photographed entering the Epstein Manhattan residence on multiple occasions, and the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]] document the recurring meetings. The [[Jacobin]] reporting (March 2026) and the [[Reason|Reason]] piece on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) document the substantive content: Epstein attempted to broker an introduction between Barak and Peter Thiel over Palantir, and an April 2014 Epstein email to Barak (documented in the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] releases) reads "I have Peter Thiel on the 19th in NY, if you like." A DOJ-released audio recording surfaced in which Epstein suggests to Barak that he reach out to Thiel.[^3][^4] Describing Epstein's gatherings to the *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]* in 2023, Barak said: "He often brought other interesting persons, from art or culture, law or science, finance, diplomacy or philanthropy."[^7] The released documents record regular correspondence among Barak, his wife, and Epstein, multiple visits by Barak to Epstein's Manhattan apartment, and one visit to his island.[^6]
Barak subsequently described Thiel and Epstein as "owners" of a venture fund, a claim a Thiel spokesman has denied. The discrepancy is unresolved in the public record. Thiel is named over 2,200 times in the Epstein files per Al Jazeera reporting, and the volume of the Thiel-Epstein correspondence, combined with the Barak introduction, documents a sustained effort by Epstein to connect the Israeli-intelligence principal (Barak) with the commercial-surveillance-infrastructure principal (Thiel/Palantir). Epstein's promotional framing of Palantir to Barak ran alongside Barak's own subsequent relationships with Israeli surveillance-tech firms.[^2][^3] Barak subsequently described Thiel and Epstein as "owners" of a venture fund, a claim a Thiel spokesman has denied. The discrepancy is unresolved in the public record. Thiel is named over 2,200 times in the Epstein files per Al Jazeera reporting, and the volume of the Thiel-Epstein correspondence, combined with the Barak introduction, documents a sustained effort by Epstein to connect the Israeli-intelligence principal (Barak) with the commercial-surveillance-infrastructure principal (Thiel/Palantir). Epstein's promotional framing of Palantir to Barak ran alongside Barak's own subsequent relationships with Israeli surveillance-tech firms.[^3][^4]
### The Carbyne Investment ### The Carbyne Investment
In 2015, Barak helped Epstein quietly invest approximately one million dollars in the Israeli police and emergency-response technology startup [[Reporty|Reporty]], which subsequently renamed itself Carbyne. The investment was arranged through Barak, and [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported that it could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. Carbyne develops 911-emergency-communication and surveillance technology, including systems that integrate smartphone location, video, and incident data into emergency-response platforms. The technology has documented surveillance applications beyond the emergency-response function, and the Reason reporting characterizes the Carbyne investment as part of Epstein's broader effort to enter the surveillance-technology industry in the post-2008-conviction period.[^2][^5] In 2015, Barak helped Epstein quietly invest approximately one million dollars in the Israeli police and emergency-response technology startup [[Reporty|Reporty]], which subsequently renamed itself Carbyne. The investment was arranged through Barak, and [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported that it could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. Carbyne develops 911-emergency-communication and surveillance technology, including systems that integrate smartphone location, video, and incident data into emergency-response platforms. The technology has documented surveillance applications beyond the emergency-response function, and the Reason reporting characterizes the Carbyne investment as part of Epstein's broader effort to enter the surveillance-technology industry in the post-2008-conviction period.[^3][^8]
Through the Carbyne investment, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance technology, and Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. The Reason reporting documents that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria]], with technology that had reportedly been tested on Palestinians. The international marketing extended the Barak-Epstein surveillance-tech relationship into the documented export context.[^2][^5] Through the Carbyne investment, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance technology, and Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. Reason reported, drawing on the [[Black Agenda Report]]'s account of a Nigerian ports contract, that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria]], with technology that had reportedly been tested on Palestinians. The international marketing extended the Barak-Epstein surveillance-tech relationship into the documented export context.[^3][^8]
### The Palantir-Israel Expansion ### The Palantir-Israel Expansion
Palantir subsequently became a significant technology partner in Israel's military and intelligence efforts. The documented Jacobin reporting (March 2026) traces the Epstein-Barak-Thiel triangle to the subsequent Israeli procurement of Palantir platforms, though the causal chain from the 2014 introduction to the procurement outcome is not documented in primary form. The Israeli intelligence and defense-technology sector's documented adoption of Palantir data-fusion platforms, and the broader Thiel-network interest in the Israeli cyber-intelligence sector (including the [[Unit 8200|Unit 8200]] alumni network that staffs much of the Israeli cyber-security industry), is the commercial-institutional context in which the Epstein-brokered introduction is situated.[^3] Palantir subsequently became a significant technology partner in Israel's military and intelligence efforts. The documented Jacobin reporting (March 2026) traces the Epstein-Barak-Thiel triangle to the subsequent Israeli procurement of Palantir platforms, though the causal chain from the 2014 introduction to the procurement outcome is not documented in primary form. The Israeli intelligence and defense-technology sector's documented adoption of Palantir data-fusion platforms, and the broader Thiel-network interest in the Israeli cyber-intelligence sector (including the [[Unit 8200|Unit 8200]] alumni network that staffs much of the Israeli cyber-security industry), is the commercial-institutional context in which the Epstein-brokered introduction is situated.[^4]
The parapolitical question of whether the 2014 Epstein-brokered Barak-Thiel introduction was the originating channel for the subsequent Palantir-Israel relationship is not documented in the primary sources currently available. What is documented is that Epstein repeatedly and specifically pitched Palantir to Barak over the 2014-2016 period, that Barak and Thiel were connected through the introduction, and that Palantir subsequently expanded its Israeli-government business. The intermediate steps remain an open thread.[^2][^3] The parapolitical question of whether the 2014 Epstein-brokered Barak-Thiel introduction was the originating channel for the subsequent Palantir-Israel relationship is not documented in the primary sources currently available. What is documented is that Epstein repeatedly and specifically pitched Palantir to Barak over the 2014-2016 period, that Barak and Thiel were connected through the introduction, and that Palantir subsequently expanded its Israeli-government business. The intermediate steps remain an open thread.[^3][^4]
### Meals with Vitaly Churkin, 2016
Epstein repeatedly invited the Russian ambassador to the [[United Nations]], [[Vitaly Churkin]], to meet Barak. On January 2, 2016 he wrote to Churkin, "Ehud Barak in town this week if a meal is convenient."[^9] On August 28, 2016 he wrote, "Don't know if you have any interest . Ehud Barak and TOM Barrack at house tomorw . You are always welcome," and Churkin accepted a 1 p.m. time.[^10] Epstein's scheduler, [[Lesley Groff]], then circulated the notice "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," and the calendar entry for August 29, 2016 read "12:30pm LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin," a party of four with Epstein and the real estate investor [[Tom Barrack]].[^11] On November 13, 2016 Epstein wrote to Churkin, "Ehud coming today at 430 . As always you are welcome."[^12]
### The Black Cube Question, 2017
On November 6, 2017 *[[The New Yorker]]* reported that [[Harvey Weinstein]] had used the Israeli private intelligence company [[Black Cube]], under contracts signed by his lawyer [[David Boies]], to gather information on women accusing him and on journalists.[^13] On November 8 a spokesman for Barak said that Weinstein had asked Barak, more than a year earlier, about an Israeli company he had heard of, that Barak had told him it was "likely Black Cube" and "gave Weinstein its contact information," and that Barak "was not aware until this morning of the fact the company was hired by Weinstein, or for what purposes or operations."[^14] At 15:54 GMT that day Epstein wrote to Barak: "boies said he got to the mossad guys through you? true?" At 16:49 he wrote again: "Did Boies ask you to help Obtain former mossad agents to do dirty investigations. ? this is getting a lot of press, ." Barak answered on the morning of November 9: "Call me.. [number redacted] in Paris."[^15]
### The Wexner Foundation Payments
The Wexner Foundation, founded in 1983 by [[Leslie Wexner]] of [[L Brands]], paid Barak 2.3 million dollars between 2004 and 2006, the years between his premiership and his 2007 return as defense minister.[^5][^6] The payments were for two commissioned studies. Barak completed a 267-page study on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; for a second study on leadership the foundation "received an abstract, but did not receive a full paper." Israel's [[Channel 12 (Israel)|Channel 12]] reported that he did not finish it because he returned to politics in 2007, and he did not offer to return any of the money. The foundation said its management at the time "decided that the work done and material received was enough to end the project and justify the payment."[^5][^16] In a 2026 statement it described both works as books on leadership: Barak "only provided one completed manuscript plus an outline for the second one," was "paid in full over the years 2004-06," and the payments "were properly reported in the foundation's 990s."[^6]
Epstein was a trustee of the foundation from 1992 to 2007. The foundation said, citing an independent review by the law firm [[Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter]], that his role was "limited to dealing with documents and reports related to transferring the Wexner family's monetary support," that he "never donated a single dollar to the foundation," and that the Wexner family dismissed him when the first suspicions about him surfaced.[^5] During the 2019 Israeli election campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign released a video titled "What else has sex offender Epstein given to Barak?"[^5] The Attorney General, [[Avichai Mandelblit]], declined to open an investigation, stating that Barak had been a private citizen at the time and that the statute of limitations had passed. The [[Likud]] petitioned the [[Supreme Court of Israel|High Court of Justice]]; after the foundation told the court that Epstein was not involved in the decision to make the payments, the court rejected the petition in 2020, upholding Mandelblit's decision.[^6]
### The 2005 Emails and the 2026 Complaint
Among the documents the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] published on January 30, 2026 was a December 2005 chain concerning the payments. On December 6, 2005, Barak's wife, [[Nili Priel]], wrote to the foundation's president, Larry Moses: "Concerning the books according to the contract, there is a payment to be sent at this stage. Could you please let me know if it was transferred?" Moses passed the request to Peg Ugland, a vice president of the Wexner Investment Company, who wrote to Epstein's attorney [[Darren Indyke]]: "Darren, apparently, there is a payment due to Ehud Barak? Are you or Jeffrey handling the terms of the contract?" Indyke wrote to Epstein: "I was involved in the negotiation and execution of the document, but have not been involved in overseeing performance," noting that the foundation had committed to pay Barak 100,000 dollars for an abstract of each of the two books, and asked, "Please advise what you want Peg to tell Larry Moses." On December 8, 2005, Epstein replied: "Get a copy of what he sent."[^6]
On March 1, 2026, the Likud member of the [[Knesset]] Avihai Boaron and the organization LAVI filed an eight-page criminal complaint with the Israel Police Commissioner, Daniel Levi, asking for an investigation of Barak and the foundation. The complaint alleged that both had "lied" to the High Court about Epstein's involvement and that the payments constituted bribery of a public official, stating that the emails "completely contradict the report that the Wexner Foundation submitted to the High Court, and through it misled the court, which in the end rejected the petition." Barak declined to comment on the complaint.[^6]
### The Channel 12 Interview
In an interview with Channel 12 on February 12, 2026, Barak said of Epstein, "I regret meeting him." He said: "I am responsible for all my actions and decisions, and there is definitely room to ask if there wasn't room for more in-depth judgment on my part," and that "only in 2019, when a reinvestigation of the whole story begins, does the breadth and depth of the man's heinous crimes become apparent and I cut off relations with him." He said he had assumed Epstein "had paid his debt to society," that there was "nothing wrong" with his use of Epstein's New York apartment, and called his words in a Justice Department audio recording referring to "beautiful girls" an "unfortunate choice of words and metaphor." Of any further documents he said: "no crime, no criminal act, nothing improper... I promise you that nothing will be discovered, because there is nothing." He apologized to friends, supporters, and "ordinary citizens who feel deep discomfort," but added, "I do not apologize to the hate machine, and I do not apologize to the purists without boundaries."[^1] He has not been charged or accused of sexual misconduct.[^1]
### Carbyne Correspondence, 2018-2019
On May 21, 2018 Epstein wrote to Peter Thiel: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^17]
On January 1, 2019 Barak forwarded to [[Jabor Al Thani]], with Epstein copied, a [[Qatar]] presentation prepared by Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], writing: "Please find attached short presentation of Carbine. Public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor. We are interested in participating in the security effort for the 2022 Games. We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile. Please consider." He closed, "Best to HH HBJ."[^18] In a reply of January 20 quoted in the same thread, Jabor Al Thani wrote that "Our security services company" wished to begin discussions about the presentation for the [[2022 FIFA World Cup|Qatar 2022]] games and that "it will be appreciated if you are able to assist with any anti-drone services or technologies." Barak answered the next day that he was "Overwhelmed in Davos," and on February 3 wrote: "Sorry for the late response. Israeli politics is complicated and time consuming and I'm a little bit involved. We will be glad to explore with your services company the possibility of cooperation re the 2022 Games," naming Elichai as the contact and promising to address "the anti-drone issue in a separate email." He signed "Ehud Barak, Carbyne, Chairman." On February 4 Jabor Al Thani named the country manager of a Qatari company, [[Lysys WLL]], as the contact on his side.[^19]
On February 18, 2019 the investor [[Nicole Junkermann]] wrote to Epstein, in a message about the division of their interests, "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is3.9m your share, Ehud carry1.5 m and my share 2m," and asked, in connection with a separate China matter, "Can Ehud help?"[^20] In late February and March 2019 the [[Tel Aviv]] law firm handling the investment told Darren Indyke that SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, the vehicle that had made the initial investment in Carbyne, held warrants to buy 61,251 additional Preferred A shares for 3.5 million dollars, the exercise of which would raise its holding from about 13 percent to about 26.33 percent on a fully diluted basis. [[Southern Trust Company]], Epstein's Virgin Islands company, transferred 2.4 million dollars of the 3.6 million dollars raised. The Israeli bank receiving the funds then asked, under its anti-money-laundering rules, for the controlling person and citizenship of each limited partner.[^21] Epstein forwarded the request to Barak, who replied on March 11, 2019: "Jeff, That's the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes. According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy. We have to follow on it. On a minimal but satisfying base."[^21] On March 12 Indyke wrote to Epstein, "I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment?"; on March 14 Epstein confirmed that Indyke could identify him as the controlling person of Southern Trust.[^22] Epstein was arrested in New York four months later.
### Carbyne After Epstein
Barak left the Carbyne board in 2019, the year of Epstein's arrest and death. The company's board also included [[Pinhas Buchris]], a former commander of Unit 8200 and former director general of the Israeli [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]]. [[Axon Enterprise]], the maker of Taser weapons and police body cameras, agreed to buy Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash, a deal that closed in early 2026.[^8][^23]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: For Barak's military and political career, see the official Israeli government records and the contemporaneous biographical coverage of the Sayeret Matkal command, the Aman tenure, the IDF chief-of-staff period, the prime ministership, and the defense-ministry tenures. [^1]: "'I regret meeting him': Former PM Ehud Barak responds to Epstein Files recording in N12 interview." *The Jerusalem Post,* February 2026. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-886519
[^2]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/ [^2]: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Ehud Barak." Official biography, on his 1959 enlistment, his appointment as head of the IDF Intelligence Branch in 1983, his tenure as chief of the General Staff, his election as prime minister in May 1999 and defeat in February 2001, and his 2009-2013 service as deputy prime minister and minister of defense. https://www.gov.il/en/departments/people/ehud_barak
[^3]: "Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein Had a Yearslong Relationship." *Jacobin,* March 2026. https://jacobin.com/2026/03/thiel-epstein-barak-ai-israel [^3]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/
[^4]: Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index, "Ehud Barak," cross-referencing the EFTA releases including the April 2014 email. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/ehud-barak.html [^4]: "Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein Had a Yearslong Relationship." *Jacobin,* March 2026. https://jacobin.com/2026/03/thiel-epstein-barak-ai-israel
[^5]: "Former Israeli Politician Helped Epstein Quietly Invest $1 Million In [Carbyne]." *Forbes,* 2020. [^5]: *The Times of Israel,* on the Wexner Foundation's statement that its 2.3 million dollars to Barak paid for two reports, one unfinished. https://www.timesofisrael.com/wexner-foundation-2-3-million-to-barak-was-for-2-reports-1-wasnt-finished/
[^6]: Lefkovits, Etgar. "Complaint seeks police probe into Ehud Barak and Wexner Foundation." *JNS,* March 17, 2026. https://www.jns.org/complaint-seeks-police-probe-into-barak-and-wexner-foundation/
[^7]: Ponieman, Natan. *Benzinga,* May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, quoting the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs
[^8]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619434, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to February 23, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," May 23, 2016 to September 7, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02045038, DataSet 10, calendar alert, August 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02045038.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619444, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," October 3, 2016 to January 10, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619444.pdf
[^13]: 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
[^14]: "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/
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00964912, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, November 8, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964912.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00964979, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, November 8, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964979.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00965384, DataSet 9, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, November 9, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00965384.pdf
[^16]: "Ehud Barak Received $2.3 Million for Two Studies, One Was Not Completed, Wexner Foundation Says." *Haaretz,* 2019. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-ehud-barak-received-2-3-million-for-two-studies-one-was-not-completed-wexner-foun-1.8983735
[^17]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02628648, DataSet 11, email thread among Ehud Barak, Jabor Al Thani, Amir Elichai, and Jeffrey Epstein, "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1 to February 4, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02630791, DataSet 11, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
[^21]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02632339, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 11, 2019, with forwarded correspondence of Tomer Toor, Darren Indyke, and NJF Capital, February 28 to March 11, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf
[^22]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email exchange between Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 12-14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^23]: *Coverager,* on Axon's agreement to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars. https://coverager.com/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-for-625-million/ ; "Axon to Acquire Carbyne, Uniting Cloud Infrastructure and AI to Redefine the 911 Experience." Axon Enterprise press release, *PR Newswire.* https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-uniting-cloud-infrastructure-and-ai-to-redefine-the-911-experience-302604614.html

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- SDNY
- USAttorney
- PublicCorruption
- WilliamBarr
- Firing
alias:
- Geoffrey S. Berman
- Geoffrey Steven Berman
- Geoff Berman
summary: "Geoffrey Berman was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who indicted Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 through its Public Corruption Unit and was removed by William Barr in June 2020."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
start: 2018-01-05
end: 2020-06-20
role: "U.S. Attorney, appointed acting by Jeff Sessions, then by the district judges"
fn: 4
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2019-07-02
end: 2019-08-29
role: "United States v. Epstein, 19 Cr. 490"
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[William Barr]]"
start: 2019-02-14
end: 2020-06-20
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Geoffrey S. Berman is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Attorney for the [[Southern District of New York]] from January 2018 to June 20, 2020. His office indicted [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges, eleven years after the [[Non-Prosecution Agreement (Epstein)|non-prosecution agreement]] negotiated in [[Florida]] under [[Alexander Acosta]], and assigned the case to its Public Corruption Unit, a choice Berman declined to explain. After Epstein's death his office charged the two guards on duty that night, [[Tova Noel]] and [[Michael Thomas]]. On the night of June 19, 2020, while his office was investigating [[Rudy Giuliani]], Attorney General [[William Barr]] announced that Berman was "stepping down"; Berman said he had not resigned, and Barr told him the next day that [[Donald Trump|President Trump]] had removed him. He is not related to Judge [[Richard M. Berman]], who presided over the Epstein case.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Appointment
Attorney General [[Jeff Sessions]] appointed Berman acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in 2018, and the judges of the district later appointed him to the post, under which he said he would serve until the Senate confirmed a presidential nominee. The office he led was prosecuting and investigating a series of cases touching the president's circle, including the conviction of Trump's former lawyer [[Michael Cohen]] and the indictment of [[Lev Parnas]] and [[Igor Fruman]], associates of Giuliani, on charges of using a shell company to hide the foreign source of a 325,000 dollar donation to a pro-Trump super PAC.[^4][^5]
### The Epstein Prosecution
Epstein was arrested at [[Teterboro Airport]] on July 6, 2019 on an indictment returned July 2 charging sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy, based on conduct in [[Manhattan]] and [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] from 2002 to 2005. At a press conference on July 8 Berman said that "the alleged behavior shocks the conscience," that Epstein "has every incentive to flee," and that "we were assisted by some excellent investigative journalism," a reference to [[Julie K. Brown|Julie K. Brown's]] reporting in the [[Miami Herald]]. The case was assigned to the office's Public Corruption Unit, which typically handles cases involving public funds or government officials, and Berman declined to explain why. The prosecutors on the case were Assistant U.S. Attorneys [[Alex Rossmiller]], [[Alison Moe]], and [[Maurene Comey]]. The office argued that the Florida agreement "didn't purport to bind any other office or district."[^1][^2][^3]
A search of Epstein's Manhattan house turned up a safe holding more than 70,000 dollars in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and an Austrian passport from the 1980s bearing Epstein's photograph under another name and listing a residence in [[Saudi Arabia]]. Epstein's lawyers said he had obtained it for protection against hijackers while traveling in the [[Middle East]] and that the government had no evidence he used it. On July 17 the office replied that "the passport contains numerous ingress and egress stamps, including stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s," and that Epstein had not said how he got it or whether he was a citizen of another country. Judge Berman denied bail on July 18.[^6]
Epstein died in the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]] on August 10, 2019, and the indictment was dismissed on August 29. On November 19, 2019 the office announced charges against Noel and Thomas for falsifying count and round records the night he died; the charges were later dismissed after deferred prosecution agreements, and the office declined to prosecute other staff who had falsified the same records.[^1][^7]
### Removal
On the night of Friday, June 19, 2020, Barr issued a statement that Berman was "stepping down" and that Trump would nominate [[Jay Clayton]], chairman of the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]], to replace him, with [[Craig Carpenito]], the U.S. Attorney for [[New Jersey]], to serve in the interim. Berman answered that he had learned of his departure from a press release: "I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York." On June 20 Barr wrote to him: "Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service... Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so." Trump told reporters, "That's his department, not my department... I'm not involved"; a senior administration official told NBC News that Barr had asked Trump for permission to fire Berman and Trump had agreed.[^4][^5]
Berman left that evening after Barr agreed that his deputy, [[Audrey Strauss]], would lead the office as acting U.S. Attorney, a condition Berman said safeguarded the district's "tradition of integrity and independence." On July 2, 2020, twelve days later, the office under Strauss announced the arrest of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] on charges of conspiring with Epstein.[^4][^5][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Epstein, No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), docket (indictment filed July 2, 2019; terminated August 29, 2019; assigned to Judge Richard M. Berman; attorneys of record including AUSAs Maurene Comey, Alex Rossmiller, and Alison Moe). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/ ; "Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* July 8, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/jeffrey-epstein-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-minors
[^2]: "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 (Public Corruption Unit; Berman declined to explain; press conference quotes).
[^3]: "NY Prosecutors Charge Jeffrey Epstein With Sex Trafficking." *Courthouse News Service,* July 8, 2019. https://www.courthousenews.com/ny-prosecutors-charge-jeffrey-epstein-with-sex-trafficking/ ; "What we know about the agreement at the heart of Jeffrey Epstein's defense." *CNN,* July 9, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/09/us/jeffrey-epstein-nonprosecution-agreement (Rossmiller on the Florida agreement).
[^4]: Kimball, Spencer. "Attorney General Barr tells top Manhattan prosecutor Berman he is fired amid power struggle." *CNBC,* June 20, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/20/attorney-general-barr-tells-manhattan-us-attorney-berman-he-is-fired-amid-power-struggle.html (appointment by Sessions and the district judges; Barr letter; Carpenito; Strauss; Trump quote; senior official to NBC News).
[^5]: "Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney Who Prosecuted Trump Allies, Says He Won't Quit." *NPR,* June 20, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/20/881148365/geoffrey-berman-u-s-attorney-who-prosecuted-trump-allies-says-he-wont-quit (Berman statement; Clayton; Parnas and Fruman; Giuliani investigation).
[^6]: "Jeffrey Epstein used foreign passport with fake name to enter Saudi Arabia: prosecutors." *NBC News,* July 17, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-epstein-used-foreign-passport-fake-name-enter-saudi-arabia-n1031046 ; "Epstein Memos Shine Light on Decoy Passport, Murky Assets." *Courthouse News Service,* July 2019. https://www.courthousenews.com/epstein-memos-shine-light-on-decoy-passport-murky-assets/
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. 5 to 6. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
[^8]: "Geoffrey Berman is leaving office immediately after standoff with Trump administration." *CNN,* June 20, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/politics/trump-fires-berman-barr-says ; "Ghislaine Maxwell Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minor Girls." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* July 2, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-charged-manhattan-federal-court-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse

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---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- Harvard
- Genetics
- SyntheticBiology
- Transhumanism
- InQTel
- SciencePhilanthropy
alias:
- George Church
- George M. Church
- George McDonald Church
summary: "George Church is a Harvard Medical School geneticist who took Jeffrey Epstein's money from 2005 to 2007, received Epstein-introduced Leon Black gifts, and in 2014 formed the investment vehicle Georgarage with Epstein."
born: 1954
location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Personal Genome Project]]"
role: "director"
start: 2005
fn: 1
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity]]"
role: "director of an IARPA brain project"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Colossal Biosciences]]"
start: 2021
fn: 2
- type: founded
with: "[[eGenesis]]"
role: "scientific co-founder"
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "686,000 dollars through Harvard; Epstein Foundation, St. Thomas"
start: 2005
end: 2007
fn: 7
- type: funded
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
reverse: true
role: "2 million dollars for Church research after Epstein introduction"
fn: 7
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "Georgarage investment company, incorporated in Delaware by Darren Indyke"
start: 2014-07
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[Edge Foundation]]"
role: "contributor; listed as a non-profit affiliation (science communication)"
start: 2005
fn: 2
- type: member_of
with: "[[Centre for the Study of Existential Risk]]"
role: "scientific advisory board"
start: 2013
end: 2020
fn: 2
---
George M. Church (born 1954) is an American geneticist, Professor of Genetics at [[Harvard Medical School]], head of synthetic biology at Harvard's [[Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering]], and director of the [[Personal Genome Project]]. He has co-founded more than fifty biotechnology companies, among them [[Colossal Biosciences]], in which the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s venture arm [[In-Q-Tel]] took a stake in 2022. [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s foundation funded Church's laboratory from 2005 to 2007; after Harvard stopped accepting Epstein's money, donors Epstein introduced gave 2 million dollars for Church's work, and in 2014 Church and Epstein formed an investment company, Georgarage, that Epstein's lawyer incorporated in Delaware.[^1][^2][^3]
### Genomics and Company Formation
Church's 1984 Harvard doctorate introduced methods for direct genome sequencing and molecular barcoding, which led to the first sequenced bacterial genome, *Helicobacter pylori,* in 1994. He co-initiated the [[Human Genome Project]] in 1984 and the Personal Genome Project in 2005, an open-access registry of volunteers' genomes, health records and cell lines, and in 2011 the [[BRAIN Initiative]]. His own biography lists him as director of an [[Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity|IARPA]] brain project and of three [[National Institutes of Health|NIH]] Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science between 2004 and 2020, and records an affiliation with the [[MIT Media Lab]] beginning in 2014.[^1]
Church publishes a self-maintained disclosure of his companies, advisory roles and funders. It lists Colossal Biosciences (founded 2021) for "molecular biology for endangered species," the xenotransplantation company [[eGenesis]], [[Editas Medicine]], Nebula Genomics and dozens of others. Among the investors it records in Church's startups are In-Q-Tel in Colossal, and [[Boris Nikolic]]'s Biomatics Capital in Editas, eGenesis and Twist Bioscience. Nikolic, a former science adviser to [[Bill Gates]], was named in Epstein's will, signed two days before Epstein's death, as a backup executor; Nikolic said through a spokesperson that he had not been consulted and had no intention of serving. In-Q-Tel explained its Colossal investment in September 2022: "it's less about the mammoths and more about the capability." Among its non-profit entries the disclosure lists "Epstein Foundation St. Thomas, VI 2000 (2005-2007; cutting edge science & education)," and, as affiliations, the [[Edge Foundation]] of the literary agent [[John Brockman]] from 2005 to the present ("science communication") and the [[Centre for the Study of Existential Risk]] at Cambridge from 2013 to 2020.[^2][^4][^5][^6]
### Epstein's Money and Leon Black's
Harvard's 2020 review found that before Harvard stopped accepting his gifts in 2007 and 2008, Epstein had given Harvard 686,000 dollars to support Church's work. Church told *[[STAT News|STAT]]* in 2019 that he last received research funding from Epstein in 2007.[^7][^8]
Between 2010 and 2015, donors whom Epstein introduced gave 2 million dollars to support Church's work, alongside 7.5 million dollars for [[Martin Nowak]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]. The donor was [[Leon Black]] of [[Apollo Global Management]]. Black met Church in Cambridge and at Black's New York office, and Epstein's accountant, rather than Black or his foundation, notified Harvard Medical School development staff of Black's intended gift. A former development staff member recalled Epstein's donor record as flagged in a way that would have blocked the gift; the investigators found the only flag, recording Epstein's 2008 conviction, dated June 30, 2008, "months after Black's $2 million gift to Church." The report's dates for the Church gift do not agree: its summary finding places the 2 million dollars between 2010 and 2015, while this footnote implies a Black gift to Church before June 2008, and the report does not reconcile the two. Black's representative told the investigators that "the gifts made in support of Professor Church's and Professor Nowak's research were made by Mr. Black. None of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein and no attempt was made to conceal the source of these gifts." Between 2012 and 2017 Black paid Epstein about 158 million dollars for tax and estate-planning advice.[^7][^9]
Church was a regular guest at Epstein's gatherings at Nowak's program. He appears in 2012 photographs of a lunch there with Epstein, Black, [[Eric Lander]], [[David Gergen]], [[Seth Lloyd]] and others. His online calendar, first reported by [[NBC News]], recorded a further meeting with Epstein at the institute and a 2014 dinner involving Nowak and Epstein, and listed [[Joi Ito]] of the MIT Media Lab as a guest at a meal with Epstein. Church confirmed six phone calls with Epstein in 2014. A photograph released by the [[Department of Justice]] in 2026 purports to show Church and Nowak on Epstein's island, [[Little St. James]].[^3][^8][^10]
### Georgarage
In July 2014 Epstein emailed Church, "I have a great idea. lets speak today if possible." The next day Church sent a ten-stage proposal for investments totaling 10 million dollars, opening "Many thanks for your very encouraging words yesterday morning" and listing "Supercentenarianstudy.com," gene editing to make virus-resistant animals, reversing aging and "cold-resistant elephants." Epstein replied, "lets start on first investment," and told Church to "decide what you would like to call your investment co." Church offered three names; Epstein chose Georgarage, from "George's Garage," the working title of a newsletter Church was considering, with "Geo" also standing for genetically engineered organisms. The company was incorporated in Delaware by Epstein's lawyer, [[Darren Indyke]]. The Justice Department release includes a 2016 check for 300 dollars, signed by Indyke, to the Delaware Division of Corporations for Georgarage. Delaware records list the company as inactive for failure to pay taxes.[^3]
Emails show three prospective Georgarage investments. In October 2014 eGenesis's chief scientific officer, [[Luhan Yang]], sent Epstein stock options and rates, and in February 2016 wrote, "please kindly let us know if we can help in anyway to help Jeffrey to make decision on the georgarage investment in Egenesis." An eGenesis spokesperson said the company received no money from Georgarage or Epstein and that "the current leadership team has no knowledge of that entity." Also in October 2014, Church, Epstein and [[James Clement]] held a conference call about Clement's gene-editing company [[Androcyte]]; Clement said Epstein proposed becoming chairman of its board and that "I did not like anything about Mr Epstein's proposal and immediately afterwards . . . told that to George and that was the end of it." Clement closed Androcyte in 2017 and moved its assets to [[BetterHumans]], a nonprofit that describes itself as "the world's first specifically-transhumanist bio-medical research organization." In July 2015 Church asked Epstein about a California DNA-sequencing company, "Are you considering a Georgarage LLC investment?" Epstein answered, "Yes." The released files show no completed investment in any of the three.[^3]
### The Personal Genome Project Samples
In the summer of 2013 the Personal Genome Project's director of research, [[Madeleine Ball]] (known as Mad Ball), noticed a colleague pushing to sequence a sample that had been in the refrigerator only weeks, when the funding backlog normally meant waits of years. She looked up the donor identification number, found it was Epstein's, and searched his name. "It looked like a quid pro quo sort of thing," she said. "But this was a rich, bad person, and it looked awful." Ball left the laboratory; staff objections stopped the expedited handling. Justice Department documents show Epstein was a project participant and that cell lines containing his DNA were created in 2013. Church confirmed the episode in 2026 and denied personally pushing for special treatment: "Multiple people were telling me various things that were mildly contradictory and I made the wrong call. . . . I felt he had served his time and that was bad judgment." STAT reported that the released files show funding connected to Epstein or his associates reaching Church in the years after 2013, and that on January 31, 2026, one day after a Justice Department release, someone altered the project profile page believed to be Epstein's to record consent on that date.[^11][^12]
*[[The New York Times]]* reported in 2019 that Epstein had told scientists of a plan to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his [[New Mexico]] ranch, and that he wanted his head and penis frozen after death.[^13]
### Apologies and Reviews
In August 2019 Church became the first scientist to apologize for his Epstein ties. "I certainly apologize for my poor awareness and judgment," he told STAT. "There should have been more conversations about, should we be doing this, should we be helping this guy? There was just a lot of nerd tunnel vision." He said that of the 2008 conviction he had "read a couple of news articles . . . but they weren't clear enough for me to know there was a serious problem." Emails released in 2026 show a Church and Epstein lunch planned for December 2018, weeks after the *[[Miami Herald]]* series. Another released text to Epstein read, "George Church came to speak in my bioethics class today!"[^3][^8]
In a 2015 deposition, [[Alan Dershowitz]], who had represented Epstein, named Church among Harvard academics who saw Epstein travel with young women: "They were seen by [[Larry Summers]], they were seen by [George] Church, they were seen by [[Marvin Minsky]], they were seen by some of the most eminent academics and scholars in the world. . . . There was no hint or suggestion of anything sexual or improper in the presence of these people." Dershowitz did not accuse Church of wrongdoing.[^3][^14]
Neither Church nor Nowak has been accused of any crime in connection with Epstein. Harvard's 2020 review did not lead to Church's dismissal. On November 18, 2025, Harvard said it was "conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents." Church did not respond to questions from CNN or *[[The Boston Globe]]* in February 2026.[^3][^15]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Church, George M. "George M. Church Bio," Church Lab, Harvard Medical School, updated October 31, 2025, on the 1984 doctorate, the 1994 *H. pylori* genome, the Human Genome, Personal Genome and BRAIN projects, the IARPA brain project and NIH centers, and the 2014 MIT Media Lab affiliation. https://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/
[^2]: Church, George M. "George M. Church's Tech Transfer, Advisory Roles, and Funding Sources," Church Lab, Harvard Medical School, accessed September 25, 2026, listing Colossal Bio, eGenesis, Editas, the investors In-Q-Tel and Biomatics Capital/Boris Nikolic, "Epstein Foundation St. Thomas, VI 2000 (2005-2007; cutting edge science & education)," "Edge Foundation, NYC 1988 (2005-present; science communication)," and CSER (2013-2020). https://arep.med.harvard.edu/t
[^3]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026, on Georgarage, Indyke's incorporation and 300 dollar check, eGenesis, Androcyte and BetterHumans, the sequencing company, the six 2014 calls, the December 2018 lunch, the island photograph, the Dershowitz deposition, the student text, and Harvard's November 18, 2025 statement. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive
[^4]: Fang, Lee, and Jack Poulson. "The CIA Just Invested in Woolly Mammoth Resurrection Technology," *The Intercept,* September 28, 2022. https://theintercept.com/2022/09/28/cia-extinction-woolly-mammoth-dna/
[^5]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Nikolic's naming as backup executor and his spokesperson's statement. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^6]: "Could science destroy the world? These scholars want to save us from a modern-day Frankenstein," *Science,* on the CSER scientific advisory board including Church. https://www.science.org/content/article/could-science-destroy-world-these-scholars-want-save-us-modern-day-frankenstein
[^7]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3, 13-15 and nn. 8-10, on the 686,000 dollars for Church's work, the 2 million dollars from Epstein-introduced donors, Black's meetings with Church, the accountant's notice to development staff, the June 30, 2008 database flag, and the statement of Black's representative. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 ; mirror: https://archive.org/download/epstein-docs_20240108/1.%20Harvard%20Epstein%20Report.pdf
[^8]: "Citing 'nerd tunnel vision,' biologist George Church apologizes for contacts with Jeffrey Epstein," *STAT,* August 5, 2019, as quoted in Aldhous, *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019. https://www.statnews.com/2019/08/05/citing-nerd-tunnel-vision-biologist-george-church-apologizes-for-contacts-with-jeffrey-epstein/
[^9]: "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why," *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
[^10]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the 2012 lunch photographs and Church's calendar entries, including the Ito meal. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^11]: Molteni, Megan. "Jeffrey Epstein's tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church," *STAT,* February 24, 2026, republished in shorter form by *The Boston Globe,* on Ball's account, the cell lines, Church's 2026 statements, and funding after 2013. https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/epstein-cell-line-george-church-harvard-personal-genome-project/ ; https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/24/business/jeffrey-epstein-george-church-harvard-tissue-samples-lab/
[^12]: Molteni, Megan. "A new mystery emerges about Epstein's involvement in Harvard genetics study," *STAT,* March 4, 2026, on the 2013 cell lines and the profile edit dated January 31, 2026. https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/jeffrey-epstein-new-mystery-harvard-genetics-project-george-church/
[^13]: Stewart, James B., Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg. "Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA," *The New York Times,* July 31, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/business/jeffrey-epstein-eugenics.html
[^14]: Brandom, Russell. "AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island," *The Verge,* August 9, 2019, quoting Dershowitz's 2015 deposition. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed
[^15]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on the 2014 Black gift brokered by Epstein and Church's non-response. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- JamieDimon
- JPMorgan
- Citigroup
- BankOne
- JeffreyEpstein
- Banking
alias:
- James Dimon
- James L. Dimon
summary: "American banker who has led JPMorgan Chase since 2005 and testified in 2023 that he knew nothing of Jeffrey Epstein as a client until 2019, while his deputies managed the relationship."
born: 1956
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Citigroup]]"
role: "president"
end: 1998
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Bank One Corporation]]"
role: "Chairman and Chief Executive Officer"
start: 2000-03
end: 2004-07-01
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "President and Chief Operating Officer"
start: 2004-07-01
end: 2005-12-31
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "Chief Executive Officer; Chairman from December 31, 2006"
start: 2005-12-31
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
James "Jamie" Dimon is an American banker who has been chief executive of [[JPMorgan Chase]] since December 31, 2005 and its chairman since December 31, 2006. He came to the bank as president and chief operating officer through its July 1, 2004 merger with [[Bank One Corporation]], which he had run since March 2000, after senior posts at [[Citigroup]], [[Salomon Smith Barney]] and [[Travelers Group]] under [[Sanford Weill]]. In a May 26, 2023 deposition in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|Virgin Islands suit]] over the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], Dimon testified that he did not recall knowing anything about Epstein until 2018 or 2019 and had never met him.[^1][^2][^3]
### Citigroup, Bank One and the Merger
Dimon graduated from [[Tufts University]] and received an MBA from [[Harvard Business School]]. Before Bank One he held senior executive positions at Citigroup, its subsidiary Salomon Smith Barney, and its predecessor Travelers Group, and he testified that he had been president of Citigroup immediately before joining Bank One. He became Bank One's chairman and chief executive in March 2000.[^1][^3]
On January 14, 2004 JPMorgan Chase agreed to acquire Bank One. *[[New York Times|The New York Times]]* reported that day that [[William B. Harrison Jr.]] would head the combined company, that Dimon would become president and chief operating officer, and that "he is to succeed Mr. Harrison as chief executive in 2006." The merger closed on July 1, 2004. Dimon became chief executive on December 31, 2005 and added the chairmanship a year later.[^2][^4] In his 2023 deposition he testified that he had discussed with Harrison "does a merger make sense, how would it work, what we call the social engineering around it," that the succession was part of a contract, and that he did not think it was known in March 2004 who would lead the combined company.[^3]
### Highbridge Capital
JPMorgan's files include a memorandum dated March 18, 2004, on JPMorgan Chase stationery, addressed to Dimon, Harrison and [[David Coulter]] from [[Jes Staley]] and others, titled "Overview of a potential partnership with and investment in Highbridge Capital Management." It 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 and [[David Brigstocke]] about pricing "discussed with Dimon et al" said Highbridge should "be encouraged to go ahead with the Dimon and Coulter lunch" and added: "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."[^3][^4]
Dimon testified that Staley, then running asset management, brought [[Highbridge Capital Management]] to the bank, that he himself "had ultimate approval of the transaction" and approved it, and that he did not know of any role Epstein played and did not know Epstein. Shown the March 2004 memorandum, he said he did not recall receiving it, suggested through counsel that it was a draft, and noted that he was still chairman and chief executive of Bank One at the time. Asked for any explanation of why Staley would write to him about Highbridge and Epstein in March 2004, he answered, "You got me."[^3] Senator [[Ron Wyden]] later asked JPMorgan to describe any payments to Epstein for services to the bank, "such as the reported $15 million paid by JPMC to Epstein related to the acquisition of Highbridge."[^5]
### Knowledge of the Epstein Relationship
Dimon testified, "I recall not hearing about Jeffrey Epstein until about 2018 or sometime in 2019 when the story blew wide open," and said that he "never met Jeff Epstein... never went to Jeff Epstein's house... never had a meal with Jeff Epstein," and that he was not told in 2008 of the internal review that left Epstein's relationship unchanged after his guilty plea. He said he did not discuss Epstein with the board from 2006 to 2011, did not know whether general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] ever reported to the board about him, and did not speak with Staley about Epstein in 2011 or 2012. Asked whether Staley and [[Mary Erdoes]] had made the decision to retain Epstein, he said "they cannot make that decision alone" and that "the ultimate decider would have been the general counsel of the company."[^3]
Other evidence in the case placed Dimon's name around the relationship. Staley admitted in discovery that in 2006 Dimon communicated with him about Epstein's arrest, and testified that on or about July 26, 2006 he spoke to Dimon about the indictment because Dimon was his boss and the case "was a very public event." An August 28, 2008 email from private banker [[Mary Casey]] counted Epstein's roughly 120 million dollars as a probable outflow "as I can't imagine it will stay (pending Dimon review)." In January 2008 Staley directed his assistant to arrange, through Dimon's office, a meeting for JPMorgan executives with [[Ehud Barak]] that Epstein had facilitated. In November 2013 [[Prince Andrew]] hosted Dimon for dinner and performances at [[Buckingham Palace]].[^4] On July 17, 2008, while Epstein was in custody in Florida, Staley emailed him for advice on his own pay: "Jamie wants me to tell him how much I should make." Epstein advised him to ask for "a one million dollar increase to 25 million."[^6] Internal JPMorgan records quoted by the Senate Finance Committee state that decisions on Epstein were elevated to members of the Operating Committee who reported directly to Dimon.[^7]
In a CNN interview on April 7, 2023, asked whether the bank should have acted more quickly after Epstein's 2008 plea, Dimon said, "Hindsight is a fabulous gift." Asked whether the Virgin Islands' allegations had merit, he said the bank had "some of the best lawyers in the world, compliance, out of the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], out of SEC important divisions who review all of these things and make decisions at the time based on what they know, as best as they know." Cutler, the general counsel in those years, had previously run the enforcement division of the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]].[^4][^8]
During the deposition, JPMorgan general counsel [[Stacey Friedman]] interjected when Dimon asked counsel when the bank had bought Highbridge, and [[Linda Singer]] of [[Motley Rice]], examining Dimon for the Virgin Islands, objected on the record to "counsel coaching the witness on answers," which she said "has happened a number of times." Dimon testified that when the *New York Times* prepared a 2019 story about a "brawl" between Erdoes and compliance over keeping Epstein, he "put it in the jurisdiction of my general counsel."[^3] JPMorgan settled the Doe class action for 290 million dollars and the Virgin Islands suit for 75 million dollars in 2023 without admitting wrongdoing.[^9]
### Project Jeep and "Top of the House"
On July 22, 2019, after *The New York Times* published "Jeffrey Epstein's Deep Ties to Top Wall Street Figures," JPMorgan's Global Head of Financial Crimes Compliance, Peter Neilson, 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." The resulting internal review, Project Jeep, produced a 22-page summary of Epstein's emails with Staley and others by October 2019. In a June 7, 2023 motion to recall Dimon for further questioning, the Virgin Islands' lawyers argued that Project Jeep "may have been ordered by Dimon himself," citing a separate 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])," and noted that the summary confirmed "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including [[Andrew Farkas]], [[Boris Nikolic]], [[Bill Gates]] and [[Peter Mandelson]], while Dimon had testified, "We did not need introductions to anybody."[^10]
JPMorgan's lawyers at [[WilmerHale]] replied on June 9, 2023 that Dimon had testified he did not recognize the name "Project Jeep" and had told the bank's general counsel after Epstein's arrest and death to "do everything" to establish the facts, that the author of the July 2019 email had confirmed "top of house" referred to general counsel Stacey Friedman and not to Dimon, and that a follow-up sent eight minutes after the 2008 email showed its "top of the house" meant general counsel Cutler. They added that the summary was absent from Dimon's custodial files and that he had been examined at his deposition on the alleged referrals, including Nikolic, Gates, Mandelson, [[Leon Black]] and Ehud Barak.[^11] In August 2023 Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] declined to compel production of all Project Jeep materials.[^12]
### The Wyden Letters
On September 24, 2025 Wyden wrote to Dimon that newly reported internal emails, one describing a 2008 retention decision as "pending Dimon review" and another saying Cutler was reviewing Epstein documents "for Jamie," contradicted his sworn testimony. The letter posed 31 questions, including whether Dimon had been involved in Epstein decisions between 2007 and 2010, whether Staley had told him of Epstein's 2008 plea and been told to take it to Cutler, and why the bank waited until 2019 to file suspicious activity reports on Epstein.[^5] JPMorgan replied on October 10, 2025 that "over a million pages of documents" produced in discovery "none established Mr. Dimon's knowledge of Epstein prior to 2019," that Dimon "testified truthfully," that the reported emails were "cherry-picked snippets of emails where he was neither the sender nor recipient," and that the only person claiming otherwise was Staley, whom a UK tribunal had found "lacked credibility." It declined to discuss any suspicious-activity filings, citing Bank Secrecy Act confidentiality.[^13]
Wyden's August 4, 2026 report stated that JPMorgan had filed seven suspicious activity reports on Epstein totaling about 4.3 million dollars between 2002 and 2016 and then, in August and September 2019, reports covering more than 5,000 wires worth about 1.28 billion dollars.[^7] On June 24, 2026 the board's compensation committee approved 20 million dollar retention awards for Erdoes and chief operating officer [[Jennifer Piepszak]], and 30 million dollar awards for two newly named co-presidents, as part of what the filing called the board's "ongoing succession planning."[^14]
### Footnotes
[^1]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), filed March 31, 2006, director biography of James Dimon, age 50. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000119312506070353/ddef14a.htm
[^2]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2006, "Executive officers of the registrant" (James Dimon: "Chairman of the Board since December 31, 2006, and President and Chief Executive Officer since December 31, 2005. He had been President and Chief Operating Officer from July 1, 2004, until December 31, 2005."). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000019617/000095012307003015/y30834e10vk.htm
[^3]: 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. 28, 51-57, 83, 168, 179-180, 218, 250-251, 261-273. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^4]: 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. 55, 111, 265, 292, 305, 374-375, 418-419. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^5]: 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
[^6]: 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
[^7]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 16, 22, 30. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "Enforcement Director Stephen M. Cutler to Leave SEC," Press Release 2005-56, April 14, 2005. https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-56.htm
[^9]: "JPMorgan Chase and Epstein survivor Jane Doe 1 reach $290 million settlement," *NPR,* June 12, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/12/1181675580/epstein-jane-doe-1-290-million-settlement-jpmorgan-chase ; "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
[^10]: 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
[^11]: 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
[^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]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf
[^14]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 8-K, Item 5.02 (awards approved June 24, 2026). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000001961726000241/jpm-20260624.htm

53
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jean-Luc Brunel.md
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@ -2,46 +2,67 @@
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks" category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags: [Person, JeanLucBrunel, JeffreyEpstein, MC2ModelManagement, KarinModels, Modeling, SexTrafficking, France] tags: [Person, JeanLucBrunel, JeffreyEpstein, MC2ModelManagement, KarinModels, Modeling, SexTrafficking, France]
alias: ["Jean-Luc Brunel"] alias: ["Jean-Luc Brunel"]
summary: "French modeling agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, co-founder of MC2 Model Management with reported Epstein funding, who was arrested in France in 2020 on charges including rape of minors and died in a Paris prison in 2022." summary: "French modeling agent who founded MC2 Model Management with Jeffrey Epstein's money, was placed under investigation in Paris in 2020 for raping minors, and died in La Santé Prison in 2022."
born: 1946-09-18 born: 1946-09-18
died: 2022-02-19 died: 2022-02-19
location: Paris, France location: Paris, France
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Karin Models]]"
role: "owner and director"
start: 1978
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Paris Prosecutor's Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-08
end: 2022-02-19
fn: 8
--- ---
Jean-Luc Brunel was a French modeling agent who ran [[Karin Models]] in Paris and later co-founded [[MC2 Model Management]] in New York with reported funding from [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. He was the subject of decades of abuse allegations within the modeling industry, was arrested in France in December 2020 on charges including the rape of minors and human trafficking, and was found hanged in his cell at [[La Santé Prison]] in Paris in February 2022. Jean-Luc Brunel was a French modeling agent who ran [[Karin Models]] in Paris and later co-founded [[MC2 Model Management]] in New York with reported funding from [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. He was the subject of decades of abuse allegations within the modeling industry, was placed under formal investigation in France in December 2020 for the rape of minors over fifteen and sexual harassment, in an inquiry that also covered the trafficking of minors, and was found hanged in his cell at [[La Santé Prison]] in Paris in February 2022.
### Modeling Career ### Modeling Career
Brunel was born on September 18, 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and worked in restaurant public relations before entering modeling as a scout in the 1970s, acquiring the Paris agency Karin Models from its founder Karin Mossberg and running it by 1978.[^1] He claimed to have launched the careers of models including Monica Bellucci, Sharon Stone and Christy Turlington, and his contemporaries in the Paris and New York agency business included [[John Casablancas]], founder of [[Elite Model Management]], and the agent [[Paolo Zampolli]].[^5] Brunel later restructured Karin Models' U.S. division into a new agency.[^1] Brunel was born on September 18, 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and worked in restaurant public relations before entering modeling as a scout in the 1970s, acquiring the Paris agency Karin Models from its founder Karin Mossberg and running it by 1978.[^1] He claimed to have launched the careers of models including Monica Bellucci, Sharon Stone and Christy Turlington, and his contemporaries in the Paris and New York agency business included [[John Casablancas]], founder of [[Elite Model Management]], and the agent [[Paolo Zampolli]].[^2] Brunel later restructured Karin Models' U.S. division into a new agency.[^1]
A 1988 [[60 Minutes]] investigation titled "American Girls in Paris," reported by Diane Sawyer, interviewed nearly two dozen American models who said Brunel and his fellow Paris agent [[Claude Haddad]] had drugged and raped them.[^2] Around the same time the CBS correspondent Craig Pyes spoke with additional models who made similar claims.[^5] The journalist [[Michael Gross]] documented allegations against Brunel in his 1995 book *Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women,* quoting industry figures who described him as a predator and said he belonged "behind bars."[^5] Brunel consistently denied wrongdoing, saying he "strongly den[ied] having committed any illicit act or any wrongdoing" in his work as a scout and agency manager.[^1] A 1988 [[60 Minutes]] investigation titled "American Girls in Paris," reported by Diane Sawyer, interviewed nearly two dozen American models who said Brunel and his fellow Paris agent [[Claude Haddad]] had drugged and raped them.[^3] Around the same time the CBS correspondent Craig Pyes spoke with additional models who made similar claims.[^2] The journalist [[Michael Gross]] documented allegations against Brunel in his 1995 book *Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women,* quoting industry figures who described him as a predator and said he belonged "behind bars."[^2] Brunel consistently denied wrongdoing, saying he "strongly den[ied] having committed any illicit act or any wrongdoing" in his work as a scout and agency manager.[^1]
### MC2 Model Management ### MC2 Model Management
Around 2004 to 2005 Brunel founded MC2 Model Management, with operations in New York and Miami, building it out of the restructured U.S. division of Karin Models.[^5] Financial records cited in litigation showed Jeffrey Epstein wired about one million dollars to Brunel in connection with the launch, and Epstein provided MC2 a line of credit; some accounts put his total backing closer to two million dollars.[^5] Maritza Vasquez, MC2's former bookkeeper, testified in a 2010 deposition that Epstein had invested roughly one million dollars in the agency.[^5] Around 2004 to 2005 Brunel founded MC2 Model Management, with operations in New York and Miami, building it out of the restructured U.S. division of Karin Models.[^2] Financial records cited in litigation showed Jeffrey Epstein wired about one million dollars to Brunel in connection with the launch, and Epstein provided MC2 a line of credit; some accounts put his total backing closer to two million dollars.[^2] Maritza Vasquez, MC2's former bookkeeper, testified in a 2010 deposition that Epstein had invested roughly one million dollars in the agency.[^2]
U.S. prosecutors and investigators reported that they believed MC2 functioned as a cover to recruit and supply women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein.[^4] Flight logs placed Brunel on Epstein's aircraft, including a February 2005 flight with the model [[Nadia Marcinkova]], and visitor records reportedly showed Brunel visiting Epstein dozens of times during his 2008 to 2010 Florida incarceration.[^5] Brunel denied these allegations.[^1] U.S. prosecutors and investigators reported that they believed MC2 functioned as a cover to recruit and supply women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein.[^4]
Epstein's bank, [[JPMorgan Chase]], reviewed the agency internally. According to shareholder complaints quoting the bank's records, a March 2011 JPMorgan report stated that "MC2 Model Management and Jeffrey Epstein engaged in racketeering that involved luring in minor children for sexual play for money," that MC2's owner was a "frequent passenger on Epstein's private jet and often visited Epstein in jail," and that Epstein had paid MC2 one million dollars in 2005, "unknown if the money was given as a secret investment or payment for services as a procurer." A 2011 compliance summary recorded that press reports said girls were brought "to the US via a modeling agency M2 that is owned by a guy named Brunel," and that "the banker said today we extended Epstein a loan in relation to this modeling agency"; the loan was a JPMorgan letter of credit to MC2. The writer judged the agency "legit." The bank continued doing business with Epstein personally until 2013, and payments drawn from his JPMorgan accounts included nearly 1.5 million dollars to known recruiters including MC2.[^5] Flight logs placed Brunel on Epstein's aircraft, including a February 2005 flight with the model [[Nadia Marcinkova]], and visitor records reportedly showed Brunel visiting Epstein dozens of times during his 2008 to 2010 Florida incarceration.[^2] Brunel denied these allegations.[^1]
### Allegations Connected to Jeffrey Epstein ### Allegations Connected to Jeffrey Epstein
Multiple women accused Brunel of drugging and sexually assaulting them in Paris during the 1980s and 1990s.[^1] [[Virginia Giuffre]], who accused Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her, alleged that Brunel sexually abused her and supplied young women and girls to Epstein, stating in sworn accounts that Epstein had directed her to provide sexual services to Brunel.[^3] In a 2015 court filing she said she had "sexual intercourse with Jean-Luc Brunel many times" between the ages of 16 and 19.[^5] Multiple women accused Brunel of drugging and sexually assaulting them in Paris during the 1980s and 1990s.[^1] [[Virginia Giuffre]], who accused Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her, alleged that Brunel sexually abused her and supplied young women and girls to Epstein, stating in sworn accounts that Epstein had directed her to provide sexual services to Brunel.[^6] In a 2015 court filing she said she had "sexual intercourse with Jean-Luc Brunel many times" between the ages of 16 and 19.[^2]
Giuffre alleged in her filings that Brunel had "many contacts" with young girls and could "get dozens" of them, and she claimed he had an arrangement to obtain passports that allowed him to bring girls "ranging in age from 12 to 24" into the United States.[^5] In one filing she said Epstein had boasted of sleeping with more than 1,000 of Brunel's girls.[^1] U.S. prosecutors and investigators reported that they believed Brunel was used to recruit and supply women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein, and Brunel denied the allegations.[^4] Giuffre alleged in her filings that Brunel had "many contacts" with young girls and could "get dozens" of them, and she claimed he had an arrangement to obtain passports that allowed him to bring girls "ranging in age from 12 to 24" into the [[United States]].[^2] In one filing she said Epstein had boasted of sleeping with more than 1,000 of Brunel's girls.[^1] [[Sarah Ransome]], who sued Epstein and Maxwell in 2017, produced in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] dozens of photographs of young women on Epstein's island, some of which she said Brunel had taken and given to her.[^7] U.S. prosecutors and investigators reported that they believed Brunel was used to recruit and supply women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein, and Brunel denied the allegations.[^4]
### Arrest and Death ### Arrest and Death
Brunel was detained on December 16, 2020 at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as he prepared to board a flight to Senegal, part of an investigation French authorities had opened in 2019 after Epstein's death.[^4] He was charged with the rape of minors over 15 and sexual harassment, and was placed under formal investigation in a case encompassing rape and sexual assault of minors under and over 15, sexual harassment, criminal association and human trafficking of minors for the purposes of sexual exploitation.[^6] He was held in pre-trial detention and maintained his innocence.[^3] Brunel was detained on December 16, 2020 at [[Charles de Gaulle Airport]] in [[Paris]] as he prepared to board a flight to [[Dakar]], [[Senegal]]. The [[Paris Prosecutor's Office]] had opened its investigation in August 2019, the month of Epstein's death in New York, and a public call for witnesses in September 2019 brought reports from several former models of incidents spanning three decades. According to court filings by Virginia Giuffre, Brunel "offered modeling opportunities to lure young girls, some as young as 12, to the U.S."[^4][^8] He was charged with the rape of minors over 15 and sexual harassment, and was placed under formal investigation in a case encompassing rape and sexual assault of minors under and over 15, sexual harassment, criminal association and human trafficking of minors for the purposes of sexual exploitation.[^9] He was held in pre-trial detention and maintained his innocence.[^6] The prosecutors' statement described the charges as "rape of minors over the age of 15 and sexual harassment."[^8] At the end of June 2021 he was placed under formal investigation a second time, for the rape of a minor over fifteen, concerning an adolescent. He was released for a few days at the end of 2021 and then returned to detention.[^10]
On February 19, 2022 Brunel was found hanged with bedsheets in his cell at La Santé Prison in Paris at around 1:30 a.m.; he was 75.[^6] French authorities treated the death as a suicide, and a medical examiner reported death by hanging.[^9] He died in custody before facing trial, leaving the allegations unadjudicated.[^9] His lawyers said that his "distress was that of a 75-year-old man crushed by a media-judicial system" and that he had never stopped proclaiming his innocence; under French law his death extinguished the public action against him, though not against any other person implicated.[^10]
The French investigation into the wider network of allegations against Brunel and others connected to Epstein remained open after his death, with French prosecutors continuing to examine the trafficking and abuse claims.[^4] His death, the second of a central Epstein figure to occur in custody and be ruled a suicide after Epstein's own 2019 death, drew renewed scrutiny from lawyers for the alleged victims.[^9]
On February 19, 2022 Brunel was found hanged with bedsheets in his cell at La Santé Prison in Paris at around 1:30 a.m.; he was 75.[^3] French authorities treated the death as a suicide, and a medical examiner reported death by hanging.[^6] He died in custody before facing trial, leaving the allegations unadjudicated.[^6]
The French investigation into the wider network of allegations against Brunel and others connected to Epstein remained open after his death, with French prosecutors continuing to examine the trafficking and abuse claims.[^4] His death, the second of a central Epstein figure to occur in custody and be ruled a suicide after Epstein's own 2019 death, drew renewed scrutiny from lawyers for the alleged victims.[^6]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Jean-Luc Brunel," summarizing reporting on his career, MC2 Model Management, the Epstein funding, the 1995 Michael Gross book *Model,* and his denials. https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/former-model-agent-close-to-jeffrey-epstein-found-hanged-1235085929/ [^1]: "Jean-Luc Brunel," summarizing reporting on his career, MC2 Model Management, the Epstein funding, the 1995 Michael Gross book *Model,* and his denials. https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/former-model-agent-close-to-jeffrey-epstein-found-hanged-1235085929/
[^2]: "American Girls in Paris," *60 Minutes,* CBS, reported by Diane Sawyer, December 1988. https://www.kqed.org/arts/13887034/fashion-is-about-to-have-its-metoo-moment-and-its-long-overdue [^2]: "Jean-Luc Brunel: The French Modeling Honcho at the Center of Jeffrey Epstein's Web," *The Fashion Law,* on Karin Models, the 1988 60 Minutes report and Claude Haddad, the Michael Gross book, the MC2 founding and Epstein funding, Maritza Vasquez's deposition, and Virginia Giuffre's allegations. https://www.thefashionlaw.com/jean-luc-brunel-at-the-center-of-jeffrey-epsteins-web-of-underage-girls/
[^3]: "Jean-Luc Brunel, Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of rape, supplying girls, found hanged in prison," *Washington Post,* 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/19/jean-luc-brunel-hanged-epstein/ [^3]: "American Girls in Paris," *60 Minutes,* CBS, reported by Diane Sawyer, December 1988. https://www.kqed.org/arts/13887034/fashion-is-about-to-have-its-metoo-moment-and-its-long-overdue
[^4]: "Modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe," *NBC News,* 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589 [^4]: "Modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe," *NBC News,* 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589
[^5]: "Jean-Luc Brunel: The French Modeling Honcho at the Center of Jeffrey Epstein's Web," *The Fashion Law,* on Karin Models, the 1988 60 Minutes report and Claude Haddad, the Michael Gross book, the MC2 founding and Epstein funding, Maritza Vasquez's deposition, and Virginia Giuffre's allegations. https://www.thefashionlaw.com/jean-luc-brunel-at-the-center-of-jeffrey-epsteins-web-of-underage-girls/ [^5]: City of Miami General Employees & Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust v. Dimon, No. 1:23-cv-03903-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Verified Amended Stockholder Derivative Complaint, ECF No. 17, paras. 24, 152-154, 165 (June 30, 2023), citing the complaint in Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), paras. 42, 48, 98. https://wallstreetonparade.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CITY-OF-MIAMI-GENERAL-et-al-v-James-Dimon-et-al-JPMorgan-Chase-Amended-Complaint-June-30-2023.pdf
[^6]: "Jean-Luc Brunel, French modeling agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, found dead in prison cell," *CNN,* 2022, on the charges, the Senegal flight, the suicide ruling and the open investigation. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/europe/jean-luc-brunel-jeffrey-epstein-death-intl [^6]: "Jean-Luc Brunel, Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of rape, supplying girls, found hanged in prison," *Washington Post,* 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/19/jean-luc-brunel-hanged-epstein/
[^7]: "Discredited claims about Clinton, Trump mentioned in latest batch of Epstein docs," *ABC News,* January 9, 2024. https://abcnews.com/US/new-round-jeffrey-epstein-court-documents-unsealed/story?id=106174129
[^8]: "France charges Epstein ex-associate over sex crime claims," *Al Jazeera,* December 19, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/19/france-charges-epstein-ex-associate-over-sex-crime-claims
[^9]: "Jean-Luc Brunel, French modeling agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, found dead in prison cell," *CNN,* 2022, on the charges, the Senegal flight, the suicide ruling and the open investigation. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/19/europe/jean-luc-brunel-jeffrey-epstein-death-intl
[^10]: "Affaire Epstein : l'ancien agent de mannequins Jean-Luc Brunel est mort en détention," *Radio-Canada,* February 19, 2022. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1863452/france-deces-brunel-prison-accuse-viols-mineurs

529
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jeffrey Epstein.md
View file

@ -13,129 +13,546 @@ tags:
- LesWexner - LesWexner
- SciencePhilanthropy - SciencePhilanthropy
- DarkMoney - DarkMoney
- EpsteinFiles
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- USVirginIslands
- Carbyne
alias: alias:
- Jeffrey Edward Epstein - Jeffrey Edward Epstein
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender who ran a sex-trafficking operation alongside Ghislaine Maxwell, cultivated a network spanning technology billionaires, heads of state, intelligence officials, and elite scientists, and whose unexplained wealth, intelligence-adjacent contacts, and 2019 jail death produced sustained questions about whether his operation served blackmail or intelligence functions." - Jeffrey E. Epstein
- JEE
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender who trafficked girls with Ghislaine Maxwell across five residences, cultivated financiers, politicians, scientists and intelligence officials, and died in federal custody in 2019."
born: 1953-01-20 born: 1953-01-20
died: 2019-08-10 died: 2019-08-10
location: "Brooklyn, New York" location: "Brooklyn, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Dalton School]]"
start: 1974
role: "mathematics and physics teacher"
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Wexner Foundation]]"
start: 1992
role: "trustee"
fn: 5
- type: director_of
with: "[[Black Family Foundation]]"
start: 1997
end: 2007
role: "trustee"
fn: 55
- type: head_of
with: "[[Liquid Funding]]"
role: "chairman"
fn: 8
- type: owned
with: "[[JEGE, Inc.]]"
role: "president, sole director and sole shareholder; owner of the Boeing 727 N908JE"
fn: 26
- type: owned
with: "[[Hyperion Air, Inc.]]"
role: "president, sole director and sole shareholder; owner of the Gulfstream N909JE"
fn: 26
- type: owned
with: "[[9 East 71st Street]]"
role: "through Nine East 71st Street Corporation and Maple, Inc."
fn: 11
- type: owned
with: "[[Little St. James]]"
start: 1998
fn: 11
- type: owned
with: "[[Great St. James]]"
start: 2016
fn: 11
- type: owned
with: "[[Zorro Ranch]]"
fn: 19
- type: founded
with: "[[Florida Science Foundation]]"
role: "work-release employer during the Palm Beach sentence"
fn: 33
- type: founded
with: "[[Gratitude America]]"
start: 2012
role: "private charity; paid Leon Botstein 37,500 dollars a quarter in 2016"
fn: 69
- type: funded
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
start: 1998
end: 2007
role: "9,179,000 dollars in 22 gifts"
fn: 55
- type: funded
with: "[[World Transhumanist Association]]"
start: 2010
role: "20,000 dollars"
fn: 59
- type: funded
with: "[[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]"
start: 2009
role: "50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute through the C.O.U.Q. Foundation"
fn: 59
- type: appointed
with: "[[Darren Indyke]]"
start: 2019-08-08
role: "co-executor under the will"
fn: 120
- type: appointed
with: "[[Richard Kahn]]"
start: 2019-08-08
role: "co-executor under the will"
fn: 120
- type: appointed
with: "[[Boris Nikolic]]"
start: 2019-08-08
role: "backup executor under the will"
fn: 120
- type: investigated
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
reverse: true
start: 2005
fn: 17
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2006
fn: 33
- type: investigated
with: "[[Southern District of Florida]]"
reverse: true
start: 2006
end: 2008
role: "U.S. Attorney's Office; draft 60-count indictment, resolved by non-prosecution agreement"
fn: 33
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 2006
end: 2008
role: "state solicitation charges"
fn: 30
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019
end: 2019
role: "United States v. Epstein, 19 Cr. 490"
fn: 111
- type: represented
with: "[[Jay Lefkowitz]]"
reverse: true
start: 2007
end: 2008
role: "lead negotiator of the non-prosecution agreement"
fn: 33
- type: represented
with: "[[Kenneth Starr]]"
reverse: true
start: 2007
end: 2008
fn: 33
- type: represented
with: "[[Gerald Lefcourt]]"
reverse: true
start: 2007
fn: 38
- type: represented
with: "[[Jack Goldberger]]"
reverse: true
fn: 31
- type: represented
with: "[[Martin Weinberg]]"
reverse: true
start: 2011
end: 2019
fn: 85
- type: represented
with: "[[Reid Weingarten]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019
end: 2019
fn: 112
- type: represented
with: "[[Marc Fernich]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019
end: 2019
fn: 112
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Mark Epstein]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 89
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
--- ---
Jeffrey Epstein (January 20, 1953 to August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted sex offender who, with his companion [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], ran a sex-trafficking operation that recruited and abused dozens of underage girls across his residences in [[Manhattan]], [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[New Mexico]], the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], and [[Paris]]. He built a social and financial network that encompassed technology billionaires ([[Peter Thiel]], [[Bill Gates]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Reid Hoffman]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]]), heads of state and politicians ([[Bill Clinton]], [[Ehud Barak]], [[Prince Andrew]], [[Donald Trump]]), intelligence officials ([[William Burns]]), financiers and executives ([[Leslie Wexner]], [[Tom Pritzker]], [[Howard Lutnick]]), and prominent scientists ([[Martin Nowak]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[George Church]], [[Stephen Hawking]]) brokered through the literary agent [[John Brockman]]. The source of his fortune was never satisfactorily explained, his long association with [[Robert Maxwell|Robert Maxwell's]] daughter raised documented intelligence questions, and his death in federal custody in 2019 was ruled a suicide over disputes that have not been resolved.[^1][^2][^3] Jeffrey Epstein (January 20, 1953 to August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted sex offender who, with his companion [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], ran a sex-trafficking operation that recruited and abused dozens of underage girls across his residences in [[Manhattan]], [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[New Mexico]], the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], and [[Paris]]. He built a social and financial network that encompassed technology billionaires ([[Peter Thiel]], [[Bill Gates]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Reid Hoffman]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]]), heads of state and politicians ([[Bill Clinton]], [[Ehud Barak]], [[Prince Andrew]], [[Donald Trump]]), diplomats and intelligence officials ([[William Burns]], [[Vitaly Churkin]]), financiers and executives ([[Leslie Wexner]], [[Leon Black]], [[Tom Pritzker]], [[Howard Lutnick]]), and prominent scientists ([[Martin Nowak]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[George Church]], [[Stephen Hawking]]) brokered through the literary agent [[John Brockman]]. The source of his fortune was never satisfactorily explained, his long association with [[Robert Maxwell|Robert Maxwell's]] daughter raised documented intelligence questions, and his death in federal custody in 2019 was ruled a suicide over disputes that have not been resolved.[^1][^2][^3]
### Early Life, Dalton, and Bear Stearns ### Early Life, Dalton, and Bear Stearns
Epstein was born in [[Brooklyn]], New York, and raised in the Sea Gate and [[Coney Island]] area in a working-class Jewish family; his father worked for the New York City parks department. He attended Lafayette High School, then [[Cooper Union]] and the Courant Institute at [[New York University]], leaving both without a degree. In 1974 he was hired to teach mathematics and physics at the [[Dalton School]], the elite Upper East Side preparatory school, despite having no degree and no teaching credential. The headmaster during the period of his hiring was [[Donald Barr]], the novelist and educator who was the father of the future U.S. Attorney General [[William Barr]], whose Department of Justice would later oversee the federal case and the jail in which Epstein died. Accounts differ on whether Barr personally hired Epstein, since Barr resigned the headmastership in 1974.[^1][^5] Epstein was born in [[Brooklyn]], New York, and raised in the Sea Gate and [[Coney Island]] area in a working-class Jewish family; his father worked for the [[New York City]] parks department. He attended Lafayette High School, then [[Cooper Union]] and the Courant Institute at [[New York University]], leaving both without a degree. In 1974 he was hired to teach mathematics and physics at the [[Dalton School]], the elite Upper East Side preparatory school, despite having no degree and no teaching credential. The headmaster during the period of his hiring was [[Donald Barr]], the novelist and educator who was the father of the future [[U.S. Attorney General]] [[William Barr]], whose [[Department of Justice]] would later oversee the federal case and the jail in which Epstein died. Accounts differ on whether Barr personally hired Epstein, since Barr resigned the headmastership in 1974.[^1][^4]
At Dalton, Epstein cultivated the parents of his students, and a connection there brought him to [[Bear Stearns]], the investment bank then led by [[Alan Greenberg]]. He joined in 1976, worked in the special products division advising wealthy clients on tax strategy, and rose to limited partner before resigning in 1981. The firm and Epstein gave varying accounts of the departure, which has been attributed to a Regulation D securities violation and to an internal inquiry. In 1981 he founded the consulting firm Intercontinental Assets Group, and in 1988 he established [[J. Epstein & Co.]], which he said managed money exclusively for clients worth more than one billion dollars, a claim that obscured rather than explained his finances.[^1][^3] At Dalton, Epstein cultivated the parents of his students, and a connection there brought him to [[Bear Stearns]], the investment bank then led by [[Alan Greenberg]]. He joined in 1976, worked in the special products division advising wealthy clients on tax strategy, and rose to limited partner. The firm and Epstein gave varying accounts of the departure, which has been attributed to a Regulation D securities violation and to an internal inquiry. After leaving he ran a consulting company, [[International Assets Group]], out of his apartment in the Solo building on East 66th Street, and around 1988 he established [[J. Epstein & Co.]], which he said managed money exclusively for clients worth more than one billion dollars; in 2003 he said he had run it "for the last 15 years."[^1][^3][^5]
Epstein resigned from Bear Stearns on March 12, 1981, the day after [[Seagram]] announced its tender offer for [[St. Joe Minerals]]. The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]], investigating insider trading in St. Joe and told that Epstein had information about trading at Bear Stearns, took his testimony on April 1, 1981. He said management had fined him 2,500 dollars over a possible "Reg D" violation, a loan of about 20,000 dollars to his friend Warren Eisenstein to buy stock, together with "carelessness" over expenses, and that rumors had tied his exit to "an illicit affair with a secretary." Bear Stearns paid his bonus of about 100,000 dollars. [[James Cayne]] said Epstein "left Bear Stearns of his own volition"; a former Bear executive told Fox Business in 2019 that he "left at our invitation ... it was very serious stuff"; [[Steven Hoffenberg]] claimed Epstein told him he had been caught executing "illegal operations." The SEC brought no insider-trading charges against anyone at Bear Stearns in the St. Joe matter.[^5][^6]
Epstein stayed a major Bear Stearns customer. His company [[Financial Trust Company]] stated in a 2009 verified complaint that "since 1981, Epstein has conducted hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions with Bear Stearns for his own, as well as his clients', accounts," with the firm's senior management. From at least 2000 to 2007 he chaired [[Liquid Funding]] Ltd., a [[Bermuda]] company partly owned by Bear Stearns that held mortgage-backed securities, a directorship disclosed in the [[Paradise Papers]]. Fox Business reported that he had about 60 million dollars in the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, which collapsed in June 2007. On August 6, 2007, according to the 2009 complaint, Cayne told Epstein to "hold tight" to Financial Trust's 120,000 Bear shares; Financial Trust sold the last 100,000 on March 17, 2008 at 3.41 dollars and sued Bear Stearns in the District Court of the Virgin Islands (Civil No. 2009/106).[^6][^7][^8]
### Towers Financial and the Hoffenberg Partnership ### Towers Financial and the Hoffenberg Partnership
In the late 1980s Epstein worked closely with [[Steven Hoffenberg]], the financier who controlled [[Towers Financial Corporation]], a debt-collection company that bought portfolios of distressed medical and telephone receivables and sold notes and bonds to investors. Epstein was retained as a consultant, reportedly at twenty-five thousand dollars a month, and the two pursued attempted corporate takeovers of [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] and [[Emery Air Freight]] around 1987 and 1988. Towers Financial collapsed in 1993 in what prosecutors described as one of the largest [[Ponzi scheme|Ponzi schemes]] before [[Bernard Madoff]], with roughly 475 million dollars taken from investors. Hoffenberg pleaded guilty in 1995, was sentenced to twenty years, and served about eighteen.[^7] Two accounts of how Epstein came to Steven Hoffenberg survive. Hoffenberg told the journalist [[Vicky Ward]] that the two men, who met in [[London]] in the 1980s, were introduced by [[Douglas Leese]], a British defense contractor; Epstein said they were introduced by [[John Mitchell]], the former [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] convicted in the [[Watergate]] cover-up, who had died in 1988. Leese appears in the parliamentary record in January 1996, when [[George Galloway]] told the [[House of Commons]] under privilege that commissions on the [[Al-Yamamah]] arms sale to [[Saudi Arabia]] had been "handled by [[British Aerospace]] through a British business man, Douglas Leese, who has close connections with an offshore bank, the [[Bank of N. T. Butterfield|Bank of NT Butterfield]] in Bermuda." At the time of the introduction Epstein was running International Assets Group from his apartment; he testified in a 1989 deposition that he spent 80 percent of his time helping people recover stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.[^5][^9]
After his release Hoffenberg publicly claimed that Epstein had been a co-architect of the Towers fraud and had walked away with money while leaving Hoffenberg to face prosecution alone. Epstein was never charged in connection with Towers Financial, and Hoffenberg's reliability was contested; he made his accusations only years later, in litigation and interviews. Hoffenberg was found dead at his home in Derby, [[Connecticut]] in August 2022. The Towers period is one of two documented sources of capital, alongside the Wexner relationship, around which Epstein's later wealth was assembled.[^7] In the late 1980s Epstein worked closely with Hoffenberg, the financier who controlled [[Towers Financial Corporation]], a debt-collection company that bought portfolios of distressed medical and telephone receivables and sold notes and bonds to investors. Epstein was retained as a consultant, reportedly at twenty-five thousand dollars a month, and the two pursued attempted corporate takeovers of [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]], beginning in November 1987, and of [[Emery Air Freight]] in 1988. Towers Financial collapsed in 1993 in what prosecutors described as one of the largest [[Ponzi scheme|Ponzi schemes]] before [[Bernard Madoff]]; the court-ordered restitution was 475,157,340 dollars. Hoffenberg pleaded guilty in 1995, was sentenced on March 4, 1997 to twenty years, and was released on October 11, 2013.[^10]
After his release Hoffenberg publicly claimed that Epstein had been a co-architect of the Towers fraud and had walked away with money while leaving Hoffenberg to face prosecution alone. Epstein was never charged in connection with Towers Financial. Hoffenberg swore in 2018 that prosecutors had "offered me a reduced sentence in exchange for information about Epstein's role" and that he refused; his lawyer Gary Baise said Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]] asked him, "Why did he not give up Epstein?", while Epstein's lawyers wrote that at a December 2013 conference "Judge Sweet stated he was unaware of Epstein." Hoffenberg sued Epstein and Financial Trust Company on May 27, 2016 (No. 1:16-cv-03989); after Epstein's counsel at [[Troutman Sanders]] raised standing, limitations and in pari delicto, he withdrew with prejudice and Judge [[Richard J. Sullivan]] dismissed the case on July 5, 2016. A class action by two Towers noteholders filed August 20, 2018 with Hoffenberg's affidavit (No. 1:18-cv-07580) was terminated on October 5, 2018 after a motion to dismiss and a sanctions threat. [[Illinois Department of Insurance|Illinois insurance regulators]], who had sued Hoffenberg in 1991, never deposed Epstein; their lawyer, Barry Gross, called him "very elusive." Hoffenberg was found dead at his home in Derby, [[Connecticut]] in August 2022.[^5][^10]
### Leslie Wexner and the Source of Wealth ### Leslie Wexner and the Source of Wealth
Leslie Wexner, the founder of [[The Limited]], [[L Brands]], [[Victoria's Secret]], and [[Bath & Body Works]], met Epstein in the mid-1980s and made him his money manager and confidant. In 1991 Wexner granted Epstein sweeping power of attorney, authority to borrow money, sign checks, buy and sell property, and hire and fire on his behalf. Wexner transferred to Epstein the use of, and eventually title to, the seven-story townhouse at [[9 East 71st Street]] in Manhattan, one of the largest private residences in the city, which an Epstein entity took over around 2011 for far below its market value. Wexner also co-founded the [[Mega Group]], a club of wealthy Jewish businessmen and philanthropists, with the [[Seagram]] heir [[Charles Bronfman]].[^3][^6] Leslie Wexner, the founder of [[The Limited]], [[L Brands]], [[Victoria's Secret]], and [[Bath & Body Works]], met Epstein in the mid-1980s and made him his money manager and confidant. In 1991 Wexner granted Epstein sweeping power of attorney, authority to borrow money, sign checks, buy and sell property, and hire and fire on his behalf. Epstein joined the board of the [[Wexner Foundation]] in 1992, in the seat of Wexner's mother, Bella Wexner. Wexner transferred to Epstein the use of, and eventually title to, the seven-story townhouse at [[9 East 71st Street]] in Manhattan, one of the largest private residences in the city, under a 1998 purchase agreement secured by a 10 million dollar note; in December 2011 the Epstein-owned Nine East 71st Street Corporation transferred the house to Maple, Inc., another Epstein entity. Wexner also co-founded the [[Mega Group]], a club of wealthy Jewish businessmen and philanthropists, with the Seagram heir [[Charles Bronfman]].[^3][^5][^11]
Wexner cut ties with Epstein around 2007, and in 2019 he stated publicly that Epstein had "misappropriated vast sums" from him and his family, an amount reported as more than 46 million dollars, which Wexner said he had recovered. The mechanics of how a single client's fortune translated into Epstein's own remained opaque. A December 2025 [[New York Times]] investigation concluded that Epstein built his apparent wealth through "scams, theft and lies" rather than financial acumen, that his billionaire status was exaggerated, and that the Wexner relationship was central to whatever fortune he actually held.[^3] Wexner cut ties with Epstein around 2007, and in 2019 he stated publicly that Epstein had "misappropriated vast sums" from him and his family, an amount reported as more than 46 million dollars, which Wexner said he had recovered. The mechanics of how a single client's fortune translated into Epstein's own remained opaque. A December 2025 [[New York Times]] investigation concluded that Epstein built his apparent wealth through "scams, theft and lies" rather than financial acumen, that his billionaire status was exaggerated, and that the Wexner relationship was central to whatever fortune he actually held. A May 2003 [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]] due-diligence report stated that Epstein, "through the trading of his accounts and that of Leslie Wexner," generated "one of the largest annual revenue flows of private clients in the private bank."[^3][^12]
An August 15, 2019 FBI Criminal Investigative Division document, released in 2026, listed eight people as co-conspirators, among them Wexner, [[Jean-Luc Brunel]] and [[Lesley Groff]]; the Justice Department removed the redaction of Wexner's name in February 2026 after Representative [[Thomas Massie]] raised it. A representative for Wexner said prosecutors told his lawyers in 2019 that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect." In Israel a March 1, 2026 criminal complaint asked police to investigate the Wexner Foundation's 2.3 million dollar payments to Ehud Barak, after a January 30, 2026 Justice Department release showed Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] writing in December 2005 that he "was involved in the negotiation and execution" of Barak's contract.[^13][^14]
### Ghislaine Maxwell and the Maxwell Intelligence Question ### Ghislaine Maxwell and the Maxwell Intelligence Question
Ghislaine Maxwell became Epstein's companion, social organizer, and, according to her 2021 federal conviction, the principal recruiter and procurer of his trafficking operation, beginning in the early 1990s after she moved to New York. She is the youngest daughter of Robert Maxwell (born Jan Ludvik Hoch in [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1923), the British publishing magnate who controlled [[Mirror Group Newspapers]], served as a Labour [[Member of Parliament]], looted roughly 460 million pounds from the Mirror Group pension funds, and died in a disputed drowning off his yacht near the [[Canary Islands]] on November 5, 1991. Robert Maxwell was alleged across multiple published accounts to have operated as an intelligence asset, including for [[Mossad]], [[MI6]], and the [[KGB]], with claims involving the distribution of modified [[PROMIS]] software and a role in the [[Mordechai Vanunu]] case.[^2][^20] Ghislaine Maxwell became Epstein's companion, social organizer, and, according to her 2021 federal conviction, the principal recruiter and procurer of his trafficking operation, beginning in the early 1990s after she moved to New York. She is the youngest daughter of Robert Maxwell (born Jan Ludvik Hoch in [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1923), the British publishing magnate who controlled [[Mirror Group Newspapers]], served as a Labour [[Member of Parliament]], looted roughly 460 million pounds from the Mirror Group pension funds, and died in a disputed drowning off his yacht near the [[Canary Islands]] on November 5, 1991. Robert Maxwell was alleged across multiple published accounts to have operated as an intelligence asset, including for [[Mossad]], [[MI6]], and the [[KGB]], with claims involving the distribution of modified [[PROMIS]] software and a role in the [[Mordechai Vanunu]] case. On March 15, 2018 Epstein emailed a correspondent, whose name is redacted, a press passage stating that Robert Maxwell had "threatened Mossad," demanding 400 million pounds "to save his crumbling empire" or he "would expose all he had done for them."[^2][^15][^16]
The strongest version of the intelligence claim traces to [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-described former Israeli military intelligence officer, who alleged in his book Profits of War (1992) and later interviews that Robert Maxwell was a longtime Mossad asset and that Epstein and Ghislaine ran a sexual blackmail operation connected to Israeli intelligence. Ben-Menashe's account is uncorroborated by any declassified file, and his reliability is widely disputed. What is documented is narrower: that Ghislaine maintained the transatlantic social access through which Epstein operated, and that Epstein separately cultivated Barak and the Israeli surveillance-technology firm [[Carbyne]]. Whether the operation was directed by any service, or simply weaponized inherited wealth and connections for leverage, is unproven in any primary source and is treated here as a documented analytical thread rather than established fact.[^2][^20] The strongest version of the intelligence claim traces to [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-described former Israeli military intelligence officer, who alleged in his book Profits of War (1992) and later interviews that Robert Maxwell was a longtime Mossad asset and that Epstein and Ghislaine ran a sexual blackmail operation connected to Israeli intelligence. Ben-Menashe's account is uncorroborated by any declassified file, and his reliability is widely disputed. What is documented is narrower: that Ghislaine maintained the transatlantic social access through which Epstein operated, and that Epstein separately cultivated Barak and the Israeli surveillance-technology firm [[Carbyne]]. No primary source establishes that the operation was directed by any service.[^2][^15]
### The Properties ### The Properties
Epstein's residences functioned as the physical infrastructure of the trafficking operation. The Manhattan townhouse at 9 East 71st Street, the Palm Beach house at [[358 El Brillo Way]] (acquired in 1990), the roughly 10,000-acre [[Zorro Ranch]] near Stanley, New Mexico, the private island of [[Little St. James]] in the U.S. Virgin Islands (acquired in 1998), the neighboring [[Great St. James]] (acquired in 2016), and an apartment on the [[Avenue Foch]] in Paris formed a circuit across which victims and associates were moved. Victims and a 1996 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] report by [[Maria Farmer]] described hidden cameras and surveillance equipment in the properties, which fed the later allegation that the residences were instrumented to record guests.[^4][^9] Epstein's residences functioned as the physical infrastructure of the trafficking operation. The Manhattan townhouse at 9 East 71st Street, the Palm Beach house at [[358 El Brillo Way]] (acquired in 1990), the roughly 10,000-acre [[Zorro Ranch]] near Stanley, New Mexico, the private island of [[Little St. James]] in the U.S. Virgin Islands (acquired in 1998), the neighboring [[Great St. James]] (acquired in 2016), and an apartment on the [[Avenue Foch]] in Paris formed a circuit across which victims and associates were moved. Victims and a 1996 [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] report by [[Maria Farmer]] described hidden cameras and surveillance equipment in the properties, which fed the later allegation that the residences were instrumented to record guests. At his death the estate valued Zorro Ranch at 72 million dollars, the Manhattan house at 56 million, and the two islands together at 86 million.[^17][^18][^19]
Zorro Ranch in New Mexico was, according to a 2019 New York Times report, the site Epstein discussed for a project to "seed the human race with his DNA" by impregnating many women, a scheme he described to scientists and associates and that never came to fruition. New Mexico reopened a criminal inquiry into the ranch in 2025. Little St. James, called "Pedophile Island" in local accounts, was where Epstein hosted a 2002 science conference and where multiple victims said abuse occurred; under the 2022 settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands the island was sold and half the proceeds paid to the territory.[^9][^15] Zorro Ranch in New Mexico was, according to a 2019 New York Times report, the site Epstein discussed for a project to "seed the human race with his DNA" by impregnating many women, a scheme he described to scientists and associates and that never came to fruition. New Mexico reopened a criminal inquiry into the ranch in 2025. On August 19, 2010, two days after Epstein registered as a sex offender in New Mexico, the state Department of Public Safety told the Santa Fe County sheriff that he was not required to register, because the state treated the Florida offense as registrable only if the minor was under 16; the minor in the plea was 17. Little St. James, called "Pedophile Island" in local accounts, was where Epstein hosted a 2002 science conference and where multiple victims said abuse occurred; under the 2022 settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands the island was sold and half the proceeds, about 11 million dollars, paid to the territory.[^18][^19][^20]
At his last address verification as a registered sex offender, in July 2018, Epstein refused to let Virgin Islands Department of Justice investigators, assisted by [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]], go beyond the dock of Little St. James, calling the dock his "front door," and had them meet him at his office on [[St. Thomas]]. His organization objected to the territory's inspections of unpermitted construction on Great St. James as "invasions" of his constitutional right to privacy in a home "which he described defined as the entire island." Island employees signed confidentiality agreements barring them from speaking with law enforcement and were told to notify the organization and use its counsel if contacted.[^11]
### The Trafficking Operation and the Recruitment Network ### The Trafficking Operation and the Recruitment Network
The operation recruited girls, some as young as 14, to give Epstein "massages" that became sexual abuse, and paid victims to recruit additional victims in a pyramid structure. The schemers and recruiters included Ghislaine Maxwell and a circle of assistants and procurers: [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Nadia Marcinkova]], [[Adriana Ross]], and [[Lesley Groff]], the four employees named and granted immunity in the 2008 federal agreement, and the French modeling agent [[Jean-Luc Brunel]], whose [[MC2 Model Management]] agency was reportedly seeded with about one million dollars of Epstein money and supplied women and girls. Brunel was arrested in France in December 2020 on charges including the rape of minors and was found hanged in a Paris prison in February 2022.[^4] The operation recruited girls, some as young as 14, to give Epstein "massages" that became sexual abuse, and paid victims to recruit additional victims in a pyramid structure. The schemers and recruiters included Ghislaine Maxwell and a circle of assistants and procurers: [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Nadia Marcinkova]], [[Adriana Ross]], and Lesley Groff, the four employees named and granted immunity in the 2007 federal agreement, and the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, whose [[MC2 Model Management]] agency was reportedly seeded with about one million dollars of Epstein money and supplied women and girls. Brunel was arrested in France in December 2020 on charges including the rape of minors and was found hanged in a Paris prison in February 2022.[^17]
The Palm Beach Police Department opened an investigation in 2005 after a parent reported that her teenage daughter had been molested, and detectives identified dozens of victims and a network of recruiters. The most prominent victim-witnesses include [[Virginia Giuffre]] (recruited at age 16 or 17 while working at [[Mar-a-Lago]]), Maria Farmer and her sister [[Annie Farmer]], [[Courtney Wild]], and [[Sarah Ransome]]. Their accounts, depositions, and civil suits, many unsealed in the 2024 [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] document release, provided much of the public record of the operation.[^4][^21] A March 2011 JPMorgan report quoted in later shareholder litigation stated that "MC2 Model Management and Jeffrey Epstein engaged in racketeering that involved luring in minor children for sexual play for money," that Brunel "often visited Epstein in jail," and that Epstein had paid MC2 one million dollars in 2005, "unknown if the money was given as a secret investment or payment for services as a procurer." A 2011 compliance summary recorded that "the banker said today we extended Epstein a loan in relation to this modeling agency," a JPMorgan letter of credit to MC2. Epstein's JPMorgan accounts paid nearly 1.5 million dollars to known recruiters, including MC2.[^21]
The Palm Beach Police Department opened an investigation in 2005 after a parent reported that her teenage daughter had been molested, and detectives identified dozens of victims and a network of recruiters. The most prominent victim-witnesses overall include [[Virginia Giuffre]] (recruited at age 16 or 17 while working at [[Mar-a-Lago]]), Maria Farmer and her sister [[Annie Farmer]], who was abused at the New Mexico ranch in 1996, [[Courtney Wild]], and [[Sarah Ransome]]. Their accounts, depositions, and civil suits, many unsealed from the [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] record between 2019 and 2024, provided much of the public record of the operation.[^17][^22][^23]
### The Flight Logs and the Black Book ### The Flight Logs and the Black Book
Epstein owned a Boeing 727 and additional aircraft flown by the pilots [[Larry Visoski]] and [[David Rodgers]], whose logbooks recorded passengers on flights among New York, Palm Beach, the Virgin Islands, and Europe. The logs surfaced through the civil litigation of 2009 to 2015 and became the basis for much of the public mapping of Epstein's contacts, though a log entry records travel and not conduct. Visoski testified at the 2021 Maxwell trial that he had never witnessed sexual activity aboard the aircraft, and the logs by themselves establish who flew, not what occurred.[^4] Epstein's Boeing 727, the [[Lolita Express]], and additional aircraft were flown by the pilots [[Larry Visoski]] and [[David Rodgers]], whose logbooks recorded passengers on flights among New York, Palm Beach, the Virgin Islands, and Europe. The logs surfaced through the civil litigation of 2009 to 2015 and became the basis for much of the public mapping of Epstein's contacts, though a log entry records travel and not conduct. Visoski testified at the 2021 Maxwell trial that he had never witnessed sexual activity aboard the aircraft, and the logs by themselves establish who flew, not what occurred.[^17][^24]
A bound contact directory, the "little black book," held roughly 1,900 entries of names, telephone numbers, and addresses spanning finance, politics, royalty, science, and entertainment. A former house manager at the Palm Beach property, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], copied the directory and tried to sell it in 2009, calling it the "holy grail"; he was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2010. Redacted versions of the directory and of the flight manifests later circulated publicly and were cited in reporting and litigation to identify members of Epstein's social circle.[^4][^23] The 727 was registered N908JE to [[JEGE, Inc.]], of which Epstein was president, sole director and sole shareholder, from January 2001 until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019; Epstein was named chief executive on JEGE's Part 125 operating certificate, and Darren Indyke signed its 2013 re-registration. The Gulfstream N909JE was held by [[Hyperion Air, Inc.]], also wholly his. Other aircraft were held by Hyperion Air LLC, JEGE, LLC, Plan D LLC and Air Ghislaine Inc. (renamed Shmitka Air Inc. and then Freedom Air International Inc. in 2010), with Visoski signing filings as manager or director of aviation; Hyperion Air LLC bought back a Sikorsky helicopter on June 13, 2019, three weeks before Epstein's arrest. The 2007 draft federal indictment identified each charged flight by the corporate owner of the aircraft, and according to NBC News a May 2007 prosecution memorandum proposed charging JEGE, Inc. and Hyperion Air, Inc. alongside Epstein; the non-prosecution agreement ended the federal case, and both companies continued to hold his aircraft until after his death.[^25][^26][^27]
The documentary record expanded sharply after Epstein's death. The January 2024 unsealing of the Giuffre v. Maxwell exhibits by Judge Loretta Preska, the staged 2025 Justice Department releases, and the House Oversight Committee productions added emails, calendars, depositions, and photographs to the logs and the directory. The combined record widened the list of documented contacts while leaving intact the distinction between appearing in Epstein's logs or address book and participating in his crimes, a distinction that much of the subsequent public controversy turned on.[^17][^21] A bound contact directory, the "little black book," held roughly 1,900 entries of names, telephone numbers, and addresses spanning finance, politics, royalty, science, and entertainment. A former house manager at the Palm Beach property, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], copied the directory and offered it for sale, calling it "the Holy Grail or Golden Nugget." The complaint against him, filed December 1, 2009, bears the name of Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]], the line prosecutor on the Epstein investigation; it records that Rodriguez offered the material through a cooperating witness to an "associate" who was an undercover FBI employee, and that he had given it to no "law enforcement agency or any of the civil attorneys." The charged obstruction ran from January 18, 2007, while the federal grand jury investigation was open, to November 3, 2009. He pleaded guilty and Judge [[Kenneth Marra]] sentenced him on June 21, 2010 to eighteen months. At Maxwell's 2021 trial a copy of the directory was admitted as Government Exhibit 52 after authentication by the earlier Palm Beach house manager [[Juan Alessi]]. Redacted versions of the directory and of the flight manifests circulated publicly and were cited in reporting and litigation to identify members of Epstein's social circle.[^17][^24]
### The 2008 Non-Prosecution Agreement The documentary record expanded sharply after Epstein's death. The unsealing of the Giuffre v. Maxwell record, which began on August 9, 2019 and continued in tranches through January 2024 under Judge [[Loretta Preska]], the staged Justice Department releases of 2025 and 2026, and the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] productions added emails, calendars, depositions, and photographs to the logs and the directory. The combined record widened the list of documented contacts while leaving intact the distinction between appearing in Epstein's logs or address book and participating in his crimes.[^22][^23][^28]
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[Southern District of Florida]] investigated Epstein in 2006 and 2007 and prepared a 53-page federal indictment. Instead of prosecuting, the U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]] negotiated a [[non-prosecution agreement]] in 2007 and 2008 under which Epstein pleaded guilty to two Florida state charges, soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution, was sentenced to 18 months, served about 13 in the Palm Beach County stockade with work-release privileges that let him leave six days a week, and registered as a sex offender. The agreement also granted federal immunity to named co-conspirators and was concealed from the victims.[^4] ### The Palm Beach Investigation and the State Case
The deal's leniency became the subject of the [[Miami Herald]] series "Perversion of Justice" by the reporter [[Julie K. Brown]] in 2018, which revived the case. In February 2019 the federal judge [[Kenneth Marra]] ruled that prosecutors had violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] by hiding the agreement from victims. Acosta, who had become U.S. Secretary of Labor under Donald Trump, resigned in July 2019. A 2020 Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility report found that Acosta had exercised "poor judgment" but had not committed professional misconduct.[^4][^19][^21] The Palm Beach investigation produced a sworn probable cause affidavit on May 1, 2006 in which Detective [[Joseph Recarey]] recommended four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation, all second-degree felonies. State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] instead convened a grand jury, which on July 19, 2006 returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution after hearing two of the girls. Police Chief [[Michael Reiter]] said in a 2009 civil deposition that Krischer had first told him "Let's go for it" because Epstein was "somebody we have to stop," and that "it was pretty clear to me that Mr. Krischer did not want to prosecute this case"; Krischer later told the Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] that "there were witness problems." Reiter gave his evidence to the FBI. Krischer also told the office that [[Alan Dershowitz]], brought in by Epstein's local counsel, had threatened: "We're going to destroy your witnesses; don't go to court because we're going to destroy those girls." According to Krischer, Dershowitz so "tainted the waters" that Epstein also hired the local attorney [[Jack Goldberger]], with whom Krischer had "a working relationship"; the husband of Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] was Goldberger's law partner.[^29][^30][^31]
On September 21, 2007, three days before the federal agreement was signed, Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor: "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing. After this is resolved I would love to buy you a cup at Starbucks and have a conversation." Emails among Krischer, Belohlavek and a federal prosecutor from September 19 to 25, 2007 coordinated a meeting schedule with Epstein's attorneys. In December 2010, two and a half years after the state plea, an Epstein correspondent wrote to him that "krischer spoke to the governor before he left for Korea," that Krischer had lunched with a New York criminal defense lawyer, and that "we may want to think about using him with the registration stuff unless we are too invested with Kirkland. probably help us with Krischer."[^22][^32]
### The 2007 Non-Prosecution Agreement
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[Southern District of Florida]] investigated Epstein in 2006 and 2007 and prepared a 53-page, 60-count draft federal indictment. Instead of prosecuting, the U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]] negotiated the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]], signed September 24, 2007, under which Epstein pleaded guilty to two Florida state charges, soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution, was sentenced to 18 months, served about 13 in the Palm Beach County stockade with work-release privileges, and registered as a sex offender. The agreement also granted federal immunity to named co-conspirators and was concealed from the victims.[^17][^22][^33]
The agreement's co-conspirator clause provided that "the [[United States]] also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova." On September 24, 2007 Epstein's lawyer [[Jay Lefkowitz]] asked the prosecutor to "do whatever you can to keep this from becoming public," and the office instructed the official briefing Chief Reiter not to tell him "about the money issue." Acosta met Lefkowitz for breakfast on October 12, 2007, after the signing, and Lefkowitz's follow-up letter thanked him for assuring that his office would not contact the identified victims.[^22][^34]
Lefkowitz and co-counsel [[Kenneth Starr]] were partners at [[Kirkland & Ellis]], the firm where Acosta had practiced in Washington before joining the [[George W. Bush]] Justice Department. From August 2005 to January 2009 Lefkowitz was also Bush's part-time Special Envoy for Human Rights in [[North Korea]]. On July 6, 2007, eleven weeks before the signing, Dershowitz and [[Gerald Lefcourt]] wrote to First Assistant [[Jeffrey Sloman]], Criminal Division chief [[Matthew Menchel]] and the line prosecutors citing the Harvard psychologist [[Steven Pinker]]'s opinion that their narrow reading of 18 U.S.C. 2422(b) was "the sole rational reading." On his retirement from Kirkland in March 2026 Lefkowitz said that "knowing what we all know now, I would not have taken on the Epstein matter," and a firm spokesperson said: "To say the least, we deeply regret the firm's 2007 representation of Jeffrey Epstein."[^33][^35][^36][^37][^38]
The prosecution team kept working on the federal case after the signing. On February 14, 2008 Villafana wrote to the FBI case agents that she had not yet sent the indictment and "was just asking for input on who to include and who to exclude." On May 16, 2008 Sloman wrote to her, "We got approved," explaining: "Alex called to tell me. He said the ltr needs to be tweaked which we'll do on Monday. I wouldn't call the FBI yet." In March 2011, JPMorgan's investment bank general counsel reported to the bank's general counsel, [[Stephen Cutler]], a former Director of Enforcement at the SEC, that Lefkowitz, who "represented Epstein in state plea/fed NPA process," believed "any pre-plea conduct is subsumed within plea/NPA"; Cutler later testified that the bank "would have seen the non-pros agreement" sometime before 2011.[^39][^40][^41]
A 51-page "Epstein Investigation Timeline," marked privileged and as containing grand jury material and stamped Exhibit A-1, records the negotiation from the prosecutors' side. Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter had written to Krischer in May 2006 urging him to proceed on the probable cause affidavits or to recuse himself. In September 2007 Acosta, [[Drew Oosterbaan]], Sloman, Villafana and John McMillan met Starr, Lefkowitz and [[Lilly Ann Sanchez]]; on September 20 an internal email reported that Lefkowitz wanted to remove the registration requirement, and on September 23 Acosta told Lefkowitz to deal directly with Lourie and Villafana. On November 29, 2007 a forwarded exchange between Sloman and [[Andrew Lourie]] recorded that the defense "originally agreed to plead to the state felony that they thought was unregisterable (but did not tell us knowing we thought it was), but then discovered they were wrong and tried to get out of it. They tried several times to knock down the jail time after agreeing to the time." According to the chronology, in a telephone call in early January 2008 Lefkowitz admitted to Acosta that he had never intended Epstein to plead guilty to an offense requiring sex offender registration. After the Criminal Division rejected Epstein's appeal in May 2008, Villafana asked to indict, and Sloman and Acosta advised that Epstein would be given the chance to perform. On June 9, 2009, with Epstein on work release, she sent a memorandum titled "Request to Provide Notification of Breach," an indictment package was signed again for presentation on June 16, and on June 12 she wrote to Jack Goldberger about a violation of the agreement. The chronology ends with the formal office-wide recusal of the Southern District of Florida in July and August 2011.[^42]
Epstein served his sentence in the custody of the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] under Sheriff [[Ric Bradshaw]], who approved him for work release. From October 2008 he spent "12 hours a day purportedly working at the '[[Florida Science Foundation]],' an entity Epstein had recently incorporated that was co-located at the West Palm Beach office of one of Epstein's attorneys." The foundation paid the sheriff's office 128,136 dollars during his incarceration, money reported to have paid off-duty deputies assigned to him while he was there; later reporting on sheriff's records described him leaving the jail up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. In August 2019, after a letter from Bradshaw, Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] ordered the [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] to investigate; its May 2021 reports found no evidence that Krischer or Belohlavek "committed any crimes, accepted any bribes or gifts, or did anything improper," and found that Epstein "received differential treatment" in sheriff's custody that was not criminal.[^33][^43][^44]
Federal prosecutors had researched the sheriff's work-release rules from November 2007, seven months before the plea, and in July 2008 Villafana corresponded with "Col. M. Gauger" of the sheriff's office "re Epstein work release." On November 20, 2008, after learning that Epstein was on work release, she asked to indict him, and her criminal chief replied that Sloman agreed with the approach and next steps. On December 3, 2008 she wrote to her supervisors that "Goldberger and Krisher [sic] . . . have been scheming to get Epstein out on work release" and that Epstein was paying off-duty deputies "between $3000 and $4100 per week" for "protection"; on December 11 she wrote to the sheriff's Corrections Division that his application gave, as the Florida Science Foundation's telephone number, the number of Goldberger's law firm, and "the Sheriff's Office neither acknowledged nor responded." The sheriff's Extra Duty Permits System carried the detail as Permit No. 7804, "FL Science Foundation - Plain Clothed Position," and deputies' July 2009 overtime reports describe the assignment as "Provide security for Jeffrey Epstein," with midday escorts from the office to 358 El Brillo Way and back.[^42][^45][^46]
The civil settlements that followed were written into the criminal agreement. Epstein's November 2009 settlement with Virginia Roberts, later Virginia Giuffre, suing as Jane Doe No. 102 before Judge Marra, paid her 500,000 dollars, released Epstein's agents and employees and "any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant," and recited that it "is pursuant to and is in fulfillment of Jeffrey Epstein's obligations to Virginia Roberts" under "the Non-Prosecution Agreement, its Addendum, and its Affirmation." Epstein agreed "to continue to abide by Judge Marra's July 31, 2009 No Contact Order."[^47]
### The Agreement in Court and in Review
The deal's leniency became the subject of the [[Miami Herald]] series "Perversion of Justice" by the reporter [[Julie K. Brown]] in 2018, which revived the case. In February 2019 Judge Marra ruled that prosecutors had violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] by hiding the agreement from victims. The Justice Department then recused the Southern District of Florida from the litigation and assigned the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia to defend it. On April 15, 2021 the en banc [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit]] denied Courtney Wild's mandamus petition, holding that the Act gives victims no freestanding pre-charge remedy while declining to decide whether the rights attach before charges; the Supreme Court denied certiorari on February 22, 2022.[^22][^48][^49]
The Office of Professional Responsibility had declined in May 2011 to investigate a claim by Professor [[Paul Cassell]] that "improper influences" produced the agreement, citing its policy of not investigating matters that "could have been addressed in the course of litigation, unless a court has made a specific finding of misconduct." It opened a review on February 6, 2019 after a December 3, 2018 letter from Senator [[Ben Sasse]]. Acosta, who had become U.S. Secretary of Labor under Donald Trump, resigned in July 2019. The office's November 2020 report found that Acosta had not committed professional misconduct and "did not find evidence that his decision was based on corruption or other impermissible considerations, such as Epstein's wealth, status, or associations," but concluded that resolving the case through the agreement "constitutes poor judgment," that "the NPA was a flawed mechanism," and that the government's conduct "gave victims and the public the misimpression that the government had colluded with Epstein's counsel to keep the NPA secret from the victims." It found that the supervisors other than Acosta had "left the USAO, were transitioning to other jobs, or were absent at critical junctures."[^33][^50]
Before the report was final, the Chief of the Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[Southern District of New York]] reviewed the draft and on August 21, 2020 asked for two wording changes, which the Office of Professional Responsibility accepted: "at least one victim known to be a minor" became "at least one victim believed to be a minor," described as "more accurately reflect[ing] our position in the bail arguments regarding Epstein," and a statement that investigators "were aware" Epstein used hidden cameras in his New York residence to record his sexual encounters became that they "had learned" it.[^51]
Menchel had left the office in August 2007, weeks before the signing, for [[Kobre & Kim]]; according to reporting on the full report, he had offered the 2007 plea terms to an Epstein lawyer he had formerly dated. Epstein estate records released by the House Oversight Committee in October 2025 show appointments, 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.[^33][^52]
When Ghislaine Maxwell invoked the co-conspirator clause, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] held in 2024 that under United States v. Annabi it bound only the Southern District of Florida, noting that the circuits "have been split on this issue for decades" and that the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division had told the Office of Professional Responsibility she "played no role" in the agreement; the Supreme Court denied certiorari on October 6, 2025. None of the four named women has been charged by any district. Among the files released in 2026 is a May 6, 2020 email in which a Southern District of New York prosecutor listed the office's internal memoranda, including a co-conspirator memo delivered in the week after Epstein's death, an 86-page "co-conspirator update memo" and a 13-page "corporate prosecution memo" described as "never discussed." Groff's lawyer said she was never told she was considered a co-conspirator.[^13][^34][^53][^54]
### The Science Network and the Eugenics Ambition ### The Science Network and the Eugenics Ambition
From the late 1990s Epstein financed and embedded himself in elite science through the literary agent John Brockman and his [[Edge Foundation]], whose annual "billionaires' dinner" Epstein attended and helped underwrite, and through targeted university gifts. He donated roughly 9.1 million dollars to [[Harvard University]] between 2001 and 2007, including about 6.5 million dollars around 2003 to help establish the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] under the mathematical biologist Martin Nowak, who gave Epstein an office and, according to Harvard's May 2020 internal review, key-card access and more than 40 visits after his 2008 conviction. Epstein cultivated scientists including Marvin Minsky of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], the geneticist George Church, the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]], and the cognitive scientist [[Steven Pinker]], and funded conferences attended by figures up to Stephen Hawking.[^8][^9] From the late 1990s Epstein financed and embedded himself in elite science through the literary agent John Brockman and his [[Edge Foundation]], whose annual "billionaires' dinner" Epstein attended and helped underwrite, and through targeted university gifts. He gave [[Harvard University]] 9,179,000 dollars between 1998 and 2007, of which 8,443,000 dollars came in 22 gifts before his 2006 arrest and 736,000 dollars came between the arrest and the 2008 conviction. The largest, 6.5 million dollars in 2003, established the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] under Martin Nowak, who gave Epstein an office and, according to Harvard's May 2020 internal review, key-card access and more than 40 visits after his 2008 conviction. The program's own original web text stated that it "was established in 2003 by Harvard University President [[Larry Summers|Lawrence H. Summers]] following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and [[Benedict Gross]]." Contemporary press reports described the gift as part of a 30 million dollar pledge; Harvard's review "found no Harvard record of such a pledge," and Epstein's own foundation website continued in 2020 to claim a 35 million dollar gift. Epstein had been admitted in September 2005 as a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Psychology on the recommendation of its chair, [[Stephen Kosslyn]], who had received 200,000 dollars from Epstein between 1998 and 2002 and did not disclose it.[^55][^56]
Epstein's interest in genetics and population converged with a stated ambition to spread his own DNA. The 2019 New York Times report documented that he told scientists of plans to impregnate women at Zorro Ranch to seed the human race with his genome, and that he was drawn to [[transhumanism]] and [[eugenics]]. After his 2019 arrest, Church apologized for continued contact, and the [[MIT Media Lab]] director [[Joi Ito]] resigned over revelations, reported by Ronan Farrow, that the lab had concealed Epstein's donations. The science network gave Epstein a reputation as a patron of ideas that ran in parallel to his criminal operation.[^8][^9] Epstein cultivated scientists including Marvin Minsky of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], the geneticist George Church, the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]], and the cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. He funded Minsky's April 2002 St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium and a December 2011 conference, and in March 2006, four months before his indictment, the "Confronting Gravity" conference in St. Thomas organized by Krauss, with about twenty physicists including Stephen Hawking and three Nobel laureates, and a barbecue on Little St. James.[^18][^57][^58]
After President [[Drew Faust]] barred further Epstein gifts no later than November 2008, donors Epstein introduced gave Harvard 9.5 million dollars between 2010 and 2015: 7.5 million dollars for Nowak's program (500,000 dollars from the [[Falconwood Foundation]] in 2010, and 7 million dollars from Leon Black, [[Debra Black]] and the [[Black Family Foundation]] in 2011, 2014 and 2015) and 2 million dollars from Black for Church. Epstein's accountant arranged gift letters permitting Nowak to spend the Black money on rent, and Harvard development staff thanked Epstein in December 2014 "for trying to expedite this gift." Epstein had been a trustee of the Black Family Foundation from 1997 until, according to Black's representative, July 2007; Black's representative told Harvard that "none of the funds were provided by Mr. Epstein." Black also gave 2 million dollars to Krauss's Origins Project at [[Arizona State University]] in 2014 and 2015, where one accounting entry listed Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education," and, by the account of internal [[MIT Media Lab]] emails, 5.5 million dollars to the Media Lab in 2014 at Epstein's direction.[^55][^59][^60][^61]
Epstein's interest in genetics and population converged with a stated ambition to spread his own DNA. The 2019 New York Times report documented that he told scientists of plans to impregnate women at Zorro Ranch to seed the human race with his genome, and that he was drawn to [[transhumanism]] and [[eugenics]]. In 2010, after his conviction, Epstein gave 20,000 dollars to the [[World Transhumanist Association]] (Humanity+), and in 2009 his C.O.U.Q. Foundation gave 50,000 dollars to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, now the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]]. In 2014 he and Church formed an investment company, Georgarage, incorporated in Delaware by Darren Indyke, after Church sent Epstein a ten-stage, 10 million dollar investment plan that included "Supercentenarianstudy.com," reversing aging and "cold-resistant elephants." Epstein discussed Georgarage stakes in the xenotransplant company eGenesis, the gene-editing company Androcyte (where, its founder said, Epstein proposed becoming board chairman), and a California sequencing firm; no investment was completed. Androcyte's assets passed in 2017 to BetterHumans, which describes itself as "the world's first specifically-transhumanist bio-medical research organization." In 2013 Epstein's cells were sampled into Church's Personal Genome Project and cell lines were created, over staff objections to an attempt to expedite his sample. After his 2019 arrest, Church apologized for continued contact.[^18][^59][^62][^63]
Epstein's publicists worked to attach his name to the institutions he funded. In mid-2013 his publicist asked Nowak's program for links because "a link on Harvard's network would be very helpful," and in 2014 obtained a "Friends" page on the program's website on which Epstein was the only entry, because "it would be very helpful in terms of Google results if his name were attached to a Harvard.edu url." In a 2012 email a person whose name is redacted in the Justice Department release told Epstein that press releases about Nowak's work had been placed with major outlets, with more planned on Church and others, in an effort to push "the bad stuff" off the first page of search results; Epstein replied that "ther[e] should be an article a day or every two days." In 2015 an Epstein foundation letter falsely told the [[John Templeton Foundation]] that Enhanced Education had funded Nowak's program since 2003, securing matching conditions for a 1.5 million dollar grant; Harvard's review found that Nowak and his administrator "provided false information."[^55][^62]
The MIT Media Lab director [[Joi Ito]] resigned on September 7, 2019 over revelations, reported by [[Ronan Farrow]], that the lab had concealed Epstein's donations. Farrow reported, citing internal documents and the former development associate [[Signe Swenson]], that Epstein was listed as "disqualified" in MIT's donor database and that the Media Lab recorded his gifts as anonymous. MIT's investigators at [[Goodwin Procter]] wrote that "neither Epstein nor his foundations was ever coded as 'disqualified,'" a code it said denotes dormant donors, while confirming that MIT's senior team (General Counsel R. Gregory Morgan, Vice President Jeffrey Newton and Treasurer Israel Ruiz) approved the anonymous-gift framework in June 2013: "We do not want his name appearing on any list of supporters or donors in any form."[^60][^64]
### The Post-Conviction Network ### The Post-Conviction Network
After the 2008 plea Epstein rebuilt his social and business standing and continued to broker access among the wealthy and powerful. The [[Wall Street Journal]] reporting on his recovered calendars documented post-conviction meetings with William Burns (the future CIA director), [[Noam Chomsky]], the [[Obama]]-administration lawyer [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], and Tom Pritzker. Document releases established the August 2015 dinner hosted by Reid Hoffman in [[Palo Alto]] at which Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Joi Ito were present to raise money for the MIT Media Lab; a February 2016 email recording that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea"; the 2011 Tom Pritzker correspondence using "secret society" language; and 2014 meetings at the townhouse attended by William Burns.[^10][^11][^12] After the 2008 plea Epstein rebuilt his social and business standing and continued to broker access among the wealthy and powerful. On December 2, 2010, seventeen months after his release, he hosted a small dinner for Prince Andrew, who was staying at the Manhattan house; the publicist [[Peggy Siegal]] organized it and listed the guests as Andrew, [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]], [[Katie Couric]] and [[George Stephanopoulos]], describing the house as "one [of] the largest single dwellings in New York."[^65]
The political relationships were older and equally documented. Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's Boeing 727, the so-called [[Lolita Express]], more than two dozen times in the early 2000s, including a 2002 trip to Africa connected to the [[Clinton Foundation]], while denying any knowledge of Epstein's crimes or any visit to Little St. James. Prince Andrew, the [[Duke of York]], was photographed with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, settled her 2021 civil suit for a reported sum in 2022 without admitting liability, and was stripped of his royal and military titles between 2022 and 2025. Donald Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before a falling out, a relationship documented in flight logs, contemporaneous quotes, and a disputed 2003 birthday letter.[^11][^18] The [[Wall Street Journal]] reporting on his recovered calendars documented post-conviction meetings with [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], Tom Pritzker and William Burns. Burns met Epstein three times in 2014 while serving as [[Deputy Secretary of State]]; the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] spokeswoman [[Tammy Kupperman Thorp]] said in 2023 that Burns remembered "meeting Epstein once briefly in New York." Ruemmler, the [[Barack Obama]] administration's [[White House Counsel]] from 2011 to 2014, had more than three dozen appointments with Epstein between 2014 and 2019; Epstein's staff asked him twice whether young women should be kept out of the townhouse while she was there. On January 8, 2015 she wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?" Ruemmler told the Journal: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein." Chomsky had 270,000 dollars moved through Epstein's office.[^66][^67][^68]
Epstein's charity [[Gratitude America]], whose operating account was at [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas, paid the president of [[Bard College]], [[Leon Botstein]], in quarterly checks; one dated August 1, 2016, for 37,500 dollars payable to "Leon Botstein," bears the memo "3rd Quarterly Payment of 4." Deutsche Bank later produced the check images to federal prosecutors in New York. Bard said the 150,000 dollars was compensation for a year on the foundation's board as a music expert, and Botstein said he gave it to the college as part of a one million dollar gift that year: "I didn't benefit personally at all."[^69]
In an iMessage exchange of August 23, 2018 exported from a device whose owner's name is redacted, the contact saved as "Steve Bannon" wrote, "Do u have access that's not the front door," adding that "they have 24/7 surveillance on u," and, asked who was watching, "Don't know but real folks costing lot of coin." The account holder proposed meeting at "301 East 66," adding "I don't like he regency as it is totally wired" and "There is also a rear entrance on 67"; that evening he wrote, "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," proposed "a private screening of dharma for the power players. . . . Non of my fingerprints," referring to [[Errol Morris]]'s documentary on Bannon, and later wrote: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country , and then fake the heart attack." [[Steve Bannon]] confirmed to the New York Times in 2021 that he had recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Epstein for a documentary that was never released.[^70]
On August 8, 2016, in reply to Epstein's question "who attends," Pritzker sent him the membership of the [[Aspen Strategy Group]]: "Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama NSA), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers (MI6), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura." [[John Sawers]] had been chief of MI6.[^71]
Justice Department releases record a dinner on August 2, 2015 at the Baume restaurant in [[Palo Alto]], which the organizers bought out, whose confirmed attendees were [[Ed Boyden]], Reid Hoffman, Mark Zuckerberg, [[Priscilla Chan]], Peter Thiel, Epstein, Elon Musk and Joi Ito. On August 12, 2010 a correspondent whose name is redacted asked Epstein for "suggestions for an old guy. super smart / well connected that wants to continue legacy of 'old school' secret society?"; on February 6, 2016 Epstein wrote to another redacted correspondent that "peter thiel LOVED the secret socieity idea. . he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far," and received the reply ":-) let's do it."[^72][^73]
JPMorgan records produced in the Virgin Islands case show Epstein arranging introductions for [[Jes Staley]] to Ehud Barak, [[Peter Mandelson]] and Bill Gates, and referring Pritzker to the bank; in January 2008, months before Epstein's plea, Staley had his assistant arrange a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through [[Jamie Dimon]]'s office. Epstein arranged two consulting arrangements for Larry Summers from 2013, a paid advisory seat with the Mongolian president's office worth up to 100,000 dollars a year and a Kazakhstan economic-policy engagement for which Epstein proposed "3-5 million per year"; Summers formed LHSummers Economic Consulting LLC two months after Epstein raised the idea, and an Epstein foundation paid 14,000 dollars for his 2014 first-class airfare to Kazakhstan.[^12][^39][^74]
Howard Lutnick, who in 1998 bought 11 East 71st Street from an entity that had bought it from Epstein in 1996, signed an investment contract in the advertising company Adfin four days after a December 24, 2012 lunch on Little St. James, with Epstein signing for [[Southern Trust Company]]. A calendar alert of December 20, 2012 asked: "can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE's island?" In October 2025 Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005. An FBI Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021 and filed under the Epstein child-sex-trafficking case number records an October 2020 call from a caller describing himself as a former Cantor Fitzgerald compliance employee, who alleged money laundering by Lutnick through [[BGC Partners|BGC Financial]] and [[Cantor Fitzgerald]], claimed to hold documents linking Lutnick to Epstein and Maxwell, and alleged that "Epstein also sold Lutnick a house for $10 dollars through a trust fund." The FBI's own database query for Lutnick returned 26 results in New York case files, including a closed money-laundering case and a RICO real-estate control file, and three suspicious activity reports; the form notes that "queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case." The caller's allegations are recorded in the form as his statements, without findings.[^75][^76]
The political relationships were older and equally documented. Bill Clinton flew on the 727 more than two dozen times in the early 2000s, including a 2002 trip to Africa connected to the [[Clinton Foundation]], while denying any knowledge of Epstein's crimes or any visit to Little St. James. Prince Andrew, the [[Duke of York]], was photographed with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, settled her 2021 civil suit for a reported sum in 2022 without admitting liability, and was stripped of his royal and military titles between 2022 and 2025; an FBI New York email of June 8, 2020 asked about the status of the "MLAT request for Prince Andrew." Donald Trump socialized with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s before a falling out, a relationship documented in flight logs, contemporaneous quotes, and a disputed 2003 birthday letter.[^66][^77][^78]
### Carbyne and Ehud Barak
Epstein invested in the Israeli emergency-response company Reporty Homeland Security, renamed Carbyne in 2018 and chaired by Ehud Barak, through SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. In February 2019 SUM held warrants to buy 61,251 more preferred shares for 3.5 million dollars, raising its stake "from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis"; the exercise was funded by Southern Trust (2.4 million dollars) and [[NJF Capital]], formerly Montilla International Corporation (1.2 million dollars), and wired through [[Bank Leumi]]. When the bank's anti-money-laundering review asked for the "controlling person" of the limited partners, Indyke asked Epstein on March 14, 2019 whether he could confirm that Epstein was the controlling person of Southern Trust, and Epstein replied "Yes." Barak wrote to Epstein on March 11 that the disclosure demands reflected "the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes," adding: "According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy."[^79]
On January 1, 2019, with Epstein copied, Barak sent [[Jabor Al Thani]] a presentation of Carbyne, "public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor," for the security of the 2022 World Cup in [[Qatar]]: "We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile." Jabor Al Thani asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies" and named the country manager of a Qatari security services company as his contact; Barak made Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], the point of contact. On May 21, 2018 Epstein had written to Peter Thiel: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co." In February 2019 [[Nicole Junkermann]], a co-investor, wrote to Epstein that "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is 3.9m your share, Ehud carry 1.5 m and my share 2m," in a message that also concerned a separate "China" matter which she asked whether Barak could help with.[^80][^81][^82]
On November 8, 2017, as reporting broke on the lawyer [[David Boies]]'s use of former Israeli intelligence operatives, Epstein wrote to Barak: "boies said he got to the mossad guys through you? true?" and then, "Did Boies ask you to help Obtain former mossad agents to do dirty investigations. ? this is getting a lot of press." Barak replied the next morning: "Call me.. [redacted] in Paris." Barak said in February 2026: "I regret meeting him."[^14][^16]
### Vitaly Churkin
Epstein's iMessage exchanges with Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Representative to the [[United Nations]], run from November 2015 to January 10, 2017. Epstein wrote in December 2015 "Oil now at the 36 $ level I suggested," and in February 2016 "Good work on Syria , markets will continue bad." He offered Churkin meals with Barak and Summers, introduced "my very close friend Tom Pritzker," and mentioned that "thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me," a reference to [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], then Secretary General of the [[Council of Europe]]. He arranged work for Churkin's son: "Any maxim help is confidential," then "First job confirmed to start day after Labor Day," and later "Maxim is scoring good grades . Thought u should know." On August 29, 2016 Epstein hosted a lunch for Barak, [[Tom Barrack]] and Churkin. Their last exchange arranged a lunch on January 10, 2017. Churkin died in New York on February 20, 2017; Epstein's office scheduled calls and a meeting with his son through August 2017.[^83]
### The Intelligence and Blackmail Question ### The Intelligence and Blackmail Question
The recurring claim that Epstein's operation served an intelligence or blackmail function rests on several documented strands and one contested central assertion. The documented strands include Ghislaine Maxwell's intelligence-linked paternity; Epstein's brokering of the Israeli emergency-response and surveillance firm Carbyne and his attempts to connect Ehud Barak with Peter Thiel over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]; the instrumentation of his properties with cameras; and the 2019 search of the townhouse, which recovered a safe containing compact discs, cash, diamonds, and an expired foreign passport in Epstein's name with a Saudi address. The contested central assertion is the claim, attributed by the journalist [[Vicky Ward]] to a former senior [[White House]] official, that Acosta had told Trump transition vetters he was given to understand Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to leave the case alone.[^11][^19] The recurring claim that Epstein's operation served an intelligence or blackmail function rests on several documented strands and one contested central assertion. The documented strands include Ghislaine Maxwell's intelligence-linked paternity; Epstein's investment with Barak in Carbyne and his attempts to connect Barak with Peter Thiel over [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]]; the instrumentation of his properties with cameras; and the 2019 search of the townhouse, which recovered a safe containing compact discs, cash, diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with Epstein's photograph under another name. The contested central assertion is the claim, attributed by Vicky Ward to a former senior [[White House]] official, that Acosta had told Trump transition vetters he was given to understand Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to leave the case alone.[^50][^66]
Acosta denied making the statement when questioned by the House Oversight Committee, saying he had no knowledge of whether Epstein was connected to any intelligence service. The "belonged to intelligence" quote traces to a single anonymous source. No declassified document confirms that Epstein worked for any agency of any country. The blackmail thesis (that the recordings and the elite guest lists were assembled to generate leverage) is supported by victim and witness descriptions of surveillance and by the structure of the operation, but it remains an inference rather than a documented program, and is recorded here as an open question rather than an established fact.[^11][^19][^20] Acosta denied the account in a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on September 19, 2025, saying he had no knowledge of whether Epstein was connected to any intelligence service. The "belonged to intelligence" quote traces to a single anonymous source. William Barr, Attorney General at the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, was asked about the account in an August 18, 2025 deposition before the committee and answered that he knew of it only from "what's ever been reported in articles over the years." He said he had "no reason to believe he was working for the CIA or any intelligence agency, and I'm dubious about claims like that," answered "No" when asked whether Epstein had been an employee, asset, or informant of any foreign service, and said that "if he was an American asset, as opposed to some businessman who shares stuff with the government, I would've heard about it from the intelligence agency." No declassified document confirms that Epstein worked for any agency of any country.[^50][^84]
The earliest known report to law enforcement came in 1996, when Maria Farmer told the FBI that she and her younger sister had been abused and described surveillance equipment inside Epstein's New York residence; she said the report produced no apparent action for years. Accounts from victims and household staff describing cameras in the properties, combined with the 2019 recovery of compact discs and the foreign passport from the townhouse safe, are the documented basis for the inference that the operation was instrumented to generate leverage. No recordings of guests have been produced publicly, no service of any country has acknowledged a relationship with Epstein, and the maximalist accounts that describe a fully operational blackmail enterprise rest on inference and contested sourcing rather than a disclosed program. What the cameras recorded, and where any recordings went, remains unresolved in the public record.[^4][^14][^19] In July 2011 Epstein, through his lawyer [[Martin Weinberg]], had Privacy Act requests pending with both the FBI and the CIA for whatever records the agencies held on him. Weinberg wrote to him on July 18, 2011: "we filled out fbi privacy waiver with VI address last year, we filed CIA [[Freedom of Information Act|FOIA]] - they have it - we need a separate privacy waiver signed in 2011 for them to fully process."[^85]
The earliest known report to law enforcement came on August 29, 1996, when Maria Farmer reported to the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]]'s Sixth Precinct (complaint No. 1996-0067241, recording that Epstein "did call her and stated he was going to burn victim's painting" and "has keys to victim's apartment") and then by telephone to the FBI. She alleges that she told the Bureau of the recording devices and monitoring equipment Epstein had shown her at the New York house and of a "modeling book" of apparently underage girls kept in his safe, which Maxwell said was used in connection with Victoria's Secret; that she had been assaulted at Epstein's house in [[New Albany, Ohio]], "part of or adjacent to Les Wexner's estate," and held there by "a local Sheriff and other persons connected with Wexner"; and that the FBI hung up on her mid-sentence. FBI agents interviewed her in 2006 during the Florida investigation. The Bureau's record of the 1996 report was released on December 23, 2025. In July 2023 she and Sarah Ransome filed a 600 million dollar Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the FBI, and in May 2025 she sued the United States (No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C.)). Her complaint also records that in 1992 the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] leased Epstein a New York townhouse and sued him in 1996 after he sublet it at a profit, and that he relied in his defense on communications with an official of the Office of Foreign Missions; certain documents in that case were sealed.[^86][^87][^88]
Accounts from victims and household staff describing cameras in the properties, combined with the 2019 recovery of compact discs and the foreign passport from the townhouse safe, are the documented basis for the inference that the operation was instrumented to generate leverage. In December 2009, five months after his release, a correspondent signing "Gmax" wrote to Epstein: "If you call I'd start by saying what ever you saw was fake and part of a blackmail scheme." No recordings of guests have been produced publicly, and no service of any country has acknowledged a relationship with Epstein. What the cameras recorded, and where any recordings went, is not established in the public record.[^17][^50][^89][^90]
### The Financial Structures and the Bank Settlements ### The Financial Structures and the Bank Settlements
Epstein's finances ran through entities chartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including [[Financial Trust Company]] (established in 1996) and [[Southern Trust Company]] (established around 2012), which obtained territorial tax benefits under the Economic Development Commission program. The Virgin Islands later alleged that Southern Trust fraudulently obtained those benefits by claiming to run a "DNA database" and data-mining ("informatics") business it never actually conducted, and that the company existed to fund Epstein's criminal activity and properties. His banking ran through [[JPMorgan Chase]], which kept him as a client until 2013, and then [[Deutsche Bank]].[^15][^16] Epstein's finances ran through entities chartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including Financial Trust Company, incorporated in St. Thomas on November 6, 1998, and Southern Trust Company, incorporated on November 18, 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc. and renamed in September 2012, with assets of about 391 million dollars in 2015. Both obtained territorial tax benefits under the [[Economic Development Commission]] program: Financial Trust from 1999 under a certificate signed by Industrial Development Commission director [[Frandelle Gerard]], amended in 2012 over the signature of EDC chairman [[Albert Bryan]], who also signed Southern Trust's January 24, 2014 certificate. At the November 15, 2012 EDC hearing the company described its business under oath as "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics"; the Virgin Islands later alleged that Southern Trust obtained the benefits for a business it never conducted and existed to fund Epstein's criminal activity and properties. His banking ran through JPMorgan Chase, which kept him as a client until 2013, then Deutsche Bank, and also through [[BNY Mellon]]; the June 15, 2007 7.4 million dollar wire to Maxwell for her Sikorsky helicopter came from his Mellon Bank account.[^11][^12][^20][^91][^92]
The Virgin Islands operation extended into territorial politics. According to the Attorney General's complaint, Epstein's local affairs were managed by [[Cecile de Jongh]], the office manager of Southern Trust and the wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]] (in office 2007 to 2015), and the complaint alleged that she helped Epstein shape legislation affecting sex-offender monitoring and the Economic Development Commission benefits while Epstein-linked entities paid family expenses. The territory's later Attorney General, [[Denise George]], who filed the 2020 suit against the estate and a 2022 suit against JPMorgan, was removed by Governor [[Albert Bryan]] days after the bank suit was filed. The banks themselves became defendants, with Jes Staley, the JPMorgan executive who managed the Epstein relationship, later banned from senior UK finance roles over it.[^15][^16] Southern Trust reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017 with no visible clients and one information-technology employee. The territory's 2022 complaint stated that "virtually all" of its income came "from a single source," which paid it 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017, 85 percent of its revenue. The [[Dechert]] review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that Leon Black signed a service agreement with Southern Trust Company, Inc. on February 13, 2013 and paid Epstein 50 million dollars in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, nothing in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 158 million dollars, plus 30.5 million dollars in 2017 loans from BV70 LLC to Plan D LLC; Dechert found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s staff put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent. Black's wires came from [[Bank of America]] accounts; the bank filed its first suspicious activity report on them on February 7, 2020, flagging 156 million dollars as having "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose." Black's January 20, 2023 settlement with the territory recites that "Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands," while disclaiming any admission of liability. Financial Trust also bought 263,257 Apollo shares in the March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program; the shares passed to Southern Financial LLC in 2013.[^11][^12][^93][^94][^95]
The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of roughly 80 million dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. The former JPMorgan and Barclays executive [[Jes Staley]], who managed the Epstein banking relationship, was fined and permanently banned from senior financial roles by the UK Financial Conduct Authority in 2023 for misleading the regulator about his ties to Epstein; an appeals tribunal upheld the ban in 2025 while reducing the penalty to about 1.1 million pounds. The Epstein Victims' Compensation Program separately paid out roughly 121 million dollars to more than 125 claimants.[^15][^16] Epstein received the working papers of Black's estate planning during the years of the Southern Trust payments. A "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring" dated October 2, 2013 covered the substitution of trust assets for a promissory note, financing against Black's art collection with "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken," the decanting of family trusts, the restructuring of Black Family Partners and other family entities, and the creation of foundations for each of Black's children. On January 21, 2014 Ada Clapp of Black Family Partners, 445 Park Avenue, sent Epstein the updated version: "Attached is what I believe you are referring to by the 9 page list. I updated to show progress." On July 24, 2017 Barry J. Cohen forwarded to Epstein a privileged [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] memorandum on "Leon Black Estate Planning," addressed by the firm to Clapp, Cohen and Brad Wechsler, with the note: "Let us know what issues you have."[^96]
### The 2019 Federal Charges and the Death A forensic accountant retained by the Virgin Islands identified 134 JPMorgan accounts owned by Epstein or related people and entities, including accounts for Maxwell, [[Richard Kahn]], Darren Indyke, [[Harry Beller]] and Nadia Marcinkova. In September 2009 his balances were 142,867,562 dollars on the bank's internal "Wall of Cash" list. He withdrew more than 7 million dollars in cash from JPMorgan accounts from 2002 to 2013. A March 18, 2004 JPMorgan memorandum to Dimon and others described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge," the hedge fund [[Highbridge Capital Management]] that JPMorgan bought into that year. On July 20, 2011 Cutler wrote to Staley and [[Mary Erdoes]] that Epstein "should not be a client." After Epstein left the bank in 2013, Erdoes approved continued dealings with him on Black's business "as long as it was through the client accounts." JPMorgan filed seven suspicious activity reports on him totaling about 4.3 million dollars between 2002 and 2016, none covering May 2003 to September 2008; after his July 2019 arrest it filed reports on August 13, 2019 (469 wires, about 201 million dollars, including payments to women in Russia, Belarus and Turkmenistan through correspondent accounts at Russian banks including [[Sberbank]] and [[Alfa-Bank]]) and September 26, 2019 (4,725 wires, 1,081,819,653 dollars). Deutsche Bank retroactively reported more than 250 million dollars in Epstein wires after his arrest.[^12][^21][^39][^92][^97]
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at [[Teterboro Airport]] in [[New Jersey]] as he returned from Paris, charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[Southern District of New York]] under [[Geoffrey Berman]] (with the prosecutor [[Maurene Comey]] on the case) with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. The search of the townhouse recovered the safe and its contents, and a judge ordered him held without bail. On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell at the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center]] in Manhattan. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging.[^1][^14] After a July 22, 2019 New York Times article on Epstein's ties to Wall Street figures, JPMorgan's global head of financial crimes compliance wrote to two chief compliance officers: "Top of house requested that we expand our analysis to related parties and put together slides.... There is a highbridge angle and one dating back to Bear." The work became an internal review called "Project Jeep," whose 22-page summary of Epstein, Staley and Erdoes emails, circulated internally in October 2019, stated that "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated," and that Epstein "appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew" and "Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government," and "a close relationship with [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem|Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem]]," the chairman of [[DP World]]. The Virgin Islands argued in June 2023 that it would have asked Dimon whether the "top of house" order came from him, citing another bank email in which "top of the house ok for clients who are convicted felons" ran "to Cutler to Jaime Daimnon [sic]"; JPMorgan answered that the phrase referred to Cutler. Late-produced emails showed that the former Bear Stearns chairman Alan Greenberg had gone to Cutler "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein, and JPMorgan acknowledged that legacy Bear Stearns staff including Greenberg "may have attempted to speak with" Cutler about the policy, a decision "made by Mr. Cutler." At a January 7, 2011 meeting the head of the U.S. Private Bank, Catherine Keating, said that "no one on today's call was in favor of having retained him as a client. Seems it was all due to Jes's personal relationship"; twelve days later a JPMorgan Securities employee wrote to Epstein that "Ace would love to speak to Jeffrey." Dimon testified that the bank "did not need introductions to anybody." In August 2023 Judge [[Jed S. Rakoff]] denied the territory's request to compel production of all documents concerning "Project Jeep" or other investigations after Epstein's 2019 arrest.[^98]
The death produced sustained dispute. The guards [[Tova Noel]] and [[Michael Thomas]] had failed to perform required checks and later admitted to falsifying records; they were charged in November 2019 and entered a deferred-prosecution agreement, and the charges were ultimately dropped. The cameras outside the cell malfunctioned, and Epstein had been removed from suicide watch after an earlier incident. The forensic pathologist [[Michael Baden]], retained by Epstein's brother [[Mark Epstein]], said the fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than hanging, while the Medical Examiner stood by the suicide ruling. A 2023 Justice Department Inspector General report attributed the death to the guards' negligence and the jail's failures and found no evidence of murder, while documenting that the combination of lapses was extraordinary.[^14] Deutsche Bank informally designated Epstein an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, "because of his connections to prominent political figures," and a January 2015 compliance escalation cited his relationships with "a prominent former U.S. politician and a member of a European royal family," whom the New York regulator did not name. In October 2008, while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Staley sent him the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] vehicle to borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] during the financial crisis; the UK Upper Tribunal found Epstein was the only recipient not involved in the proposal. In a June 4, 2026 letter Wyden wrote that unsealed Justice Department files indicated Epstein "reached out to Russian government officials" to help Black with women with whom Black had settlements or nondisclosure agreements, and acted "as a middleman for Black to pay women"; Black's counsel called the inquiry an attempt to "unfairly harass" a private citizen.[^99][^100]
### The Estate, the Document Releases, and the 2025-2026 Files The post-death litigation produced large settlements. In 2022 Epstein's estate agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than 105 million dollars, plus the repayment of 80,576,236 dollars in tax benefits and half the proceeds of Little St. James. In 2023 JPMorgan paid 290 million dollars to victims and 75 million dollars to the Virgin Islands, and Deutsche Bank paid 75 million dollars to victims. Staley, who managed the Epstein banking relationship at JPMorgan before becoming chief executive of Barclays, was banned from senior UK financial roles and fined by the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] in a decision dated May 30, 2023 and published that October, which the Upper Tribunal upheld in June 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds; the ban took effect with the Authority's Final Notice of July 23, 2025. The Epstein Victims' Compensation Program's administrator, [[Jordana Feldman]], announced in 2021 nearly 125 million dollars in payments to 150 eligible claimants; the co-executors' lawyers later put it at 121 million dollars to 136 claimants, and the estate separately settled with 58 women for about 48 million dollars.[^11][^20][^99][^101][^102][^103]
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in [[New Hampshire]] in July 2020 and convicted in December 2021 on five federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor, and sentenced to 20 years in June 2022. Beginning in January 2024 the Giuffre v. Maxwell documents were unsealed by the judge [[Loretta Preska]], naming associates and contacts across hundreds of pages. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in Australia in April 2025; her memoir, Nobody's Girl, was published posthumously in 2025.[^21][^22] ### The Virgin Islands Government
In 2025 the Trump Justice Department under Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] released files in stages amid controversy over a promised "client list" that was never produced. Congress then passed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] (H.R. 4405) by a nearly unanimous House vote in November 2025, and Trump signed it. The Department released a library reaching roughly 3.5 million pages, more than 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, and in December 2025 disclosed that more than one million additional documents had been found, missing a statutory deadline and prompting a Government Accountability Office inquiry into redactions made at the request of members of Congress. A separate strand concerned the 2003 "birthday book" assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday, which the Wall Street Journal reported in July 2025 contained a bawdy letter bearing Donald Trump's signature; Trump denied authorship and sued the paper, and the House Oversight Committee released the book in September 2025.[^17][^18] According to JPMorgan's 2023 filings in the territory's suit against the bank, Epstein's local affairs were managed by [[Cecile de Jongh]], the office manager of Southern Trust and the wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]] (in office 2007 to 2015), who helped Epstein shape legislation affecting sex-offender monitoring and the Economic Development Commission benefits while Epstein-linked entities paid family expenses. On the day the commission's certificate for Southern Trust was dated, January 24, 2014, Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to match 15,000 dollars for her husband's final State of the Territory reception and asked Richard Kahn to make out a check to the "Governor's Special Events Fund." The commission's general counsel from 2007 to 2014 was [[Stacey Plaskett]], later the territory's delegate to Congress, who acknowledged receiving about 30,000 dollars in campaign contributions from Epstein and his employees. Epstein's office also handled requests from the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee (10,000 dollars from Southern Trust, December 2014), a Mapp super PAC (75,000 dollars, September 2016), and the Bryan/Roach inaugural committee (25,000 dollars requested, December 2018; payment not shown).[^11][^104][^105]
The territory's later Attorney General, [[Denise George]], filed the 2020 suit against the estate and a 2022 suit against JPMorgan, and was removed by Governor Albert Bryan days after the bank suit was filed. According to FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview released in January 2026, George said Bryan asked her in 2019 to grant Epstein a waiver of the 21-day travel-notice rule, told her after Epstein's death "He's dead go for it," later pressed her to settle with the estate for 80 million dollars with the attorney [[Henry Smock]] as mediator, and said the estate "just wanted to clear people." Smock had assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of Little St. James and was counsel to the Economic Development Authority board; he later represented Bryan in a sealed 2023 divorce. Bryan's chief legal counsel, [[David Bornn]], a former employee of Epstein's attorney [[Erika Kellerhals]], called George to relay Kellerhals's question about what she was investigating. Bryan has said Epstein received no special privilege from his administration. The territory recovered about 180 million dollars after legal fees and, as of January 2026, had not filed the accounting of the money that a 2024 law requires.[^20][^106][^107]
### The 2019 Federal Charges
In the spring of 2019, months before the arrest, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York obtained the confidential discovery from Giuffre v. Maxwell by serving a grand jury subpoena on Giuffre's law firm, [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], under an April 9, 2019 order. On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at [[Teterboro Airport]] in [[New Jersey]] as he returned from Paris, charged by the office under [[Geoffrey Berman]] with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. The case was assigned to the Public Corruption Unit, which typically handles cases involving public officials; Berman declined to explain the assignment. The prosecutors were [[Alex Rossmiller]], [[Alison Moe]], and [[Maurene Comey]].[^1][^108][^109]
The safe in the townhouse held more than 70,000 dollars in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and an expired foreign passport with a photograph that "appears to depict the defendant, but lists a different name," issued within three years of an expired U.S. passport in Epstein's own name. The word "Austrian" entered the docket through the defense's July 16, 2019 letter, which said the passport "expired 32 years ago." The government replied that the passport "contains numerous ingress and egress stamps, including stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the [[United Kingdom]], and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s." [[Marc Fernich]], Martin Weinberg, and [[Reid Weingarten]] answered that "Epstein was given the passport at issue by a friend," that "some Jewish-Americans were informally advised at the time to carry identification bearing a non-Jewish name when traveling internationally in case of hijacking," and that the stamps "predating his receipt of the document, do not reflect Mr. Epstein's entries or exits." Press reports described the passport as listing a residence in Saudi Arabia. The dispute was not resolved before Epstein's death.[^110][^111][^112]
The government's July 16, 2019 detention supplement disclosed that on or about November 30, 2018, two days after the Miami Herald began its series, Epstein wired 100,000 dollars from a trust account he controlled to an individual named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 agreement and featured in the series, and that on or about December 3, 2018 he wired 250,000 dollars from the same account to a second potential co-conspirator protected by the agreement, an employee identified in the indictment as having scheduled victims' encounters with him. Both names were redacted with the court's consent. On July 18, 2019 Judge [[Richard M. Berman]], no relation to the U.S. Attorney, ordered him held without bail. On July 31, 2019 a Southern District prosecutor forwarded a New York magazine article on Epstein's finances to colleagues, asking: "Is our Office looking at Epstein for fraud-related offenses?"[^89][^111][^113]
### The Detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center
At the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]], Epstein's cellmate was [[Nicholas Tartaglione]], a former police officer held on capital murder charges; a later internal review stated that administrators housed them together because both had high-profile cases and Tartaglione, "a certified death penalty eligible inmate," was "less likely to assault or otherwise try to harm Mr. Epstein." At about 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019 officers found Epstein with "a piece of handmade orange cloth around his neck." When he became responsive he told a responding officer that he thought his cellmate "tried to kill him," that the cellmate had tried "to extort money from him," and that "this has been going on for a week," and that he had told only his lawyer. The psychologist who interviewed him that day recorded that he had not told her this. On July 31 he told the Special Investigative Services lieutenant that "he has never had any issues with Tartaglione," that he was "not threatened" by him and that he "feels safe"; Tartaglione told the same investigator that Epstein had once said "fourteen (14) is legal in most states and I don't understand what's the problem here." The investigation found "insufficient evidence" of an assault, an August 2 threat assessment was "inconclusive" as to whether Epstein harmed himself, fought his cellmate, or was assaulted, and the self-mutilation incident report was later expunged.[^114][^115]
On July 30 a psychologist ordered that Epstein always have a cellmate. His next cellmate, according to the internal review, was an inmate held in protective housing who "was confirmed as proffering with the U.S. Attorney's Office." On August 8 Epstein signed a new will in a meeting with his lawyers, unknown to jail officials. On August 9 about 2,000 pages of the Giuffre v. Maxwell record were unsealed, including his 2016 deposition invoking the Fifth Amendment. That day his cellmate was transferred out and not replaced, and a unit manager let him place an unrecorded call on the legal line, supposedly to his mother, who had died in 2004; the Inspector General found he spoke for about 20 minutes with a woman identified as Individual 1, who declined to be interviewed and whose lawyer said she was in Belarus. One of Epstein's attorneys had earlier asked a senior officer "how Epstein could get an unmonitored call."[^108][^114][^115][^116]
### The Death
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell; nursing records log CPR compressions from 6:35 a.m. Dr. Kristin Roman performed the autopsy on August 11 and first listed the manner of death as "pending"; Chief Medical Examiner [[Barbara Sampson]] changed it to suicide by hanging days later. The guards [[Tova Noel]] and [[Michael Thomas]] had failed to perform required checks and admitted to falsifying records; they were charged in November 2019, entered deferred-prosecution agreements on May 25, 2021, and the charges were dismissed on December 13, 2021, while the Southern District declined to prosecute other staff who had also falsified records. The DVR recording system serving about half the jail's cameras, including those near the cell, failed on July 29 and 30, was discovered on August 8, and was not repaired; one camera on another system recorded the common area but not the cell door. The forensic pathologist [[Michael Baden]], retained by Epstein's brother [[Mark Epstein]], said the fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than hanging, while the Medical Examiner stood by the suicide ruling. The Inspector General's June 2023 report attributed the death to the guards' negligence and the jail's failures and "did not uncover evidence contradicting the FBI's determination regarding the absence of criminality." Prison officials cited the August 9 unsealing, "combined with a lack of significant interpersonal connections," among the factors contributing to his death.[^89][^114][^115][^116]
Documents released in 2026 showed that JPMorgan filed a suspicious activity report on November 22, 2019 on twelve cash deposits by Noel, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019; she was not asked about them in her 2021 interview. A search for "latest on epstein in jail" was run on her workstation at 5:42 and 5:52 a.m. on August 10; she said she did not recall it. On August 19, 2019, a jail employee told the FBI that an inmate said Bureau of Prisons after-action staff "were shredding boxes of paperwork"; the records do not show that the dumpster was searched. The Justice Department and FBI memorandum of July 7, 2025 reaffirmed suicide, citing "the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings" (the autopsy was on August 11) and describing Epstein as locked in "at around 10:40 pm" (the Inspector General dates lock-in to about 8 p.m.); its "full raw" video had been assembled in Adobe Premiere under a Windows account "MJCOLE~1," with close to three minutes missing. Maurene Comey was fired without stated cause on July 16, 2025, nine days after the memorandum.[^115][^116][^117][^118][^119]
### The Estate and the Executors
Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, named Indyke and Kahn as executors and [[Boris Nikolic]], formerly chief science adviser to Bill Gates, as backup executor; Nikolic said he "was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever." The will left Nowak 5 million dollars, which Nowak said he has not received. The co-executors valued Epstein's Virgin Islands property at 577,672,654 dollars in the August 15, 2019 probate petition; the estate's February 2021 accounting showed about 240.8 million dollars and September 2026 filings 107.6 million dollars. The 1953 Trust, signed two days before his death, leaves 100 million dollars to [[Karyna Shuliak]], 50 million to Indyke and 25 million to Kahn, paid in that order.[^11][^74][^102][^120]
The territory alleged that Epstein entities paid Indyke more than 16 million dollars and Kahn more than 10 million dollars net from 2011 to 2019 through companies it called shells, and that the two held at least 140 bank accounts with Epstein. Indyke testified in March 2026 that Epstein's 40 million dollars invested in 2015 and 2016 in two funds of [[Valar Ventures]], co-founded by Peter Thiel, was worth about 172 million dollars. The estate agreed in February 2026 to pay up to 35 million dollars to settle a victims' class action against the co-executors (Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204), and in September 2026 federal prosecutors in Manhattan were reported to be investigating both men, who deny knowing of Epstein's crimes. Wyden's August 2026 report stated that federal prosecutors never questioned Indyke, Kahn or Beller, none of whom has been charged.[^11][^12][^102][^121][^122]
### Maxwell and the Giuffre Litigation After 2019
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in [[New Hampshire]] in July 2020 and convicted in December 2021 on five federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor, and sentenced to 20 years in June 2022. The Giuffre v. Maxwell summary judgment record ordered released in Brown v. Maxwell was unsealed on August 9, 2019; Maxwell's April 2016 deposition was unsealed on July 23, 2020, and further tranches followed through January 2024. On July 23, 2025 the Second Circuit vacated Preska's December 2019 and January 2020 unsealing orders. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in Australia in April 2025; her memoir, [[Nobody's Girl]], was published posthumously in 2025. She died intestate, and in November 2025 the Supreme Court of Western Australia appointed [[Ian Torrington Blatchford]] interim administrator; his authority extends to the reopened Giuffre v. Maxwell docket, recaptioned in his name on September 3, 2026, to an arbitration involving Dershowitz, and to a defamation suit against the estate by [[Rina Oh]].[^22][^23][^108][^123][^124]
On July 18, 2025, Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], formerly Trump's personal criminal attorney, entered an appearance in Maxwell's closed criminal case and moved to unseal the grand jury transcripts; Judge [[Paul Engelmayer]] denied the motion on August 11, 2025. Blanche interviewed Maxwell under limited immunity on July 24 and 25, 2025; she said Trump "was always very cordial and very kind to me" and that she did not know how he and Epstein met. On August 1 she was moved to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]], and Senator [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] wrote that the transfer "raises questions about whether she has been given special treatment in exchange for political favors."[^125][^126][^127]
### The Epstein Files, 2025 and 2026
On February 27, 2025, Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]] released a "first phase" of [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] that the department itself described as "largely" previously leaked, and on July 7, 2025, the department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." Senator [[Dick Durbin]] wrote on July 18 that, according to information his office received, FBI records staff reviewing some 100,000 Epstein records in March 2025 "were instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned." Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] declined Wyden's March 11, June 16 and September 2, 2025 requests for the Treasury's Epstein suspicious-activity file and on January 22, 2026 said it had given the records to the House Oversight Committee instead.[^12][^117][^128][^129]
A separate strand concerned the 2003 "birthday book" assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday, which the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]] reported in July 2025 contained a bawdy letter bearing Donald Trump's signature; Trump denied authorship and sued the paper, and the House Oversight Committee released the book on September 8, 2025 under an August 25 subpoena to the estate.[^77]
On November 14, 2025, at Trump's request, Bondi assigned [[Jay Clayton]] to investigate Epstein's dealings with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan Chase. Five days later Trump signed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] (H.R. 4405, Pub. L. No. 119-38), which the House had passed 427 to 1 after a discharge petition by Thomas Massie and [[Ro Khanna]], and which permits withholding records that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation." The department missed the December 19, 2025 deadline, disclosed on December 24 that it had found more than a million additional documents, and on January 30, 2026 published the bulk of the material, bringing the total to nearly 3.5 million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images; its letter to Congress that day stated that about 200,000 pages had been withheld or redacted under privileges the statute does not list.[^28][^130][^131][^132][^133]
The January 2026 release stated that "notable individuals and politicians were not redacted"; four senators called that "plainly false" in asking the [[Government Accountability Office]] to review the department's redaction and release process, which the GAO agreed to do in late April 2026, days after the department's inspector general opened its own audit. In February and March 2026 NPR and CNN reported that FBI interview records of a woman who accused both Epstein and Trump were missing from the public library; the department said nothing had been deleted, later published three of the interviews as records mistakenly tagged as duplicates, and NPR counted 37 pages still missing. A White House spokeswoman said Trump "has been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein." On January 13, 2026 Massie and Khanna asked Engelmayer to appoint a special master, reporting that the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" of "more than 2 million" under review; he denied the motion on January 21, 2026 for want of jurisdiction. On August 11, 2026 Preska authorized the government to release under the Act the Boies Schiller material obtained by the 2019 subpoena, over Maxwell's opposition.[^108][^134][^135][^136][^137]
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi on March 4, 2026; Trump removed her on April 2 and named Blanche acting Attorney General. On March 3, 2026 Finance Committee chairman [[Mike Crapo]] objected to Wyden's request to pass the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (S. 2746), citing the House review and the Banking Committee's jurisdiction. Wyden's August 4, 2026 report, "Looking the Other Way," stated that Blanche had intervened to block the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] from answering his request about a federal investigation in which Epstein and associates had been targets, and that a 60 Minutes interview Wyden taped on March 26, 2026 was not aired after CBS News fired correspondent [[Sharyn Alfonsi]].[^12][^138][^139][^140][^141]
The 2025 and 2026 releases produced resignations and removals without prosecutions. Summers left the [[OpenAI]] board on November 19, 2025, was banned for life by the [[American Economic Association]] on December 2, 2025, and resigned from Harvard on February 25, 2026, the day after The Boston Globe sent the university its questions; Harvard placed Nowak on leave the same day. Pritzker retired as executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation|Hyatt]] on February 17, 2026, and Ruemmler resigned as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]].[^74][^142][^143][^144]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Timeline of the Life and Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein." *CBS New York,* 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/timeline-of-the-life-and-crimes-of-jeffrey-epstein/ ; "A Young Jeffrey Epstein Made An Impression On His High School Students." *NPR,* July 19, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/07/19/742725946/a-young-jeffrey-epstein-made-an-impression-on-his-high-school-students [^1]: "Timeline of the Life and Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein." *CBS New York,* 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/timeline-of-the-life-and-crimes-of-jeffrey-epstein/ ; "A Young Jeffrey Epstein Made An Impression On His High School Students." *NPR,* July 19, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/07/19/742725946/a-young-jeffrey-epstein-made-an-impression-on-his-high-school-students
[^2]: "The murky life and death of Robert Maxwell, and how it shaped his daughter Ghislaine." *The Guardian,* August 22, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/22/the-murky-life-and-death-of-robert-maxwell-and-how-it-shaped-his-daughter-ghislaine [^2]: "The murky life and death of Robert Maxwell, and how it shaped his daughter Ghislaine." *The Guardian,* August 22, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/22/the-murky-life-and-death-of-robert-maxwell-and-how-it-shaped-his-daughter-ghislaine
[^3]: "The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich." *New York Times,* December 16, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-money-scams-investigation.html [^3]: "The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich." *New York Times,* December 16, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-money-scams-investigation.html
[^4]: Brown, Julie K. "Perversion of Justice." *Miami Herald,* 2018. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html [^4]: "The 'Epstein-Barr' Problem of New York City's Dalton School." *Law and Crime,* 2019. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/the-epstein-barr-problem-of-new-york-citys-dalton-school/
[^5]: "The 'Epstein-Barr' Problem of New York City's Dalton School." *Law and Crime,* 2019. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/the-epstein-barr-problem-of-new-york-citys-dalton-school/ [^5]: Ward, Vicky. "The Talented Mr. Epstein." *Vanity Fair,* March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303 (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20260916130321/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303); republished by the author: https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
[^6]: Ward, Vicky. "The Talented Mr. Epstein." *Vanity Fair,* March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303 [^6]: Charles Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan, "The woes of Jeffrey Epstein: How he maintained Wall Street connections while downplaying child sex accusations," *Fox Business,* August 10, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/jeffrey-epstein-wall-street-connections-child-sex-trafficking
[^7]: For the Towers Financial Corporation collapse, the 1995 Hoffenberg conviction, and Hoffenberg's later claims about Epstein, see the contemporaneous SEC and federal court record (United States v. Hoffenberg, S.D.N.Y.) and "The Mogul and the Monster" reporting; Hoffenberg's "architect" claim is his own assertion and Epstein was never charged in the matter. [^7]: Financial Trust Company, Inc. v. The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., Civil No. 2009/106 (D.V.I.), Verified Complaint dated August 5, 2009, reproduced as Exhibit 253, ECF No. 244-8, Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011822/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/244-08.pdf
[^8]: Harvard University, "Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Connections to Harvard," May 1, 2020. https://www.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reportconcerning-Jeffrey-Epstein.pdf [^8]: Spencer Woodman, "Jeffrey Epstein's offshore fortune traced to Paradise Papers," *ICIJ,* July 18, 2019. https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/jeffrey-epsteins-offshore-fortune-traced-to-paradise-papers/
[^9]: 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 ; "New Investigation Launched into Epstein's Zorro Ranch." *Time,* 2025. https://time.com/7379228/epstein-zorro-ranch-investigation/ [^9]: House of Commons, *Hansard,* HC Deb 24 January 1996, vol 270, cc453-462, "Saudi Arabia" (George Galloway). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1996/jan/24/saudi-arabia
[^10]: For the EFTA primary documents (EFTA01738574, EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564, EFTA02407727), see the Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/peter-thiel.html [^10]: Marvin Gerber and Kalma Koenig v. The Financial Trust Company et al., No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), Complaint, ECF No. 7 (filed August 21, 2018), paras. 21, 27 and n. 4, with 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 ; docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7698990/gerber-v-the-financial-trust-company/ ; Letter of Bennet J. Moskowitz, Troutman Sanders LLP, to Hon. Richard J. Sullivan, June 28, 2016, and Order of July 5, 2016, Hoffenberg v. Epstein, No. 1:16-cv-03989-RJS (S.D.N.Y.), filed as ECF Nos. 16-7 and 16-9 in No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.7.pdf ; https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.9.pdf ; Brian Pascus, "Jeffrey Epstein worked at Towers Financial with Steven Hoffenberg, who committed Ponzi scheme crimes," *CBS News,* August 13, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-worked-at-towers-financial-with-stephen-hoffenberg-who-committed-ponzi-scheme-crimes/ . Hoffenberg's "architect" claim is his own assertion; Epstein was never charged in the matter.
[^11]: For the recovered Epstein calendars (Burns, Chomsky, Ruemmler, Pritzker meetings), see the *Wall Street Journal* "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" reporting, May 2023. [^11]: Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v. Darren K. Indyke et al. (Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein), No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint (November 30, 2022), paras. 6, 11 to 17, 37, 76 to 117, 128 to 141, 157 to 195; ECF No. 1-1 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). 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
[^12]: "Epstein's Silicon Valley ties extended beyond just Musk and Gates." *CNBC,* February 9, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/09/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html [^12]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^14]: "NYC medical examiner rejects claim that Jeffrey Epstein's death was a homicide." *CNN,* October 30, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-fox ; "Jeffrey Epstein autopsy finds broken bones in his neck." *CNN,* August 15, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-broken-neck ; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, "Investigation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein," June 2023. [^13]: Dareh Gregorian, "Justice Department releases names of 3 people the FBI once called Jeffrey Epstein 'co-conspirators,'" *NBC News,* February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-names-3-people-fbi-once-called-jeffrey-epstein-co-conspirators-rcna258335
[^15]: "U.S. Virgin Islands reaches a $105M settlement with Jeffrey Epstein's estate." *NPR,* December 1, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/01/1140096222/jeffrey-epsteins-estate-reaches-a-105m-settlement-with-the-u-s-virgin-islands ; Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, "Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate of Jeffrey Epstein," 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/ [^14]: Lefkovits, Etgar. "Complaint seeks police probe into Ehud Barak and Wexner Foundation." *JNS,* March 17, 2026. https://www.jns.org/complaint-seeks-police-probe-into-barak-and-wexner-foundation/ ; "'I regret meeting him': Former PM Ehud Barak responds to Epstein Files recording in N12 interview." *The Jerusalem Post,* February 2026. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-886519
[^16]: "JPMorgan settles with Jeffrey Epstein victims for $290 million." *WHYY,* 2023. https://whyy.org/articles/jpmorgan-settlement/ ; "Ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley fined and banned by UK regulator for Epstein ties." *AP/AOL,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/finance/ex-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-142727090.html [^15]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992. Ben-Menashe's claims that Robert Maxwell was a Mossad asset and that the Maxwell-Epstein link served Israeli intelligence are uncorroborated by declassified material and treated as contested allegation.
[^17]: "New Epstein files include photos, documents with redactions as DOJ releases initial trove of records." *CBS News,* 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/epstein-files-released-2025/ ; "DOJ says it has found over a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein." *CNN,* December 24, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/24/politics/epstein-documents-doj-million ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Files Transparency Act disclosures. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/doj-disclosures [^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, November 8, 2017, 15:54 and 16:49 UTC, EFTA00964912 and EFTA00964979; Barak to Epstein, November 9, 2017, EFTA00965384 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964912.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00964979.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00965384.pdf ; Jeffrey Epstein to a redacted recipient, "he was passed away," March 15, 2018, EFTA02507843 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02507843.pdf
[^18]: "Birthday letter to Epstein bore Trump's signature, drawing of naked woman, Wall Street Journal reports." *CNN,* July 17, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/politics/epstein-birthday-letter-trump ; "Trump Epstein letter and drawing from 'birthday book' released." *CNBC,* September 8, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/trump-epstein-birthday-book-oversight.html [^17]: Brown, Julie K. "Perversion of Justice." *Miami Herald,* 2018. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html
[^19]: Ward, Vicky. "Jeffrey Epstein's Sick Story Played Out for Years in Plain Sight." *The Daily Beast,* July 9, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-sick-story-played-out-for-years-in-plain-sight/ ; for Acosta's denial, see his September 2019 testimony before the House Oversight Committee. [^18]: 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 ; "New Investigation Launched into Epstein's Zorro Ranch." *Time,* 2025. https://time.com/7379228/epstein-zorro-ranch-investigation/
[^20]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992. Ben-Menashe's claims that Robert Maxwell was a Mossad asset and that the Maxwell-Epstein link served Israeli intelligence are uncorroborated by declassified material and treated as contested allegation. [^19]: "Epstein Absent from Sex Offender List." *Santa Fe Reporter,* July 11, 2019. https://sfreporter.com/archives/epstein-absent-sex-offender-list/ ; Bates, Clara. "Lawmakers look to close 'Epstein loophole' that kept financier off sex offender list." *Santa Fe New Mexican,* September 12, 2026. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/epstein/lawmakers-look-to-close-epstein-loophole-that-kept-financier-off-sex-offender-list/article_4d071ff8-db1c-48e0-8eb4-daeb68f561ae.html ; Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, Second Amended Complaint (see note 26) and the estate's 2019 probate valuations reported therein.
[^21]: United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (S.D.N.Y.); for the Crime Victims' Rights Act ruling see Doe v. United States, No. 08-80736 (S.D. Fla. February 21, 2019), Marra, J. [^20]: "U.S. Virgin Islands reaches a $105M settlement with Jeffrey Epstein's estate." *NPR,* December 1, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/01/1140096222/jeffrey-epsteins-estate-reaches-a-105m-settlement-with-the-u-s-virgin-islands ; Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, "Attorney General Settles Sex Trafficking Case Against Estate of Jeffrey Epstein," 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/
[^22]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse [^21]: City of Miami General Employees & Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust v. Dimon, No. 1:23-cv-03903-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Verified Amended Stockholder Derivative Complaint, ECF No. 17, paras. 24-26, 152-154, 165 (June 30, 2023). https://wallstreetonparade.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CITY-OF-MIAMI-GENERAL-et-al-v-James-Dimon-et-al-JPMorgan-Chase-Amended-Complaint-June-30-2023.pdf
[^23]: For the flight logs, the pilots' testimony, and the contact directory, see the trial record in United States v. Maxwell (S.D.N.Y. 2021), the *Miami Herald* "Perversion of Justice" reporting, and the Alfredo Rodriguez obstruction case, United States v. Rodriguez (S.D. Fla. 2010). [^22]: 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 at paragraphs 12, 33, 37, 52, 61, 63. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf ; *United States v. Maxwell*, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^23]: "Nearly 3,000 pages of Epstein records have been released so far. These questions remain," *PBS News,* January 7, 2024. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/nearly-3000-pages-of-epstein-records-have-been-released-so-far-these-questions-remain
[^24]: *United States v. Rodriguez*, No. 9:10-cr-80015-KAM (S.D. Fla.), Criminal Complaint, ECF No. 3 (Dec. 1, 2009); Plea Agreement, ECF No. 25 (March 18, 2010); Judgment, ECF No. 31 (June 21, 2010). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15913423/united-states-v-rodriguez/ ; *United States v. Maxwell*, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Memorandum Opinion and Order, ECF No. 535 (Dec. 9, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^25]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: email chain, "RE: FAA Question," FAA Law Enforcement Assistance Program special agent to federal investigators, August 24 to September 29, 2021, EFTA00021675 to EFTA00021680 (DataSet 8). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00021675.pdf
[^26]: United States v. Epstein, draft indictment, S.D. Fla. (unfiled, 2007), paras. 1 to 6, EFTA01703108 to EFTA01703163 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01703108.pdf
[^27]: "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
[^28]: "New Epstein files include photos, documents with redactions as DOJ releases initial trove of records." *CBS News,* 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/epstein-files-released-2025/ ; "DOJ says it has found over a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein." *CNN,* December 24, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/24/politics/epstein-documents-doj-million ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Files Transparency Act disclosures. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/doj-disclosures
[^29]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^30]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking
[^31]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, full report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the 2006-2008 Epstein investigation, November 2020, as produced in the Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (Prior DOJ Disclosures, Memos and Correspondence). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: "jagesq" to Jeffrey Epstein, "krischer richardson," December 15, 2010, EFTA01830557 (DataSet 10); Krischer, Belohlavek and USAFLS, "RE: Meeting with Epstein's attorneys," September 19 to 25, 2007, EFTA00215188 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01830557.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00215188.pdf
[^33]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. i-x. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl ; archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^34]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^35]: The White House (George W. Bush archives), "Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta," official biography. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/racosta-bio.html
[^36]: U.S. Department of State, "Jay Lefkowitz, Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea," official biography, 2005. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/66929.htm
[^37]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Disgraced Lawyer Jay Lefkowitz Who Secured Sweetheart Deal Leaves Firm," *The Daily Beast,* March 2026. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-disgraced-lawyer-jay-lefkowitz-who-secured-sweetheart-deal-leaves-firm/
[^38]: Letter of Gerald B. Lefcourt and Alan M. Dershowitz, July 6, 2007, Exhibit 46, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 361-46 (Feb. 10, 2016). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.361.46.pdf
[^39]: 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. 123-124, 257, 290-310, 374. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^40]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Ann Marie Villafana to FBI agents, "RE: Epstein Indictment" and "RE: DOBs," February 14, 2008, EFTA00225102 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00225102.pdf
[^41]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeff Sloman and Ann Marie Villafana, "Re: Did u hear?," May 16, 2008, EFTA00214486 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214486.pdf
[^42]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, May 2006 to August 2011, pp. 1, 9 to 10, 12, 19 to 20, 24, 28 to 29, 34, 38, 45, 48, 50 to 51. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^43]: "Jeffrey Epstein paid Palm Beach Sheriff's Office $128,000 during incarceration for prostitution charges," *WPTV,* 2019. https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/new-jeffrey-epstein-paid-palm-beach-sheriffs-office-128-000-during-incarceration-for-prostitution
[^44]: "Florida authorities find no evidence of criminal activity in state's handling of Jeffrey Epstein case," *NBC News,* May 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-authorities-no-evidence-criminal-activity-state-s-handling-jeffrey-n1266888
[^45]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 116 to 117 (Villafana email of December 3, 2008 and letter of December 11, 2008). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^46]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01308629, DataSet 10, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Extra Duty Permits System overtime report forms, Permit No. 7804, "Florida Science Foundation," July 1 to 14, 2009, faxed July 21, 2009. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01308629.pdf
[^47]: Settlement Agreement and General Release, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson (S.D. Fla.), filed in Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 32-1 (Oct. 29, 2021). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713.32.1.pdf
[^48]: *In re Wild*, No. 19-13843, 994 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. Apr. 15, 2021) (en banc). https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf
[^49]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 21-351, order of February 22, 2022 denying certiorari. https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-351.html
[^50]: Ward, Vicky. "Jeffrey Epstein's Sick Story Played Out for Years in Plain Sight." *The Daily Beast,* July 9, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-sick-story-played-out-for-years-in-plain-sight/ ; for Acosta's denial, his voluntary transcribed interview with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, September 19, 2025 (transcript released October 17, 2025): "Alex Acosta, former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's plea deal, appears before House Oversight Committee," *ABC News,* October 2025. https://abcnews.com/Politics/alex-acosta-former-us-attorney-negotiated-epsteins-plea/story?id=125731737
[^51]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Chief, Public Corruption Unit, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and the Office of Professional Responsibility, "RE: Draft OPR Report," August 21, 2020, EFTA00077309 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00077309.pdf
[^52]: 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
[^53]: Maxwell v. United States, No. 24-1073 (U.S.), cert. denied (Oct. 6, 2025). https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-1073.html
[^54]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: email from an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, subject "memos," May 6, 2020, EFTA00030339 (DataSet 8). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00030339.pdf
[^55]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 1, 2020, pp. 3-5, 10-17, 20-23 and nn. 8-10. https://www.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reportconcerning-Jeffrey-Epstein.pdf ; https://ogc.harvard.edu/report-concerning-Epstein
[^56]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^57]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
[^58]: Minsky, Marvin L., Push Singh, and Aaron Sloman. "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence," *AI Magazine* 25, no. 2 (2004): 113. https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v25i2.1764 ; Brandom, Russell. "AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island," *The Verge,* August 9, 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed
[^59]: 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
[^60]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 5, 10, 28 n. 28. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^61]: "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why," *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
[^62]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive
[^63]: Molteni, Megan. "Jeffrey Epstein's tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church," *STAT,* February 24, 2026. https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/epstein-cell-line-george-church-harvard-personal-genome-project/
[^64]: 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
[^65]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Peggy Siegal and George Stephanopoulos, "Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew," November and December 2010, EFTA02411832 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02411832.pdf
[^66]: Ponieman, Natan. *Benzinga,* May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs ; *The Daily Beast,* May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/ ; "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
[^67]: Hamilton, Katherine. "Jeffrey Epstein Moved Money For Noam Chomsky, Paid Bard President Botstein $150,000, Report Says." *Forbes,* May 17, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/17/jeffrey-epstein-moved-money-for-noam-chomsky-paid-bard-president-botstein-150000-report-says/
[^68]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015, EFTA02386175 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf
[^69]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check image, Gratitude America, Ltd, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf ; EFTA01348725, DataSet 10, check image, February 3, 2016 (Bates DB-SDNY-0035646). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348725.pdf ; "Leon Botstein received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein," *Inside Higher Ed,* May 18, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/18/leon-botstein-received-150000-jeffrey-epstein
[^70]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log with the contact "Steve Bannon," August 23, 2018, EFTA01615267 to EFTA01615272. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf ; "'Let me see the videotapes': Mark Epstein wants Steve Bannon's 15 hours of unseen footage of his brother," *NBC News,* 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/mark-epstein-steve-bannon-15-hours-brother-jeffrey-epstein-rcna219630
[^71]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Tom Pritzker to Jeffrey Epstein, "RE: Re:," August 8, 2016, EFTA01783338 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
[^72]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: email to Jeffrey Epstein, sender redacted, "Any other," August 12, 2010, EFTA02407727 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02407727.pdf ; Saida Sapieva to Lesley Groff, "CONFIRMED: DINNER: Sunday, 8/2," July 31, 2015, EFTA00344556, and reply chain, EFTA00344564 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344556.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344564.pdf ; email chain, Jeffrey Epstein and a redacted correspondent, February 6, 2016, EFTA01738574 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01738574.pdf
[^73]: "Epstein's Silicon Valley ties extended beyond just Musk and Gates." *CNBC,* February 9, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/09/tech-leaders-epstein-records-silicon-valley-sergey-brin-thiel-sinofsky-reid-hoffman-musk-gates.html
[^74]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^75]: Ruetenik, Daniel, and Graham Kates. "Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show." *CBS News,* February 7, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/
[^76]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI Form FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," case 50D-NY-3027571, April 23, 2021, EFTA01249210 (DataSet 9); calendar alert, December 20, 2012, EFTA02152992 (DataSet 10). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152992.pdf
[^77]: "Birthday letter to Epstein bore Trump's signature, drawing of naked woman, Wall Street Journal reports." *CNN,* July 17, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/politics/epstein-birthday-letter-trump ; "Trump Epstein letter and drawing from 'birthday book' released." *CNBC,* September 8, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/trump-epstein-birthday-book-oversight.html
[^78]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: FBI New York internal email on the Prince Andrew MLAT request, June 8, 2020, EFTA00149598 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00149598.pdf
[^79]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: correspondence of Tomer Toor, Darren Indyke, Ehud Barak and Jeffrey Epstein on the exercise of Carbyne warrants, February and March 2019, EFTA02632339 and EFTA02634615 (DataSet 11); Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke on Carbyne financial statements, March 2019, EFTA01035810 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01035810.pdf
[^80]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1, 2019, EFTA02607775, and continuing thread to February 4, 2019, EFTA02628648 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
[^81]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018, EFTA01052344 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^82]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019, EFTA02630791 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
[^83]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: iMessage logs with the contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to January 10, 2017, EFTA01619434, EFTA01619438 and EFTA01619444 (DataSet 10); Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016, EFTA02044775 (DataSet 10); scheduling of Maxim Churkin, July and August 2017, EFTA02219806 (DataSet 11) and EFTA00676901 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619444.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02219806.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00676901.pdf
[^84]: U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, deposition of William P. Barr, August 18, 2025, transcript released September 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Barr-Transcript.pdf
[^85]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Jeffrey Epstein to Martin Weinberg, "Re: CIA FOIA Request," July 18, 2011, EFTA00915248; Weinberg to Epstein, same date, EFTA00687827; FBI Privacy Waiver and Certification of Identity, EFTA00624683 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00915248.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00687827.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00624683.pdf
[^86]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), paras. 80, 85-126, 176-185, citing United States v. Epstein, 27 F. Supp. 2d 404 (S.D.N.Y. 1998). https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
[^87]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
[^88]: "Maria Farmer and Marsh Law Firm's Persistent Advocacy Vindicated as FBI Releases Farmer's 1996 Report on Jeffrey Epstein," *Marsh Law Firm,* December 23, 2025. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/persistent-advocacy-vindicated/
[^89]: "NYC medical examiner rejects claim that Jeffrey Epstein's death was a homicide." *CNN,* October 30, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-fox ; "Jeffrey Epstein autopsy finds broken bones in his neck." *CNN,* August 15, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-broken-neck
[^90]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: "Gmax" to Jeffrey Epstein, December 8, 2009, EFTA02434764 (DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02434764.pdf
[^91]: Suzanne Carlson, "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020 (ECF No. 158-36 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR). http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
[^92]: 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, 74. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^93]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, January 22, 2021, Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management Form 8-K (January 25, 2021), pp. 3 to 5, 16 to 17. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
[^94]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1
[^95]: Settlement Agreement and Release between the Government of the United States Virgin Islands and Leon Black, executed January 20, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/usvi_black_settlement_agreement_-_executedpdf.pdf
[^96]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01071282, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring," as of October 2, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01071282.pdf ; EFTA00982173, DataSet 9, email, Ada Clapp to Jeffrey Epstein, "6.7.13 Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring-updated 1.14.14," January 21, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00982173.pdf ; EFTA00702518, DataSet 9, email, Barry J. Cohen to Jeffrey Epstein, "S&C: Leon Black Estate Planning," July 24, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00702518.pdf
[^97]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), transcript pp. 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^98]: 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 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023 (ECF No. 191). 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 ; EFTA02808625, Court Records, same case, letter of JPMorgan's counsel in opposition, 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 ; EFTA02814941, Court Records, same case, Order of Judge Jed S. Rakoff, 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
[^99]: Staley v The Financial Conduct Authority [2025] UKUT 00203 (TCC), decision released June 26, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685d21fec2633bd820a92a52/Staley_v_FCA_decision_for_release.pdf
[^100]: New York State Department of Financial Services, Consent Order in the Matter of Deutsche Bank AG et al., July 6, 2020, paras. 26, 33. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank ; Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf
[^101]: "JPMorgan settles with Jeffrey Epstein victims for $290 million." *WHYY,* 2023. https://whyy.org/articles/jpmorgan-settlement/ ; "Ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley fined and banned by UK regulator for Epstein ties." *AP/AOL,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/finance/ex-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-142727090.html
[^102]: 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
[^103]: Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to James Edward Staley, July 23, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/james-edward-staley-2025.pdf
[^104]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/
[^105]: 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
[^106]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^107]: 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
[^108]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1360 with Exhibits 2-9 (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); Order, ECF No. 1370 (Sept. 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
[^109]: "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
[^110]: "Jeffrey Epstein used foreign passport with fake name to enter Saudi Arabia: prosecutors." *NBC News,* July 17, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-epstein-used-foreign-passport-fake-name-enter-saudi-arabia-n1031046
[^111]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 23, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe to Judge Richard M. Berman (Supplement to Detention Memorandum), July 16, 2019, pp. 1-3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649.23.0_2.pdf
[^112]: *United States v. Epstein,* No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 30, Letter from AUSA Alison Moe, July 17, 2019 (quoting ECF No. 24 at 7); ECF No. 31, Letter from Marc Fernich, Martin Weinberg, and Reid Weingarten, July 18, 2019. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/
[^113]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: internal USANYS email, "FW: Fraud and Blackmail: Jeffrey Epstein's Finances," July 31, 2019, EFTA00086657 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00086657.pdf
[^114]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library: Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, July 8 to August 10, 2019, including staff memoranda of July 23, 2019, SIS Inmate Investigative Report NYM-19-0061 (July 31, 2019, pp. EFTA00049239 to 43), and an institution response on cellmate assignments and documentation, EFTA00048963 (DataSet 9). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
[^115]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. iii to iv, 1 to 6, 14 to 20, 58 to 60. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
[^116]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died ; "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy: A closer look." *CBS News, 60 Minutes,* January 5, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-a-closer-look-60-minutes-2020-01-05/
[^117]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
[^118]: Eastham, Janet. "'Suspicious' payments to last guard who saw Epstein." *The Telegraph* via *Yahoo News,* March 8, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-prison-guard-made-suspicious-132416347.html ; "Hany Farid and WIRED Analyze the Department of Justice's Released Epstein Video, Find Anomalies with Metadata." *UC Berkeley School of Information,* July 2025. https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2025/hany-farid-and-wired-analyze-department-justices-released-epstein-video-find-anomalies ; "Jeffrey Epstein prison video had nearly 3 minutes cut from it: report." *LiveNOW from FOX,* July 2025. https://www.livenowfox.com/news/epstein-prison-video-edit-discrepancy
[^119]: "Maurene Comey, prosecutor in Epstein and Combs cases and daughter of former FBI director, sues after being fired." *CNN,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/politics/maurene-comey-justice-department-lawsuit ; Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/
[^120]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates." *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
[^121]: Reuters, "Epstein estate agrees to $35 million settlement in victim class action," *NBC News,* February 20, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-estate-agrees-35-million-settlement-victim-class-action-rcna259863 ; Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204 (S.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68260876/doe-3-v-indyke/
[^122]: Kaelan Deese, "Two Jeffrey Epstein associates under investigation by New York federal prosecutors," *Washington Examiner,* September 23, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4739210/jeffrey-epstein-associates-under-investigation-new-york-federal-prosecutors/
[^123]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
[^124]: "Court Rules Virginia Giuffre Died Without a Will, Appoints Administrator," *Newsweek,* November 26, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/court-rules-virginia-giuffre-died-without-will-11110482
[^125]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF Nos. 784, 785 (July 18, 2025); ECF No. 809 (Aug. 11, 2025), 794 F. Supp. 3d 215. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^126]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Interview Transcript, Maxwell, 2025.07.24 (Redacted)." https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.24%20(Redacted).pdf
[^127]: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, letter to William K. Marshall III, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, August 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-07-Letter-to-BOP-Maxwell-Transfer.pdf
[^128]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files," Press Release No. 25-201, February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files
[^129]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1
[^130]: "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," *The Washington Times,* November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/
[^131]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf ; Office of the Clerk, Roll Call 289, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289
[^132]: U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files
[^133]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, January 30, 2026, p. 4. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
[^134]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844. https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
[^135]: Senators Jeffrey A. Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Richard J. Durbin, letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, March 11, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/GAO-Epstein-Files-Redactions-Review-Letter.pdf
[^136]: "Government watchdog to review DOJ's handling of the Epstein files," *NBC News,* April 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/government-watchdog-review-dojs-handling-epstein-files-rcna342513
[^137]: "DOJ removed, withheld Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* February 24, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell ; "Justice Department posts more Epstein files related to accusations about Trump," *NPR,* March 5, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/05/nx-s1-5737562/justice-department-missing-epstein-files-trump ; *CNN,* February 24, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/24/us/epstein-files-trump-accuser-missing-files-invs
[^138]: Congressional Record, vol. 172, no. 40 (March 3, 2026), pp. S748 ff. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2026-03-03/html/CREC-2026-03-03-pt1-PgS748-2.htm
[^139]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Report on Failure of Wall Street Banks to Blow the Whistle on Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking and Money Laundering Schemes," August 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-report-on-failure-of-wall-street-banks-to-blow-the-whistle-on-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-and-money-laundering-schemes
[^140]: Dareh Gregorian et al., "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," *NBC News,* March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779
[^141]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," *CBS News,* April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
[^142]: "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/ ; "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via *Fortune,* December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association
[^143]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
[^144]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/

64
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/John Brockman.md
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@ -14,51 +14,79 @@ summary: "John Brockman is a New York literary agent who founded the Edge Founda
born: 1941-02-16 born: 1941-02-16
location: "New York, New York" location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Edge Foundation]]"
start: 1988
fn: 5
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Katinka Matson]]"
role: "husband; co-founded Brockman Inc. and Edge with Matson"
fn: 4
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Max Brockman]]"
role: "son; chief executive of Brockman Inc."
fn: 4
--- ---
John Brockman (born February 16, 1941) is an American literary agent and author who founded the [[Edge Foundation]] and its website [[Edge.org]], coined the popularized version of the "third culture," and built a science-and-technology client list through his agency Brockman Inc. For years his annual literary salon and its Billionaires' Dinner were substantially financed by [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and foundations associated with Epstein supplied a majority of Edge's revenue over 2001 to 2017.[^1][^2] John Brockman (born February 16, 1941) is an American literary agent and author who founded the [[Edge Foundation]] and its website [[Edge.org]], coined the popularized version of the "third culture," and built a science-and-technology client list through his agency Brockman Inc. For years his annual literary salon and its Billionaires' Dinner were substantially financed by [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and foundations associated with Epstein supplied a majority of Edge's revenue over 2001 to 2017.[^1][^2]
### From the 1960s Art Scene to Brockman Inc. ### From the 1960s Art Scene to Brockman Inc.
Brockman was born in Boston to Austrian Jewish immigrants and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood, taking an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1963. He moved into the New York avant-garde of the 1960s, organizing intermedia and underground-film events and absorbing the ideas of [[Marshall McLuhan]], [[John Cage]], and [[Buckminster Fuller]], whom he later cited as formative influences. He published early experimental books including *By the Late John Brockman* (1969) before turning to literary agenting.[^3][^1] Brockman was born in Boston to Austrian Jewish immigrants and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood, taking an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1963. He moved into the New York avant-garde of the 1960s, organizing intermedia and underground-film events and absorbing the ideas of [[Marshall McLuhan]], [[John Cage]], and [[Buckminster Fuller]], whom he later cited as formative influences. He published early experimental books including *By the Late John Brockman* (1969) before turning to literary agenting.[^1][^3]
Brockman formed the literary agency Brockman Inc. in 1973 as an international agency for serious nonfiction. It became the leading agency in science and technology writing, negotiating large advances for authors including [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Steven Pinker]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Jared Diamond]], [[Nassim Nicholas Taleb]], and [[Martin Rees]], a roster that at points included three Nobel laureates. His wife [[Katinka Matson]] co-founded the agency, served as its president, and produced the digital botanical images used across Edge; she is listed as a co-founder of Edge as well.[^3][^9] Brockman formed the literary agency Brockman Inc. in 1973 as an international agency for serious nonfiction. It became the leading agency in science and technology writing, negotiating large advances for authors including [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Steven Pinker]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Jared Diamond]], [[Nassim Nicholas Taleb]], and [[Martin Rees]], a roster that at points included three Nobel laureates. His wife [[Katinka Matson]] co-founded the agency, served as its president, and produced the digital botanical images used across Edge; she is listed as a co-founder of Edge as well.[^3][^4]
Brockman described the agency and the salon as overlapping enterprises, with many Edge contributors also being agency clients. His son [[Max Brockman]] joined the firm, became its chief executive, and edited the *This Will Make You Smarter* and *What's Next?* anthologies drawn from younger Edge contributors. Among the clients whose Epstein ties later drew scrutiny were Pinker, Dennett, [[Marvin Minsky]], and the [[MIT Media Lab]] director [[Joi Ito]], all of whom appeared on Edge or in Epstein's orbit.[^9][^1] Brockman described the agency and the salon as overlapping enterprises, with many Edge contributors also being agency clients. His son [[Max Brockman]] joined the firm, became its chief executive, and edited the *This Will Make You Smarter* and *What's Next?* anthologies drawn from younger Edge contributors. Among the clients whose Epstein ties later drew scrutiny were Pinker, Dennett, [[Marvin Minsky]], and the [[MIT Media Lab]] director [[Joi Ito]], all of whom appeared on Edge or in Epstein's orbit.[^1][^4]
### The Reality Club and the Third Culture ### The Reality Club and the Third Culture
Brockman founded a discussion group he called the Reality Club, which met from 1981 to 1996 in restaurants, lofts, the Rosa Mexicano restaurant, and other venues around New York for seminars by scientists and intellectuals. In 1995 he published *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution* (Simon & Schuster), arguing that scientists who write for a general public were displacing the literary intellectual as the people "rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives," an expansion of [[C. P. Snow]]'s 1959 idea of two cultures.[^5][^4] Brockman founded a discussion group he called the Reality Club, which met from 1981 to 1996 in restaurants, lofts, the Rosa Mexicano restaurant, and other venues around New York for seminars by scientists and intellectuals. In 1995 he published *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution* (Simon & Schuster), arguing that scientists who write for a general public were displacing the literary intellectual as the people "rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives," an expansion of [[C. P. Snow]]'s 1959 idea of two cultures.[^5][^6]
The Reality Club moved online as Edge.org, which Brockman launched in 1996 under the nonprofit Edge Foundation he had incorporated in 1988. From 1998 he posed an annual Edge Question to his contributors, drawn from a curated pool of scientists, writers, and what he called third-culture intellectuals, with prompts such as "What is your dangerous idea?," "What will change everything?," and "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" The responses were published on the site and collected in a long-running book series with titles including *What We Believe but Cannot Prove*, *What Is Your Dangerous Idea?*, *This Will Change Everything*, and *This Explains Everything*.[^6][^4] The Reality Club moved online as Edge.org, which Brockman launched in 1996 under the nonprofit Edge Foundation he had incorporated in 1988. From 1998 he posed an annual Edge Question to his contributors, drawn from a curated pool of scientists, writers, and what he called third-culture intellectuals, with prompts such as "What is your dangerous idea?," "What will change everything?," and "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" The responses were published on the site and collected in a long-running book series with titles including *What We Believe but Cannot Prove*, *What Is Your Dangerous Idea?*, *This Will Change Everything*, and *This Explains Everything*.[^6][^7]
The journalist [[John Naughton]] called Edge.org "the world's smartest website" in a 2012 *Observer* profile, a phrase Brockman and the foundation thereafter used in their own materials. Brockman retired the annual question in 2018, framing the move as the finale to twenty years of Edge Questions. The contributor pool skewed heavily male; one tally of those answering put the figure at roughly 80 percent men.[^7][^1] The journalist [[John Naughton]] called Edge.org "the world's smartest website" in a 2012 *Observer* profile, a phrase Brockman and the foundation thereafter used in their own materials. Brockman retired the annual question in 2018, framing the move as the finale to twenty years of Edge Questions. The contributor pool skewed heavily male; one tally of those answering put the figure at roughly 80 percent men.[^1][^8]
### Epstein Funding and the Billionaires' Dinner ### Epstein Funding and the Billionaires' Dinner
Brockman hosted an annual dinner from 1999, timed to the [[TED Conference]] then held in Monterey, California, which became known as the Billionaires' Dinner and brought Edge contributors together with technology and finance figures including [[Jeff Bezos]], [[Sergey Brin]], and [[Elon Musk]]. Brockman embraced the name after trying alternatives; recalling the 2004 dinner, he wrote that "last year we tried 'The Science Dinner.' Everyone yawned. So this year, it's back to the money-sex-power thing with 'The Billionaires' Dinner.'" Katinka Matson organized the events alongside him.[^1][^10] Brockman hosted an annual dinner from 1999, timed to the [[TED Conference]] then held in Monterey, California, which became known as the Billionaires' Dinner and brought Edge contributors together with technology and finance figures including [[Jeff Bezos]], [[Sergey Brin]], and [[Elon Musk]]. Brockman embraced the name after trying alternatives; recalling the 2004 dinner, he wrote that "last year we tried 'The Science Dinner.' Everyone yawned. So this year, it's back to the money-sex-power thing with 'The Billionaires' Dinner.'" Katinka Matson organized the events alongside him.[^1][^9]
According to financial records reviewed by *BuzzFeed News*, foundations associated with Epstein provided $638,000 of nearly $857,000 in revenue that Edge received between 2001 and 2017, and for a period Epstein's dinners and Edge were nearly entirely funded by him. Epstein gave at least $50,000 a year in 2009, 2010, and 2011; no gifts were recorded from 2006 to 2008, the period of his Florida investigation and imprisonment. Epstein was photographed at the dinners in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2004 and attended the 2011 dinner alongside Bezos and Brin; his last recorded gift to Edge was $30,000 in 2015, after which Edge raised only several thousand dollars from a single donor and the dinner series ended.[^1][^2] According to financial records reviewed by *BuzzFeed News*, foundations associated with Epstein provided $638,000 of nearly $857,000 in revenue that Edge received between 2001 and 2017, and for a period Epstein's dinners and Edge were nearly entirely funded by him. Epstein gave at least $50,000 a year in 2009, 2010, and 2011; no gifts were recorded from 2006 to 2008, the period of his Florida investigation and imprisonment. Epstein was photographed at the dinners in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2004 and attended the 2011 dinner alongside Bezos and Brin; his last recorded gift to Edge was $30,000 in 2015, after which Edge raised only several thousand dollars from a single donor and the dinner series ended.[^1][^2]
In a 2013 email later published by his client [[Evgeny Morozov]] in *[[The New Republic]]*, Brockman sought to arrange a meeting between Morozov and Epstein, writing that Epstein "showed up at this weekend's event by helicopter (with his beautiful young assistant from Belarus)," noting that Epstein "got into trouble and spent a year in jail in Florida," and stating that Epstein "gave Harvard $30m to set up [[Martin Nowak]]." Brockman also described visiting Epstein's home and seeing Epstein "in a sweatsuit and a British guy in a suit with suspenders, getting foot massages from two young well-dressed Russian women," and said he later realized the second man was [[Prince Andrew]]. Morozov declined the introduction, replying that the Victoria's Secret and modeling-agency connection was "one more reason to stay away actually."[^8][^11] In a 2013 email later published by his client [[Evgeny Morozov]] in *[[The New Republic]]*, Brockman sought to arrange a meeting between Morozov and Epstein, writing that Epstein "showed up at this weekend's event by helicopter (with his beautiful young assistant from Belarus)," noting that Epstein "got into trouble and spent a year in jail in Florida," and stating that Epstein "gave Harvard $30m to set up [[Martin Nowak]]." Brockman also described visiting Epstein's home and seeing Epstein "in a sweatsuit and a British guy in a suit with suspenders, getting foot massages from two young well-dressed Russian women," and said he later realized the second man was [[Prince Andrew]]. Morozov declined the introduction, replying that the Victoria's Secret and modeling-agency connection was "one more reason to stay away actually."[^10][^11]
### The 2019 Fallout ### The 2019 Fallout
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, the science writer [[Carl Zimmer]] asked to be removed from Edge, citing the Epstein funding. The author [[Naomi Wolf]] left Brockman Inc. on July 31, 2019, citing both Epstein's funding of Edge and the appearance of Epstein associate [[Sarah Kellen]] on the Edge website, and Morozov publicly called on Brockman to close the foundation. Photographs showing Kellen with Brockman and with Max Brockman at Edge dinners in 2002 and 2003 were removed from the site.[^8][^1] After Epstein's July 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, the science writer [[Carl Zimmer]] asked to be removed from Edge, citing the Epstein funding. The author [[Naomi Wolf]] left Brockman Inc. on July 31, 2019, citing both Epstein's funding of Edge and the appearance of Epstein associate [[Sarah Kellen]] on the Edge website, and Morozov publicly called on Brockman to close the foundation. Photographs showing Kellen with Brockman and with Max Brockman at Edge dinners in 2002 and 2003 were removed from the site.[^1][^10]
Most listed Edge contributors did not publicly disassociate from the foundation after the *BuzzFeed News* reporting. The renewed release of U.S. Department of Justice files in 2026 returned attention to the Edge network, with Nowak again placed on Harvard administrative leave in February 2026 and other figures named in the documents drawn from circles that overlapped with Brockman's salon.[^1][^9] Most listed Edge contributors did not publicly disassociate from the foundation after the *BuzzFeed News* reporting. The renewed release of [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] files in 2026 returned attention to the Edge network, with Nowak again placed on Harvard administrative leave in February 2026 and other figures named in the documents drawn from circles that overlapped with Brockman's salon.[^1][^4]
### The Conduit
Brockman's events were the setting in which several scientists first met Epstein. The MIT physicist [[Seth Lloyd]] told *[[The New York Times]]* that he met Epstein in 2004 at a dinner Brockman organized; Lloyd later took two post-conviction grants from Epstein and visited him during his work release. In 2002 Brockman invited a group of East Coast TED speakers, including his clients Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, to fly to California on [[Lolita Express|Epstein's plane]]; Pinker described the arrangement in 2019 as "my lit agent invited me to join a group of east-coast TED speakers Epstein flew to CA." The MIT cosmologist [[Alan Guth]], another client, told NPR that Brockman arranged a meeting at which Epstein was to consider funding Guth's work, and described Edge as a club for Brockman's clients, whom Brockman called "Edgies." A December 31, 2010 email from Brockman to Epstein, released in November 2025, reads: "Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting this year's EDGE Question."[^12][^13][^14][^15]
The fuller text of Brockman's 2013 email to Morozov, as quoted by *[[BuzzFeed News]]*, read: "Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire science philanthropist showed up at this weekend's event by helicopter (with his beautiful young assistant from Belarus). He'll be in Cambridge in a couple of weeks asked me who he should meet. . . . He's been extremely generous in funding projects of many of our friends and clients. He also got into trouble and spent a year in jail in Florida." The "$30m" figure Brockman gave Morozov for the Harvard gift matched the claim in the [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation]]'s press releases; Harvard's records show 6.5 million dollars.[^11][^12][^16]
### Timing of the Money
An [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] filing of Epstein's [[C.O.U.Q. Foundation]] shows a 50,000 dollar gift to Edge in 2007, months after *The New York Times* reported on whether prosecutors had given Epstein preferential treatment over allegations involving underage girls. Edge then published Epstein's own answer to its 2008 question, "What have you changed your mind about?" Epstein foundation web pages claimed Edge support through at least 2014, which *BuzzFeed News* could not verify against tax filings. Epstein's contributor profile remained on the Edge website into 2019, months after the *[[Miami Herald]]*'s November 2018 series prompted a new federal investigation. Brockman did not respond to requests for comment from *BuzzFeed News* or NPR. NPR reported in 2026 that Edge appeared to have ceased publication in 2023.[^12][^14]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits," *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on the $638,000 of $857,000 figure, the Billionaires' Dinner, the 2013 Morozov email, Kellen, and the 2019 departures. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation [^1]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits," *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on the $638,000 of $857,000 figure, the Billionaires' Dinner, the 2013 Morozov email, Kellen, and the 2019 departures. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^2]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on the foundation contributions of about $638,000 of nearly $857,000 received 2001 to 2017 and the $30,000 gift in 2015. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation [^2]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on the foundation contributions of about $638,000 of nearly $857,000 received 2001 to 2017 and the $30,000 gift in 2015. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^3]: Naughton, John. "John Brockman: the man who runs the world's smartest website," *The Observer,* January 8, 2012, on Brockman's background, the McLuhan and Cage influences, and the agency. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jan/08/john-brockman-edge-interview [^3]: Naughton, John. "John Brockman: the man who runs the world's smartest website," *The Observer,* January 8, 2012, on Brockman's background, the McLuhan and Cage influences, and the agency. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jan/08/john-brockman-edge-interview
[^4]: Brockman, John. *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution.* Simon & Schuster, 1995. [^4]: Naughton, John. "John Brockman: the man who runs the world's smartest website." *The Observer,* January 8, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jan/08/john-brockman-edge-interview ; for the agency founding and client roster see also Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019.
[^5]: "About Edge," Edge.org, on the third culture definition and the Reality Club's 1981 to 1996 meetings. https://www.edge.org/about-edge [^5]: "About Edge," Edge.org, on the third culture definition and the Reality Club's 1981 to 1996 meetings. https://www.edge.org/about-edge
[^6]: "About Edge," Edge.org, on the 1988 incorporation of the Edge Foundation as an outgrowth of the Reality Club. https://www.edge.org/about-edge [^6]: Brockman, John. *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution.* Simon & Schuster, 1995.
[^7]: Naughton, John. "The Man Who Runs The World's Smartest Website," *The Observer,* 2012, reproduced at Edge.org. https://www.edge.org/conversation/john_naughton-the-man-who-runs-the-worlds-smartest-website-in-the-observer [^7]: "About Edge," Edge.org, on the 1988 incorporation of the Edge Foundation as an outgrowth of the Reality Club. https://www.edge.org/about-edge
[^8]: "Edge Foundation President May Have Been Jeffrey Epstein's Connection to Intellectual Elite," *InsideHook,* 2019, on Brockman as Epstein's gatekeeper, the 2013 email, and the 2019 fallout. https://www.insidehook.com/culture/edge-foundation-president-may-have-been-jeffrey-epsteins-connection-to-intellectual-elite [^8]: Naughton, John. "The Man Who Runs The World's Smartest Website," *The Observer,* 2012, reproduced at Edge.org. https://www.edge.org/conversation/john_naughton-the-man-who-runs-the-worlds-smartest-website-in-the-observer
[^9]: Naughton, John. "John Brockman: the man who runs the world's smartest website." *The Observer,* January 8, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/jan/08/john-brockman-edge-interview ; for the agency founding and client roster see also Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation." *BuzzFeed News,* 2019. [^9]: "The Edge 'Billionaires' Dinner' 1999" and subsequent dinner pages, Edge.org, on the 1999 start of the dinner at the TED conference in Monterey and Brockman's account of the 2004 naming. https://www.edge.org/event/the-edge-billionaires-dinner-1999
[^10]: "The Edge 'Billionaires' Dinner' 1999" and subsequent dinner pages, Edge.org, on the 1999 start of the dinner at the TED conference in Monterey and Brockman's account of the 2004 naming. https://www.edge.org/event/the-edge-billionaires-dinner-1999 [^10]: "Edge Foundation President May Have Been Jeffrey Epstein's Connection to Intellectual Elite," *InsideHook,* 2019, on Brockman as Epstein's gatekeeper, the 2013 email, and the 2019 fallout. https://www.insidehook.com/culture/edge-foundation-president-may-have-been-jeffrey-epsteins-connection-to-intellectual-elite
[^11]: Morozov, Evgeny. "Jeffrey Epstein's Intellectual Enabler," *The New Republic,* 2019, reproducing the 2013 Brockman email, the "$30m to set up Martin Nowak" line, the Prince Andrew foot-massage passage, and Morozov's reply. https://newrepublic.com/article/154826/jeffrey-epsteins-intellectual-enabler [^11]: Morozov, Evgeny. "Jeffrey Epstein's Intellectual Enabler," *The New Republic,* August 2019, reproducing the 2013 Brockman email, the "$30m to set up Martin Nowak" line, the Prince Andrew foot-massage passage, and Morozov's reply. https://newrepublic.com/article/154826/jeffrey-epsteins-intellectual-enabler
[^12]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Lloyd's 2004 meeting at a Brockman dinner, the fuller 2013 email text, the 2007 C.O.U.Q. gift, Epstein's 2008 Edge answer, the unverified later claims, the profile's removal in 2019, and Brockman's non-response. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^13]: Pinker, Steven (@sapinker), X (Twitter), July 11, 2019, reproduced in Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^14]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026, on Guth's account of Brockman and "Edgies," Brockman's non-response, and Edge's apparent end of publication in 2023. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
[^15]: "Release of emails renews interest in Harvard professor Steven Pinker's link to Jeffrey Epstein," *The Boston Globe,* November 19, 2025, on the December 31, 2010 email and the 2002 flight passengers. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/19/metro/steven-pinker-epstein-ties/
[^16]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard OGC and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3, 5, 21, on the 6.5 million dollar gift, the absence of any 30 million dollar pledge, and the foundation's "$35 million" claim. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208

129
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Leon Black.md
View file

@ -11,20 +11,55 @@ tags:
- Finance - Finance
alias: alias:
- Leon David Black - Leon David Black
summary: "Co-founder of Apollo Global Management who paid Jeffrey Epstein about 158 million dollars between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate-planning structures that a Senate investigation said helped avoid more than a billion dollars in gift and estate taxes, and who resigned from Apollo in 2021 over the relationship." - Leon D. Black
summary: "Apollo Global Management co-founder who wired Jeffrey Epstein about 158 to 170 million dollars from 2012 to 2017 for tax and estate advice, left Apollo in 2021, and paid the Virgin Islands 62.5 million dollars."
born: 1951-07-31 born: 1951-07-31
location: "New York, New York" location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Apollo Global Management]]"
role: "chairman and chief executive"
start: 1990
end: 2021-03-22
fn: 19
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "fees for tax and estate advice paid to Southern Trust Company"
start: 2012
end: 2017
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Gratitude America]]"
role: "10 million dollar donation"
start: 2015-10
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison]]"
reverse: true
role: "outside counsel to Black and the family office"
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[Hogan Lovells]]"
reverse: true
role: "counsel before the Senate Finance Committee"
start: 2026
fn: 9
- type: investigated
with: "[[Senate Finance Committee]]"
reverse: true
start: 2022-06
fn: 2
--- ---
Leon Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American private-equity financier who co-founded [[Apollo Global Management]] in 1990 and ran it until 2021. He paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] approximately 158 million dollars between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust, and estate-planning advice, a sum an independent review and a U.S. Senate investigation found far exceeded any plausible market rate for the work, and which was tied to structures that the Senate Finance Committee said helped Black avoid more than one billion dollars in federal gift and estate taxes. The relationship forced Black's resignation as Apollo's chief executive and chairman in 2021, drew a four-year Senate investigation, and ran alongside a 62.5 million dollar payment to end a Virgin Islands inquiry and separate, denied sexual-assault allegations.[^1][^2][^3] Leon Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American private-equity financier who co-founded [[Apollo Global Management]] in 1990 and ran it until 2021. He paid [[Jeffrey Epstein]] approximately 158 million dollars between 2012 and 2017 for tax, trust, and estate-planning advice, a sum that the review commissioned by Apollo's board found "far exceeded any amounts Black paid to his other professional advisors" and that the [[Senate Finance Committee]] called "inexplicably large," and which was tied to structures that the committee said helped Black avoid more than one billion dollars in federal gift and estate taxes. The wires came from Black's accounts at [[Bank of America]], which reported them to the Treasury as suspicious only in February 2020, after Epstein's death. The relationship forced Black's resignation as Apollo's chief executive and chairman in 2021, drew a four-year Senate investigation, and ran alongside a 62.5 million dollar payment to end a Virgin Islands inquiry and separate, denied sexual-assault allegations.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### Drexel and the Founding of Apollo ### Drexel and the Founding of Apollo
Black is the son of [[Eli Black]], the chief executive of the food conglomerate [[United Brands]] (later [[Chiquita]]), who died by suicide in 1975 during the "Bananagate" foreign-bribery scandal in which United Brands was found to have paid bribes to officials in Honduras. Leon Black earned a degree from [[Dartmouth College]] and an MBA from [[Harvard Business School]], and joined the investment bank [[Drexel Burnham Lambert]], where he became head of mergers and acquisitions and worked closely with the junk-bond financier [[Michael Milken]]. Drexel collapsed into bankruptcy in 1990 after the federal securities-fraud case against Milken and the firm.[^4] Black is the son of [[Eli Black]], the chief executive of the food conglomerate [[United Brands]] (later [[Chiquita]]), who died by suicide in 1975 during the "Bananagate" foreign-bribery scandal in which United Brands was found to have paid bribes to officials in Honduras. Leon Black earned a degree from [[Dartmouth College]] and an MBA from [[Harvard Business School]], and joined the investment bank [[Drexel Burnham|Drexel Burnham Lambert]], where he became head of mergers and acquisitions and worked closely with the junk-bond financier [[Michael Milken]]. Drexel collapsed into bankruptcy in 1990 after the federal securities-fraud case against Milken and the firm.[^6]
Out of Drexel's wreckage, Black co-founded Apollo in 1990 with the former Drexel colleagues [[Josh Harris]] and [[Marc Rowan]] (the early partnership also included [[Tony Ressler]], who later founded [[Ares Management]]). Apollo built its early returns on distressed debt and leveraged buyouts and grew into one of the largest alternative-asset managers in the world, with hundreds of billions of dollars under management across private equity, credit, and the annuities insurer [[Athene]], and a 2011 listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Black served as chairman and chief executive and became one of the wealthiest people in American finance, as well as a prominent art collector and the chairman of the [[Museum of Modern Art]].[^4] Out of Drexel's wreckage, Black co-founded Apollo in 1990 with the former Drexel colleagues [[Josh Harris]] and [[Marc Rowan]] (the early partnership also included [[Tony Ressler]], who later founded [[Ares Management]]). Apollo built its early returns on distressed debt and leveraged buyouts and grew into one of the largest alternative-asset managers in the world, with hundreds of billions of dollars under management across private equity, credit, and the annuities insurer [[Athene]], and a 2011 listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Black served as chairman and chief executive and became one of the wealthiest people in American finance, as well as a prominent art collector and the chairman of the [[Museum of Modern Art]].[^6]
### The Epstein Payments ### The Epstein Payments
@ -32,46 +67,94 @@ Black retained Epstein for financial advice beginning around 2012, several years
Black has said the payments were for advice on trust and estate planning, tax matters, and the operation of his family office. The central transaction concerned a [[Grantor Retained Annuity Trust]] (GRAT) that Black had established in 2006; Epstein devised a structure that, according to the review commissioned by Apollo, helped resolve a potential tax liability and keep wealth out of Black's taxable estate as he transferred as much as two billion dollars to his children. The size and structure of the payments, and the question of what a convicted sex offender with no professional tax credentials actually provided, became the subject of the Apollo review and the Senate investigation.[^1][^2] Black has said the payments were for advice on trust and estate planning, tax matters, and the operation of his family office. The central transaction concerned a [[Grantor Retained Annuity Trust]] (GRAT) that Black had established in 2006; Epstein devised a structure that, according to the review commissioned by Apollo, helped resolve a potential tax liability and keep wealth out of Black's taxable estate as he transferred as much as two billion dollars to his children. The size and structure of the payments, and the question of what a convicted sex offender with no professional tax credentials actually provided, became the subject of the Apollo review and the Senate investigation.[^1][^2]
Black and Epstein were introduced in the mid-1990s by a mutual friend. In 1997 Black appointed Epstein one of the initial directors of the [[Black Family Foundation]]; Epstein resigned in mid-2007, but the foundation's IRS Form 990 returns for 2008 through 2012 continued to list him, an error the Dechert report called an oversight. Black said he was further impressed that [[David Rockefeller]] had appointed Epstein to the board of [[Rockefeller University]], and that Epstein introduced him to researchers at [[Harvard University]] and the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. Black knew of Epstein's 2008 guilty plea and told the Dechert investigators that Epstein had described it as involving a single masseuse who used false identification to claim she was over 18.[^4]
According to the Dechert report, Epstein told Black that he generally charged clients 40 million dollars a year, but agreed to do the initial trust work for 23.5 million dollars, paid to [[Southern Trust Company]] in two installments, the first of 15 million dollars on February 15, 2013. The arrangement was renegotiated in early 2014, bringing the 2013 total to 50 million dollars. Black paid 70 million dollars for 2014, without written service agreements, for work on the trusts, taxes, audits, art, the family office, and advice on yachts and aircraft; 30 million dollars for 2015, of which 20 million was for a "Step-Up Basis Transaction"; nothing for 2016, amid a fee dispute; and 8 million dollars for 2017 for "tax advisory and compliance advice." Black told Apollo's investors that he paid Epstein "a fee roughly equivalent to 5% of the value he generated on an after-tax basis and not tied to hourly rates."[^4][^7]
The Senate Finance Committee's accounting, drawn from bank records, differs. Its table of wires from Black's Bank of America accounts lists 5.5 million dollars in 2012, 50 million in 2013, 70 million in 2014, 30 million in 2015, 6.3 million in 2016 and 8 million in 2017, a total of 169.8 million dollars in eighteen wires, generally of 8 to 10 million dollars each, including one of 20 million dollars in July 2014. About 140 million dollars went in 2013 through 2015 to Southern Trust's accounts at [[Deutsche Bank]], and other wires went to [[Financial Trust Company]] accounts at [[JPMorgan Chase]]. The accounts that sent the money were held by Black, his wife [[Debra Black]], Black Family Partners L.P., Narrows Holdings LLC, the family office [[Elysium Management]], and one other individual.[^5] A forensic accountant retained by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]] in its suit against JPMorgan found that Southern Trust, which had obtained territorial tax benefits by representing that it provided "biomedical and financial informatics" services, reported about 184 million dollars in revenue from 2013 to 2017, of which "$158 million or approximately 85% was from a single source, Leon Black"; the Senate committee, using Bank of America's filings, put Black's share at 166 million dollars, or 90 percent.[^5][^8]
In a June 2026 letter, Wyden compared these sums with Black's other advisers. [[Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison]], his regular counsel, was paid 1,979,761.41 dollars for estate-planning and family-office work in 2013 and 2014, when Black paid Epstein about 120 million dollars; the lawyers who drafted Black's grantor retained annuity trusts and remainder trusts were [[Carlyn McCaffrey]] and [[Ada Clapp]]. Wyden calculated Epstein's fees at 23 to 26 million dollars a year, above the 15.9 million dollar median pay of a Fortune 500 chief executive in 2021.[^9][^10] Documents from the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases cited by Wyden include a 2013 Epstein instruction to "send Leon wire instructions for 15 million dollars," a 2014 confirmation from Epstein's accountant of a 20 million dollar wire from Black, and a 2015 note from Deutsche Bank bankers that another 20 million dollars from Black had "hit" Epstein's accounts.[^9]
### The Dechert Report and the Tax Structures ### The Dechert Report and the Tax Structures
Facing investor and press scrutiny over the Epstein relationship, Apollo's board commissioned an independent review by the law firm [[Dechert]] LLP, which the firm released on January 25, 2021. The Dechert review documented the 158 million dollars in payments, concluded that the fees were for legitimate tax and estate-planning work even though they were far larger than the value of that work, and reported that it had found no evidence that Black was involved in Epstein's sex-trafficking crimes or was aware of them. Black also extended Epstein loans, some of which were repaid.[^1][^5] Facing investor and press scrutiny over the Epstein relationship, Black asked Apollo's board on October 20, 2020 for an outside review, and the board's three-member Conflicts Committee retained the law firm [[Dechert]] LLP, which delivered a memorandum dated January 22, 2021 that Apollo filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on January 25, 2021. Dechert reviewed more than 60,000 documents from Black, Apollo, the family office and Paul Weiss, with [[Milbank]] acting as Apollo's counsel, and interviewed more than twenty witnesses. It documented the 158 million dollars in payments, concluded that the fees were for legitimate tax and estate-planning work, reported that Black and witnesses believed Epstein's advice had conferred between one and two billion dollars in value, and found "no evidence that Black or any employee of the Family Office or Apollo was involved in any way with Epstein's criminal activities."[^1][^4][^11]
The review nonetheless described arrangements that drew lasting questions. It reported that a transaction Epstein devised to help Black avoid more than one billion dollars in federal taxes raised the question of whether Black had improperly kept billions of dollars out of his taxable estate and might owe substantial gift and estate taxes. The review also recorded that the payments were "inexplicably large," well in excess of what Black paid any other adviser and far above the median pay of a Fortune 500 chief executive at the time. Apollo's board accepted the review's findings while announcing governance changes and the leadership transition.[^1][^5] The central project concerned a 2006 grantor retained annuity trust set up by a trusts-and-estates lawyer whom Epstein had recommended. By 2012 the structure carried a risk of an estate-tax assessment that a former family-office employee and outside counsel put at about 500 million dollars, and that witnesses said could reach one billion dollars or more; outside counsel called Epstein's solution a "grand slam." In the fall of 2015 Epstein claimed credit for a "Step-Up Basis Transaction" involving loans between Black and family trusts, estimated that it saved 600 million dollars, and demanded 60 million dollars, a tenth of the saving; Black paid 20 million dollars. The dispute over that fee led to the break between the two men between 2016 and 2018. Separately, in early 2017 Black lent Epstein 22.5 million and 8 million dollars through his entity BV70 LLC to Epstein's Plan D LLC in connection with an art transaction; after Black demanded repayment in early 2018, Epstein repaid 10 million dollars, and the balance was outstanding when he died. Black also gave 10 million dollars to Epstein's charity [[Gratitude America]] in October 2015, and at Epstein's request made donations to MIT, Harvard, the [[Arizona State University]] Origins Project and the Peace Initiative Foundation.[^4]
Black told the investigators he had visited Epstein's island twice with his wife and children, his Santa Fe ranch once, his Paris residence once for drinks and his Florida house once or twice, had flown on his plane once, and had never spent a night at any Epstein property. Dechert also found that Epstein's Financial Trust Company bought 263,257 shares in Apollo's March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program run by the lead underwriter, 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 for deals Apollo declined, and alongside Black and his family in [[Environmental Solutions Worldwide]]. Black's letter to Apollo's investors on the day of release stated, "Apollo did no business with Mr. Epstein."[^4][^7]
The review recorded that some of Epstein's ideas "did not hold up under scrutiny," and that his compensation "far exceeded any amounts Black paid to his other professional advisors." The Senate Finance Committee, reviewing the same payments in July 2023, called them "inexplicably large; well in excess of what Black paid any other financial advisors and far higher than the median compensation of Fortune 500 CEOs at the time," and stated that a transaction Epstein devised to help Black avoid more than one billion dollars in federal taxes raised questions about whether Black had improperly kept billions of dollars out of his taxable estate and might owe substantial gift and estate taxes. Apollo's board accepted the review's findings while announcing governance changes and the leadership transition.[^2][^4][^11]
### The Estate-Planning Checklists
Working papers of Black's family office are in the Justice Department's Epstein releases. A "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring," dated as of October 2, 2013, set out the program in ten parts: a cash-flow plan built on Black's substitution of trust assets for a promissory note, completed on August 15, 2013, with Empire Valuation valuing the Black Family Partners (BFP) interests he acquired; financing options "relating to the asset substitution and existing loans secured by art," soliciting information from Bank of America, JPMorgan, [[Morgan Stanley]] and Deutsche Bank, with "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken"; decanting the 2006 Trust into a 1997 trust and then into a new "Heritage Trust," with an agreement with "DB" or a lease to Black governing his use of the art the trust would hold; restructuring BFP, LDB 2011 LLC and LBF Holdings LLC "to avoid estate inclusion"; a review of prior SEC filings and of "short-swing profit rules"; new private foundations for each of Black's children; the unwinding of split-dollar life insurance; an inventory of Black's art, cane collection, rare books and bronzes, to be provided by [[Sotheby's]]; and a "freeze partnership" into which Black would contribute art valued by an outside appraiser. It named "Jib Black" as "the 'second' attorney reviewing the cash flow plan."[^12]
On January 21, 2014 Ada Clapp of Black Family Partners, 445 Park Avenue, copying family-office head [[Eileen Alexanderson]], sent Epstein the updated version: "Hi Jeffrey, Attached is what I believe you are referring to by the 9 page list. I updated to show progress."[^13] The January 14, 2014 version opened with the "Settlement of 2006 Trust Accounting," assigning the family office and Apollo to ascertain the sources of the trust's "Trust Accounting Income" and to calculate what "should have been distributed to Leon annually and in the aggregate," marked complete; it listed release and indemnification agreements for the 2006 Trust and GRATs A through K, providing among other things for "Leon's removal as beneficiary," and an action item to "Confirm that John Hannan and Richard Ressler will proceed without separate counsel." Decanting to entities labeled "APO1 and APO2" was recorded "as first step."[^14] A workbook titled "Apollo / Leon Black / Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) Payment Workbook / Tax Year 2013," dated March 26, 2014, is in the same releases.[^15]
On July 24, 2017 one of its recipients forwarded Epstein a "Privileged & Confidential" memorandum on "Leon Black Estate Planning" that Charles T. Dowling of [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] had sent on July 12 to Clapp and two others, then in the period of the fee dispute between the two men, adding only: "Let us know what issues you have."[^16] Black has maintained that Epstein's work was lawful tax and estate advice, and the Dechert review found no evidence that he paid for anything else.[^4]
### The Senate Finance Investigation ### The Senate Finance Investigation
The Senate Finance Committee, under Ranking Member [[Ron Wyden]], opened an investigation into Black's tax planning and his financial ties to Epstein, publicly confirming it in July 2023 and pursuing it across roughly four years. The committee examined whether the payments to Epstein were part of a strategy to avoid more than one billion dollars in federal gift and estate taxes through the 2006 GRAT and related trusts, and sought records from Apollo, from Black, and from financial institutions including [[Bank of America]] that processed the payments.[^2][^3] The Senate Finance Committee, under [[Ron Wyden]], who chaired it at the time, opened an investigation into Black's tax planning and his financial ties to Epstein in June 2022, prompted by what it called "inconsistencies" in the Dechert report, publicly confirmed it on July 25, 2023, and pursued it across roughly four years, with Wyden continuing as ranking member after January 2025. The committee examined whether the payments to Epstein were part of a strategy to avoid more than one billion dollars in federal gift and estate taxes through the 2006 GRAT and related trusts, and sought records from Apollo, from Black, and from financial institutions including Bank of America that processed the payments.[^2][^3] The committee's July 2023 release stated that "Black improperly received excess income from Apollo partnership interests held in a trust, assets he indicated to the IRS he no longer owned," that the 2006 trusts had been funded with interests of 30.35 percent in Apollo Management III, IV, V and VI, 26.8 percent in Apollo Investment Management, 26.9 percent in Apollo Value Management, 44 percent in four other Apollo management partnerships, and 142 points in Apollo Advisors VI, that Black's art collection was valued by his own counsel at more than one billion dollars, and that Black had refused to answer questions or produce documents on how Epstein's pay was set. Black's representatives told the committee the [[Internal Revenue Service]] had not audited any of the transactions or trusts. Black's attorneys also told the committee that the idea behind the step-up transaction "was in the public domain and originated with Black's other legal advisors."[^2]
In July 2025 Wyden said Epstein's work for Black deserved an [[Internal Revenue Service]] probe, and in 2026 the committee escalated. In March 2026 Wyden questioned Black over new material in the Epstein file releases that he said showed the appearance of "hush money" payments and the surveillance of women, and on June 4, 2026 the committee referred its findings on Black's Epstein ties to the [[House Oversight Committee]]. Wyden, with Senator [[Angus King]], also introduced legislation in April 2026 to close the high-value-trust tax loophole the GRAT structure exploited. Black has denied wrongdoing and said his tax planning was lawful.[^2][^6] In July 2025 Wyden said Epstein's work for Black deserved an Internal Revenue Service probe, and in 2026 the committee escalated. In March 2026 Wyden questioned Black over new material in the Epstein file releases that he said showed the appearance of "hush money" payments and the surveillance of women, and on June 4, 2026 the committee referred its findings on Black's Epstein ties to the [[House Oversight Committee]]. Wyden, with Senator [[Angus King]], also introduced legislation in April 2026 to close the high-value-trust tax loophole the GRAT structure exploited. Black has denied wrongdoing and said his tax planning was lawful.[^2][^17]
### Bank of America and the Suspicious Activity Reports
On March 11, 2025 Wyden wrote to Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] and [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[Kash Patel]] that the "large U.S. financial institution" holding Black's accounts did not file a suspicious activity report with the [[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]] until February 2020, about six months after Epstein's death. That report flagged 156 million dollars in wires to Epstein, stating that the activity did "not have a verifiable business purpose," had "no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose," and involved "suspicious use of multiple accounts." A second report in October 2020 flagged two wires the bank had missed, 5.5 million dollars in November 2012 and 8 million dollars in April 2017. Wyden wrote that his staff had found 12 million dollars in wires that the Apollo review did not identify, and that "I have not received any explanation from Black's attorneys as to why the Apollo Board's investigation omitted or failed to identify these $12 million payments or their purpose."[^10]
The committee's August 4, 2026 report identified the bank as Bank of America and dated its first report February 7, 2020. It stated that Justice Department records identify [[Jane Heller]] as one of Black's principal bankers there, that a 2014 email from Black's family office said "Jane Heller is calling every day for this statement," that an internal Bank of America document noted Heller "already has a relationship with Black that includes a $400MM art secured line," and that the bank made four loans of more than 500 million dollars against Black's art, yacht and jet, including a 484 million dollar loan against his art at 1.43 percent. The head of Black's family office, Eileen Alexanderson, told Epstein that "Jane Heller essentially set this up as a personal loan collateralized by the boat." Wyden wrote to Bank of America chief executive [[Brian Moynihan]] on April 4, 2024; the bank's counsel replied that it would not cooperate without a subpoena. Epstein victims later sued Bank of America, and a deposition of Black in that case was set for March 26, 2026; according to the report, the bank settled with the plaintiffs days before it. The report called Black "Epstein's single largest source of funding" and listed Heller among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation; neither Heller nor the bank has been charged.[^5][^18]
On June 4, 2026 Wyden referred his findings to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] ahead of Black's deposition there. He wrote that unsealed Justice Department files indicated that Epstein "kept close tabs of women who Black had reached settlements/NDAs with and reached out to Russian government officials to help Black with these so-called problems," and "appears to have acted as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black's behalf, raising concerns of potential money laundering," and that several financial institutions may have violated anti-money-laundering law by failing to report Black's transactions in time. Black's counsel, [[Aaron Cutler]] of [[Hogan Lovells]], had written to Wyden on April 13, 2026 that the inquiry concerned a "private citizen's personal life" and was an attempt to "unfairly harass" Black.[^9]
### The Departure from Apollo ### The Departure from Apollo
On January 25, 2021, the same day the Dechert review was released, Apollo announced that Black would retire as chief executive on or before July 31, 2021, with Marc Rowan succeeding him, while Black remained chairman. On March 22, 2021, Black left abruptly, relinquishing the chairmanship as well and citing health issues affecting him and his wife, and Rowan assumed the role of chief executive. The departure came months earlier than the announced timeline and amid the emerging sexual-assault allegations against Black.[^7] On January 25, 2021, the same day the Dechert review was released, Apollo announced that Black would retire as chief executive on or before July 31, 2021, with Marc Rowan succeeding him, while Black remained chairman. In his letter to limited partners that day Black wrote that "as I near my 70th birthday this July, I will retire as CEO on or before that date," asked the board to consider cancelling the Class C share that gave the co-founders extra voting rights in favor of "one share, one vote," disclosed that Apollo had engaged [[WilmerHale]] to review its reputational-risk practices, and pledged 200 million dollars to initiatives for women, including help for survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking.[^7] On March 22, 2021, Black left abruptly, relinquishing the chairmanship as well and citing health issues affecting him and his wife, and Rowan assumed the role of chief executive. The departure came months earlier than the announced timeline and amid the emerging sexual-assault allegations against Black.[^19]
Black publicly blamed his co-founder Josh Harris for what he characterized as a campaign to force him out, and the two men's dispute became an open feud reported across the financial press. Black filed a lawsuit alleging a racketeering conspiracy among Harris, [[Guzel Ganieva]], and others; a federal judge, [[Paul Engelmayer]], dismissed that suit with prejudice in 2022, calling the racketeering claims "glaringly deficient in fundamental respects." Rowan consolidated control of Apollo, which in 2026 faced shareholder securities-fraud suits alleging it had concealed the extent of Black's Epstein ties from investors.[^7][^8] Black publicly blamed his co-founder Josh Harris for what he characterized as a campaign to force him out, and the two men's dispute became an open feud reported across the financial press. Black filed a lawsuit alleging a racketeering conspiracy among Harris, [[Guzel Ganieva]], and others; a federal judge, [[Paul Engelmayer]], dismissed that suit with prejudice in 2022, calling the racketeering claims "glaringly deficient in fundamental respects." Rowan consolidated control of Apollo, which in 2026 faced shareholder securities-fraud suits alleging it had concealed the extent of Black's Epstein ties from investors.[^19][^20]
### The Ganieva and Assault Allegations ### The Ganieva and Assault Allegations
In 2021 Guzel Ganieva, a Russian former model, publicly accused Black of years of sexual abuse, and after Black responded that the two had had a consensual affair and that she had tried to extort him, she sued him in June 2021 alleging sexual assault, including a rape she said occurred in 2014, and defamation. Black denied the allegations. A New York appeals court later ruled for Black on the defamation claim, finding that a 2015 non-disclosure agreement, under which Ganieva had received about nine million dollars including a 100,000-dollar monthly stipend, covered her claims, and that she had ratified the agreement by accepting the money.[^8][^9] In 2021 Guzel Ganieva, a Russian former model, publicly accused Black of years of sexual abuse, and after Black responded that the two had had a consensual affair and that she had tried to extort him, she sued him in June 2021 alleging sexual assault, including a rape she said occurred in 2014, and defamation. Black denied the allegations. A New York appeals court later ruled for Black on the defamation claim, finding that a 2015 non-disclosure agreement, under which Ganieva had received about nine million dollars including a 100,000-dollar monthly stipend, covered her claims, and that she had ratified the agreement by accepting the money.[^20][^21]
A separate federal lawsuit filed in July 2023 alleged that Black had raped a then-16-year-old girl with autism at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2002. Black's lawyer, [[Susan Estrich]], said Black had never met the accuser and called the suit a fabrication by the [[Wigdor]] law firm. The plaintiff, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe and later reported to be Cheri Pierson, dropped the suit with prejudice in February 2024. Black has denied every allegation of sexual misconduct.[^10] In November 2022 [[Cheri Pierson]], a [[New Jersey]] woman represented by the [[Wigdor]] law firm, sued Black and Epstein's estate under her own name in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that Black assaulted her in early 2002 at Epstein's townhouse after Epstein arranged for her to give Black a massage. The suit was discontinued with prejudice in February 2024 without any payment by Black, who said, "I have never met Ms. Pierson."[^22][^23]
A separate federal lawsuit, Doe v. Black, No. 1:23-cv-06418 in the [[Southern District of New York]], filed by Wigdor in July 2023, alleged that Black had raped a then-16-year-old girl with autism at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse in 2002. Black's lawyer, [[Susan Estrich]], said Black had never met the accuser and called the suit a fabrication by Wigdor. In April 2025 Wigdor asked to withdraw as the plaintiff's counsel days before a hearing on whether it should be sanctioned, and Judge [[Jessica Clarke]] granted the request. Black has denied every allegation of sexual misconduct.[^22][^24]
### The Virgin Islands Settlement ### The Virgin Islands Settlement
In January 2023 Black paid 62.5 million dollars to the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] to end the territory's investigation into his ties to Epstein, without any admission of liability or any criminal charge. The payment came as the territory was pursuing the Epstein estate and the banks that served Epstein, and shortly after the estate's own 105 million dollar settlement and the territory's suits against [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Deutsche Bank]].[^11] On January 20, 2023 Black signed a settlement agreement with the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, countersigned by Acting Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]], under which he paid 62.5 million dollars within sixty days to end the territory's claims against him arising from Epstein, without any admission of liability or any criminal charge. Governor [[Albert Bryan]] had removed Attorney General [[Denise George]] at the end of December 2022, days after she filed the territory's December 27, 2022 suit against JPMorgan, and appointed Thomas-Jacobs, already assigned as an attorney on the JPMorgan case, as acting attorney general effective January 1, 2023; Bryan's office gave no reason and said reports tying the removal to the suit were "not entirely accurate."[^25] The payment came shortly after the estate's own 105 million dollar settlement, while the territory's suit against JPMorgan Chase and victims' suits against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank were pending.[^26][^27]
The Black settlement was the largest individual payment connected to the Virgin Islands inquiry, exceeding the sums paid by the banks to the territory, and was reported as resolving the territory's potential claims against Black arising from his financial dealings with Epstein. Black continued to manage his personal fortune and his art holdings after leaving Apollo, while the Senate referral and the prospect of an IRS examination of the GRAT structures remained open in 2026.[^11][^2] The agreement's recitals state that "according to public reports, Black paid $158 million over approximately five years to Jeffrey Epstein's Virgin Islands company, Southern Trust," and, as a separate recital, "WHEREAS, Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands." Section III.2 provides that nothing in the agreement is an admission of liability, which Black expressly denies, and that its terms "shall not be cited by any person as evidence of wrongdoing by Black." Wyden later described the recital as an admission that Black's money funded sex trafficking. The territory directed 15 million dollars of the payment to a trust fund for counseling, mental-health and other services for Virgin Islands residents. The release covers "Leon Black, and all of his attorneys and other agents acting within the scope of their authority," and entities he owns or controls, and excludes "JP Morgan Chase or any other financial institution used by Black or Jeffrey Epstein or any current or former employees" of those institutions, and Epstein and his estate. Black agreed not to claim that his payment resolved any individual victim's claims.[^5][^9][^27]
The Black settlement was the largest payment by an individual other than the Epstein estate in the Virgin Islands inquiry; JPMorgan's later 75 million dollar settlement with the territory, in September 2023, was larger. It was reported as resolving the territory's potential claims against Black arising from his financial dealings with Epstein. Black continued to manage his personal fortune and his art holdings after leaving Apollo, while the Senate referral and the prospect of an IRS examination of the GRAT structures remained open in 2026.[^2][^26]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Leon Black's $158 Million Sent to Epstein Draws Senate Probe." *Bloomberg,* July 25, 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-25/leon-black-s-158-million-payments-to-epstein-spark-senate-probe ; "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why." *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation [^1]: "Leon Black's $158 Million Sent to Epstein Draws Senate Probe." *Bloomberg,* July 25, 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-25/leon-black-s-158-million-payments-to-epstein-spark-senate-probe ; "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why." *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
[^2]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein [^2]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^3]: "Sen. Ron Wyden wants to know why Leon Black paid Epstein $170 million for tax planning over 5-year period." *CBS News,* 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-ron-wyden-leon-black-paid-epstein-170-million-tax-planning/ [^3]: "Sen. Ron Wyden wants to know why Leon Black paid Epstein $170 million for tax planning over 5-year period." *CBS News,* 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-ron-wyden-leon-black-paid-epstein-170-million-tax-planning/
[^4]: For Black's career, the United Brands background, Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken, and the 1990 founding of Apollo, see the contemporaneous business press and the Apollo corporate record. [^4]: 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. 1-4, 8-18, 21-22. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
[^5]: "Apollo Announces Review of Significant Governance Enhancements as Part of Continued Evolution and Institutionalization of the Firm and Leadership Transition." *Apollo Global Management,* January 25, 2021. https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2021/01/apollo-announces-review-of-significant-governance-enhancements-as-part-of-continued-evolution-and-institutionalization-of-the-firm-and-leadership-transition-211534651 [^5]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4, 9-14, 56-61. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Refers Findings on Leon Black's Epstein Ties to House Oversight Committee," June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-refers-findings-on-leon-blacks-epstein-ties-to-house-oversight-committee ; "Epstein's Work for Leon Black Deserves IRS Probe, Wyden Says." *Bloomberg,* July 31, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-31/epstein-s-work-for-leon-black-should-face-irs-probe-wyden-says [^6]: For Black's career, the United Brands background, Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken, and the 1990 founding of Apollo, see the contemporaneous business press and the Apollo corporate record.
[^7]: "Leon Black quits Apollo months earlier than expected following Jeffrey Epstein investment scandal." *CNBC,* March 22, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/apollo-ceo-leon-black-leaves-follows-jeffrey-epstein-investment-scandal.html ; "Marc Rowan Assumes Role of CEO of Apollo." *Apollo Global Management / GlobeNewswire,* March 22, 2021. [^7]: 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
[^8]: "Leon Black's Lawsuit Against Josh Harris, Guzel Ganieva Dismissed by Judge." *Bloomberg,* June 30, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/leon-black-suit-against-josh-harris-guzel-ganieva-thrown-out [^8]: 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 p. 74. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf
[^9]: "Woman's lawsuit accuses Leon Black of defamation, violent behavior." *CNBC,* June 2, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/02/womans-lawsuit-accuses-leon-black-of-defamation-violent-behavior.html ; Ganieva v. Black, New York Appellate Division, First Department (2025). [^9]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding Leon Black, June 4, 2026 (citing EFTA00621341, EFTA00396545, EFTA01915809 and EFTA01376741). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf ; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Refers Findings on Leon Black's Epstein Ties to House Oversight Committee," June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-refers-findings-on-leon-blacks-epstein-ties-to-house-oversight-committee
[^10]: "Lawsuit accuses billionaire Leon Black of raping autistic teenager at Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse." *CNBC,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/25/leon-black-accused-of-raping-teenager-at-jeffrey-epstein-townhouse.html ; "Woman drops lawsuit against Leon Black alleging rape at Jeffrey Epstein mansion." *CNBC,* February 20, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/20/woman-drops-claim-of-leon-black-rape-at-jeffrey-epstein-mansion.html [^10]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1 ; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Information on Financing of Jeffrey Epstein's Operations by Billionaire Leon Black, Seeks Documents from Trump Administration," March 12, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-information-on-financing-of-jeffrey-epsteins-operations-by-billionaire-leon-black-seeks-documents-from-trump-administration
[^11]: "Billionaire Leon Black paid $62.5m to exit US Virgin Islands investigation over links to Jeffrey Epstein." *AOL / Agence France-Presse,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/billionaire-leon-black-paid-62-002414707.html [^11]: "Apollo Announces Review of Significant Governance Enhancements as Part of Continued Evolution and Institutionalization of the Firm and Leadership Transition." *Apollo Global Management,* January 25, 2021. https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2021/01/apollo-announces-review-of-significant-governance-enhancements-as-part-of-continued-evolution-and-institutionalization-of-the-firm-and-leadership-transition-211534651
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01071282, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring, As of October 2, 2013." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01071282.pdf
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00982173, DataSet 9, email from Ada Clapp, Black Family Partners, to Jeffrey Epstein, "6.7.13 Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring-updated 1.14.14," January 21, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00982173.pdf
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00583490, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring, As of January 14, 2014." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00583490.pdf
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00616944, DataSet 9, "Apollo / Leon Black / Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) Payment Workbook / Tax Year 2013," March 26, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00616944.pdf
[^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00702518, DataSet 9, email to Jeffrey Epstein, "S&C: Leon Black Estate Planning," July 24, 2017, forwarding a July 12, 2017 email of Charles T. Dowling, Sullivan & Cromwell. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00702518.pdf
[^17]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Refers Findings on Leon Black's Epstein Ties to House Oversight Committee," June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-refers-findings-on-leon-blacks-epstein-ties-to-house-oversight-committee ; "Epstein's Work for Leon Black Deserves IRS Probe, Wyden Says." *Bloomberg,* July 31, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-31/epstein-s-work-for-leon-black-should-face-irs-probe-wyden-says
[^18]: "Leon Black deposition in Epstein accusers' lawsuit against Bank of America delayed," *Reuters,* March 11, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/world/leon-black-could-be-deposed-epstein-accusers-lawsuit-against-bank-america-judge-2026-03-11/
[^19]: "Leon Black quits Apollo months earlier than expected following Jeffrey Epstein investment scandal." *CNBC,* March 22, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/apollo-ceo-leon-black-leaves-follows-jeffrey-epstein-investment-scandal.html ; "Marc Rowan Assumes Role of CEO of Apollo." *Apollo Global Management / GlobeNewswire,* March 22, 2021.
[^20]: "Leon Black's Lawsuit Against Josh Harris, Guzel Ganieva Dismissed by Judge." *Bloomberg,* June 30, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/leon-black-suit-against-josh-harris-guzel-ganieva-thrown-out
[^21]: "Woman's lawsuit accuses Leon Black of defamation, violent behavior." *CNBC,* June 2, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/02/womans-lawsuit-accuses-leon-black-of-defamation-violent-behavior.html ; Ganieva v. Black, New York Appellate Division, First Department (2025).
[^22]: "Lawsuit accuses billionaire Leon Black of raping autistic teenager at Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse." *CNBC,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/25/leon-black-accused-of-raping-teenager-at-jeffrey-epstein-townhouse.html ; "Woman drops lawsuit against Leon Black alleging rape at Jeffrey Epstein mansion." *CNBC,* February 20, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/20/woman-drops-claim-of-leon-black-rape-at-jeffrey-epstein-mansion.html
[^23]: "Cheri Pierson Files Bombshell Lawsuit Accusing Leon Black of Rape in Jeffrey Epstein Mansion," *The Daily Beast,* November 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheri-pierson-files-bombshell-lawsuit-accusing-leon-black-of-rape-in-jeffrey-epstein-mansion/ ; "Leon Black Rape Accuser Cheri Pierson Drops Lawsuit Against Billionaire," *The Daily Beast,* February 2024. https://www.thedailybeast.com/leon-black-rape-accuser-cheri-pierson-drops-lawsuit-against-billionaire/
[^24]: Doe v. Black, No. 1:23-cv-06418 (S.D.N.Y.), docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67633736/doe-v-black/ ; "Law firm in sexual assault suit against billionaire Leon Black wants to exit case: court records," *AOL,* April 2025. https://www.aol.com/news/law-firm-sexual-assault-suit-222654166.html
[^25]: "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 ; "Attorney General Denise George Has Been Terminated," *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* December 31, 2022. https://viconsortium.com/vi-government/virgin-islands-attorneygeneral-denise-george-has-been-terminated-
[^26]: "Billionaire Leon Black paid $62.5m to exit US Virgin Islands investigation over links to Jeffrey Epstein." *AOL / Agence France-Presse,* 2023. https://www.aol.com/billionaire-leon-black-paid-62-002414707.html
[^27]: Settlement Agreement and Release between the Government of the United States Virgin Islands and Leon Black, executed January 20, 2023, sections I, II.A.1-3, III.2, III.5 (as published by the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/usvi_black_settlement_agreement_-_executedpdf.pdf

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- LeonBotstein
- BardCollege
- JeffreyEpstein
- GratitudeAmerica
- HigherEducation
- Philanthropy
alias:
- Leon Bottstein
- President Leon Botstein
summary: "Conductor and president of Bard College from 1975 to 2026 who courted Jeffrey Epstein as a donor after his conviction, took 150,000 dollars from Epstein's charity, and retired after a 2026 review."
location: "Annandale-on-Hudson, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Bard College]]"
role: "president"
start: 1975
end: 2026-06-30
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[American Symphony Orchestra]]"
role: "music director and principal conductor"
start: 1992
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[Gratitude America]]"
role: "one-year term on the advisory board"
start: 2016
end: 2016
fn: 12
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Leon Botstein is a conductor, music historian and college administrator who was president of [[Bard College]] in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, from 1975 until June 30, 2026, and has been music director of the [[American Symphony Orchestra]] since 1992. From 2011, three years after [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s Florida guilty plea, he pursued Epstein as a donor to Bard, visited his Manhattan townhouse about two dozen times and his Virgin Islands island once, and in 2016 received 150,000 dollars from Epstein's foundation [[Gratitude America]], which he gave to the college. After the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s 2026 Epstein releases, Bard's trustees commissioned a review by [[WilmerHale]], which concluded that nothing he did was illegal and that he had "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein"; his retirement was announced the next day.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Background
Botstein was born in Switzerland to Polish parents who had escaped Nazi persecution and came to the [[United States]] at the age of two. He graduated from the High School of Music and Art in New York at sixteen, studied history and philosophy at the [[University of Chicago]], studied at Tanglewood in 1967 and went on to graduate school at [[Harvard University]]. At twenty-three he became president of the experimental Franconia College in New Hampshire, which Bard describes as making him "the youngest college president in history," and in 1975 he became president of Bard.[^1][^5]
At Bard he founded the Bard Music Festival and oversaw the building of the [[Frank Gehry]]-designed Fisher Center; he also founded Bard High School Early College in 2001, and Bard established, with the university of St. Petersburg, "the first liberal arts college for Russian students in Russia," Smolny College, and the Bard Prison Initiative. He was music director of the [[Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra]] from 2003 to 2011 and edits *The Musical Quarterly*.[^1][^3] In 2024 the [[Carnegie Corporation of New York]] named him one of its Great Immigrants.[^5]
### Epstein as Donor
According to reporting cited by Representative [[Jamie Raskin]] in 2026, Epstein gave Bard 125,000 dollars in several donations in 2011 and 2012 and donated dozens of laptops to Bard's high school program in 2015, and his foundation's website listed Bard High School Early College among its grant recipients. Botstein had said that Epstein's only gifts to Bard were a 75,000 dollar gift and 66 laptops. *[[The Wall Street Journal]]* reported in April 2023 that he had scheduled dozens of meetings with Epstein, and he described the relationship as "sadism on his part" because Epstein kept "dangling philanthropic support" he would not commit.[^4][^6][^7] Raskin wrote that Botstein "also apparently knew that a 2014 donation to the college by apparent co-conspirator [[Leon Black]] was made at Mr. Epstein's behest"; Black has denied all wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.[^4]
In December 2012 Botstein's office arranged his travel to Epstein's island in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]]. On December 18, 2012 his assistant asked Epstein's office how he would reach "Mr. Epstein's house," and was told "it will be via boat," that he would need to leave "Jeffrey's island" about two hours and fifteen minutes before his flight home through San Juan, and that his passport copy had been forwarded to "Leon Black's office."[^8] On July 25, 2016 the president's executive assistant arranged a visit by Epstein to Bard on July 27 by helicopter for a matinee opera performance and an early dinner; Bard's head of security wrote, "We are excited and honored to welcome back Mr. Epstein," and said the landing would be coordinated with Epstein's pilot, [[Larry Visoski]], and the local fire company, and Botstein, copied, replied "Excellent."[^9]
### Gratitude America and the 150,000 Dollars
On December 15, 2014 a correspondent sent Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] a contact card titled "President Leon Botstein.vcf" under the subject "Leon Botstein/Bard."[^10] In 2016 Gratitude America, Ltd., whose account was at [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas, paid Botstein 37,500 dollars a quarter; a check dated August 1, 2016 bore the memo "Leon Botstein, Bard College ... 3rd Quarterly Payment of 4."[^11] Bard said in May 2023 that Epstein had invited Botstein "to serve a one-year term on the Advisory Board as an expert in music," that Botstein received 150,000 dollars and gave all of it to Bard that year as part of a one million dollar gift. Botstein said, "I didn't benefit personally at all," "I have no idea why he concocted this scheme," and "He took pity on me, and he said, 'I'm gonna give you money and you do whatever you want with it.'" He said he had not mentioned the payments earlier because "the contract was signed by someone else" and he did not remember them until he looked into the matter.[^7][^12] Deutsche Bank had been told in January 2016, when Epstein's accountant withdrew a request to open an account for the foundation, of "Mr. Epstein's resignation from Gratitude America."[^13]
### Admissions and Smolny
In January 2017 the daughter of [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]] wrote to Botstein that Bard was her first choice, and on January 10 he replied that he would pass her sentiments "on to the admissions committee"; Previn forwarded the exchange to Epstein. On January 12, 2017 Allen's household wrote to Epstein by iMessage: "I can't thank you enough for getting [her] into Bard ... Thank you for coming through for us." Bard denied that Epstein had any role in the admission decision.[^4][^14]
On March 26, 2018 Epstein wrote to the Bard president's address naming a Russian woman and saying he "would appreciate her going to see an advisor" to help her decide on Smolny. The reply from the president's address that day said she "should get in touch directly with me" and that her inquiry would then be passed to a Bard staff member. Epstein forwarded the exchange to another recipient with the note "he is the president of smolny."[^15] Raskin wrote in June 2026 that Epstein used Botstein's name with a European violin student who later "came to suffer traumatic abuse at the hands of Mr. Epstein," arranging for her to be seated with Botstein at a dinner and obtaining symphony tickets and a backstage meeting through him, and that in June 2019 Epstein again pressed a survivor to attend Smolny.[^4]
### The WilmerHale Review and Retirement
The Justice Department's releases under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] named Botstein thousands of times, and in February 2026 Bard's trustees retained WilmerHale to review his communications with Epstein. Its summary to the independent trustees, dated April 30, 2026, reported that his contacts from 2012 to 2019 included 25 visits to the townhouse and a two-day visit to the island, that Epstein twice visited Bard and attended recitals and concerts "accompanied by multiple women who have since been identified as victims of Epstein," and that Botstein "did not try to further understand what Epstein had done or learn what it meant that Epstein was found in 2011 to be a New York State Level 3 Sex Offender." It quoted his rationale: "I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work." The summary concluded that nothing Botstein did in the relationship was illegal, and stated that he "minimized and was not fully accurate in describing his relationship with Epstein."[^4][^16][^17]
On May 1, 2026 the executive committee of Bard's board announced that Botstein had "submitted his retirement, effective June 30, 2026," and that "Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors." Botstein wrote to the faculty: "After completing 51 years as the president of Bard, I am announcing that I will be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year." He remained on the faculty and on campus, and Jonathan Becker became acting president.[^2][^16][^17] On June 17, 2026 Raskin, ranking Democrat on the [[House Judiciary Committee]], wrote to board chair [[James Cox Chambers]] that the review was "too narrowly tailored," that its summary did not mention Smolny at all, and that Epstein's connections to Botstein and other Bard leaders "helped him maintain and expand his illegal activities"; he asked Bard to make Botstein available for a transcribed interview and to produce records on Epstein, Kahn, [[Darren Indyke]], Black, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] and Epstein-linked entities including Gratitude America.[^4][^16] Botstein has not been charged with any offense.
### Footnotes
[^1]: Bard College Music Program, "Leon Botstein," faculty biography. https://music.bard.edu/faculty/leon-botstein/
[^2]: Executive Committee, Bard College Board of Trustees, "Message from the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees," May 1, 2026. https://www.bard.edu/news/message-from-the-executive-committee-of-the-board-of-trustees-2026-05-01
[^3]: American Symphony Orchestra, "Leon Botstein." https://americansymphony.org/people/leon-botstein/
[^4]: Letter from Representative Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member, House Committee on the Judiciary, to James Cox Chambers, Chair, Board of Trustees, Bard College, June 17, 2026, quoting the WilmerHale memorandum to the Bard trustees of April 30, 2026 and citing EFTA02047292, EFTA01208496, EFTA00710494, EFTA02491562 and EFTA00968343. https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-06-17-raskin-to-chambers-bard-re-epstein.pdf
[^5]: Bard College, "Bard College President Leon Botstein Named among the Carnegie Corporation's 2024 Class of Great Immigrants," June 28, 2024. https://inside.bard.edu/news/leon-botstein-carnegie-corporation-great-immigrants-2024-06-28
[^6]: Andrew Lapin, "Noam Chomsky, Ehud Barak, Leon Botstein and a Rothschild are among the names on Jeffrey Epstein's newly uncovered calendar," *Jewish Telegraphic Agency,* May 1, 2023, summarizing Khadeeja Safdar and David Benoit, "Epstein's Private Calendar Reveals Prominent Names, Including CIA Chief, Goldman's Top Lawyer," *The Wall Street Journal,* April 30, 2023. https://www.jta.org/2023/05/01/united-states/noam-chomsky-ehud-barak-leon-botstein-and-a-rothschild-are-among-the-names-on-jeffrey-epsteins-newly-uncovered-calendar
[^7]: Scott Jaschik, "Leon Botstein received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein," *Inside Higher Ed,* May 18, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/18/leon-botstein-received-150000-jeffrey-epstein
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00399132, DataSet 9, email chain between the office of Leon Botstein and Jeffrey Epstein's office, "Jeffrey Epstein," December 18, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00399132.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02047292, DataSet 10, email chain "Re: Jeffrey Epstein visit to Bard," July 25, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02047292.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02087019, DataSet 10, email to Richard Kahn, "Re: Leon Botstein/Bard," December 15, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02087019.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check of Gratitude America, Ltd drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf
[^12]: Victor Feldman, "Bard's Botstein Received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein Charity But Promptly Donated it to the College, School Confirms," *The Daily Catch,* May 18, 2023. https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/bards-botstein-received-150000-from-epstein-charity-but-promptly-donated-it-to-the-college-school-confirms/
[^13]: 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), para. 44. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00710494, DataSet 9, email from Soon-Yi Previn to Jeffrey Epstein forwarding a reply from Leon Botstein, January 10, 2017; EFTA01208496, DataSet 9, extracted iMessage log, January 12, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00710494.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01208496.pdf
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02491562, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein forwarding a March 26, 2018 exchange with the Bard president's office, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02491562.pdf
[^16]: Sam Dingman, "Leon Botstein steps down as president of Bard College, but what does that actually mean?," *WAMC,* July 2, 2026. https://www.wamc.org/news/2026-07-02/leon-botstein-steps-down-as-president-of-bard-college-but-what-does-that-actually-mean ; "Bard president to retire after report examines Epstein ties," *WAMC,* May 1, 2026. https://www.wamc.org/news/2026-05-01/reports-bard-college-president-resigns
[^17]: Adam Schrader, "Bard's Leon Botstein resigns after report on Epstein ties," *Urgent Matter,* May 4, 2026. https://www.urgentmatter.press/read-the-report-review-details-leon-botstein-epstein-ties-as-bard-president-resigns/

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- LesleyGroff
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Immunity
- HouseOversightCommittee
alias:
- Lesley Groff
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's New York executive assistant from 2001 to 2019, named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, never charged, who denies knowing of his crimes."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "executive assistant"
start: 2001
end: 2019
fn: 2
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "named potential co-conspirator, immunized"
start: 2007-09-24
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Michael Bachner]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[House Oversight Committee]]"
reverse: true
role: "interviewee"
start: 2026-06
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Lesley Groff is an American former executive assistant to [[Jeffrey Epstein]], who worked for him in his [[New York City|New York]] office for more than eighteen years, from 2001 until she resigned after his arrest in July 2019. She is one of the four women named in the co-conspirator clause of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], a clause she has called her "scarlet letter." Victims have said she scheduled their appointments with Epstein; she has denied any knowledge of his crimes and has never been charged.[^1][^2]
### Employment
Groff managed Epstein's calendar and travel from New York. A 2005 [[Chicago Tribune]] article reported salaries of about 200,000 dollars for Epstein's assistants and quoted Epstein describing them as "an extension of my brain."[^3]
### Allegations and Denials
[[Marina Lacerda]], who has said she dropped out of school before the ninth grade and was abused by Epstein as a minor, has said she "had to go through Lesley Groff," who called repeatedly to arrange massages. A victim who was a minor at the time told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] that she "felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on." Groff's attorney [[Michael Bachner]] has said that she "never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18" and "had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever," and that after the 2019 arrest she "felt betrayed and disgusted."[^2]
Groff was a named defendant, with Epstein, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], and [[Sarah Kellen]], in the federal sex-trafficking suit filed in January 2017 by [[Sarah Ransome]], who alleged that the four told her Epstein would secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for massages. The suit was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on December 20, 2018.[^4]
### Immunity and the 2019 Investigation
The 2007 agreement provided that the [[United States]] would not charge "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, [[Adriana Ross]], Lesley Groff, or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." In 2024 the [[Second Circuit]] held, in rejecting Maxwell's reliance on the clause, that it bound only the Southern District of Florida.[^1]
Four days after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Bachner informed the government that Groff "would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination" if called before a grand jury. She spoke with investigators about two years after the 2019 subpoena and told them that scheduling massages was "around 1%" of her duties. She was not charged.[^2]
### Congressional Interview
In June 2026 Groff was interviewed by the [[House Oversight Committee]]. She said she wished to "dispel the false notions" that she "knowingly enabled or conspired with him to commit his evil acts," adding: "Nothing could be further from the truth." She called Epstein a "master manipulator and deceiver," said of the 2007 clause, "I am not a conspirator and I never would have agreed to this language," recalled that Epstein had described the accusations against him as "a shakedown" for money, and said of his accusers, "I believe them." She also said: "In hindsight, I wish he had fired me."[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^2]: "Former Epstein executive secretary tells Oversight Committee he was a 'master manipulator,'" *ABC News,* June 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/oversight-committee-interview-former-epstein-executive-secretary-lesley/story?id=133685804
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^4]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein (Ransome v. Epstein), No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK (S.D.N.Y.), Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- MariaFarmer
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- LeslieWexner
- FBI
- NewAlbany
- Artist
alias:
- Maria Farmer
summary: "American artist who reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the NYPD and FBI in August 1996 after an assault at Epstein's Ohio house beside Leslie Wexner's estate, and sued the United States in 2025."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Annie Farmer]]"
role: "older sister"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "art scout, later receptionist"
start: 1996
end: 1996
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Farmer v. United States]]"
role: "plaintiff"
start: 2025-05-29
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Marsh Law Firm]]"
reverse: true
start: 2023-05-02
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Maria Farmer is an American painter who worked for [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 1996 and who, on August 29, 1996, reported Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] to the [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]] and then to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], alleging that they had sexually assaulted her at Epstein's residence in [[New Albany, Ohio]], on or adjacent to the estate of [[Leslie Wexner]], and had stolen nude images she had made of her two minor sisters. It is the earliest known report of Epstein to law enforcement. The FBI did not act on it. Federal agents interviewed her in 2006, during the Florida investigation that ended in Epstein's 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. In May 2025 she sued the [[United States]] for negligence.[^1][^2]
### Work for Epstein
In the mid-1990s Farmer had recently completed a Master of Fine Arts at the [[New York Academy of Art]] when she met Epstein and sold him one of her paintings. He hired her as an "art scout" for his collection, a job that expanded to receptionist and other duties at his New York residence and at an apartment building on East 66th Street where, according to her complaint, Epstein housed young women. Farmer alleges that over several months in 1996 she saw many young women and girls, including children in school uniforms, entering the house; that Maxwell, on errands in Epstein's car, repeatedly had the driver stop so she could "go get girls"; that Epstein showed her a media room of recording devices and monitors at the New York house; and that Epstein and Maxwell kept a "modeling book" of images of apparently underage girls in his safe, which Maxwell told her was used in connection with [[Victoria's Secret]], a Wexner company.[^1]
### New Albany
In the summer of 1996 Epstein invited Farmer to spend the summer as an "artist-in-residence" at his house in New Albany, Ohio, which her complaint describes as "part of or adjacent to Les Wexner's estate." Farmer alleges that in late July or early August 1996 Epstein and Maxwell sexually assaulted her there, and that they took from her catalogued collection nude images of her two minor sisters, which she used in her artwork, and flew them to New York. She alleges that when she tried to leave, she was "physically threatened by a local Sheriff and other persons connected with Wexner and prevented from leaving the New Albany property" for many days, that Epstein telephoned offering to "make it up to her" and asking what she "wanted," and that she was let go only after contacting her family. On her return she found her apartment, to which Epstein and Maxwell held keys, painted black and emptied of most of its furniture. She alleges that Maxwell threatened to burn her artwork and the building she lived in, and told her she and Epstein could destroy her career. Wexner has said that he severed ties with Epstein around 2007, when "we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family."[^1][^3]
### The 1996 Report
NYPD complaint report No. 1996-0067241, dated August 29, 1996, records that Epstein "did call her and stated he was going to burn victim's painting" and that he "has keys to victim's apartment." The precinct told her it could address only the threat and referred her to the FBI. Farmer alleges that she then called at least two FBI offices and reported the assault, her fear that one of her minor sisters had been abused, the stolen photographs, Epstein's recording equipment, and the binder in his safe, and that the FBI hung up on her mid-sentence and did not follow up. That year Epstein had also met her younger sister [[Annie Farmer]], then sixteen, and flown her to his [[New Mexico]] ranch, where Annie later testified that Maxwell and Epstein abused her.[^1][^4]
In 2006, FBI agents working the Palm Beach case arrived unannounced at Farmer's home in [[North Carolina]], acknowledged her 1996 report, and told her they needed her for the Florida investigation, promising they would "get him" this time. FBI field notes of that meeting record her earlier report to the NYPD Sixth Precinct. Farmer repeated her 1996 account. In September 2007 the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] had signed the non-prosecution agreement, which immunized Epstein's "potential co-conspirators."[^1][^5]
### Farmer v. United States
Through the [[Marsh Law Firm]], Farmer wrote to the government on May 2, 2023 urging an investigation of the FBI's handling of her report. On July 20, 2023 she and [[Sarah Ransome]] presented a claim under the [[Federal Tort Claims Act]] to the FBI for 600 million dollars on behalf of themselves and "all other Epstein victims trafficked in the Epstein sex trafficking conspiracy after August 29, 1996," the date of her first report.[^6] An FBI response to her [[Freedom of Information Act]] request placed it on a "complex request small processing track" with an "estimated date of completion" of "November, 2027." On May 29, 2025 she sued the United States in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia|U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]] (No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW) for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint alleges that the FBI violated its own Manual of Investigative Operations and Guidelines in 1996 and 2006; that the Southern District of Florida failed to notify the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Civil Rights Division of a sex-trafficking investigation; that it gave Epstein "a sweetheart 'deal-of-a-lifetime' non-prosecution agreement" although the U.S. Attorneys' Manual authorized such agreements only for cooperating witnesses; and that it "granted blanket immunity to Epstein and all his known and unknown co-conspirators." It further alleges that Epstein was allowed to plead to soliciting one minor rather than several, was given work release twelve hours a day, and served his sentence in the minimum-security [[Palm Beach County Jail]] rather than the county's Main Detention Center.[^1]
On December 23, 2025 the FBI's FD-71 record of her 1996 complaint was released in the first wave of disclosures under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]].[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), paras. 2, 4, 10, 13-15, 20-21, 81-126, 176-186. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf ; docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70403599/farmer-v-united-states/
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^3]: "Victoria's Secret owner says disgraced financier Epstein stole $46M from him," *CBC,* August 2019. https://amp.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.5240145
[^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]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^6]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), submitted to the FTCA Claims Administrator, FBI Headquarters, signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
[^7]: "Maria Farmer and Marsh Law Firm's Persistent Advocacy Vindicated as FBI Releases Farmer's 1996 Report on Jeffrey Epstein," *Marsh Law Firm,* December 23, 2025. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/persistent-advocacy-vindicated/

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- MaryErdoes
- JPMorgan
- PrivateBanking
- JeffreyEpstein
- Banking
- WealthManagement
alias:
- Mary Callahan Erdoes
- Mary C. Erdoes
summary: "JPMorgan Chase executive who ran its private bank from 2005 and its asset and wealth management arm from 2009, and who handled the bank's Jeffrey Epstein relationship until his 2013 exit."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "investment solutions and strategy, private banking"
end: 2005-03
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[J.P. Morgan Private Bank]]"
role: "Chief Executive Officer"
start: 2005-03
end: 2009-09
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Jes Staley]]"
role: "head of the private bank reporting to the head of asset management"
start: 2005-03
end: 2009-09
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[JPMorgan Asset Management]]"
role: "Chief Executive Officer, Asset and Wealth Management"
start: 2009-09
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Jamie Dimon]]"
role: "Operating Committee member"
start: 2009-09
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Mary Callahan Erdoes is an American banker who has worked at [[JPMorgan Chase]] since before 2005, served as chief executive of its private bank from March 2005 to September 2009, and has been chief executive of its asset management business, later Asset and Wealth Management, since September 2009, as a member of the Operating Committee under [[Jamie Dimon]]. During the private-bank years she reported to [[Jes Staley]], and across both posts she was among the executives who oversaw the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], a client from 1998 until he was asked to leave in 2013. JPMorgan has stated that, with the exception of Staley, its executives "acted with integrity" in the Epstein matter; Erdoes has not been charged with any offense or disciplined by any regulator.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Career at JPMorgan
JPMorgan Chase's annual reports record that before 2005 Erdoes "was responsible for investment solutions and strategy for private banking clients worldwide," that she was chief executive of Private Banking from March 2005 to September 2009, and that she became chief executive of Asset Management in September 2009, at age 42.[^1] The [[Upper Tribunal]] in the Staley case described the reporting line in the same period: Staley ran JPMorgan's asset and wealth management business from 2001 to 2009, and "Ms Mary Erdoes, who then ran the Private Bank, reported to Mr Staley."[^2]
On June 24, 2026 the independent members of JPMorgan Chase's Compensation and Management Development Committee approved one-time "Retention and Continuity" equity awards of 30 million dollars each to [[Doug Petno]] and [[Troy Rohrbaugh]] and 20 million dollars each to Erdoes and chief operating officer [[Jennifer Piepszak]], designed, in the bank's words, "to preserve top qualified internal succession candidates" and cliff-vesting after three years.[^3] *American Banker* ranked her first on its 2025 list of the most powerful women in finance.[^4]
### The Epstein Relationship, 2006 to 2011
JPMorgan admitted in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|Virgin Islands litigation]] that Erdoes, [[Catherine Keating]] and [[Mary Casey]] knew in 2006 that Epstein had been arrested for solicitation of prostitution, and that Erdoes "was involved in decision making with respect to maintaining Epstein as a customer." The territory's Second Amended Complaint stated that Erdoes "admitted in her deposition that JP Morgan was aware by 2006 that Epstein was accused of paying cash to have underage girls and young women brought to his home."[^5][^6]
On July 25, 2006 Staley visited Epstein at his home, and the next day wrote to Erdoes: "I went and saw him last night. I've never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages." At an October 2006 Rapid Response Team meeting, "after internal discussion with Jes Staley, Mary Erdoes, Catherine Keating, John Duffy and Mary Casey, it was decided that we will keep Mr. Epstein solely as a banking client and on a 'reactive', client service basis." In October 2007 Erdoes wanted to "move forward based on our earlier decision to continue doing business" with Epstein. His balances grew from about 32 million dollars in October 2006 to about 121.5 million dollars in July 2008.[^5]
In 2006 Erdoes told a wealthy JPMorgan client who asked for help arranging a meeting with Epstein that she would be "calling [Epstein] tomorrow." On December 12, 2008, during the [[Bernard Madoff]] collapse, she wrote to Staley that "glenn and I have been going back and forth all night... We have HUNDREDS of clients with some. The ny/palm beach community will be in shock. Can you call JE to get scoop from down there?"[^5][^7]
JPMorgan documents describe regular contact between Erdoes and Epstein in 2010 and 2011, including work on a proposed donor-advised fund for the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]]. On May 24, 2011 she wrote to Epstein that she had missed his meeting "having been in an all day OC with Jamie. I hope the meeting went well. I'm anxious to hear." On July 10, 2011 Epstein wrote to her, "There are 21 million reasons I'd like to know when you return." In 2011 Staley told Epstein to "stop pushing" Erdoes, and Epstein replied, "On Mary Erdoes, I will ease off, I thought I was following plan." On January 20, 2012 she wished Epstein a happy birthday.[^7]
Two of Epstein's 2011 emails to Erdoes and Staley set out the proposal. On July 27, 2011, copying [[Boris Nikolic]], the chief science and technology adviser to [[Bill Gates]], he wrote that "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," that "a portfolio will be established for each donor.according to their own critieria," with "silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc.," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^8] On August 27, 2011 he warned them: "Careful, the people at Gates," naming four foundation staff and identifying two as "the senior people," "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things. Bill is at his country house. and most likely will not deal with it before wed."[^9]
The e-comms summary that JPMorgan's compliance staff compiled in the fall of 2019 as part of the internal review called Project Jeep carried the heading: "Beginning in 2011 Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes have regular communication with Jeffrey Epstein relating to certain strategic initiatives and business proposals. There are occasional personal e-mails between Erdoes and Epstein interspersed within this time period." The [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] told the court in June 2023 that Project Jeep "was only first disclosed in a document produced the night before Mary Erdoes's deposition on March 15, 2023." JPMorgan's counsel responded that the summary was a post-2019 compilation by employees with no contemporaneous knowledge of the relationship and that almost all of the underlying emails had been produced months earlier.[^10][^11]
In July 2011, after Epstein accepted a 21 million dollar settlement of his claims against [[Bear Stearns]], general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] wrote to Erdoes, "I would like to put it and HIM behind us. Not a person we should do business with, period," and the private bank's general counsel told her that Cutler had asked "when we are offboarding JE."[^5] Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein as a client.[^12] In a September 2012 email to Erdoes, [[David Brigstocke]], chief financial officer of Asset and Wealth Management, described another client's house as reminding him "of JE's house, except it was more tasteful, and fewer nymphettes"; Erdoes replied, "Wow."[^5][^7]
### The 2013 Exit and the Black Referrals
A February 9, 2013 due-diligence report recorded that "Both Mary Erdoes and John Duffy are aware of the relationship." On July 19, 2013 [[John Duffy]], chief executive of the U.S. private bank, sent Erdoes talking points for Epstein's exit: "The repetitive nature of your cash transactions is a problem for us... Remediation is required and we need to ask you, in an orderly manner, to find another bank for your needs." Erdoes replied, "I think that is fine."[^5][^7]
On August 14, 2013 Duffy wrote to Erdoes that Epstein "maintains he will become Leon's primary advisor and will be calling the shots," and that he had "told [Epstein] that we would work with him as long as it was through the client accounts, JE Entities would not be acceptable. That's ok right?" Erdoes answered, "Y." Bankers under her division continued to meet Epstein about [[Leon Black]]'s business after the exit, including a May 2015 email from [[Justin Nelson]] to Epstein about "a line of credit for Leon at JPM."[^7]
### Congressional Scrutiny
Senator [[Ron Wyden]] wrote to Dimon on September 24, 2025 citing reporting that Erdoes had been told in 2011 by the head of compliance that Epstein should be exited, that she visited Epstein's townhouse in 2011 to present a 9 million dollar settlement payment, and that she confronted him in 2013 about "the repetitive nature of his cash transactions"; he asked whether JPMorgan had ever investigated Erdoes internally.[^13] JPMorgan's October 10, 2025 reply did not answer the questions and stated that "with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the Firm's executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity."[^14] Wyden's August 4, 2026 report named Erdoes among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation by prosecutors and regulators.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2009, "Executive officers of the registrant" (Mary Callahan Erdoes, age 42: "Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management since September 2009. From March 2005 to September 2009, she was Chief Executive Officer of Private Banking. Prior to 2005, she was responsible for investment solutions and strategy for private banking clients worldwide."). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000095012310016029/e82150e10vk.htm
[^2]: 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
[^3]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 8-K, Item 5.02, filed June 2026 (awards approved June 24, 2026). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000001961726000241/jpm-20260624.htm
[^4]: "The Most Powerful Women in Finance, No. 1: Mary Callahan Erdoes, JPMorganChase," *American Banker,* October 1, 2025. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/2025-the-most-powerful-women-in-finance-no-1-mary-callahan-erdoes-jpmorganchase
[^5]: 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, 53-54, 99, 168, 190, 259-264, 392, 395, 417. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^6]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Second Amended Complaint (filed April 12, 2023), as quoted in U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, p. 32 n.110. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4-5, 24, 27, 32-35, 39-42, 60-61 (quoting JPM-SDNYLIT-00133931, JPM-SDNYLIT-00907707, JPM-SDNYLIT-00100555, JPM-SDNYLIT-00755203, JPM-SDNYLIT-00036258 and JPM-SDNYLIT-00101010, and EFTA00679926). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^10]: 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
[^11]: 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
[^12]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* May 26, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/
[^13]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., September 24, 2025, pp. 2-4. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_senator_wyden_to_jpmorgan_chase_epstein_accounts_09-24-25pdf.pdf
[^14]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- SDNY
- Prosecutor
- Firing
- JamesComey
alias:
- Maurene R. Comey
- Maurene Ryan Comey
summary: "Maurene Comey is the former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases and was fired without stated cause in July 2025, nine days after the Justice Department's Epstein memorandum."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
start: 2015-11
end: 2025-07-16
role: "assistant U.S. attorney"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
start: 2020-07-02
end: 2021-12-29
role: "trial prosecutor"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[James Comey]]"
role: "daughter"
fn: 2
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Lucas Issacharoff]]"
role: "wife"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Maurene Comey is an American lawyer who served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] from November 2015 until July 16, 2025. She was one of the three prosecutors assigned to the 2019 case against [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and prosecuted [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], who was convicted in December 2021, as well as the gynecologist [[Robert Hadden]], former Senator [[Bob Menendez]], and [[Sean Combs]]. The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] fired her by email "pursuant to Article II of the [[United States]] Constitution" nine days after its July 7, 2025 memorandum declaring that no Epstein "client list" existed and that no further disclosure was warranted. She is the daughter of the former [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[James Comey]]. She sued in September 2025, alleging she was fired because of her father or her perceived politics.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Career
Comey joined the office in November 2015, rose to lead several units, and later asked to return to trial work. On July 8, 2019, U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]] announced that she, [[Alex Rossmiller]], and [[Alison Moe]] were the prosecutors on the Epstein case, which the office had assigned to its Public Corruption Unit; she appears on the docket of United States v. Epstein as counsel for the government. After Epstein's death in August 2019 Comey was a lead prosecutor in the case against Maxwell, who was arrested on July 2, 2020; Maxwell was convicted on December 29, 2021 and sentenced to 20 years. Comey's last trial was the 2025 prosecution of Combs, in which she questioned key witnesses including Combs's former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym "Jane"; Combs was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking and convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.[^1][^2][^5][^6]
### Firing
In May 2025 her father posted an image on Instagram that some supporters of President [[Donald Trump]] read as a threat against him; James Comey denied any such intent. The activist [[Laura Loomer]] then called for Maurene Comey and her husband, [[Lucas Issacharoff]], also a Justice Department lawyer, to be "FIRED from the DOJ immediately." Issacharoff resigned that month.[^3]
On July 7, 2025, the Justice Department and FBI issued a memorandum stating that their review "revealed no incriminating 'client list'," found "no credible evidence" that Epstein blackmailed prominent people, and concluded "that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted." On July 15 the U.S. Attorney's Office asked Comey to take the lead on a major public corruption case, three months after she received an "Outstanding" performance review. Just before 5 p.m. on July 16 she received an email with an attachment removing her "[p]ursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States." According to her lawsuit, the interim U.S. Attorney, [[Jay Clayton]], told her: "All I can say is it came from Washington. I can't tell you anything else." A person familiar with the matter told CNN that being a Comey was untenable in the administration because her father was "constantly going after the administration." Loomer said afterward that the firing followed "my pressure campaign on [Attorney General Pam Bondi]." Later that month Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]] interviewed Maxwell over two days under limited immunity, and on August 1 she was moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.[^2][^3][^4][^7]
In a farewell message to colleagues Comey wrote: "If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought." On September 15, 2025 she sued the Justice Department, the Executive Office of the President, and Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], among others, in federal court in Manhattan, seeking reinstatement and back pay; the complaint alleged that "Defendants fired Ms. Comey solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both." The Justice Department declined to comment.[^1][^3]
### The Maxwell Case File, July 2025
On July 22, 2025, six days after Comey's dismissal and two days before Blanche began his interview of Maxwell, an email chain in which one participant's signature reads "FBI NY Violent Crime Threat" assembled a case history of the Maxwell prosecution. It recorded that the FBI New York Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force had opened the Epstein case on December 6, 2018 at the request of the Southern District, that Maxwell "was first mentioned in the case file on 04/23/2019," and that "SDNY proffered Maxwell with her Defense counsel prior to indictment." The requester asked, "Can you down draft the proffer 302s," noting that "SDNY kept notes," and asked why the perjury counts were never tried; the answer given was that "the perjury charges were dropped to prevent the victims from testifying in another trial." On the status of Maxwell's appeal the respondent wrote, "I dont have details of appeal process prior to this from Comey," and then set out Comey's account: "Maxwell has until April 10, 2025 to file a Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court. If she files a writ (which seems likely), it will remain pending until the Supreme Court either grants or denies certiorari," after which she would have "the option of seeking habeas review under 28 USC 2255 within one year."[^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Maurene Comey, prosecutor in Epstein and Combs cases and daughter of former FBI director, sues after being fired." *CNN,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/politics/maurene-comey-justice-department-lawsuit (joined November 2015; unit chief; Article II email; Clayton quote; Combs trial; Hadden; public corruption assignment).
[^2]: "Maurene Comey, federal prosecutor in Epstein case, fired from US attorney's office." *CNN,* July 16, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/maurene-comey-fired-sdny (lead prosecutor on Epstein and Maxwell; daughter of James Comey; person familiar quote).
[^3]: Atkins, Chloe. "Former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sues Trump administration over her firing." *NBC News,* September 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/former-federal-prosecutor-maurene-comey-sues-trump-admin-firing-rcna231406 ; Breuninger, Kevin. "Trump DOJ sued by Epstein prosecutor Maurene Comey over 'illegal' firing." *CNBC,* September 15, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/15/trump-comey-epstein-fired.html (Instagram post; Loomer; Issacharoff resignation; "Outstanding" review; farewell letter; defendants; relief; Loomer's later statement).
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline=
[^5]: United States v. Epstein, No. 1:19-cr-00490-RMB (S.D.N.Y.), docket, attorneys of record. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15887848/united-states-v-epstein/ ; "Jeffrey Epstein Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking Of Minors." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* July 8, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/jeffrey-epstein-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-minors
[^6]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
[^7]: "Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's interview." *CNN,* August 22, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-doj-documents-08-22-25 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas." *CNN,* August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00161422, DataSet 9, internal email chain, "Re: Ghislaine Maxwell," July 22, 2025, EFTA00161422 to EFTA00161424. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00161422.pdf

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---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- ForensicPathology
- JeffreyEpstein
- DeathInCustody
- JFKAssassination
- HSCA
- Autopsy
alias:
- Michael M. Baden
- Dr. Michael Baden
summary: "Michael Baden is the former New York City chief medical examiner who observed Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy for his brother and said the three neck fractures pointed toward homicidal strangulation rather than suicide."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[Mark Epstein]]"
start: 2019-08
role: "forensic pathologist retained to observe the autopsy"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[House Select Committee on Assassinations]]"
start: 1977
end: 1979
role: "chairman, forensic pathology panel"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York]]"
role: "chief medical examiner, dismissed by Mayor Edward Koch"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Michael Baden is an American forensic pathologist and former chief medical examiner of [[New York City]] who, retained by [[Mark Epstein]], observed the August 11, 2019 autopsy of his brother [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and later said that the three fractures found in Epstein's neck were "extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation." The New York City [[Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York|Office of Chief Medical Examiner]], which ruled the death a suicide by hanging, said it stood "firmly" behind its finding. Baden earlier chaired the forensic pathology panel of the [[House Select Committee on Assassinations]], which reviewed the medical evidence in the assassination of [[John F. Kennedy]].[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Baden served briefly as New York City's chief medical examiner before Mayor [[Ed Koch|Edward Koch]] dismissed him about a year later. From 1977 to 1979 he chaired the Select Committee's panel of forensic pathologists, which re-examined the Kennedy autopsy materials and supported the single-bullet conclusion of the [[Warren Commission]] while criticizing the conduct of the original autopsy at [[Bethesda Naval Hospital]]. He later testified or consulted in high-profile cases including the 1995 murder trial of [[O. J. Simpson]], and by 2020 estimated that he had performed more than 20,000 autopsies over a 45-year career.[^1][^3]
### The Epstein Autopsy
Epstein was found hanged in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]] at about 6:30 a.m. on August 10, 2019. Dr. [[Kristin Roman]], the city medical examiner who performed the autopsy the next day with Baden present, initially listed the manner of death as "pending." Days later Chief Medical Examiner [[Barbara Sampson]] announced that she had reviewed additional evidence and ruled the death a suicide by hanging; she did not disclose the additional evidence, and sources told [[60 Minutes]] that one element was Epstein's apparent attempt on July 23. Toxicology found no medications or illegal drugs.[^1][^4]
Autopsy photographs showed fractures of the left and right thyroid cartilage and of the left hyoid bone. "I have never seen three fractures like this in a suicidal hanging," Baden said on 60 Minutes in January 2020. "Going over a thousand jail hangings, suicides in the New York City state prisons over the past 40 to 50 years, no one had three fractures." He cited petechial hemorrhages on Epstein's face, mouth, and eyes as often indicating strangulation, and noted contusions on both wrists, an abrasion on the left forearm, and deep hemorrhage in the left shoulder muscle. He said that no photograph existed of the body as it was found in the cell: "if this was called a suicide without all that information, it was a premature judgment." The medical examiner's office photographed at least two nooses made from orange bedsheet strips on the cell floor, and the one collected as evidence had both ends folded and hemmed rather than cut; [[Michael Thomas]], the officer who found Epstein, told investigators he ripped the cloth from the bunk.[^1][^5]
Sampson answered Baden's October 2019 [[Fox News]] appearance by telling the [[The New York Times|New York Times]] that "in general, fractures of the hyoid bone and the cartilage can be seen in suicides and homicides," and told the [[Associated Press]], "You can't draw a conclusion from one finding. Everything about the case has to be considered." Of the other pathologists consulted by 60 Minutes, one agreed that the three fractures were very uncommon and another said such neck trauma was associated with both hanging and strangulation, especially in older men; Epstein was 66.[^1]
### The Official Findings
The [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]], in its June 2023 report on Epstein's custody, relied on the account of the medical examiner who performed the autopsy: that Epstein's injuries were consistent with suicide by hanging and that there were no defensive wounds, no marks on his hands, no broken fingernails or debris beneath them, no knuckle contusions, and no bruising other than an arm abrasion "likely due to convulsing from hanging." The report does not mention Baden or the fractures. A July 7, 2025 memorandum from the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] cited "the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings" of the medical examiner as consistent with suicide; the Inspector General dates the autopsy to August 11. In March 2026 the [[Miami Herald]] reported that Baden continued to maintain that the injuries were more consistent with strangulation.[^2][^4][^6][^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy: A closer look." *CBS News, 60 Minutes,* January 5, 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-a-closer-look-60-minutes-2020-01-05/ (Baden retained by Epstein's brother and present at the autopsy; fractures, petechiae, other injuries; Roman's "pending" classification and Sampson's ruling; noose photographs; Sampson and AP quotes; Koch dismissal; Simpson trial; 20,000 autopsies).
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Death Looks Like Murder Not Suicide, Forensic Expert Tells '60 Minutes'." *CBS New York,* January 2020. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/jeffrey-epstein-murder-60-minutes/ ; "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicide, Dr. Michael Baden reveals." *FOX 32 Chicago,* October 30, 2019. https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-autopsy-more-consistent-with-homicidal-strangulation-than-suicide-dr-michael-baden-reveals
[^3]: *Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives.* Washington: Government Printing Office, 1979, and Appendix Volume VII (forensic pathology panel, Michael M. Baden, chairman). https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. iii to iv and 2. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf (autopsy August 11, 2019; toxicology; medical examiner's account to the OIG).
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf (p. 1 and pp. 70 to 71, Thomas's account of ripping the cloth from the bunk).
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Memorandum on review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline=
[^7]: Brown, Julie K. "Tova Noel, the prison guard who worked night of Epstein's death, was born in Antigua and lived a number of years on STX." *Miami Herald* via *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 27, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/ap/tova-noel-the-prison-guard-who-worked-night-of-epstein-s-death-was-born-in/article_e0fd90de-fa08-4667-9bff-838a8e591755.html

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---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- NoamChomsky
- Linguistics
- MIT
- JeffreyEpstein
- Academia
alias:
- Noam Chomsky
- Avram Noam Chomsky
summary: "Noam Chomsky is the American linguist who met Jeffrey Epstein from 2015, had 270,000 dollars moved through Epstein's office, and received a 20,000 dollar check from him for designing a linguistics prize."
born: 1928-12-07
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (born)"
relations:
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Valéria Chomsky]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 2
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Carol Chomsky]]"
role: "husband"
end: 2008-12
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928, in [[Philadelphia]]) is an American linguist and political writer, long a professor at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].[^1] He and his wife, Valéria Chomsky, were introduced to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] at one of Chomsky's professional events in 2015, and the *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*'s 2023 reporting on Epstein's calendars recorded their meetings in 2015 and 2016.[^1][^2] Epstein moved 270,000 dollars for Chomsky through his office and paid him 20,000 dollars for designing a linguistics prize.[^2][^3] Chomsky suffered a stroke in June 2023 and has since been unable to speak publicly; his wife issued the family's account in February 2026.[^2]
### The Meetings
According to Valéria Chomsky, Epstein "presented himself as a philanthropist of science and a financial expert" and "began to encircle Noam, sending gifts and creating opportunities for interesting discussions." The couple lunched once at Epstein's ranch in [[New Mexico]], the [[Zorro Ranch]], in connection with a professional event; dined at his Manhattan townhouse; stayed a few times in an apartment he offered them in New York; and visited his [[Paris]] apartment once on a work trip. She wrote: "We never went to his island or knew about anything that happened there," and "At no time did we see children or underage individuals present."[^2] Epstein proposed meetings between Chomsky and other figures Chomsky was interested in, and in that setting Chomsky wrote a letter of recommendation; the statement does not say for whom.[^2]
Epstein told Chomsky that he was being unfairly persecuted over his 2008 conviction. Valéria Chomsky wrote that Epstein "created a manipulative narrative about his case, which Noam, in good faith, believed in," with the aim of "having someone like Noam repairing Epstein's reputation by association," and that the couple did not learn the details of the conviction until the [[Miami Herald]]'s November 2018 reporting.[^2] Her statement answered released emails in which Chomsky advised Epstein on his press coverage.[^2]
### The Cambridge Correspondence
On October 28, 2015, Epstein wrote jointly to Chomsky, the Harvard mathematical biologist [[Martin Nowak]], and the computer scientist [[Danny Hillis]]: "would sat the 14th work? cambridge."[^4] Nowak directed Harvard's [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]], founded in 2003 with a 6.5 million dollar Epstein gift, where Epstein kept an office and keycard access until 2018.[^5] On December 23, 2015, Epstein wrote to Chomsky and Nowak together: "animals dream . the mouse is not really there when the cat is chasing it in its dream. if dreams represent a language with no memory or grammar, they could be the precursor to language."[^6]
### The 270,000 Dollars
The *Journal* reported in May 2023 that Epstein "moved $270,000 for Noam Chomsky and paid $150,000 to [[Leon Botstein]]," the president of [[Bard College]], and that "the two academics have confirmed" the payments.[^3] Chomsky told the *Journal* that the money related to the estate of his first wife, [[Carol Chomsky]], who died in December 2008: "My late wife died 15 years ago after a long illness. We paid no attention to financial issues." He added: "We asked Epstein for advice. The simplest way seemed to be to transfer funds from one account in my name to another, by way of his office."[^7] Asked about meeting Epstein, he said: "First response is that it is none of your business. Or anyone's. Second is that I knew him and we met occasionally."[^7]
Valéria Chomsky's 2026 account described the same transfer differently. She wrote that "these were entirely Noam's own funds," that Chomsky had "identified inconsistencies in his retirement resources that threatened his economic independence," and that Epstein "offered technical assistance to resolve this specific situation," "recovering the funds for Noam, in a display of help and very likely as part of a machination to gain greater access to Noam." She added: "To the best of my knowledge, Epstein never had access to our bank or investment accounts," and "Noam and I never had any investments with Epstein or his office."[^2]
### The 20,000 Dollar Check
Separately, Epstein asked Chomsky to devise "a linguistic challenge that Epstein wished to establish as a regular prize." Chomsky did the work and "Epstein sent a check for US$20,000 as payment," with Epstein's office arranging with Valéria Chomsky for the check to be sent to the couple's home.[^2]
### The 2026 Statement
Valéria Chomsky published her statement on February 9, 2026, writing that Chomsky, then 97, was under constant medical care and "completely unable to speak or engage in public discourse." "We were careless in not thoroughly researching his background," she wrote. "This was a grave mistake, and for that lapse in judgment, I apologize on behalf of both of us." She said Chomsky's 2023 answers to the press "failed to adequately acknowledge the gravity of Epstein's crimes," because he "took it as obvious that he condemned such crimes," and closed: "we express our unrestricted solidarity with the victims."[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: *The Daily Beast,* May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/
[^2]: Chomsky, Valéria. "Ensnared and Manipulated: Official Statement by Valéria Chomsky Regarding Jeffrey Epstein." *CounterPunch,* February 9, 2026. https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/09/ensnared-and-manipulated-official-statement-by-valeria-chomsky-regarding-jeffrey-epstein/
[^3]: Hamilton, Katherine. "Jeffrey Epstein Moved Money For Noam Chomsky, Paid Bard President Botstein $150,000, Report Says." *Forbes,* May 17, 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinehamilton/2023/05/17/jeffrey-epstein-moved-money-for-noam-chomsky-paid-bard-president-botstein-150000-report-says/
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00842252, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky, Martin Nowak and Danny Hillis, October 28, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00842252.pdf
[^5]: 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, May 2020. https://ogc.harvard.edu/report-concerning-Epstein
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00838191, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky and Martin Nowak, December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00838191.pdf
[^7]: *Boing Boing,* May 18, 2023, quoting the *Wall Street Journal.* https://boingboing.net/2023/05/18/jeffrey-epstein-moved-270000-for-noam-chomsky.html

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- PamBondi
- AttorneyGeneral
- DepartmentOfJustice
- EpsteinFiles
- JeffreyEpstein
- BallardPartners
- Qatar
- FARA
- TrumpFoundation
alias:
- Pamela Bondi
- Pamela Jo Bondi
- Pamela J. Bondi
- Attorney General Pam Bondi
summary: "Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, registered agent of Qatar at Ballard Partners, and U.S. Attorney General from February 2025 until her removal in April 2026 during the Epstein files dispute."
born: 1965
location: "Tampa, Florida"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ballard Partners]]"
start: 2019
end: 2024
role: "partner and lobbyist"
fn: 7
- type: represented
with: "[[Qatar]]"
start: 2019-07-23
end: 2020-12-31
role: "registered foreign agent for the Embassy of the State of Qatar"
fn: 7
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
start: 2025-02-04
end: 2026-04-02
role: "Attorney General of the United States"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
start: 2025-02-04
end: 2026-04-02
role: "Attorney General"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Pamela Jo Bondi (born 1965) is an American lawyer who was a prosecutor in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] for nearly two decades, attorney general of [[Florida]] from 2011 to 2019, a partner and registered foreign agent at the lobbying firm [[Ballard Partners]], and [[Attorney General]] of the [[United States]] from February 4, 2025, until [[Donald Trump]] removed her on April 2, 2026. Her tenure at the [[Department of Justice]] was dominated by the handling of the [[Epstein Files]].[^1][^2][^3]
### Florida and the Trump Foundation Check
Bondi worked as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County before winning election as Florida attorney general in 2010; she was re-elected in 2014.[^2] On August 25, 2013, New York Attorney General [[Eric Schneiderman]] sued [[Trump University]] for fraud, and Bondi's office said it was reviewing complaints from Florida students. On September 18, 2013, a political committee supporting her re-election, And Justice for All, received a 25,000 dollar check from the [[Donald J. Trump Foundation]], a charity barred by law from political giving. Her office did not join the suit or open its own case. The foundation's tax return reported the payment as a grant to an unrelated Kansas charity with a similar name. After [[The Washington Post]] reported the gift in 2016, Trump paid the [[Internal Revenue Service]] a 2,500 dollar penalty and reimbursed the foundation. Trump said: "I never spoke to her, first of all, she's a fine person beyond reproach." [[Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington]] filed complaints with Florida's ethics commission and asked the Justice Department to open a bribery investigation of Trump and Bondi; no charges were brought.[^4][^5][^6]
### Ballard Partners and Qatar
After leaving office in January 2019, Bondi joined Ballard Partners, the firm of [[Brian Ballard]]. On July 23, 2019, she filed a short-form registration under the [[Foreign Agents Registration Act]] as a partner of the firm, naming as her foreign principal the "Embassy of the State of Qatar." She described her services as work "to advise, council, and assist in matters related to combating human trafficking," and answered yes to the question whether they included political activity: "Will provide support regarding Qatari relations with U.S. government officials, U.S. business entities, and non-governmental audiences."[^7] Under an amendment to its contract, the firm received 115,000 dollars a month from Qatar, with Bondi named as key personnel; at her confirmation hearing she said that "that was the amount my firm received."[^8][^9] Ballard's registration, No. 6415, also listed as foreign principals the Republic of [[Turkey]], the Turkish state bank [[Halkbank]], the embassy of [[Azerbaijan]], the government of the [[Dominican Republic]], the Republic of [[Kosovo]] and the foreign minister of [[Zimbabwe]]; a short-form statement for [[Susie Wiles]], later White House chief of staff, was filed under it on January 22, 2019.[^7]
In November 2019 Bondi took leave to join the [[White House]] as a special adviser for Trump's first impeachment and served on his defense team at the Senate trial. She filed a second short-form registration under Ballard's registration on March 26, 2020, and [[Sludge]] reported that she resumed lobbying for Qatar that year. FARA records show her two registrations terminated on December 31, 2020, and February 6, 2021.[^7][^8] Senate Judiciary Democrats stated that she lobbied for more than 30 clients at the firm, among them [[Amazon]], [[Uber]] and the private-prison contractor [[GEO Group]], whose largest customer is [[Immigration and Customs Enforcement]], and that she had not listed the Ballard partnership as a conflict of interest.[^10]
### Attorney General
Trump nominated Bondi after [[Matt Gaetz]] withdrew in November 2024. The Senate confirmed her on February 4, 2025, by 54 to 46, with [[John Fetterman]] the only Democrat voting in favor.[^2] In May 2025 she issued a legal memorandum concluding that Trump could accept a Boeing 747 valued at about 400 million dollars from the government of Qatar, on the ground that ownership would pass to his presidential library foundation before the end of his term.[^8]
### The Epstein Files
On February 21, 2025, asked on [[Fox News]] whether the department would release a list of Epstein's clients, Bondi said: "It's sitting on my desk right now to review." On February 27 she announced the "first phase" of declassified Epstein files, most of which had been public before, and ordered [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[Kash Patel]] to deliver thousands of undisclosed pages by the next morning. She told Fox News that evening that a "whistleblower" had told her the [[Southern District of New York]] was "sitting on thousands of pages of documents."[^11][^12] According to information given to Senator [[Dick Durbin]]'s office, about 1,000 FBI records personnel then reviewed some 100,000 Epstein records on 24-hour shifts in March 2025 and were "instructed to 'flag' any records in which President Trump was mentioned." On July 7, 2025, the department and the FBI issued an unsigned memorandum finding "no incriminating 'client list'" and ruling out further disclosure. Durbin's letter of July 18 asked Bondi who had drafted the memorandum, why it was unsigned, who ordered the flagging and which ethics officials she had consulted on her "potential conflict of interest"; the department did not publicly answer.[^11][^13] On July 16, 2025, the department fired [[Maurene Comey]], a prosecutor on the Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] cases; her lawsuit names Bondi as a defendant.[^14]
On November 14, 2025, at Trump's public request, Bondi assigned [[Jay Clayton]], United States Attorney in Manhattan, to investigate Epstein's dealings with [[Bill Clinton]], [[Larry Summers]], [[Reid Hoffman]] and [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Five days later Trump signed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], which permits the withholding of records that would jeopardize "an active federal investigation."[^15] On January 30, 2026, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]] signed a letter to Congress stating that the department had completed its production and had withheld or redacted "approximately 200,000 pages" on grounds of privilege, and on February 14 they sent the Judiciary Committees a list of about 300 names appearing in the files.[^16][^17]
At a [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] hearing on February 11, 2026, Representative [[Thomas Massie]] asked whether she could identify who had redacted [[Leslie Wexner]]'s name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document. Bondi testified that the name had been restored within 40 minutes; Massie replied, "Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed." Bondi said of him: "This guy has 'Trump derangement syndrome,'" and "You're a failed politician."[^18] On March 4, 2026, the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] voted 24 to 19, with five Republicans joining the Democrats, to subpoena her; the subpoena, issued March 17, set a deposition for April 14.[^19]
### Removal
On April 2, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that Bondi, "a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend," would be "transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector," and named Blanche acting attorney general. [[CNN]] and [[CBS News]] reported that Trump had been dissatisfied with how aggressively she pursued his priorities, including prosecutions of his perceived political enemies, and with her handling of the Epstein files; Blanche said he had never heard Trump connect the decision to the files. Bondi wrote that she would move "to an important private sector role I am thrilled about, and where I will continue fighting for President Trump." The Oversight Committee's ranking Democrat, [[Robert Garcia]], said she "remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath." [[Gloria Allred]], who represents Epstein victims, called the departure "long overdue."[^3][^20] Representative [[Ro Khanna]] later said that he and Massie had "basically forced Donald Trump to fire his own attorney general."[^21]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files," February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files
[^2]: U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote 119th Congress, 1st Session, Vote No. 33, on the nomination of Pamela Bondi (PN11-2), February 4, 2025. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00033.htm ; "Senate votes to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general," NPR, February 4, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/04/nx-s1-5287011/pam-bondi-attorney-general-confirmation
[^3]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general," CNN, April 2, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/pam-bondi-role-trump
[^4]: David A. Fahrenthold, "Trump pays IRS a penalty for his foundation violating rules with gift to aid Florida attorney general," The Washington Post, September 1, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/01/trump-pays-irs-a-penalty-for-his-foundation-violating-rules-with-gift-to-florida-attorney-general/
[^5]: "Donald Trump and Pam Bondi: Candidate Dismisses Questions Around Donation Tied to Florida Attorney General," NBC News, September 2016. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-pam-bondi-candidate-dismisses-questions-around-donation-tied-n643211
[^6]: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, "The Trump Foundation-Pam Bondi scandal." https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-trump-foundation-pam-bondi-scandal/
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division, FARA Registration Unit, Short Form Registration Statement of Pamela Bondi, Registration No. 6415 (Ballard Partners), received July 23, 2019, items 1 to 15; FARA eFile records for Registration No. 6415, short-form registrants (Bondi, filed July 23, 2019, terminated December 31, 2020; filed March 26, 2020, terminated February 6, 2021; Wiles, filed January 22, 2019) and foreign principals. https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/ShortFormRegistrants/json/Terminated/6415 ; https://efile.fara.gov/api/v1/ForeignPrincipals/json/Terminated/6415
[^8]: David Moore and Donald Shaw, "Former Qatar Lobbyist Pam Bondi Approves Jet Deal," Sludge, May 12, 2025. https://readsludge.com/2025/05/12/former-qatar-lobbyist-pam-bondi-approves-jet-deal/
[^9]: "Pam Bondi's Lobbying For Qatar Explained," Newsweek, January 2025 (quoting Bondi's January 15, 2025 confirmation testimony). https://www.newsweek.com/pam-bondi-qatar-lobbying-attorney-general-1990130
[^10]: Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Democratic Staff, "Pam Bondi's Extensive Lobbying For Wealthy Special Interests And Foreign Government Poses Serious Conflict Of Interest," January 15, 2025. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/pam-bondis-extensive-lobbying-for-wealthy-special-interests-and-foreign-government-poses-serious-conflict-of-interest
[^11]: Senator Richard J. Durbin, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025 (citing Fox News, February 21 and 27, 2025). https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 25-201, February 27, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline
[^14]: Comey v. United States Department of Justice, No. 1:25-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y., filed September 15, 2025). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice/
[^15]: "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," The Washington Times, November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/ ; Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, § 2(c)(1)(C), 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf
[^16]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, January 30, 2026, p. 4. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
[^17]: "Justice Department lists hundreds of prominent people named in Epstein files in letter to Congress," CNN, February 15, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/politics/doj-epstein-files-prominent-people
[^18]: Erin Kelly, "Bondi, Massie spar over Epstein files redactions," Spectrum News 1, February 11, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/02/11/bondi-massie-epstein-files-
[^19]: Dareh Gregorian, Kyle Stewart, Owen Hayes and Michael Kosnar, "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," NBC News, March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779 ; Office of Representative Nancy Mace, statement, March 17, 2026. https://mace.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-nancy-mace-issues-statement-after-oversight-committee-issues-subpoena-ag
[^20]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," CBS News, April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
[^21]: A Martínez, "Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on the future of the Epstein inquiry with Bondi's ousting," NPR, April 3, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/04/03/nx-s1-5771625/rep-ro-khanna-d-calif-on-the-future-of-the-epstein-inquiry-with-bondis-ousting

106
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Prince Andrew.md
View file

@ -12,11 +12,32 @@ alias:
- Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor - Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
- Duke of York - Duke of York
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York - Prince Andrew, Duke of York
summary: "Prince Andrew is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II who befriended Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, was photographed with Virginia Giuffre in 2001, settled her civil sexual-abuse suit in February 2022 without admitting liability, and was stripped of the Prince title, HRH style, and Duke of York dukedom in late 2025." summary: "Second son of Elizabeth II, friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who settled Virginia Giuffre's 2021 sexual-abuse suit in February 2022 without admitting liability and lost his royal titles in 2025."
born: 1960-02-19 born: 1960-02-19
location: "London, United Kingdom" location: "London, United Kingdom"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-09-22 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Giuffre v. Prince Andrew]]"
role: "defendant"
start: 2021-08-09
end: 2022-03-08
fn: 16
- type: investigated
with: "[[Thames Valley Police]]"
reverse: true
role: "arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office; released under investigation"
start: 2026-02-19
fn: 23
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Elizabeth II]]"
role: "son"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Charles III]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 1
--- ---
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (born February 19, 1960) is the second son of [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[Prince Philip|Prince Philip]]. He served in the Royal Navy, including during the 1982 Falklands War, and held the title Duke of York from his 1986 marriage to [[Sarah Ferguson|Sarah Ferguson]]. His association with [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell|Ghislaine Maxwell]] became the subject of sustained press coverage, a 2019 [[BBC|BBC]] interview, a 2021 civil lawsuit brought by [[Virginia Giuffre|Virginia Giuffre]], and a 2022 settlement. In late 2025 King [[Charles III|Charles III]] initiated the removal of Andrew's royal style and titles, after which he is known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew has consistently denied Giuffre's allegations.[^1][^2] Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (born February 19, 1960) is the second son of [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[Prince Philip|Prince Philip]]. He served in the Royal Navy, including during the 1982 Falklands War, and held the title Duke of York from his 1986 marriage to [[Sarah Ferguson|Sarah Ferguson]]. His association with [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell|Ghislaine Maxwell]] became the subject of sustained press coverage, a 2019 [[BBC|BBC]] interview, a 2021 civil lawsuit brought by [[Virginia Giuffre|Virginia Giuffre]], and a 2022 settlement. In late 2025 King [[Charles III|Charles III]] initiated the removal of Andrew's royal style and titles, after which he is known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew has consistently denied Giuffre's allegations.[^1][^2]
@ -27,49 +48,88 @@ Andrew developed a friendship with Epstein and Maxwell during the 1990s and 2000
After Epstein's 2008 Florida conviction, Andrew remained in contact with him. In December 2010 Andrew stayed several days at Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse, and a photograph from that visit showing the two men walking together in New York's Central Park drew criticism when it was published in 2011. Andrew said in 2019 that he had gone to New York to end the friendship in person, an account later disputed by reporting and released emails indicating he had been a guest at a dinner gathering at the townhouse during the stay.[^1] After Epstein's 2008 Florida conviction, Andrew remained in contact with him. In December 2010 Andrew stayed several days at Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse, and a photograph from that visit showing the two men walking together in New York's Central Park drew criticism when it was published in 2011. Andrew said in 2019 that he had gone to New York to end the friendship in person, an account later disputed by reporting and released emails indicating he had been a guest at a dinner gathering at the townhouse during the stay.[^1]
Andrew served as a United Kingdom trade envoy, a Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, from 2001 until 2011, when he relinquished the role amid press attention to his associations, including the Central Park photograph and his ties to figures such as the Libyan and Tunisian governments. The relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, and the questions it raised, became the central thread of the controversy that followed.[^1] Andrew served as a [[United Kingdom]] trade envoy, a Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, from 2001 until 2011, when he relinquished the role amid press attention to his associations, including the Central Park photograph and his ties to figures such as the Libyan and Tunisian governments. The relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, and the questions it raised, became the central thread of the controversy that followed.[^1]
### The December 2010 Dinner
The dinner at the townhouse was organized by the publicist [[Peggy Siegal]]. Writing to the ABC News anchor [[George Stephanopoulos]] on December 1, 2010, she said: "I am putting together a very last minute casual dinner for Prince Andrew, who is in New York on an unofficial private visit. Please come and bring [your wife]. The list for far...and we are keeping this private and small... Prince Andrew, [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn|Soon-Yi]], [[Katie Couric]]....Jeffrey Epstein, where Andrew is staying. Jeffrey's house is one the largest single dwellings in New York...it's beautiful." Stephanopoulos accepted ("We'd love to Peggy...thanks...right around the corner from our house!"), and Siegal replied that the dinner would begin at 8 p.m., "So come on time and you will have private time with Andrew because he is staying at the house." On December 2 Stephanopoulos wrote that he could still come but his wife, [[Ali Wentworth]], could not; Siegal answered, "OK...we will take a chair away." The chain was preserved in Epstein's email account.[^3] Epstein had been released from his Florida sentence seventeen months earlier.
### JPMorgan's Project Jeep Review
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]]'s compliance staff reviewed his correspondence with the bank's executives in an internal project code-named "Project Jeep." Its October 2019 summary, quoted by the [[United States Virgin Islands]] in its 2023 suit against the bank, stated: "Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the [Duke] of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government. He also appears to have a close relationship with Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem who is a senior [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."[^4] [[Peter Mandelson]] had been business secretary from 2008 to 2010, while Andrew was trade envoy; [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]] then headed the Dubai ports operator [[DP World]].[^5][^6]
On January 6, 2015 a correspondent whose name is redacted wrote to Epstein's personal email address: "What hidden cameras in guest room walls?" The message contained only a link to a *[[Daily Mirror|Mirror]]* article whose address read "prince-andrew-been-secretly-filmed."[^7]
### The Mutual Legal Assistance Request
On June 8, 2020, after *The Hill* reported that prosecutors in New York had asked to question Andrew, an agent in the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s New York field office forwarded the story to a supervisor with the question: "what's the latest with the Epstein case? Anything new on this MLAT request for Prince Andrew?" Another agent in the chain wrote that "SDNY planned on speaking with the USA a week or so ago," referring to the [[Southern District of New York]] and the [[United States]] Attorney.[^8]
### The 2001 Photograph ### The 2001 Photograph
A photograph dated to March 2001 shows Andrew with his arm around the waist of Giuffre, then 17, with Maxwell standing behind them in a doorway. According to the account associated with the image and with Giuffre's later filings, the photograph was taken at Maxwell's home in the Belgravia district of London. The Mail on Sunday published a cropped version of the photograph in 2011 and the full image circulated in 2019.[^3] A photograph dated to March 2001 shows Andrew with his arm around the waist of Giuffre, then 17, with Maxwell standing behind them in a doorway. According to the account associated with the image and with Giuffre's later filings, the photograph was taken at Maxwell's home in the Belgravia district of London. The Mail on Sunday published a cropped version of the photograph in 2011 and the full image circulated in 2019.[^9]
Giuffre said she had been flown to London by Epstein, had gone to the [[Tramp (nightclub)|Tramp]] nightclub with Andrew and others on the evening of March 10, 2001, and was then directed to have sex with Andrew at Maxwell's Belgravia house, an account Andrew has denied. Andrew questioned the photograph in public statements, saying in 2019 he had "no recollection" of the image being taken and could not confirm whether it had been doctored, while noting he was not in the habit of wearing the clothes shown. Maxwell, in her own statements, has at points cast doubt on the surrounding account. The *Mirror* reported that Giuffre's lawyers held the original photograph, and questions about the absence of the negative recurred in commentary.[^3] Giuffre said she had been flown to London by Epstein, had gone to the [[Tramp (nightclub)|Tramp]] nightclub with Andrew and others on the evening of March 10, 2001, and was then directed to have sex with Andrew at Maxwell's Belgravia house, an account Andrew has denied. Andrew questioned the photograph in public statements, saying in 2019 he had "no recollection" of the image being taken and could not confirm whether it had been doctored, while noting he was not in the habit of wearing the clothes shown. Maxwell, in her own statements, has at points cast doubt on the surrounding account. The *Mirror* reported that Giuffre's lawyers held the original photograph, and questions about the absence of the negative recurred in commentary.[^9] In her posthumous memoir [[Nobody's Girl]], Giuffre wrote that Epstein himself took the photograph.[^10]
Andrew also addressed the photograph in the 2019 interview by saying the clothing and the setting did not match his recollection and by raising what he described as inconsistencies, while Maitlis pressed him on why he could not simply confirm or deny that he had been at the locations Giuffre described. He maintained that he had no memory of ever meeting Giuffre.[^4] Andrew also addressed the photograph in the 2019 interview by saying the clothing and the setting did not match his recollection and by raising what he described as inconsistencies, while Maitlis pressed him on why he could not simply confirm or deny that he had been at the locations Giuffre described. He maintained that he had no memory of ever meeting Giuffre.[^11]
### The Sjoberg Deposition and Other Testimony
[[Johanna Sjoberg]], who worked for Epstein as a masseuse, testified in a 2016 deposition in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] that in 2001, when she was 21, she was at Epstein's Manhattan home with Andrew and Giuffre when Maxwell took her to fetch a caricature puppet of Andrew from the satirical television series [[Spitting Image]]. She testified that she sat on Andrew's lap while Giuffre sat beside him with the puppet on her lap, that the group was photographed with the puppet's hand placed on Giuffre's breast, and that Andrew then put his hand on Sjoberg's breast. Asked about the puppet in her own deposition, Maxwell said: "Not a puppet. I don't know how you would describe it. A caricature of Prince Andrew," and "I recollect the puppet but I don't recollect anything around the puppet." Buckingham Palace had earlier called Sjoberg's allegations "categorically untrue." After the deposition was released in the January 2024 unsealing, the [[Metropolitan Police]] said: "No investigation has been launched."[^12]
[[Adriana Ross]], a former Epstein employee named in the 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] as a potential co-conspirator, repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when questioned in 2010 about Andrew's alleged involvement.[^13]
### The 2019 BBC Newsnight Interview ### The 2019 BBC Newsnight Interview
On November 16, 2019, Andrew recorded an interview at Buckingham Palace with [[Emily Maitlis|Emily Maitlis]] for the BBC program [[Newsnight|Newsnight]], broadcast on November 16 and running about 58 minutes, addressing his relationship with Epstein and Giuffre's allegations. Andrew said he could not have been with Giuffre on the night of March 10, 2001, that she described because he had been at home and had taken his daughter [[Princess Beatrice|Princess Beatrice]] to a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking for a children's party, an outing he said he remembered because going to a Pizza Express in Woking was "an unusual thing for me to do."[^4] On November 16, 2019, Andrew recorded an interview at Buckingham Palace with [[Emily Maitlis|Emily Maitlis]] for the BBC program [[Newsnight|Newsnight]], broadcast on November 16 and running about 58 minutes, addressing his relationship with Epstein and Giuffre's allegations. Andrew said he could not have been with Giuffre on the night of March 10, 2001, that she described because he had been at home and had taken his daughter [[Princess Beatrice|Princess Beatrice]] to a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking for a children's party, an outing he said he remembered because going to a Pizza Express in Woking was "an unusual thing for me to do."[^11]
Andrew also said he had "a peculiar medical condition" that meant he did not sweat at the time, which he attributed to an adrenaline overdose dating to the Falklands War, in response to Giuffre's description of him perspiring at the Tramp nightclub. He described his stay at Epstein's home after the 2008 conviction as a decision he made because it was "convenient," a characterization widely criticized, and said he did not regret the friendship overall because of the contacts it had brought, before later expressing regret in subsequent statements. He said he had "no recollection" of meeting Giuffre.[^4] Andrew also said he had "a peculiar medical condition" that meant he did not sweat at the time, which he attributed to an adrenaline overdose dating to the Falklands War, in response to Giuffre's description of him perspiring at the Tramp nightclub. He described his stay at Epstein's home after the 2008 conviction as a decision he made because it was "convenient," a characterization widely criticized, and said he did not regret the friendship overall because of the contacts it had brought, before later expressing regret in subsequent statements. He said he had "no recollection" of meeting Giuffre.[^11]
The interview was widely characterized as damaging to Andrew. Within days, on November 20, 2019, he announced he was stepping back from public royal duties "for the foreseeable future," saying his association with Epstein had become "a major disruption to my family's work." He said he continued to "unequivocally regret" the association, denied Giuffre's allegations, and said he was willing to assist any appropriate law enforcement agency if required. A Netflix dramatization, *Scoop*, and other accounts later reconstructed the negotiation and conduct of the interview.[^4][^1] The interview was widely characterized as damaging to Andrew. Within days, on November 20, 2019, he announced he was stepping back from public royal duties "for the foreseeable future," saying his association with Epstein had become "a major disruption to my family's work." He said he continued to "unequivocally regret" the association, denied Giuffre's allegations, and said he was willing to assist any appropriate law enforcement agency if required. A Netflix dramatization, *Scoop*, and other accounts later reconstructed the negotiation and conduct of the interview.[^1][^11]
### The 2021 Lawsuit and 2022 Settlement ### The 2021 Lawsuit and 2022 Settlement
On August 9, 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], alleging he had sexually abused her on three occasions when she was 17, including at Maxwell's London home, at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse, and on Little St. James. The suit was brought under New York's Child Victims Act, which had temporarily revived expired civil claims. Andrew strenuously denied the allegations and sought dismissal.[^5][^2] On August 9, 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against Andrew, captioned against "Prince Andrew, Duke of York, a/k/a Andrew Albert Christian Edward, in his personal capacity," in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], [[Giuffre v. Prince Andrew]] (No. 1:21-cv-06702), alleging he had sexually abused her on three occasions when she was 17, including at Maxwell's London home, at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse, and on Little St. James. The suit was brought under New York's Child Victims Act, which had temporarily revived expired civil claims. Andrew strenuously denied the allegations and sought dismissal.[^2][^14]
Andrew's lawyers argued that a 2009 settlement Giuffre had signed with Epstein, under which Epstein paid her 500,000 dollars and she released a category of potential defendants, also barred her claim against Andrew. After the 2009 agreement was unsealed on January 3, 2022, Judge [[Lewis Kaplan|Lewis Kaplan]] ruled on January 12, 2022, that the release language was ambiguous and did not clearly cover Andrew, and he declined to dismiss the case, allowing it to proceed toward discovery. The 2009 document did not name Andrew or otherwise identify the second parties it released.[^10] Andrew's lawyers argued that a 2009 settlement Giuffre had signed with Epstein, under which Epstein paid her 500,000 dollars and she released a category of potential defendants, also barred her claim against Andrew. Andrew's lawyers placed the 2009 agreement before the court as Exhibit A to an October 29, 2021 request for judicial notice. The agreement, which resolved Giuffre's Florida suit as Jane Doe No. 102, released Epstein's agents and employees and "any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant," and recited that it was made "pursuant to and in fulfillment of" Epstein's obligations under his 2007 non-prosecution agreement with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]].[^15] On December 16, 2021, Judge [[Lewis Kaplan|Lewis Kaplan]] took judicial notice of the agreement but declined to notice Andrew's other proposed exhibits (ECF No. 57), and on December 31, 2021 he denied Andrew's request to depose Giuffre and take "limited jurisdictional discovery" before ruling on the motion (ECF No. 61). After the 2009 agreement was unsealed on January 3, 2022, Kaplan signed an opinion on January 11, 2022, filed January 12 (ECF No. 64), holding that the release language was ambiguous and did not clearly cover Andrew, and denying the motion to dismiss "in all respects." He added that "nothing in this opinion or previously in these proceedings properly may be construed as indicating a view with respect to the truth of the charges or countercharges or as to the intention of the parties in entering into the 2009 Agreement." The 2009 document did not name Andrew.[^16][^17]
The day after Kaplan's ruling, on January 13, 2022, Buckingham Palace announced with the Queen's "approval and agreement" that Andrew's military affiliations and royal patronages, including his role as Colonel of the [[Grenadier Guards|Grenadier Guards]], were being returned to the Queen and that Andrew would no longer use the style His Royal Highness in any official capacity, defending the case thereafter as a private citizen.[^9] On February 15, 2022, the parties filed notice of a settlement before Kaplan. The filing stated that Andrew intended to make "a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights," that "Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre's character," and that he "accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks." The settlement contained no admission of liability, and the filing stated that the sum was not being disclosed. Press reporting estimated the value in the range of 12 million pounds, with other reporting citing figures around 7.5 million pounds; the actual amount was not made public, and the suit was dismissed in March 2022.[^2][^5] The day after Kaplan's ruling, on January 13, 2022, Buckingham Palace announced with the Queen's "approval and agreement" that Andrew's military affiliations and royal patronages, including his role as Colonel of the [[Grenadier Guards|Grenadier Guards]], were being returned to the Queen and that Andrew would no longer use the style His Royal Highness in any official capacity, defending the case thereafter as a private citizen.[^18] On February 15, 2022, the parties filed notice of a settlement before Kaplan. The filing stated that Andrew intended to make "a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights," that "Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre's character," and that he "accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks." The settlement contained no admission of liability, and the filing stated that the sum was not being disclosed. Press reporting estimated the value in the range of 12 million pounds, with other reporting citing figures around 7.5 million pounds; the actual amount was not made public. The stipulation of dismissal, filed and so-ordered on March 8, 2022 (ECF No. 83), recites "the parties' settlement agreement dated February 12, 2022," three days before the public notice.[^2][^14][^16] After Giuffre's death in April 2025, the Western Australian proceedings over her estate described its assets as including what remained of the settlement, reported at 12 million pounds.[^19]
### Removal of Titles ### Removal of Titles
On October 17, 2025, Andrew announced he would no longer use his title of Duke of York or the other honors conferred on him, while continuing to deny the allegations against him. The announcement came amid renewed attention following Giuffre's death and the imminent publication of her posthumous memoir [[Nobody's Girl|Nobody's Girl]], and after reporting on emails and on the terms of his occupation of Royal Lodge.[^6] On October 17, 2025, Andrew announced he would no longer use his title of Duke of York or the other honors conferred on him, while continuing to deny the allegations against him. The announcement came amid renewed attention following Giuffre's death and the imminent publication of her posthumous memoir Nobody's Girl, and after reporting on emails and on the terms of his occupation of Royal Lodge.[^20]
On October 30, 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III had that day "initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew." A Warrant under the King's Royal Sign Manual dated October 30, 2025, directed the Secretary of State to cause the Duke of York to be removed from the Roll of the Peerage with immediate effect. Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated November 3, 2025, declared that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would no longer be entitled to hold the style "Royal Highness" or the titular dignity of "Prince." The actions were effected through the royal prerogative and published in the London Gazette by the Crown Office, rather than through Parliament.[^21][^22]
The House of Commons Library noted that removal from the Roll of the Peerage and the withdrawal of the style and dignity by Letters Patent are distinct from abolishing the Dukedom of York itself, which is a hereditary peerage that can be removed only by an Act of Parliament. Andrew's daughters, Princess Beatrice and [[Princess Eugenie|Princess Eugenie]], retained their princess styles, conferred under a separate 1917 Letters Patent. The Palace announced Andrew would leave [[Royal Lodge|Royal Lodge]], his 30-room residence in Windsor Great Park held under a long lease, and relocate to privately funded accommodation on the [[Sandringham|Sandringham]] estate in Norfolk. He continued to deny the allegations throughout.[^21][^22]
### The 2026 Arrest
After the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s January 2026 release of [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], [[Thames Valley Police]] said it was examining allegations that Andrew had sent confidential trade reports to Epstein during his time as the United Kingdom's trade envoy. On February 19, 2026, his sixty-sixth birthday, the force arrested "a man in his sixties from Norfolk" on "suspicion of misconduct in public office" and searched addresses in [[Berkshire]] and [[Norfolk]]. Assistant Chief Constable [[Oliver Wright]] said: "Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office." Andrew was released that evening and remained under investigation. King Charles III, confirming that the arrested man was his brother, said: "Let me state clearly: the law must take its course." Andrew did not respond to requests for comment; he has previously denied any wrongdoing relating to Epstein.[^23] Four days later the Metropolitan Police arrested Peter Mandelson on suspicion of the same offense, over messages suggesting he had passed government information to Epstein while business secretary in 2009 and 2010.[^5]
On October 30, 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III had that day "initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew." A Warrant under the King's Royal Sign Manual dated October 30, 2025, directed the Secretary of State to cause the Duke of York to be removed from the Roll of the Peerage with immediate effect. Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated November 3, 2025, declared that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would no longer be entitled to hold the style "Royal Highness" or the titular dignity of "Prince." The actions were effected through the royal prerogative and published in the London Gazette by the Crown Office, rather than through Parliament.[^7][^8]
The House of Commons Library noted that removal from the Roll of the Peerage and the withdrawal of the style and dignity by Letters Patent are distinct from abolishing the Dukedom of York itself, which is a hereditary peerage that can be removed only by an Act of Parliament. Andrew's daughters, Princess Beatrice and [[Princess Eugenie|Princess Eugenie]], retained their princess styles, conferred under a separate 1917 Letters Patent. The Palace announced Andrew would leave [[Royal Lodge|Royal Lodge]], his 30-room residence in Windsor Great Park held under a long lease, and relocate to privately funded accommodation on the [[Sandringham|Sandringham]] estate in Norfolk. He continued to deny the allegations throughout.[^8][^7]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "How Prince Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein unraveled," reporting compiled by *AOL* and *BBC,* 2019-2025. https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/av/uk-68741324 [^1]: "How Prince Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein unraveled," reporting compiled by *AOL* and *BBC,* 2019-2025. https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/av/uk-68741324
[^2]: "Prince Andrew settles with Virginia Giuffre in sexual abuse lawsuit," *WUSF / NPR,* February 15, 2022. https://www.wusf.org/2022-02-15/prince-andrew-settles-with-virginia-giuffre-in-sexual-abuse-lawsuit [^2]: "Prince Andrew settles with Virginia Giuffre in sexual abuse lawsuit," *WUSF / NPR,* February 15, 2022. https://www.wusf.org/2022-02-15/prince-andrew-settles-with-virginia-giuffre-in-sexual-abuse-lawsuit
[^3]: "Photograph of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell," reporting on the March 2001 image, *The Mirror US,* 2025. https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/uncropped-prince-andrew-photo-mystery-1575570 [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02411832, DataSet 11, email chain between Peggy Siegal and George Stephanopoulos, "Thursday small dinner for Prince Andrew," December 1-3, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02411832.pdf
[^4]: "Inside Prince Andrew's explosive Newsnight interview," *Hello,* recounting the November 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis. https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/864943/princes-andrew-newsnight-most-notable-moments/ [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023, p. 3. 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
[^5]: "Lawyers say settlement reached in Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Prince Andrew," *PBS NewsHour,* February 15, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/lawyers-say-settlement-reached-in-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit-against-prince-andrew [^5]: "British police arrest former ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties." *Associated Press,* via *PBS NewsHour,* February 23, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/british-police-arrest-former-ambassador-to-the-u-s-peter-mandelson-in-probe-into-epstein-ties
[^6]: "Prince Andrew to give up Duke of York title and honors amid Jeffrey Epstein developments," *NBC News,* October 17, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/united-kingdom/prince-andrew-give-duke-york-title-honors-jeffrey-epstein-developments-rcna238242 [^6]: "Dubai-based DP World replaces chief named in Epstein files." *Al Jazeera,* February 13, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/13/logistics-giant-dp-world-replaces-chief-named-in-epstein-files
[^7]: "King Charles formally removes Andrew's prince title and HRH style after Epstein scandal," *AOL,* November 2025. https://www.aol.com/articles/king-charles-formally-removes-andrew-150223876.html [^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00699038, DataSet 9, email to jeevacation@gmail.com, sender redacted, January 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00699038.pdf
[^8]: House of Commons Library, "The removal of titles and honours," CBP-10370, 2025. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10370/ [^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00149598, DataSet 9, internal FBI New York email chain, "Fwd: FW: Prince Andrew," June 8, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00149598.pdf
[^9]: "Prince Andrew is stripped of his royal patronages and military titles," *NPR,* January 13, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072779687/prince-andrew-royal-privileges-queen [^9]: "Photograph of Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell," reporting on the March 2001 image, *The Mirror US,* 2025. https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/uncropped-prince-andrew-photo-mystery-1575570
[^10]: "Prince Andrew loses bid to dismiss lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre," *CNBC,* January 12, 2022 (Kaplan ruling on the 2009 release). https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/12/judge-rejects-prince-andrews-bid-to-dismiss-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit.html [^10]: Adriana Gallardo and Leila Fadel, report on Virginia Roberts Giuffre's memoir *Nobody's Girl*, *NPR,* October 20, 2025 (updated October 23, 2025). https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5514834/epstein-accuser-virginia-roberts-giuffre-nobodys-girl-memoir
[^11]: "Inside Prince Andrew's explosive Newsnight interview," *Hello,* recounting the November 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis. https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/864943/princes-andrew-newsnight-most-notable-moments/
[^12]: "Details on Prince Andrew allegations emerge from new Jeffrey Epstein documents, but no U.K. police investigation," *CBS News,* January 5, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-andrew-allegations-jeffrey-epstein-documents-no-uk-police-investigation/
[^13]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^14]: "Lawyers say settlement reached in Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Prince Andrew," *PBS NewsHour,* February 15, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/lawyers-say-settlement-reached-in-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit-against-prince-andrew
[^15]: Settlement Agreement and General Release, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson (S.D. Fla.), filed as Exhibit A, ECF No. 32-1, in Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702 (S.D.N.Y.), and the subject of Prince Andrew's Request for Judicial Notice, ECF No. 35 (Oct. 29, 2021). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713.32.1.pdf
[^16]: Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702-LAK (S.D.N.Y.), Order, ECF No. 57 (Dec. 16, 2021); Order, ECF No. 61 (Dec. 31, 2021); Opinion re Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 64 (signed Jan. 11, 2022, filed Jan. 12, 2022); Stipulation and Order of Dismissal, ECF No. 83 (March 8, 2022). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60119368/giuffre-v-prince-andrew/
[^17]: "Prince Andrew loses bid to dismiss lawsuit by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre," *CNBC,* January 12, 2022 (Kaplan ruling on the 2009 release). https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/12/judge-rejects-prince-andrews-bid-to-dismiss-epstein-accuser-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit.html
[^18]: "Prince Andrew is stripped of his royal patronages and military titles," *NPR,* January 13, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/13/1072779687/prince-andrew-royal-privileges-queen
[^19]: "Legal battle begins over Virginia Giuffre's multi-million-dollar estate," *ABC News (Australia),* November 28, 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-28/virginia-giuffre-epstein-survivor-legal-battle-over-estate/106075194
[^20]: "Prince Andrew to give up Duke of York title and honors amid Jeffrey Epstein developments," *NBC News,* October 17, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/world/united-kingdom/prince-andrew-give-duke-york-title-honors-jeffrey-epstein-developments-rcna238242
[^21]: "King Charles formally removes Andrew's prince title and HRH style after Epstein scandal," *AOL,* November 2025. https://www.aol.com/articles/king-charles-formally-removes-andrew-150223876.html
[^22]: House of Commons Library, "The removal of titles and honours," CBP-10370, 2025. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10370/
[^23]: Frayer, Lauren, and Leila Fadel. "U.K.'s ex-Prince Andrew is released after his arrest over Epstein revelations." *NPR,* February 19, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/19/nx-s1-5719098/andrew-mountbatten-windsor-arrested-on-suspicion-of-misconduct-in-public-office

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- RicBradshaw
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- Sheriff
- WorkRelease
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Ric L. Bradshaw
- Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
- Sheriff Bradshaw
summary: "Ric Bradshaw is the Palm Beach County sheriff since January 2005 whose office granted Jeffrey Epstein work release in 2008 and logged paid deputy details for Epstein's Florida Science Foundation."
start: 2005-01-04
location: "West Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]]"
role: "Sheriff"
start: 2005-01-04
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[West Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "chief of police"
start: 1996
end: 2004
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[West Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "road patrol officer through assistant chief"
fn: 5
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States Marine Corps]]"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Ric L. Bradshaw is an American law enforcement officer who has been Sheriff of [[Palm Beach County, Florida]], since January 4, 2005, after serving as chief of the [[West Palm Beach Police Department]]. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] served his 2008 to 2009 state sentence in the custody of Bradshaw's [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]], which admitted him to its work-release program and assigned off-duty deputies, paid through Epstein's [[Florida Science Foundation]], to "Provide security for Jeffrey Epstein." In 2019 Bradshaw ordered an internal affairs inquiry into the arrangement, and a state review found that Epstein had "received differential treatment" but that no crime had been committed.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Career
Bradshaw graduated from Lake Worth High School, served in the [[United States Marine Corps]], and took a bachelor's degree in human resources management from [[Palm Beach Atlantic University]] and a master's degree from [[Lynn University]]. He joined the West Palm Beach Police Department as a road patrol officer and rose through detective sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major and assistant chief; in 1996 he was appointed chief of police. He was elected sheriff in 2004 and sworn in on January 4, 2005, and was reelected in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. His official biography lists him as a member of the executive board of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Joint Terrorism Task Force]] and chairman of the Florida Sheriffs Emergency Task Force for Region 7.[^1][^5]
### Epstein's Work Release
Epstein pleaded guilty in state court on June 30, 2008 under the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] and was sentenced to 18 months in county custody. Federal prosecutors had tracked the sheriff's work-release rules for months: their investigation log records "Research re State Work Release" beginning in November 2007, a November 26, 2007 request for the sheriff's "Post Orders for the Work Release Program," a July 2008 email between Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]] and "Col. M. Gauger" of the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office "re Epstein work release with attachment," and a July 7, 2008 discussion of a "meeting with Sheriffs Office about work release program." According to Villafaña's summary of a conversation with the defense lawyer [[Jack Goldberger]] at the time of the plea, Epstein was to serve his sentence in confinement "24-hours-a-day."[^6]
The sheriff's office nonetheless approved Epstein for work release, and from October 2008 he spent up to 12 hours a day at the Florida Science Foundation, an entity he had incorporated, housed at the West Palm Beach office of one of his attorneys; the foundation paid the sheriff's office 128,136 dollars during his incarceration. On December 3, 2008 Villafaña wrote to her supervisors that "since Day 1, Goldberger and Krisher [sic] . . . have been scheming to get Epstein out on work release," and that "Epstein has hired off-duty Sheriff's deputies to provide him with 'protection.' It appears that he is paying between $3000 and $4100 per week for this service, despite the work release rules barring anyone from the Sheriff's Office (and the Sheriff's Office itself) from having 'any business transactions with inmates.'" On December 11, 2008 she wrote to the sheriff's Corrections Division that Epstein was not eligible for work release and that his application contained inaccuracies: the telephone number given for the Florida Science Foundation was that of Goldberger's law firm, and the foundation officer listed as his supervisor had told the [[Internal Revenue Service]] that Epstein worked one hour a week for no pay while telling the sheriff's office that he worked twelve hours a day, six days a week. "The Sheriff's Office neither acknowledged nor responded to Villafaña's letter." In March 2009 First Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Jeffrey Sloman]] assured the defense lawyer [[Alan Dershowitz]] that his office "will not interfere with how the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office administers the sentence imposed by the Court."[^2][^6][^7]
The sheriff's Extra Duty Permits System, under a header reading "PALM BEACH COUNTY Ric L. Bradshaw, Sheriff," carried the detail as Permit No. 7804, "Florida Science Foundation," with posts titled "FL Science Foundation - Plain Clothed Position" and "Unmarked only - Plain Clothed Position" running from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Deputies' overtime reports for July 2009 record the work as "Provide security for Jeffrey Epstein," keeping "the log of visitors," and escorting him from the office to his residence at [[358 El Brillo Way]] around midday and back two and a half hours later; one deputy wrote that at the house he "backed into the drive way and provided security to prevent unwelcome guest from entering his property" and "did not go into the residence." The sheriff's media relations office faxed the July 2009 reports on July 21, 2009, the day before Epstein's release to home confinement, and the pages were later produced to federal prosecutors in New York.[^8][^9]
### The 2019 Review
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest in New York, Bradshaw's office announced on July 19, 2019 an internal affairs investigation to "determine if any actions taken by deputies assigned to monitor Epstein during his work release violated any agency rules and regulations,"[^10] stating: "All aspects of the matter will be fully investigated to ensure total accountability and transparency." Bradshaw said the question of whether Epstein's wealth and lawyers had won him favorable treatment would be taken "very seriously." In August 2019, after a letter from Bradshaw, Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] ordered the [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] to investigate the state's handling of the case. Its May 2021 reports found that Epstein had "received differential treatment" in the sheriff's custody, that the off-duty deputies had been hired mainly for his protection rather than to monitor him, and that there was no evidence of bribery or of any crime by sheriff's or prosecutors' staff.[^3][^4]
Michael Gauger, the sheriff's chief deputy during Epstein's incarceration and second in command of the office, acknowledged meeting Epstein for lunch and going to his mansion for dinner; emails released in 2026 dated the dinner to September 2009, after Epstein's release to home confinement. Gauger said Epstein was "so smooth." Gauger, by then retired, ran against Bradshaw in 2024 and lost by 416,564 votes to 301,364. In June 2026 the [[Miami Herald]] reported that Epstein's former assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] had told congressional investigators that Epstein "arranged to have cash and, like, Disneyland tickets, taken to one of the officers in the jail"; a sheriff's office spokeswoman responded that "The Epstein investigation did not reveal these allegations," citing the state finding of no "inappropriate or criminal activity on the part of any PBSO member," and said, "The investigation is complete."[^11][^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, "Sheriff Ric Bradshaw," official biography. https://www.pbso.org/sheriff-ric-bradshaw
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein paid Palm Beach Sheriff's Office $128,000 during incarceration for prostitution charges," *WPTV,* 2019. https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/new-jeffrey-epstein-paid-palm-beach-sheriffs-office-128-000-during-incarceration-for-prostitution ; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Executive Summary, November 2020, p. iii. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^3]: Curt Anderson, "Florida sheriff investigates Epstein's time spent outside of jail," *Associated Press* via *PBS NewsHour,* July 19, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/florida-sheriff-investigates-epsteins-time-spent-outside-of-jail
[^4]: "Florida authorities find no evidence of criminal activity in state's handling of Jeffrey Epstein case," *NBC News,* May 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-authorities-no-evidence-criminal-activity-state-s-handling-jeffrey-n1266888
[^5]: Florida Sheriffs Association, "Sheriff Ric L. Bradshaw," staff biography. https://flsheriffs.org/staff/sheriff-ric-l-bradshaw/
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1 (privileged chronology of the 2006 to 2011 federal investigation), pp. 23, 37 to 39. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 116 to 117. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01308629, DataSet 10, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Extra Duty Permits System overtime report forms, Permit No. 7804, "Florida Science Foundation," July 1 to 14, 2009, faxed by PBSO Media Relations July 21, 2009 (Bates SDNY_GM_00329509 ff.). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01308629.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 7), p. 117, on Epstein's release to home confinement on July 22, 2009.
[^10]: "Palm Beach Sheriff Orders Investigation Into Agency's Handling Of Jeffrey Epstein Work Release," *CBS Miami,* July 19, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/palm-beach-sheriff-orders-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-work-release
[^11]: "Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wins sixth term," *WPTV,* November 2024. https://www.wptv.com/news/political/elections-local/palm-beach-county-sheriff-ric-bradshaw-hoping-to-win-sixth-term
[^12]: Julie K. Brown, "Ex-aide says Epstein paid Palm Beach deputy to get special treatment in jail," *Miami Herald* via *Jefferson City News-Tribune,* June 16, 2026. https://www.newstribune.com/news/2026/jun/16/ex-aide-says-epstein-paid-palm-beach-deputy-to/

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- StephenCutler
- JPMorgan
- SecuritiesAndExchangeCommission
- RevolvingDoor
- JeffreyEpstein
- Enron
- Banking
alias:
- Stephen M. Cutler
- Steve Cutler
- Steven Cutler
summary: "American lawyer who ran SEC enforcement, including the 2003 Enron case against JPMorgan Chase, then became JPMorgan's general counsel from 2007 to 2015 while the bank kept Jeffrey Epstein as a client."
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering]]"
role: "partner"
end: 1999-01
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]"
role: "Deputy Director, Division of Enforcement"
start: 1999-01
end: 2001-10
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]"
role: "Director, Division of Enforcement"
start: 2001-10
end: 2005-05
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
start: 2003-07-28
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[WilmerHale]]"
role: "partner and co-chair, Securities Department"
start: 2005-10
end: 2007-02
fn: 5
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "Executive Vice President and General Counsel"
start: 2007-02
end: 2015-12-31
fn: 5
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Jamie Dimon]]"
role: "general counsel reporting to the chief executive"
start: 2007-02
end: 2015-12-31
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "Vice Chairman"
start: 2016-01-01
fn: 9
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Simpson Thacher & Bartlett]]"
role: "partner"
end: 2025
fn: 10
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Stephen M. Cutler is an American securities lawyer who served as Director of the Division of Enforcement at the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] from October 2001 to May 2005, a period in which the division brought the Enron-related enforcement action that [[JPMorgan Chase]] settled for 135 million dollars in July 2003. After a year and a half at the law firm [[WilmerHale]], he became JPMorgan Chase's Executive Vice President and General Counsel in February 2007, reporting to chief executive [[Jamie Dimon]], and held the post through 2015 before becoming a vice chairman of the bank. His tenure as general counsel covered the years in which JPMorgan's compliance staff sought to exit [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as a client and the bank retained him until 2013.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### Wilmer, Cutler and the SEC
Cutler graduated summa cum laude from [[Yale University]] and received his law degree from [[Yale Law School]], where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for Judge [[Dorothy Nelson]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]], was a visiting fellow at the [[Center for Law in the Public Interest]] in [[Los Angeles]], and spent eleven years at the Washington firm of [[Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering]], where he was a partner. The firm's name refers to its founder [[Lloyd Cutler]]; no family relationship to Stephen Cutler is recorded.[^1][^5]
He joined the SEC in January 1999 as Deputy Director of Enforcement under [[Richard Walker]]. By September 19, 2001 he was acting director, and in that capacity issued the Commission's statement on trading around the [[September 11 attacks]]: "We have received reports that those associated with the terrorist activities of last week may have sought to exploit our securities markets to profit from those activities. We are vigorously pursuing all credible leads but, at this time, we have drawn no conclusions." The Commission named him Director of the Division of Enforcement on October 25, 2001.[^1][^2]
### The Enron Bank Cases
On July 28, 2003 the SEC announced that JPMorgan Chase had agreed to pay 135 million dollars in disgorgement, penalty and interest to settle allegations that it helped [[Enron]] mislead investors by characterizing what were essentially loan proceeds as cash from operating activities, and that [[Citigroup]] would pay 120 million dollars over its roles at Enron and [[Dynegy]]. JPMorgan Chase consented, without admitting or denying the allegations, to a final judgment in federal court in Texas permanently enjoining it from violating the antifraud provisions. The actions were coordinated with the [[Manhattan District Attorney|New York County District Attorney's Office]], which reached parallel settlements with both banks the same day.[^3]
When Cutler announced on April 14, 2005 that he would leave the Commission within a month to return to the private sector, Chairman [[William Donaldson]] credited him with overseeing investigations of Enron, [[WorldCom]], [[Adelphia]], [[Qwest]], [[Tyco International|Tyco]] and [[HealthSouth]], which led to actions against [[Kenneth Lay]], [[Jeffrey Skilling]], [[Andrew Fastow]], [[Scott Sullivan]], [[John Rigas]], [[Joseph Nacchio]], [[Dennis Kozlowski]] and [[Richard Scrushy]], and with more than six billion dollars in penalties and disgorgement. The Commission's release stated that Cutler "led the Commission's groundbreaking efforts against banks, insurance companies and other financial intermediaries for their roles in a number of public company financial reporting failures, including the Commission's cases against Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and CIBC in connection with Enron's collapse."[^4]
### General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase
Cutler joined WilmerHale, the successor to his former firm, in October 2005 as a partner and co-chair of its Securities Department. On December 12, 2006 JPMorgan Chase announced that he would become Executive Vice President, General Counsel and head of the firm's legal and compliance activities worldwide, effective February 2007, reporting to Dimon and sitting on the Operating Committee. He succeeded [[Joan Guggenheimer]], who had died earlier that year. Dimon's announcement described him as "a strong leader, noted for his integrity, distinguished service in the public and private sectors, and outstanding reputation in the legal and regulatory communities."[^5][^6]
Dimon confirmed in a May 26, 2023 deposition that in 2011 Cutler reported directly to him, reported at least indirectly to the board of directors, and regularly attended board meetings. Dimon said he did not know whether Cutler ever reported to the board about Epstein.[^7] In an April 7, 2023 interview with CNN, asked whether JPMorgan had ignored warnings about Epstein, Dimon said the bank had "some of the best lawyers in the world, compliance, out of the [[Department of Justice|DOJ]], out of SEC important divisions who review all of these things and make decisions at the time based on what they know."[^8]
On January 1, 2016 [[Stacey Friedman]] succeeded Cutler as general counsel and he became a vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase.[^9] He later became a partner at [[Simpson Thacher & Bartlett]], from which he retired in 2025, according to a Senate Finance Committee report.[^10]
### Epstein Retention Decisions
JPMorgan's policy classified felons as high-risk clients requiring additional approval. A 2009 internal due-diligence report, produced in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|Virgin Islands litigation]] and quoted by the Senate Finance Committee, recorded that after Epstein's 2008 conviction "Jes Staley conferred with Stephen Cutler and the decision was made to keep Mr. Epstein as a PB client," on a "banking and custody only" basis with brokerage execution withdrawn.[^10] In August 2010 [[Alan Greenberg|Alan "Ace" Greenberg]], the former [[Bear Stearns]] chairman then at JPMorgan, went to Cutler for an exception to the felon policy so he could continue doing business with Epstein, according to the Virgin Islands' statement of material facts.[^11] A 2010 email from compliance official Maryanne Williamson stated that Epstein had been "approved to stay after his criminal conviction by [Steve] Cutler."[^10]
Emails that JPMorgan produced at the end of discovery in May 2023 showed involvement by former Bear Stearns staff in the Epstein relationship in the fall of 2008 and the summer of 2010, including one stating that Greenberg had gone to Cutler "for an exception to the felony policy," and a 2008 email stating: "My understanding is 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 Virgin Islands read "top of the house" as Jamie Dimon; JPMorgan's counsel answered that a follow-up sent eight minutes later "makes clear the reference to 'top of the house' referred to Mr. Cutler." In the same June 9, 2023 letter the bank stated that after Epstein's 2008 guilty 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 (or Chief Risk Officer) to retain a brokerage account for a client with a felony conviction. That decision ... was made by Mr. Cutler," and that it had been the subject of a search of Cutler's custodial files and of his deposition. A May 2009 due-diligence report produced to the territory in 2020 recorded that "Bear Stearns will hold the brokerage relationship with Mr. Epstein." The bank's filing listed Cutler's deposition testimony on Bear Stearns at transcript pages 212 to 258.[^12][^13]
In December 2010 and January 2011 the bank's anti-money-laundering director, [[William Langford]], asked the private bank to re-evaluate its sponsorship of Epstein and to "request re-approval from Steve Cutler if we wanted to retain," in light of human-trafficking allegations; the relationship banker [[Paul Morris]] replied, "I thought we decided this was not necessary." Cutler testified that Langford's concerns were "heightened, if you will, by the human trafficking initiative that we're doing, given that he was convicted of these crimes." Cutler also testified that at some point before 2011 the bank would have seen Epstein's federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]], and in March 2011 the investment bank's general counsel reported to Cutler a conversation with Epstein's lawyer [[Jay Lefkowitz]], who "represented Epstein in state plea/fed NPA process" and believed "any pre-plea conduct is subsumed within plea/NPA."[^11]
On July 19, 2011 JPMorgan proposed to settle Epstein's claims against Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan had acquired in 2008, for 21 million dollars. Cutler responded the next day: "This is not an honorable person in any way. He should not be a client." On July 21, 2011 he wrote to [[Mary Erdoes]], "I would like to put it and HIM behind us. Not a person we should do business with, period." When the settlement was approved, the private bank's general counsel [[Nina Shenker]] told Erdoes that Cutler "asked when we are offboarding JE. I reminded him that we have the other matter outstanding." An August 4, 2011 Rapid Response meeting concluded that [[John Duffy]] would "reach out to Jes Staley and advise that we exit while things are a bit settled."[^11] Epstein remained a client until 2013.[^14]
Cutler later testified that [[Jes Staley]] and Erdoes made the decision to retain Epstein.[^14] The [[Upper Tribunal]], deciding Staley's challenge to his UK ban in June 2025, recorded internal JPMorgan evidence that "the view of Mr Stephen Cutler, the General Counsel of JPM, was that Mr Epstein would have been exited as a client of JPM had not Mr Staley vouched for him"; Staley testified that Cutler had full latitude to exit Epstein and that he would not have stood in his way, and the tribunal found it more likely than not that Staley's advocacy caused the retention.[^15] Dimon testified that "the ultimate decider would have been the general counsel of the company. That was true then; it's true today. And that person cannot be overridden by a businessperson."[^7]
### The Wyden Inquiry
In a September 24, 2025 letter to Dimon, Senator [[Ron Wyden]] cited reporting that Cutler had reviewed Epstein-related documents "for Jamie" and had held two meetings with Epstein at JPMorgan headquarters in the fall of 2011, and asked the bank to confirm the meetings and produce Cutler's communications about Epstein with Dimon, Erdoes, Staley and the banker [[Justin Nelson]].[^16] JPMorgan replied on October 10, 2025 that, "with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the Firm's executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity and would never have allowed Epstein to remain a client if they knew of his ongoing crimes," and declined to discuss suspicious-activity filings, citing [[Bank Secrecy Act]] confidentiality.[^17] Wyden's August 4, 2026 report listed Cutler among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation by prosecutors and regulators, and recommended that the [[House Oversight Committee]] subpoena his Epstein-related email.[^10] Cutler has not been charged with any offense or subjected to regulatory discipline in connection with Epstein.
A separate lawyer named [[Aaron Cutler]], a partner at [[Hogan Lovells]], represented [[Leon Black]] before the Senate Finance Committee in 2026; no relationship between the two is recorded.[^18]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 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
[^2]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Statement of Acting Director of Enforcement Stephen M. Cutler, Press Release 2001-96, September 19, 2001. https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2001-96.txt
[^3]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "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
[^4]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, "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" (Stephen M. Cutler, age 45: "General Counsel since February 2007... partner and co-chair of the Securities Department at the law firm of WilmerHale since October 2005... Director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since October 2001"). 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]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., "Stephen M. Cutler to become General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase," press release, December 12, 2006. https://jpmorganchaseco.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/stephen-m-cutler-become-general-counsel-jpmorgan-chase ; "J.P. Morgan Hires SEC's Former Top Cop," *The Washington Post,* December 12, 2006. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201383.html
[^7]: 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. 52-53, 179-180. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^8]: 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, paras. 418-419 (quoting Dimon's April 7, 2023 CNN interview). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^9]: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2015, "Executive officers of the registrant" (Stephen M. Cutler, age 54: "Vice Chairman since January 1, 2016, prior to which he had been General Counsel"; Stacey Friedman: "General Counsel since January 1, 2016"). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000001961716000902/corp10k2015.htm
[^10]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4-5, 16 n.42, 23, 29-31, 60-61 (quoting JPM-SDNYLIT-00036575, JPM-SDNYLIT-00036258 and JPM-SDNYLIT-00157090). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^11]: 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. 123-124, 149, 157-158, 391-395, 402. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^12]: 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
[^13]: 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
[^14]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* May 26, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/
[^15]: 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
[^16]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., September 24, 2025, questions 12-13. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_from_senator_wyden_to_jpmorgan_chase_epstein_accounts_09-24-25pdf.pdf
[^17]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf
[^18]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding Leon Black, June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Stephen Deckoff.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- Finance
- HedgeFund
- VirginIslands
- JeffreyEpstein
- Property
- EconomicDevelopmentCommission
alias:
- Stephen H. Deckoff
- Steve Deckoff
summary: "Stephen Deckoff is the founder of Black Diamond Capital Management and a U.S. Virgin Islands resident since 2011 who bought Jeffrey Epstein's Little St. James and Great St. James from the estate in 2023."
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Black Diamond Capital Management]]"
role: "founder and managing principal"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[SD Investments]]"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Little St. James]]"
start: 2023-05
role: "through SD Investments"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Great St. James]]"
start: 2023-05
role: "through SD Investments"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Stephen Deckoff is an American investor, founder and managing principal of the credit and distressed-investment firm [[Black Diamond Capital Management]], and a resident of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] since 2011. In May 2023 his firm SD Investments bought [[Little St. James]] and [[Great St. James]], the two islands off [[St. Thomas]] owned by [[Jeffrey Epstein]], from Epstein's estate for 60 million dollars, less than half the 125 million dollar asking price set in March 2022, announcing a 25-room luxury resort to open in 2025. As of February 2026 no resort had been built and the only construction permit he had sought was for a warehouse. Companies affiliated with Black Diamond have held tax benefits from the territory's [[Economic Development Commission]] since 2012, and a 2014 email in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] shows Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] asking Epstein's pilot to look into the firm; Deckoff's name does not appear in the files, and it is unclear whether the two men had any association.[^1][^2][^3]
### Black Diamond
Deckoff founded Black Diamond Capital Management, and in the SD Investments announcement described his career as "crafting and executing plans to turn distressed situations into successful enterprises, across numerous companies and industries." Black Diamond has related companies including Black Diamond Advisors and Black Diamond Holdings, both of which have received Economic Development Commission tax-incentive benefits since 2012, the same program under which Epstein's [[Southern Trust Company]] received its certificate. SD Investments said Deckoff had supported the territory's economic development after the back-to-back hurricanes of 2017 closed several of its resorts.[^1][^2]
### Epstein's Staff and Black Diamond, 2014
On May 16, 2014, Kahn asked Epstein's pilot [[Larry Visoski]] to "poke around tonight about Black Diamond Trading," having heard that the company was trying to buy the St. Thomas Jet Center. "They appear to be an nyc hedge fund" with "an office in stt as an EDC company as well," Kahn wrote. "who are principals? type of plane? tail? anything else relevant." Visoski replied, "Here you go Rich ask and ye shall receive," supplied the tail number of the Black Diamond Learjet, said the aircraft would be arriving on St. Thomas soon, and asked, "can you ask if you want me to introduce myself?" Kahn forwarded the information to Epstein with links to Black Diamond Capital Management's website, told him that "Larry has obtained some good info on them," and asked whether Visoski should "meet the aircraft and poke around." Visoski was listed as sole manager of Plan D LLC, the Virgin Islands company that owned Epstein's Gulfstream, until a July 2019 filing named Epstein as its principal.[^2][^4]
### The Islands
The Epstein estate listed the two islands in March 2022 at 125 million dollars. Under the estate's November 2022 settlement with the Virgin Islands government, half the proceeds of the Little St. James sale went to the territory, about 11 million dollars, and the estate was required to sell both islands to independent third parties and wind down its business in the territory. SD Investments announced the purchase on May 3, 2023. "I've been proud to call the U.S. Virgin Islands home for more than a decade and am tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination befitting its natural grace and beauty," Deckoff said.[^1][^3][^5]
Deckoff applied in December 2025 for a Coastal Zone Management major permit to replace a metal-framed warehouse on Little St. James with an 8,800 square foot semicircular concrete warehouse over a cistern. The territory's Coastal Zone Management director, Marlon Hibbert, said in February 2026 that the application remained incomplete because no environmental assessment had been submitted. Attempts to reach Deckoff for comment were unsuccessful.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "SD Investments Announces Acquisition of Great St. James and Little St. James Islands in the United States Virgin Islands." *PR Newswire,* May 3, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sd-investments-announces-acquisition-of-great-st-james-and-little-st-james-islands-in-the-united-states-virgin-islands-301815032.html
[^2]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Still no resort plans for Epstein's islands purchased by Deckoff." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 6, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/still-no-resort-plans-for-epsteins-islands-purchased-by-deckoff/article_84d776de-8427-4080-a1b5-6cf81418e23d.html (warehouse permit; Hibbert statement; Black Diamond Advisors and Holdings EDC benefits since 2012; May 16, 2014 Kahn and Visoski emails; Deckoff not named in the files).
[^3]: "Billionaire Stephen Deckoff buys Jeffrey Epstein's private islands." *CNBC,* May 3, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/03/jeffrey-epstein-private-islands-bought-by-billionaire.html ; "Financier buys Jeffrey Epstein's private islands, with plans to create a resort." *NPR,* May 4, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173956903/jeffrey-epstein-island-sold-st-james
[^4]: 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 34, 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), ECF pp. 8 to 9. 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
[^5]: "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/ ; Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (11 million dollars from the Little St. James sale).

26
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Steve Bannon.md
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@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ tags:
- 2016 - 2016
alias: alias:
- Stephen K. Bannon - Stephen K. Bannon
summary: "Steve Bannon is an American media executive and political strategist who served as executive chairman of Breitbart News, vice president of Cambridge Analytica, chief executive of the 2016 Trump campaign from August 2016, and White House Chief Strategist from January to August 2017, funded throughout by the Mercer family alongside the Thiel-aligned political infrastructure." summary: "Steve Bannon is the Breitbart chairman, Cambridge Analytica vice president and 2016 Trump campaign chief who in August 2018 discussed with Jeffrey Epstein by text how to meet away from surveillance."
born: 1953-11-27 born: 1953-11-27
location: "Norfolk, Virginia (born)" location: "Norfolk, Virginia (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
--- ---
[[Steve Bannon|Steve Bannon]] (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive and political strategist who served as executive chairman of [[Breitbart News|Breitbart News]] from 2012 (after founder [[Andrew Breitbart|Andrew Breitbart]]'s death) through 2016 and again 2017-2018, as vice president and secretary of [[Cambridge Analytica|Cambridge Analytica]] from June 2014 to August 2016, as chief executive of the [[Donald Trump|Trump]] 2016 presidential campaign from August 17, 2016, and as White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President from January 20 to August 18, 2017. The [[Mercer family|Mercer family]] funded Breitbart, bankrolled Cambridge Analytica, and was instrumental in installing Bannon as Trump campaign CEO.[^1][^2][^3] [[Steve Bannon|Steve Bannon]] (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive and political strategist who served as executive chairman of [[Breitbart News|Breitbart News]] from 2012 (after founder [[Andrew Breitbart|Andrew Breitbart]]'s death) through 2016 and again 2017-2018, as vice president and secretary of [[Cambridge Analytica|Cambridge Analytica]] from June 2014 to August 2016, as chief executive of the [[Donald Trump|Trump]] 2016 presidential campaign from August 17, 2016, and as White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President from January 20 to August 18, 2017. The [[Mercer family|Mercer family]] funded Breitbart, bankrolled Cambridge Analytica, and was instrumental in installing Bannon as Trump campaign CEO.[^1][^2][^3]
@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ updated: 2026-06-18
Bannon took over Breitbart News after Andrew Breitbart's death in 2012. [[Robert Mercer|Robert Mercer]] and his daughter [[Rebekah Mercer|Rebekah Mercer]] were the primary funders of Breitbart during Bannon's tenure, providing the financial base for the outlet's expansion as the media backbone of the [[alt-right|alt-right]] and the emerging Trump coalition. Bannon's Breitbart published the coverage that amplified the [[Gamergate|Gamergate]] campaign's targets and framed the consumer-revolt narrative. The Breitbart-Gamergate pipeline was the channel through which the [[4chan|4chan]] / [[8chan|8chan]] imageboard culture entered mainstream conservative media.[^1][^4] Bannon took over Breitbart News after Andrew Breitbart's death in 2012. [[Robert Mercer|Robert Mercer]] and his daughter [[Rebekah Mercer|Rebekah Mercer]] were the primary funders of Breitbart during Bannon's tenure, providing the financial base for the outlet's expansion as the media backbone of the [[alt-right|alt-right]] and the emerging Trump coalition. Bannon's Breitbart published the coverage that amplified the [[Gamergate|Gamergate]] campaign's targets and framed the consumer-revolt narrative. The Breitbart-Gamergate pipeline was the channel through which the [[4chan|4chan]] / [[8chan|8chan]] imageboard culture entered mainstream conservative media.[^1][^4]
Mercer's entry was an investment of about 10 million dollars made in June 2011, before Andrew Breitbart's death, in exchange for a stake in the company; Bannon assumed the executive chairmanship of the firm and of the family's broader political vehicles when Breitbart died in March 2012.[^6] The same year, Bannon co-founded the [[Government Accountability Institute|Government Accountability Institute]] with [[Peter Schweizer|Peter Schweizer]], a Tallahassee-based opposition-research nonprofit that the Mercer Family Foundation funded with more than half its 2013-2015 budget; the Institute produced Schweizer's 2015 book *Clinton Cash*, whose findings were placed with the *New York Times* and *Washington Post* and used to drive negative coverage of [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Clinton]] ahead of the 2016 race.[^6] The 2017 Paradise Papers later showed Mercer routing political money through offshore accounts to build a war chest reported at roughly 60 million dollars for conservative causes including Breitbart and the Institute.[^6] Mercer's entry was an investment of about 10 million dollars made in June 2011, before Andrew Breitbart's death, in exchange for a stake in the company; Bannon assumed the executive chairmanship of the firm and of the family's broader political vehicles when Breitbart died in March 2012.[^5] The same year, Bannon co-founded the [[Government Accountability Institute|Government Accountability Institute]] with [[Peter Schweizer|Peter Schweizer]], a Tallahassee-based opposition-research nonprofit that the Mercer Family Foundation funded with more than half its 2013-2015 budget; the Institute produced Schweizer's 2015 book *Clinton Cash*, whose findings were placed with the *[[New York Times]]* and *[[Washington Post]]* and used to drive negative coverage of [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Clinton]] ahead of the 2016 race.[^5] The 2017 Paradise Papers later showed Mercer routing political money through offshore accounts to build a war chest reported at roughly 60 million dollars for conservative causes including Breitbart and the Institute.[^5]
### Cambridge Analytica and the Facebook Data Harvesting ### Cambridge Analytica and the Facebook Data Harvesting
Bannon served as vice president and secretary of Cambridge Analytica from June 2014 to August 2016. The [[Guardian|Guardian]] reporting (March 2018), based on the whistleblower [[Christopher Wylie|Christopher Wylie]] disclosures, documented that Bannon oversaw the firm's Facebook data-harvesting project that acquired data on up to 87 million Facebook users through the [[Aleksandr Kogan|Aleksandr Kogan]] academic-researcher channel. The data was used for psychographic profiling of voters in the 2016 Trump campaign. Mercer provided approximately 15 million dollars in Cambridge Analytica funding. [[Jane Mayer|Jane Mayer]]'s *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* reporting documented Bannon's involvement in Cambridge Analytica's [[Brexit|Brexit]]-related activities before he formally joined the Trump campaign.[^2][^5] Bannon served as vice president and secretary of Cambridge Analytica from June 2014 to August 2016. The [[Guardian|Guardian]] reporting (March 2018), based on the whistleblower [[Christopher Wylie|Christopher Wylie]] disclosures, documented that Bannon oversaw the firm's Facebook data-harvesting project that acquired data on up to 87 million Facebook users through the [[Aleksandr Kogan|Aleksandr Kogan]] academic-researcher channel. The data was used for psychographic profiling of voters in the 2016 Trump campaign. Mercer provided approximately 15 million dollars in Cambridge Analytica funding. [[Jane Mayer|Jane Mayer]]'s *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* reporting documented Bannon's involvement in Cambridge Analytica's [[Brexit|Brexit]]-related activities before he formally joined the Trump campaign.[^2][^6]
The firm was created in 2013 as a U.S.-facing spin-off of the British military-contracting firm SCL Group, after its chief executive [[Alexander Nix|Alexander Nix]] met the Mercers aboard the family's yacht with Bannon present; Mercer agreed to the roughly 15 million dollar stake, Bannon was given the company name (a nod to the Cambridge academics Nix was recruiting) and a board seat as vice president.[^7] Testifying to the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on May 16, 2018, Wylie said Bannon had engaged SCL, "a foreign military contractor," to build "an arsenal of informational weapons" he could deploy on the American population because he "saw cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics," and that the firm tested 2014 slogans later used in the Trump campaign and discussed voter-suppression messaging aimed at Black voters.[^7] The harvested data originated in a personality-quiz app built by Kogan, whose firm Global Science Research passed the resulting profiles to Cambridge Analytica in breach of Facebook's platform terms, the disclosure that drove Facebook's stock down and produced a 5 billion dollar U.S. Federal Trade Commission settlement in 2019.[^2] The firm was created in 2013 as a U.S.-facing spin-off of the British military-contracting firm SCL Group, after its chief executive [[Alexander Nix|Alexander Nix]] met the Mercers aboard the family's yacht with Bannon present; Mercer agreed to the roughly 15 million dollar stake, Bannon was given the company name (a nod to the Cambridge academics Nix was recruiting) and a board seat as vice president.[^7] Testifying to the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] on May 16, 2018, Wylie said Bannon had engaged SCL, "a foreign military contractor," to build "an arsenal of informational weapons" he could deploy on the American population because he "saw cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics," and that the firm tested 2014 slogans later used in the Trump campaign and discussed voter-suppression messaging aimed at Black voters.[^7] The harvested data originated in a personality-quiz app built by Kogan, whose firm Global Science Research passed the resulting profiles to Cambridge Analytica in breach of Facebook's platform terms, the disclosure that drove Facebook's stock down and produced a 5 billion dollar U.S. Federal Trade Commission settlement in 2019.[^2]
@ -36,7 +36,17 @@ The firm was created in 2013 as a U.S.-facing spin-off of the British military-c
Bannon joined the Trump campaign as chief executive on August 17, 2016, replacing [[Paul Manafort|Paul Manafort]] at the top of the organizational chart, alongside [[Kellyanne Conway|Kellyanne Conway]] as campaign manager. Rebekah Mercer was reportedly instrumental in installing Bannon. After the election, Bannon received the newly created role of White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, and a seat on the [[National Security Council|National Security Council]]'s Principals Committee (later removed). Trump fired Bannon on August 18, 2017, after the [[Charlottesville|Charlottesville]] "Unite the Right" violence and the documented tensions within the [[White House]] staff.[^1][^3] Bannon joined the Trump campaign as chief executive on August 17, 2016, replacing [[Paul Manafort|Paul Manafort]] at the top of the organizational chart, alongside [[Kellyanne Conway|Kellyanne Conway]] as campaign manager. Rebekah Mercer was reportedly instrumental in installing Bannon. After the election, Bannon received the newly created role of White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor, and a seat on the [[National Security Council|National Security Council]]'s Principals Committee (later removed). Trump fired Bannon on August 18, 2017, after the [[Charlottesville|Charlottesville]] "Unite the Right" violence and the documented tensions within the [[White House]] staff.[^1][^3]
The Mercers had moved their support from [[Ted Cruz|Ted Cruz]] to Trump after the primaries, repurposing their pro-Cruz super PAC Keep the Promise I (seeded with an 11 million dollar Robert Mercer contribution) into the anti-Clinton vehicle Make America Number 1, informally "Defeat Crooked Hillary," run by Rebekah Mercer, so that Bannon's August 2016 elevation brought the campaign both his Breitbart apparatus and the Mercer money in one move, a transition Joshua Green's *Devil's Bargain* (Penguin Press, 2017) reconstructed from interviews as the culmination of Bannon's years-long project to destroy Clinton.[^8] In the White House, Bannon was placed on the NSC Principals Committee by the January 28, 2017 reorganization in part, per a White House official, to monitor first national security adviser [[Michael Flynn|Michael Flynn]]; after Flynn's resignation and the arrival of [[H.R. McMaster|H.R. McMaster]], McMaster's restructuring removed Bannon from the committee on April 5, 2017 and restored the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs as regular attendees.[^9] Bannon's August 18, 2017 firing came two days after an August 16 interview with Robert Kuttner of *The American Prospect*, which Bannon's associates said he had not understood to be on the record, in which he declared "there's no military solution" to North Korea and disparaged White House and State Department colleagues, compounding the post-Charlottesville friction.[^3] The Mercers had moved their support from [[Ted Cruz|Ted Cruz]] to Trump after the primaries, repurposing their pro-Cruz super PAC Keep the Promise I (seeded with an 11 million dollar Robert Mercer contribution) into the anti-Clinton vehicle Make America Number 1, informally "Defeat Crooked Hillary," run by Rebekah Mercer, so that Bannon's August 2016 elevation brought the campaign both his Breitbart apparatus and the Mercer money in one move, a transition Joshua Green's *Devil's Bargain* (Penguin Press, 2017) reconstructed from interviews as the culmination of Bannon's years-long project to destroy Clinton.[^8] In the White House, Bannon was placed on the NSC Principals Committee by the January 28, 2017 reorganization in part, per a White House official, to monitor first national security adviser [[Michael Flynn|Michael Flynn]]; after Flynn's resignation and the arrival of [[H.R. McMaster|H.R. McMaster]], McMaster's restructuring removed Bannon from the committee on April 5, 2017 and restored the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs as regular attendees.[^9] Bannon's August 18, 2017 firing came two days after an August 16 interview with Robert Kuttner of *The American Prospect*, which Bannon's associates said he had not understood to be on the record, in which he declared "there's no military solution" to [[North Korea]] and disparaged White House and [[State Department]] colleagues, compounding the post-Charlottesville friction.[^3]
### Jeffrey Epstein
On August 23, 2018, a year after leaving the White House, Bannon exchanged iMessages with [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. Epstein wrote: "Btw Im in New York tonite thru sat , if you want to visit under the cover of darkness or breakfast tomorrow if you like." Bannon replied by asking whether Epstein had "access that's not the front door," because "they have 24/7 surveillance on u." Epstein wrote that the watchers were "separate from the process server that left yesterday or the early morning doorman next door. Any idea of who?" Bannon answered: "Don't know but real folks costing lot of coin." Epstein proposed meeting at 301 East 66th Street ("I don't like he regency as it is totally wired"; "There is also a rear entrance on 67 , if you prefer"; "Super secure"), and gave the apartment number.[^10]
That afternoon Epstein sent Bannon a passage in which [[Errol Morris]] called his documentary about Bannon, *[[American Dharma]]*, "a kind of horror movie," adding "Luv it"; Bannon replied "Luv luv luv it." In the evening Bannon wrote that he was "Here with [[The Wall Street Journal|WSJ]] guys screening film," his *Trump@War*, and offered Epstein a link. Epstein wrote, "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," a reference to the former [[White House Counsel]] [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], and "I wont share it unless you think ok"; Bannon answered, "Let her watch." Epstein then proposed: "Also think about a private screening of dharma for the power players," "New York and or Europe. Non of my fingerprints." Bannon offered instead: "come as my guest when it opens the New York Film Festival @ Alice Tulley Hall on 29 Sept."[^10]
At 9:00 pm Epstein wrote, "Pecker immunity one more drop," a reference to [[David Pecker]] of [[American Media]], who had received immunity in the [[Michael Cohen]] campaign-finance case. Bannon replied, "Huge event huge," and after Epstein's "Kids" and "Next," wrote, "More women payoffs coming." Epstein told him, "You are dark not evil. So I think even you will be surprised." At 10:04 pm Epstein wrote: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country, and then fake the heart attack," and then: "she said it is a failure to disclose charge. and his changing stories lead to knowledge of wrongdoing. only transmitting." Bannon replied, "Lmao."[^10]
Epstein sat for a videotaped interview with Bannon. A November 1, 2021 defense expert disclosure in [[United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell]] stated that "In a videotaped interview with Steve Bannon, Epstein differentiated between different kinds of power," among them "[[Bill Clinton]]'s political power, wrestlers' and weight lifters' physical power, and Gerry Edelman's intellectual power," and "acknowledged that he gravitated to people of power."[^11]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
@ -44,8 +54,10 @@ The Mercers had moved their support from [[Ted Cruz|Ted Cruz]] to Trump after th
[^2]: "Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach." *The Guardian,* March 17, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election [^2]: "Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach." *The Guardian,* March 17, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
[^3]: For the 2016 campaign CEO role and the White House Chief Strategist tenure, see the contemporaneous press coverage. [^3]: For the 2016 campaign CEO role and the White House Chief Strategist tenure, see the contemporaneous press coverage.
[^4]: For the Breitbart-Gamergate pipeline, see the Gamergate page. [^4]: For the Breitbart-Gamergate pipeline, see the Gamergate page.
[^5]: Mayer, Jane. "New Evidence Emerges of Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica's Role in Brexit." *The New Yorker.* [^5]: "The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built." *Washington Post.* https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/mercer-bannon/ . For the June 2011 10 million dollar Breitbart investment, the Government Accountability Institute funding, and the *Clinton Cash* placement, see also "Steve Bannon used Robert Mercer's offshore millions to accuse Clinton of corruption." *ThinkProgress,* November 8, 2017.
[^6]: "The Mercers and Stephen Bannon: How a populist power base was funded and built." *Washington Post.* https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/mercer-bannon/ . For the June 2011 10 million dollar Breitbart investment, the Government Accountability Institute funding, and the *Clinton Cash* placement, see also "Steve Bannon used Robert Mercer's offshore millions to accuse Clinton of corruption." *ThinkProgress,* November 8, 2017. [^6]: Mayer, Jane. "New Evidence Emerges of Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica's Role in Brexit." *The New Yorker.*
[^7]: "Christopher Wylie: Bannon wanted 'weapons' to fight a 'culture war' at Cambridge Analytica," testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, May 16, 2018. *CBS News.* https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/senate-cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-live-stream-updates-today-2018-05-16 ; and "How Steve Bannon used Cambridge Analytica to further his alt-right vision for America." *CNN,* March 30, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/politics/bannon-cambridge-analytica [^7]: "Christopher Wylie: Bannon wanted 'weapons' to fight a 'culture war' at Cambridge Analytica," testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, May 16, 2018. *CBS News.* https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/senate-cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-live-stream-updates-today-2018-05-16 ; and "How Steve Bannon used Cambridge Analytica to further his alt-right vision for America." *CNN,* March 30, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/politics/bannon-cambridge-analytica
[^8]: Green, Joshua. *Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency.* Penguin Press, 2017. For the Make America Number 1 / Keep the Promise I super PAC and the Mercer contribution, see "Make America Number 1." *Ballotpedia.* https://ballotpedia.org/Make_America_Number_1 [^8]: Green, Joshua. *Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency.* Penguin Press, 2017. For the Make America Number 1 / Keep the Promise I super PAC and the Mercer contribution, see "Make America Number 1." *Ballotpedia.* https://ballotpedia.org/Make_America_Number_1
[^9]: "Stephen Bannon removed from National Security Council." *Washington Post,* April 5, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/05/steven-bannon-no-longer-a-member-of-national-security-council/ ; Kuttner, Robert. "Steve Bannon, Unrepentant." *The American Prospect,* August 16, 2017. https://prospect.org/2017/08/16/steve-bannon-unrepentant/ [^9]: "Stephen Bannon removed from National Security Council." *Washington Post,* April 5, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/05/steven-bannon-no-longer-a-member-of-national-security-council/ ; Kuttner, Robert. "Steve Bannon, Unrepentant." *The American Prospect,* August 16, 2017. https://prospect.org/2017/08/16/steve-bannon-unrepentant/
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon, August 23, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00016268, DataSet 8, letter from Haddon, Morgan and Foreman (counsel for Ghislaine Maxwell) to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, expert disclosure in United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN), November 1, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00016268.pdf

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Todd Blanche.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- ToddBlanche
- AttorneyGeneral
- DeputyAttorneyGeneral
- DepartmentOfJustice
- EpsteinFiles
- GhislaineMaxwell
- DonaldTrump
alias:
- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche
summary: "Former Southern District of New York prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump who, as Deputy Attorney General, interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell and ran the Epstein files release before becoming Attorney General in 2026."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft]]"
start: 2017
end: 2023
role: "partner"
fn: 2
- type: represented
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
start: 2023-04
end: 2024
role: "criminal defense counsel in the Manhattan, federal election and classified documents cases"
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
start: 2025-03-06
end: 2026-04-02
role: "Deputy Attorney General"
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
start: 2026-04-02
role: "acting Attorney General, confirmed August 8, 2026"
fn: 14
- type: investigated
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
start: 2025-07-24
end: 2025-07-25
role: "proffer interview under limited immunity"
fn: 5
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Todd Blanche is an American lawyer who served as a federal prosecutor in the [[Southern District of New York]], represented [[Donald Trump]] in three of the criminal cases brought against him in 2023 and 2024, and became Deputy Attorney General in March 2025, acting [[Attorney General]] on April 2, 2026, and the 88th Attorney General on August 10, 2026.[^1] As the department's second official he personally interviewed [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in July 2025 and directed the publication of the [[Epstein Files]].
### Prosecutor and Defense Lawyer
Blanche spent nearly fifteen years at the [[Department of Justice]], first as a contractor and as a paralegal in the Criminal Division and the United States Attorney's office in Manhattan, then as an Assistant United States Attorney and supervisor there.[^1] In 2017 he became a partner at [[Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft]], where he represented Trump's former campaign chairman [[Paul Manafort]], the [[Rudy Giuliani]] associate [[Igor Fruman]] and the Trump adviser [[Boris Epshteyn]]. He won dismissal of the mortgage fraud indictment brought against Manafort by the [[Manhattan District Attorney]]'s office, the office that later prosecuted Trump, on double jeopardy grounds. In April 2023 he left the firm, writing to colleagues: "I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought/consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up." He represented Trump in the Manhattan hush money trial, in which Trump was convicted, and in the federal election and classified documents prosecutions brought by [[Jack Smith]].[^2]
Trump named him for Deputy Attorney General after the 2024 election. The Senate confirmed him on March 5, 2025, by 52 to 46; the nomination listed him as "of Florida."[^3]
### The Maxwell Interview
On July 24 and 25, 2025, two weeks after the department's unsigned memorandum declaring that no "client list" existed and a week after [[The Wall Street Journal]] reported a birthday letter bearing Trump's signature in the album Maxwell compiled for Epstein, Blanche met Maxwell at the federal correctional institution in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] to question her about Epstein's associates, under a grant of limited immunity.[^4][^5] Senators [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] and [[Dick Durbin]] wrote to him that it "is highly unusual, if not unprecedented" for the Deputy Attorney General rather than a line prosecutor to conduct such an interview.[^5] About a week later, on August 1, the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] moved Maxwell to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]] in Texas. Whitehouse wrote to the bureau's director, [[William K. Marshall III]], that bureau policy requires sex offenders to be held "at a minimum, at low-security facilities," that "Ms. Maxwell was transferred without explanation and in possible violation of standard Bureau policy," and that the statutory placement factors "do not include whether the person can provide the President with political favors."[^5] The department released a 337-page transcript of the interview on August 22, 2025; in it Maxwell spoke of Trump and other men associated with Epstein largely in exculpatory terms.[^6] When the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] deposed her in February 2026, she invoked the Fifth Amendment to every question, and her lawyer said she would testify if Trump granted her clemency.[^7]
### The Epstein Files
Blanche's office issued the department's announcement of January 30, 2026, that it had published "over 3 million additional pages," bringing the total to nearly 3.5 million, and he signed, with Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], the accompanying letter to Congress stating that about 200,000 pages had been withheld or redacted on grounds of privilege.[^8] After Representative [[Thomas Massie]] reported on February 9, 2026, that an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] document naming co-conspirators had a "well known retired CEO" redacted, Blanche identified the man as [[Leslie Wexner]] and wrote: "We have just unredacted Les Wexner's name from this document, but his name already appears in the files thousands of times. DOJ is hiding nothing." He told Massie to "stop grandstanding."[^9][^10] Wexner's representative said a prosecutor had told his lawyers in 2019 that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect."[^11] On February 14 Blanche signed the report to the Judiciary Committees listing about 300 officials and "politically exposed persons" named in the files.[^12]
### Attorney General
Trump named Blanche acting Attorney General when he removed Bondi on April 2, 2026. Blanche said on Fox News that he had never heard Trump say the decision had anything to do with the Epstein files.[^13] The Senate confirmed him in an overnight vote on August 8, 2026, by 50 to 49, after cloture was invoked by the same margin. All Democrats and the Republicans [[Susan Collins]] and [[Lisa Murkowski]] voted against him; [[Mitch McConnell]] was absent, and [[Bill Cassidy]]'s support secured the majority. The two cited concerns ranging from the Epstein files to a proposed "anti-weaponization" fund; Collins said that "the Department of Justice has become increasingly political"; Murkowski said she was not convinced he would "check the worst impulses of this administration."[^14] He was sworn in on August 10, 2026.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, "Attorney General Todd Blanche," staff profile, updated August 14, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/ag/staff-profile/meet-attorney-general
[^2]: "A look at Todd Blanche, the ex-Trump lawyer who's the president's pick for acting attorney general," Associated Press, April 2026. https://wgntv.com/politics-3/ap-politics/ap-a-look-at-todd-blanche-the-ex-trump-lawyer-whos-the-presidents-pick-for-acting-attorney-general/ ; "What to know about Todd Blanche, Trump's pick for acting attorney general," PBS News, April 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-know-about-todd-blanche-trumps-pick-for-acting-attorney-general
[^3]: U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote 119th Congress, 1st Session, Vote No. 105, on the nomination of Todd Blanche, of Florida, to be Deputy Attorney General (PN12-5), March 5, 2025. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00105.htm
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, unsigned memorandum, July 7, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1407001/dl?inline ; Senator Richard J. Durbin, letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, July 18, 2025 (citing The Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2025). https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2025-07-18-rjd-letter-to-ag-bondi-re-epstein?download=1
[^5]: Office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, "Whitehouse Demands Documents on Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to Minimum-Security Bureau of Prisons Facility," August 11, 2025, reproducing Whitehouse's letter to Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall III of August 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-demands-documents-on-transfer-of-ghislaine-maxwell-to-minimum-security-bureau-of-prisons-facility ; letter PDF: https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-07-Letter-to-BOP-Maxwell-Transfer.pdf
[^6]: "Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's interview," CNN, August 22, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-doj-documents-08-22-25 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas," CNN, August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas
[^7]: "Ghislaine Maxwell pleads the Fifth, with lawyer saying she'll testify in Epstein probe if Trump grants her clemency," CBS News, February 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-house-oversight-committee-deposition-fifth-amendment/
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84 (component: Office of the Deputy Attorney General), January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files ; Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
[^9]: Todd Blanche, post on X, February 2026. https://x.com/DAGToddBlanche/status/2021043176350355731
[^10]: "Thomas Massie and Todd Blanche trade barbs over redactions in Epstein files," Washington Examiner, February 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/4452272/thomas-massie-todd-blanche-redactions-epstein-files-les-wexner/
[^11]: Dareh Gregorian, "Justice Department releases names of 3 people the FBI once called Jeffrey Epstein 'co-conspirators,'" NBC News, February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-names-3-people-fbi-once-called-jeffrey-epstein-co-conspirators-rcna258335
[^12]: "No more Epstein files will be released, DOJ tells Congress," UPI, February 15, 2026. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/02/15/epstein-files-released-list-names-bondi-blanche/4881771190174/
[^13]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," CBS News, April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
[^14]: U.S. Senate, Roll Call Votes 119th Congress, 2nd Session, Nos. 229 (cloture) and 230 (confirmation), Todd Blanche to be Attorney General (PN1078), August 8, 2026. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1192/vote_119_2_00230.htm ; "Senate votes to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general," NPR, August 8, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/08/g-s1-137631/senate-confirms-todd-blanche-attorney-general

106
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Virginia Giuffre.md
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@ -11,29 +11,60 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Virginia Roberts - Virginia Roberts
- Virginia Roberts Giuffre - Virginia Roberts Giuffre
summary: "Virginia Giuffre is a sex-trafficking survivor and advocate who said Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her at Mar-a-Lago around 2000 when she was a teenager and that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to others including Prince Andrew, who litigated against Maxwell and Andrew, and who died by suicide in Western Australia on April 25, 2025." summary: "Sex-trafficking survivor recruited at Mar-a-Lago around 2000, whose 2009 Epstein settlement was tied to the federal non-prosecution agreement and who litigated against Maxwell and Prince Andrew before her 2025 death in Western Australia."
born: 1983-08-09 born: 1983-08-09
died: 2025-04-25 died: 2025-04-25
location: "Neergabby, Western Australia (died)" location: "Neergabby, Western Australia (died)"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Jane Doe No. 102 v. Epstein]]"
role: "plaintiff"
start: 2009-05-04
end: 2009-11
fn: 6
- type: represented
with: "[[Podhurst Orseck]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009
end: 2009
fn: 6
- type: represented
with: "[[Boies Schiller Flexner]]"
reverse: true
start: 2015
fn: 8
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Giuffre v. Prince Andrew]]"
role: "plaintiff"
start: 2021-08-09
end: 2022-03-08
fn: 11
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Robert Giuffre]]"
role: "wife"
fn: 18
- type: founded
with: "[[Speak Out, Act, Reclaim]]"
fn: 1
--- ---
Virginia Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts on August 9, 1983, was an American-born sex-trafficking survivor and advocate who became one of the most prominent accusers of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell|Ghislaine Maxwell]]. She said that Maxwell recruited her around 2000, when she was a teenager working at [[Mar-a-Lago|Mar-a-Lago]], and that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Epstein and to others, an account she set out in court filings, interviews, and a posthumous memoir. She later settled with Epstein, sued Maxwell for defamation, and sued [[Prince Andrew|Prince Andrew]]. She died by suicide at her property in [[Western Australia|Western Australia]] on April 25, 2025, at age 41. Her allegations are documented as her testimony; the individuals she named have denied wrongdoing where they responded.[^1][^2] Virginia Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts on August 9, 1983, was an American-born sex-trafficking survivor and advocate who became one of the most prominent accusers of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] and [[Ghislaine Maxwell|Ghislaine Maxwell]]. She said that Maxwell recruited her around 2000, when she was a teenager working at [[Mar-a-Lago|Mar-a-Lago]], and that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Epstein and to others, an account she set out in court filings, interviews, and a posthumous memoir. She later settled with Epstein, sued Maxwell for defamation, and sued [[Prince Andrew|Prince Andrew]]. She died by suicide at her property in [[Western Australia|Western Australia]] on April 25, 2025, at age 41. Her allegations are documented as her testimony; the individuals she named have denied wrongdoing where they responded.[^1][^2]
### Early Life ### Early Life
Giuffre was born Virginia Roberts on August 9, 1983, in Sacramento, California, to Sky and Lynn Roberts, and the family moved to Palm Beach County, Florida, when she was young, where her father later worked in a maintenance role at Mar-a-Lago. She described in interviews and in her memoir a childhood marked by sexual abuse beginning around age seven, repeated running away, periods living with relatives in California and in foster care, and time at a facility for troubled youth. She said that in the late 1990s, as a young teenager, she had been drawn into an earlier trafficking situation before returning to her family.[^1][^8] Giuffre was born Virginia Roberts on August 9, 1983, in Sacramento, California, to Sky and Lynn Roberts, and the family moved to Palm Beach County, Florida, when she was young, where her father later worked in a maintenance role at Mar-a-Lago. She described in interviews and in her memoir a childhood marked by sexual abuse beginning around age seven, repeated running away, periods living with relatives in California and in foster care, and time at a facility for troubled youth. She said that in the late 1990s, as a young teenager, she had been drawn into an earlier trafficking situation before returning to her family.[^1][^3]
In the summer of 2000 Giuffre took a job as a locker-room attendant at the Mar-a-Lago spa, an arrangement she said was facilitated through her father's employment there. She was 16 or 17 at the time of her recruitment, and accounts vary on the precise age and date; her filings generally placed her recruitment around 2000.[^1][^8] In the summer of 2000 Giuffre took a job as a locker-room attendant at the Mar-a-Lago spa, an arrangement she said was facilitated through her father's employment there. She was 16 or 17 at the time of her recruitment, and accounts vary on the precise age and date; her filings generally placed her recruitment around 2000.[^1][^3]
### Recruitment and Trafficking Allegations ### Recruitment and Trafficking Allegations
Giuffre said that Ghislaine Maxwell approached her while she was working at the Mar-a-Lago spa, reading a book on massage therapy, and recruited her ostensibly to train as a masseuse for Epstein, taking her that evening to Epstein's nearby Palm Beach house. She said she was then drawn into sexual abuse by Epstein and trafficked to other men over a period of years, traveling among Epstein's residences in New York, Palm Beach, [[New Mexico|New Mexico]], and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and abroad. She described Maxwell as central to Epstein's operation and said she was presented to Epstein's associates as available for sexual purposes.[^1][^2] Giuffre said that Ghislaine Maxwell approached her while she was working at the Mar-a-Lago spa, reading a book on massage therapy, and recruited her ostensibly to train as a masseuse for Epstein, taking her that evening to Epstein's nearby Palm Beach house. She said she was then drawn into sexual abuse by Epstein and trafficked to other men over a period of years, traveling among Epstein's residences in New York, Palm Beach, [[New Mexico|New Mexico]], and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and abroad. She described Maxwell as central to Epstein's operation and said she was presented to Epstein's associates as available for sexual purposes.[^1][^2]
Among the men Giuffre said Epstein directed her to was Prince Andrew, whom she said she was made to have sex with on three occasions beginning in London in March 2001 when she was 17, around the time she was photographed with him at Maxwell's Belgravia home. Andrew has denied the allegations and settled her civil suit without admitting liability. Giuffre also named other men in her filings and interviews, including the financier [[Jean-Luc Brunel|Jean-Luc Brunel]] and the attorney [[Alan Dershowitz|Alan Dershowitz]]; those named denied her accounts. Her allegations against individuals other than Epstein and Maxwell were not adjudicated as criminal findings.[^2][^1] Among the men Giuffre said Epstein directed her to was Prince Andrew, whom she said she was made to have sex with on three occasions beginning in London in March 2001 when she was 17, around the time she was photographed with him at Maxwell's Belgravia home. Andrew has denied the allegations and settled her civil suit without admitting liability. Giuffre also named other men in her filings and interviews, including the financier [[Jean-Luc Brunel|Jean-Luc Brunel]] and the attorney [[Alan Dershowitz|Alan Dershowitz]]; those named denied her accounts. Her allegations against individuals other than Epstein and Maxwell were not adjudicated as criminal findings.[^1][^2]
The body of allegations rests on Giuffre's sworn testimony, depositions, and statements rather than on criminal convictions of the men she named. Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 on federal sex-trafficking charges arising from the broader Epstein scheme, though that prosecution did not turn on Giuffre as a charged victim. Epstein was indicted federally in July 2019 and died in custody the following month before trial, his death ruled a suicide.[^2][^3] The body of allegations rests on Giuffre's sworn testimony, depositions, and statements rather than on criminal convictions of the men she named. Maxwell was convicted in December 2021 on federal sex-trafficking charges arising from the broader Epstein scheme, though that prosecution did not turn on Giuffre as a charged victim. Epstein was indicted federally in July 2019 and died in custody the following month before trial, his death ruled a suicide.[^2][^4]
### Australia and Advocacy ### Australia and Advocacy
@ -41,39 +72,68 @@ Giuffre said she left Epstein's circle around 2002 after he sent her abroad, inc
She became a public advocate for survivors of trafficking and sexual abuse, founding a nonprofit she initially called Victims Refuse Silence, later reorganized under the name Speak Out, Act, Reclaim, abbreviated SOAR. Her name and account featured in much of the reporting that drove renewed scrutiny of Epstein from the mid-2010s onward, including the work that culminated in his 2019 federal arrest.[^1] She became a public advocate for survivors of trafficking and sexual abuse, founding a nonprofit she initially called Victims Refuse Silence, later reorganized under the name Speak Out, Act, Reclaim, abbreviated SOAR. Her name and account featured in much of the reporting that drove renewed scrutiny of Epstein from the mid-2010s onward, including the work that culminated in his 2019 federal arrest.[^1]
Through her advocacy and litigation Giuffre pressed for the public release of records in the Epstein matter and lent her name to campaigns supporting trafficking survivors. She cooperated with journalists and investigators over more than a decade, sitting for depositions and providing the photograph and other materials that entered the court record, and her sworn statements became part of the documentary record in multiple cases.[^1][^3] Through her advocacy and litigation Giuffre pressed for the public release of records in the Epstein matter and lent her name to campaigns supporting trafficking survivors. She cooperated with journalists and investigators over more than a decade, sitting for depositions and providing the photograph and other materials that entered the court record, and her sworn statements became part of the documentary record in multiple cases.[^1][^4]
### Litigation ### Litigation
Giuffre, then using the name Virginia Roberts, sued Epstein in 2009 in Florida, alleging abuse; that matter was resolved by a confidential settlement reported at 500,000 dollars and dismissed late that year. The settlement, unsealed on January 3, 2022, released Epstein and a category of unnamed "second parties" and "potential defendants," and its release language later became a contested issue in the suit against Prince Andrew, where Judge [[Lewis Kaplan|Lewis Kaplan]] held in January 2022 that the language was too ambiguous to clearly bar the claim against Andrew.[^4][^5] Giuffre, then using the name Virginia Roberts, sued Epstein in 2009 in Florida as Jane Doe No. 102, alleging abuse; that matter was resolved by a confidential settlement of 500,000 dollars, which she signed in November 2009. The settlement, unsealed on January 3, 2022, released Epstein and his agents, attorneys, and employees (the "Second Parties") together with "any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant," and its release language later became a contested issue in the suit against Prince Andrew, where Judge [[Lewis Kaplan|Lewis Kaplan]] held in January 2022 that the language was too ambiguous to clearly bar the claim against Andrew.[^5][^6][^7]
In September 2015 Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] after Maxwell, through a representative, publicly called her allegations lies. The case, [[Giuffre v. Maxwell|Giuffre v. Maxwell]], No. 15-cv-07433, produced a large body of depositions and exhibits, including testimony from [[Johanna Sjoberg|Johanna Sjoberg]] and others, and it settled in 2017 on undisclosed terms. Tranches of documents from that case were unsealed beginning in 2019, with a major release of formerly sealed exhibits in January 2024; reporting on the January 2024 unsealing noted it largely concerned already-known figures and contained no new criminal accusation against previously unnamed people.[^3] ### The 2009 Settlement
On August 9, 2021, Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in the same court under New York's Child Victims Act, alleging he sexually abused her on three occasions when she was 17. After Kaplan denied Andrew's motion to dismiss in January 2022, the suit settled in February 2022, the joint filing stating that Andrew would make "a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights" and acknowledging her as "an established victim of abuse," with no admission of liability and the sum undisclosed.[^5] The Florida suit, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson, was filed in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]] on May 4, 2009 and assigned to Judge [[Kenneth Marra|Kenneth A. Marra]], who also presided over the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] petition in [[Doe v. United States]] and over the 2010 obstruction prosecution of Epstein's former house manager [[Alfredo Rodriguez]]. Giuffre was represented by Robert C. Josefsberg and Katherine W. Ezell of [[Podhurst Orseck]] in Miami; Epstein by Robert D. Critton Jr. of Burman, Critton, Luttier & Coleman and [[Jack Goldberger|Jack Alan Goldberger]] of Atterbury, Goldberger & Weiss, both of West Palm Beach.[^6]
In the Settlement Agreement and General Release, Epstein paid 500,000 dollars to "Virginia Roberts." Roberts released the Second Parties "and any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant ('Other Potential Defendants')" from all claims "from the beginning of the world to the day of this release." The parties stipulated that the agreement "is pursuant to and is in fulfillment of Jeffrey Epstein's obligations to Virginia Roberts" under "the Non-Prosecution Agreement, its Addendum, and its Affirmation," tying the civil payment to the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|federal non-prosecution agreement]] of 2007 with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]. Epstein agreed "to continue to abide by Judge Marra's July 31, 2009 No Contact Order." The amount was to be "kept strictly confidential," with exceptions for immediate family, whose identities were given on an "Eyes Only" basis to a Special Master, Sidney Stubbs, for legal and tax purposes, and for "a validly issued subpoena from a governmental or regulatory agency," on five days' notice to the other side. Epstein's side agreed not to release Roberts' "identity, name, or physical depiction" without her written waiver.[^6]
The agreement entered the public record as Exhibit A to a request for judicial notice filed by Prince Andrew's lawyers in October 2021 in support of his motion to dismiss her suit against him.[^6]
In September 2015 Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] after Maxwell, through a representative, publicly called her allegations lies. The case, [[Giuffre v. Maxwell|Giuffre v. Maxwell]], No. 15-cv-07433, produced a large body of depositions and exhibits, including testimony from [[Johanna Sjoberg|Johanna Sjoberg]] and others, and it settled in 2017 on undisclosed terms. Tranches of documents from that case were unsealed beginning in 2019, with a major release of formerly sealed exhibits in January 2024; reporting on the January 2024 unsealing noted it largely concerned already-known figures and contained no new criminal accusation against previously unnamed people.[^4]
The defamation case was filed on September 21, 2015 before Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]]. Giuffre was represented by [[Sigrid McCawley|Sigrid S. McCawley]] and other lawyers of [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], Maxwell by [[Laura Menninger|Laura A. Menninger]] and Jeffrey S. Pagliuca of [[Haddon, Morgan and Foreman]]. The parties settled on May 24, 2017, but the sealed record produced under Sweet's March 2016 protective order kept the docket open for a further nine years. The [[Miami Herald]] and its reporter [[Julie K. Brown]] intervened in April 2018, and in Brown v. Maxwell (July 3, 2019) the [[Second Circuit]] ordered the summary judgment record unsealed. On July 23, 2025, three months after Giuffre's death, the Second Circuit, on appeals brought by her and by the Herald, vacated the district court's December 2019 and January 2020 unsealing orders "in their entirety" and remanded for "individualized review" of the remaining sealed material. On August 11, 2026, Judge [[Loretta Preska]] modified the protective order to let the government disclose, under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]], documents it had obtained from Boies Schiller Flexner in 2019 through a grand jury subpoena. On September 3, 2026 the case was recaptioned with Ian Torrington Blatchford, interim administrator of her estate, as plaintiff.[^8][^9][^10]
On August 9, 2021, Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in the same court under New York's Child Victims Act, alleging he sexually abused her on three occasions when she was 17. After Kaplan denied Andrew's motion to dismiss in January 2022, the suit settled in February 2022, the joint filing stating that Andrew would make "a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights" and acknowledging her as "an established victim of abuse," with no admission of liability and the sum undisclosed.[^7]
In [[Giuffre v. Prince Andrew]], No. 1:21-cv-06702, Kaplan denied Andrew's December 2021 request to depose Giuffre and take "limited jurisdictional discovery" before the motion to dismiss was decided (ECF No. 61, December 31, 2021), and admitted the 2009 settlement for purposes of the motion while declining judicial notice of Andrew's other proposed exhibits (ECF No. 57, December 16, 2021). His opinion denying dismissal, signed January 11, 2022 and filed the next day (ECF No. 64), stated that "nothing in this opinion or previously in these proceedings properly may be construed as indicating a view with respect to the truth of the charges or countercharges or as to the intention of the parties in entering into the 2009 Agreement." The settlement agreement with Andrew is dated February 12, 2022, three days before the parties' public notice, and the case was dismissed by stipulation on March 8, 2022 (ECF No. 83).[^11]
### Dershowitz Allegations ### Dershowitz Allegations
Giuffre alleged in a 2014 court filing and subsequently that Epstein had trafficked her to the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who had been part of Epstein's legal defense team in Florida. Dershowitz denied the allegations from the outset, calling them fabricated and describing Giuffre at points as a liar, and the two sides litigated competing defamation claims. Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in April 2019; Dershowitz countersued in November 2019.[^9] Giuffre alleged in a 2014 court filing and subsequently that Epstein had trafficked her to the attorney Alan Dershowitz, who had been part of Epstein's legal defense team in Florida. Dershowitz denied the allegations from the outset, calling them fabricated and describing Giuffre at points as a liar, and the two sides litigated competing defamation claims. Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in April 2019; Dershowitz countersued in November 2019.[^12]
In November 2022 the parties, together with the attorney [[David Boies|David Boies]], reached a global settlement resolving the litigation. In her settlement statement Giuffre wrote: "I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz. However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has from the beginning consistently denied these allegations." She added that she "may have made a mistake" in identifying him. The agreement resolved all pending litigation without any payment from Dershowitz to Giuffre, and Dershowitz characterized the outcome as a vindication of his denials.[^9][^10] In November 2022 the parties, together with the attorney [[David Boies|David Boies]], reached a global settlement resolving the litigation. In her settlement statement Giuffre wrote: "I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz. However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has from the beginning consistently denied these allegations." She added that she "may have made a mistake" in identifying him. The agreement resolved all pending litigation without any payment from Dershowitz to Giuffre, and Dershowitz characterized the outcome as a vindication of his denials.[^12][^13]
### Death and Memoir ### Death and Memoir
In late March 2025 Giuffre posted that she had been hospitalized in Western Australia after the vehicle she was in was struck by a school bus, writing in one social-media post that she had gone into renal failure and had been given "four days to live." Western Australia Police said no injuries were reported at the scene, and the bus driver and other parties disputed the severity she described; a source said she was not in a life-threatening condition. She left the hospital roughly a week later. Reporting on these contradictions circulated in early April 2025.[^6] In late March 2025 Giuffre posted that she had been hospitalized in Western Australia after the vehicle she was in was struck by a school bus, writing in one social-media post that she had gone into renal failure and had been given "four days to live." Western Australia Police said no injuries were reported at the scene, and the bus driver and other parties disputed the severity she described; a source said she was not in a life-threatening condition. She left the hospital roughly a week later. Reporting on these contradictions circulated in early April 2025.[^14]
Giuffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, at her property in Neergabby, Western Australia, at age 41. Her family said in a statement that she "lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking" and that "the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia." Western Australia Police said her death was not being treated as suspicious. Her death came roughly a month after the bus incident and about six months before the scheduled publication of her memoir.[^2][^14]
Her memoir [[Nobody's Girl|Nobody's Girl]], co-written with the author [[Amy Wallace|Amy Wallace]], was published posthumously by Alfred A. Knopf on October 21, 2025, following her stated wish that it appear regardless of her circumstances. The book recounts her account of recruitment at Mar-a-Lago, the years of trafficking, and the litigation that followed, and it repeats her allegations against Epstein, Maxwell, Andrew, and others. Its publication coincided with the renewed pressure on Andrew that preceded the removal of his titles, and it reached the top of bestseller lists in the weeks after release.[^15] The book reproduces the March 2001 photograph of Andrew with his arm around Giuffre and Maxwell behind them, and identifies Epstein as the person who took it.[^16] On May 11, 2026 it was named Overall Book of the Year at the British Book Awards.[^17]
### Estate
Giuffre died without a valid will. In June 2025 two of her sons applied to the Supreme Court of Western Australia to be appointed administrators of the estate, which includes property in Western Australia, what remained of the settlement with Andrew (reported at 12 million pounds), and revenue from her memoir. Their application was opposed by her former carer, Cheryl Myers, and her former Perth lawyer, Karrie Louden, who sought appointment themselves; her estranged husband Robert Giuffre had agreed to the sons' writ, and the court registrar noted that he should be joined as a party.[^18]
In late November 2025 the court appointed a Western Australian lawyer, Ian Torrington Blatchford, as interim administrator, at 400 Australian dollars an hour. The court's orders listed existing legal proceedings the administrator would conduct, among them the 2015 case against Maxwell and "an arbitration" involving Alan Dershowitz, three years after the 2022 settlement of their litigation. They also included a defamation suit for 10 million dollars filed in the Southern District of New York in October 2021 by [[Rina Oh]], who alleged that Giuffre had portrayed her "as an accomplice to Epstein rather than a victim"; an appeals court had ruled that Oh's claim survived Giuffre's death.[^18][^19]
Giuffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, at her property in Neergabby, Western Australia, at age 41. Her family said in a statement that she "lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking" and that "the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia." Western Australia Police said her death was not being treated as suspicious. Her death came roughly a month after the bus incident and about six months before the scheduled publication of her memoir.[^2][^6]
Her memoir [[Nobody's Girl|Nobody's Girl]], co-written with the author [[Amy Wallace|Amy Wallace]], was published posthumously by Alfred A. Knopf on October 21, 2025, following her stated wish that it appear regardless of her circumstances. The book recounts her account of recruitment at Mar-a-Lago, the years of trafficking, and the litigation that followed, and it repeats her allegations against Epstein, Maxwell, Andrew, and others. Its publication coincided with the renewed pressure on Andrew that preceded the removal of his titles, and it reached the top of bestseller lists in the weeks after release.[^7]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Virginia Giuffre," *Encyclopaedia Britannica,* 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Giuffre [^1]: "Virginia Giuffre," *Encyclopaedia Britannica,* 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Giuffre
[^2]: "Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent abuse survivors, dies by suicide," *NBC News,* April 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-giuffre-one-jeffrey-epsteins-prominent-abuse-survivors-dies-s-rcna203027 [^2]: "Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent abuse survivors, dies by suicide," *NBC News,* April 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-giuffre-one-jeffrey-epsteins-prominent-abuse-survivors-dies-s-rcna203027
[^3]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), and unsealed exhibits, January 2024. https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Giuffre%20v.%20Maxwell,%20No.%20115-cv-07433%20(S.D.N.Y.%202015)/ [^3]: "Virginia Giuffre," *Encyclopaedia Britannica,* 2025 (early life and recruitment). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Giuffre
[^4]: "Billionaire's Alleged Sex Slave Settles Libel Case," *Courthouse News Service,* and reporting on the 2009 Epstein settlement. https://www.courthousenews.com/billionaires-alleged-sex-slave-settles-libel-case/ [^4]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), and unsealed exhibits, January 2024. https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Giuffre%20v.%20Maxwell,%20No.%20115-cv-07433%20(S.D.N.Y.%202015)/
[^5]: "Lawyers say settlement reached in Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Prince Andrew," *PBS NewsHour,* February 15, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/lawyers-say-settlement-reached-in-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit-against-prince-andrew [^5]: "Billionaire's Alleged Sex Slave Settles Libel Case," *Courthouse News Service,* and reporting on the 2009 Epstein settlement. https://www.courthousenews.com/billionaires-alleged-sex-slave-settles-libel-case/
[^6]: "Virginia Giuffre, prominent Jeffrey Epstein accuser, dies by suicide," *Yahoo News,* April 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/virginia-giuffre-prominent-jeffrey-epstein-015432265.html [^6]: Settlement Agreement and General Release, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson (S.D. Fla.), filed as Exhibit A, ECF No. 32-1, in Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702 (S.D.N.Y.), and the subject of Prince Andrew's Request for Judicial Notice, ECF No. 35 (Oct. 29, 2021); complaint at ECF No. 35-2. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713.32.1.pdf
[^7]: "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice," Alfred A. Knopf / Penguin Random House, October 21, 2025. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712958/nobodys-girl-by-virginia-roberts-giuffre/ [^7]: "Lawyers say settlement reached in Virginia Giuffre's lawsuit against Prince Andrew," *PBS NewsHour,* February 15, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/lawyers-say-settlement-reached-in-virginia-giuffres-lawsuit-against-prince-andrew
[^8]: "Virginia Giuffre," *Encyclopaedia Britannica,* 2025 (early life and recruitment). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Giuffre [^8]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), Complaint, ECF No. 1 (Sept. 21, 2015); Protective Order, ECF No. 62 (March 2016); Order, ECF No. 1367 (Aug. 11, 2026); Order amending caption, ECF No. 1370 (Sept. 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/
[^9]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake,'" *CNN,* November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped [^9]: Brown v. Maxwell; Dershowitz v. Giuffre, 929 F.3d 41 (2d Cir. 2019). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4636340/brown-v-maxwell-dershowitz-v-giuffre/
[^10]: "Epstein victim drops her lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz," *NBC News,* November 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/epstein-victim-drops-lawsuit-lawyer-alan-dershowitz-rcna56250 [^10]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, 146 F.4th 165 (2d Cir. 2025) (per curiam), Nos. 24-182-cv(L), 24-203-cv(con) (July 23, 2025). https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-2nd-circuit/117500106.html
[^11]: Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702-LAK (S.D.N.Y.), Order, ECF No. 57 (Dec. 16, 2021); Order, ECF No. 61 (Dec. 31, 2021); Opinion, ECF No. 64 (signed Jan. 11, 2022, filed Jan. 12, 2022); Stipulation and Order of Dismissal, ECF No. 83 (March 8, 2022). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60119368/giuffre-v-prince-andrew/
[^12]: "Virginia Giuffre drops allegations against Alan Dershowitz, saying she 'may have made a mistake,'" *CNN,* November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped
[^13]: "Epstein victim drops her lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz," *NBC News,* November 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/epstein-victim-drops-lawsuit-lawyer-alan-dershowitz-rcna56250
[^14]: "Virginia Giuffre, prominent Jeffrey Epstein accuser, dies by suicide," *Yahoo News,* April 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/virginia-giuffre-prominent-jeffrey-epstein-015432265.html
[^15]: "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice," Alfred A. Knopf / Penguin Random House, October 21, 2025. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712958/nobodys-girl-by-virginia-roberts-giuffre/
[^16]: Adriana Gallardo and Leila Fadel, report on Virginia Roberts Giuffre's memoir *Nobody's Girl*, *NPR,* October 20, 2025 (updated October 23, 2025). https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5514834/epstein-accuser-virginia-roberts-giuffre-nobodys-girl-memoir
[^17]: Sam Spratford, "British Book Awards Honor Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Sarah Wynn-Williams," *Publishers Weekly,* May 12, 2026. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/100385-british-books-awards-honor-giuffre-wynn-williams.html
[^18]: "Legal battle begins over Virginia Giuffre's multi-million-dollar estate," *ABC News (Australia),* November 28, 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-28/virginia-giuffre-epstein-survivor-legal-battle-over-estate/106075194
[^19]: "Court Rules Virginia Giuffre Died Without a Will, Appoints Administrator," *Newsweek,* November 26, 2025. https://www.newsweek.com/court-rules-virginia-giuffre-died-without-will-11110482

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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- VitalyChurkin
- Russia
- UnitedNations
- Diplomat
- JeffreyEpstein
- EhudBarak
alias:
- Vitaly Churkin
- Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin
- Vitaly Chrukin
summary: "Vitaly Churkin (1952-2017) was Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 2006 until his death, and exchanged messages and meals with Jeffrey Epstein from 2015 to January 2017."
born: 1952-02-21
died: 2017-02-20
location: "Moscow, Soviet Union (born); New York, New York (died)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia]]"
role: "Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations"
start: 2006-04
end: 2017-02
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia]]"
role: "Deputy Foreign Minister"
start: 1992
end: 1994
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin (February 21, 1952, [[Moscow]] to February 20, 2017, [[New York City|New York]]) was a Soviet and Russian diplomat who served as Russia's Permanent Representative to the [[United Nations]] from April 2006 until his death. Between November 2015 and January 2017 he exchanged text messages with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], met him repeatedly in New York, and was invited to meals with [[Ehud Barak]], [[Larry Summers]], [[Tom Barrack]], and [[Tom Pritzker]]. Epstein arranged help for Churkin's son, and his office continued to schedule meetings with the son after Churkin's death. Churkin collapsed at the [[Permanent Mission of Russia to the United Nations|Russian mission]] in New York in February 2017 and died in hospital; at the request of the [[United States Department of State|State Department]], the New York City medical examiner did not release the cause of death.[^1][^2][^3]
### Diplomatic Career
Churkin was born in Moscow into the family of an aviation design engineer.[^1] As a boy he appeared in at least three films, two of them about [[Vladimir Lenin]]; he graduated from the [[Moscow State Institute of International Relations]] in 1974, joined the Foreign Ministry the same year as an assistant in its translation department, and later took a doctorate in history at the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] Diplomatic Academy.[^4][^5] He served at the Soviet embassy in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], in the international department of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] Central Committee, and in the Foreign Minister's secretariat.[^4] He directed the Information Department of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia|Foreign Ministry]] from 1990 to 1992 and was Deputy Foreign Minister from 1992 to 1994, and in the early 1990s was his government's special representative to the talks on the [[Yugoslav Wars|former Yugoslavia]].[^4][^5] He was ambassador to [[Belgium]] and liaison ambassador to [[NATO]] and the [[Western European Union]] from 1994 to 1998, ambassador to [[Canada]] from 1998 to 2003, and ambassador-at-large from 2003 to 2006.[^1]
He became Russia's ambassador to the United Nations on April 8, 2006, and held the post for almost eleven years.[^1][^4] On July 8, 2015 Russia cast the only negative vote, a veto, on a [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] draft resolution that would have emphasized acceptance of the 1995 [[Srebrenica massacre]] as genocide.[^6]
### Contact with Epstein, 2015-2017
Epstein's first message in the produced log, on November 16, 2015, read: "I'm in town wed- fri if you have time . Jeffrey Epstein." Churkin proposed Friday at 4 p.m., and later moved the meeting to 5 p.m.[^7] On December 11, 2015 Epstein wrote, "Oil now at the 36 $ level I suggested." On January 2, 2016 he wrote, "Ehud Barak in town this week if a meal is convenient," and on January 13, while arranging a meeting for the following day, "Larry summers will be here as well," adding, "Or 12 if you prefer privacy." On February 12, 2016 Epstein wrote, "Good work on Syria , markets will continue bad."[^7]
On May 23, 2016 Epstein wrote that any help for Churkin's son was "confidential." Churkin replied, "Of course," and then, "Greatly appreciated!" Epstein answered, "He's s great son."[^8] On June 9 Epstein reported that the son was "doing better" and "just needed to understand American biz habits"; Churkin replied, "U r a great teacher!" On August 1, 2016 Epstein reported that the son's "First job" was "confirmed to start day after Labor Day," and Churkin replied, "Fantastic!!"[^8] On October 21 Epstein wrote that the son was "scoring good grades" and "being exposed to the most diverse investments . Only doable in the past 5 years , great foundation."[^9]
On August 28, 2016 Epstein wrote: "Don't know if you have any interest . Ehud Barak and TOM Barrack at house tomorw . You are always welcome." Churkin asked the time and accepted 1 p.m.[^8] The same afternoon Epstein's scheduler, [[Lesley Groff]], circulated the notice "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," listing Epstein, Barak, Barrack, and Churkin, "4 total"; the calendar entry for August 29, 2016 read "12:30pm LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin."[^10]
On September 6, 2016 Epstein offered an introduction to "My very close friend Tom Pritzker . Hyatt hotels and chairman of CSI." Churkin proposed the next evening and later that day thanked Epstein for the time he had spent with his son. On September 7 Epstein moved the Pritzker meeting to the 18th or 19th and added: "also thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me."[^8] [[Thorbjørn Jagland]] was then Secretary General of the [[Council of Europe]]; in February 2026 Norway's economic crime unit, [[Økokrim]], opened an investigation of him for aggravated corruption.[^11]
On November 13, 2016 Epstein wrote, "Ehud coming today at 430 . As always you are welcome." On December 2, 2016, after a meeting at 4 p.m., he wrote, "Thx your gift means a great deal." On January 5, 2017 he wrote, "Btw my house in palm beach is always available for you as your rest spot." Their last exchange in the log arranged a lunch at noon on January 10, 2017, at which Churkin wrote, "On my way .sorry."[^9] No later messages appear in the produced export.[^9]
### Death
Churkin was at work at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations on February 20, 2017, the day before his sixty-fifth birthday. The President of the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]], [[Peter Thomson]], said he had been told Churkin had suffered "some sort of cardiac arrest" at the mission and was taken to hospital, where he died; the [[New York City Police Department|New York Police Department]] said there were no indications of foul play.[^2][^5] The [[New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner]] said after the autopsy that further tests were needed. On February 24 and March 1, 2017 the [[State Department]], through James Donovan of the [[United States Mission to the United Nations]], wrote to the city asking that the results not be released, stating that Churkin's diplomatic immunity survived his death; the March 1 letter reported Russian complaints that media statements about his medical history had included information "very private in nature" and "about which even they had no knowledge." On March 10 the medical examiner's office said it had been instructed not to disclose further details "in order to comply with international law and protocol."[^3] A New York City official told [[CNN]] the same day, on condition of anonymity, that the autopsy found a heart attack and no sign of foul play.[^12]
After Churkin's death Epstein's office continued to deal with his son. On July 3, 2017 Epstein's assistant arranged a telephone call from Epstein for 1:45 p.m.; on July 20 the son wrote asking to meet Epstein in person, and on August 15, 2017 Epstein's calendar recorded a 4:30 p.m. appointment with him for the following day.[^13]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Vitaly Churkin: Outstanding diplomat who 'knew no defeat'." *TASS,* February 20, 2017, on his birth, education, posts, and appointment to the United Nations on April 8, 2006. https://tass.com/politics/932071
[^2]: "Vitaly Churkin, Russian Ambassador To U.N., Is Dead At 64." *NPR,* February 21, 2017. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/21/516364780/vitaly-churkin-russian-ambassador-to-u-n-is-dead-at-64
[^3]: "Russia Ambassador Vitaly Churkin's cause of death won't be released." *CBS News / Associated Press,* March 10, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-ambassador-cause-of-death-wont-be-released/ ; "State Dept. seeks to keep Russian diplomat's cause of death private." *The Hill,* March 2017. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/323403-state-dept-asks-ny-medical-examiner-not-to-release-russian/
[^4]: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, briefing by spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Moscow, February 22, 2017, "Death of Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin," on his education, posts, and decorations. https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2017/russia-170222-russia-mfab01.htm
[^5]: Besheer, Margaret. "Russia's Long-time UN Ambassador Dies Suddenly." *Voice of America,* February 20, 2017. https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2017/russia-170220-voa01.htm
[^6]: United Nations, Meetings Coverage, "At Meeting Commemorating Twentieth Anniversary of Srebrenica Killings, Security Council Fails to Adopt Resolution," SC/11961, 7481st meeting, July 8, 2015. https://press.un.org/en/2015/sc11961.doc.htm
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619434, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," November 16, 2015 to February 23, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," May 23, 2016 to September 7, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619444, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," October 3, 2016 to January 10, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619444.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02045038, DataSet 10, calendar alert, August 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02045038.pdf
[^11]: "Økokrim åpner etterforsking av Mona Juul og Terje Rød-Larsen." *NRK,* February 9, 2026 (updated February 12, 2026), reporting the investigation of Jagland opened February 5, 2026. https://www.nrk.no/norge/okokrim-apner-etterforsking-av-mona-juul-og-terje-rod-larsen-1.17761823
[^12]: "Official: No foul play in death of Russian ambassador to UN." *CNN,* March 10, 2017. https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/world/russian-ambassador-heart-attack
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02219806, DataSet 11, email thread between Epstein's office and Churkin's son, July 3 to July 21, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02219806.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00676901, DataSet 9, scheduling email and calendar entry, August 15, 2017. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00676901.pdf

68
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William Burns.md
View file

@ -12,42 +12,80 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- William J. Burns - William J. Burns
- Bill Burns - Bill Burns
summary: "William J. Burns is an American diplomat and intelligence official who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, president of the Carnegie Endowment, and Director of Central Intelligence from 2021 to 2025 under Joe Biden, and whose multiple 2014 meetings with Jeffrey Epstein at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse were documented in the Wall Street Journal's 2023 review of the Epstein calendars." summary: "William J. Burns is the American diplomat who met Jeffrey Epstein three times in 2014 as Deputy Secretary of State and later served as CIA director from 2021 to 2025."
born: 1956-04-11 born: 1956-04-11
location: "Fort Bragg, North Carolina (born)" location: "Fort Bragg, North Carolina (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Department of State]]"
role: "Deputy Secretary of State"
start: 2011
end: 2014-11
fn: 3
- type: head_of
with: "[[Central Intelligence Agency]]"
role: "Director"
start: 2021-03
end: 2025-01
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[Aspen Strategy Group]]"
role: "member, per Tom Pritzker's 2016 roster"
fn: 8
- type: appointed
with: "[[Joe Biden]]"
reverse: true
role: "nominated as CIA director"
start: 2020-11
fn: 3
--- ---
William J. Burns (born April 11, 1956, at [[Fort Bragg|Fort Bragg, North Carolina]]) is an American diplomat and intelligence official who served as the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] from March 2021 to January 2025 under President [[Joe Biden|Joe Biden]]. Burns's career spans the [[United States Foreign Service|Foreign Service]] (ambassador to [[Jordan]] 1998-2001, assistant secretary of state for [[Near Eastern Affairs]] 2001-2005, ambassador to [[Russia]] 2005-2008, deputy secretary of state 2011-2014), the think-tank sector (president of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] 2015-2021), and the intelligence community (CIA director 2021-2025). The [[Wall Street Journal]] reported in 2023, on the basis of the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]], that Burns met with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] on multiple occasions in 2014 at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse, while Burns was between the deputy-secretary-of-state tenure and the Carnegie Endowment presidency. Burns stated through a spokesperson that he "deeply regrets" the meetings and was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time.[^1][^2][^3] William J. Burns (born April 11, 1956, at [[Fort Bragg|Fort Bragg, North Carolina]]) is an American diplomat and intelligence official who served as Director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] from March 2021 to January 2025 under President [[Joe Biden|Joe Biden]]. Burns's career spans the [[United States Foreign Service|Foreign Service]] (ambassador to [[Jordan]] 1998-2001, assistant secretary of state for [[Near Eastern Affairs]] 2001-2005, ambassador to [[Russia]] 2005-2008, deputy secretary of state 2011-2014), the think-tank sector (president of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] 2015-2021), and the intelligence community (CIA director 2021-2025). The [[Wall Street Journal]] reported in 2023, on the basis of the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]], that Burns met with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] three times in 2014, while Burns was serving as deputy secretary of state and preparing to leave government.[^1][^2] Burns stated through a spokesperson that he "deeply regrets" the meetings and was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time.[^3][^4]
### Career and the Diplomatic-to-Intelligence Trajectory ### Career and the Diplomatic-to-Intelligence Trajectory
Burns entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and rose through the Near Eastern Affairs and policy-planning ranks under both Republican and Democratic administrations. His ambassadorial assignments in Jordan and Russia and his tenure as assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs placed him at the operational center of U.S. Middle East policy across the [[September 11 attacks|9/11]] period, the [[Iraq War|Iraq War]], and the post-[[Arab Spring|Arab Spring]] regional realignment. His 2011-2014 tenure as deputy secretary of state under [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Clinton]] and [[John Kerry|John Kerry]] covered the [[Benghazi|Benghazi]] period, the [[Iran nuclear deal|Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)]] negotiations, and the early stages of the [[Syrian Civil War|Syrian conflict]].[^1] Burns entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and rose through the Near Eastern Affairs and policy-planning ranks under both Republican and Democratic administrations. His ambassadorial assignments in Jordan and Russia and his tenure as assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs placed him at the operational center of U.S. [[Middle East]] policy across the [[September 11 attacks|9/11]] period, the [[Iraq War|Iraq War]], and the post-[[Arab Spring|Arab Spring]] regional realignment. His 2011-2014 tenure as deputy secretary of state under [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Clinton]] and [[John Kerry|John Kerry]] covered the [[Benghazi|Benghazi]] period, the [[Iran nuclear deal|Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)]] negotiations, and the early stages of the [[Syrian Civil War|Syrian conflict]].[^3]
The 2014 transition from deputy secretary of state to the [[Carnegie Endowment]] presidency is the gap during which the Epstein meetings occurred. Burns left government in November 2014 and took the Carnegie Endowment presidency in February 2015, and the WSJ-reported Epstein meetings fall within the 2014 window when Burns was a private citizen but still the most recently retired deputy secretary of state. Burns spent the six years (2015-2021) between the State Department departure and the CIA directorship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[^1] Burns left government in November 2014 and took the [[Carnegie Endowment]] presidency in February 2015. The WSJ-reported Epstein meetings took place in 2014, while he was still deputy secretary of state; the *Journal* reported that after meeting Epstein, Burns left the [[State Department]] to run the Carnegie Endowment.[^1][^2] Burns spent the six years (2015-2021) between the State Department departure and the CIA directorship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[^3]
### The Epstein Meetings ### The Epstein Meetings
[[The Wall Street Journal]]'s May 2023 report on the Epstein calendars documented that Burns met with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions in 2014, including at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse. The reporting was based on the schedules and emails obtained from the Epstein files, which the WSJ reviewed. The meetings occurred after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement but before the 2019 federal sex-trafficking charges. Burns stated through a spokesperson that he was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time and that he cut ties with Epstein upon learning of it. [[The Guardian]] reported Burns's statement that he "deeply regrets ever meeting" with Epstein.[^1][^2] [[The Wall Street Journal]]'s May 2023 report on the Epstein calendars documented that Burns met with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions in 2014, including at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse. The reporting was based on the schedules and emails obtained from the Epstein files, which the WSJ reviewed. The meetings occurred after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] but before the 2019 federal sex-trafficking charges. Burns stated through a spokesperson that he was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time and that he cut ties with Epstein upon learning of it. [[The Guardian]] reported Burns's statement that he "deeply regrets ever meeting" with Epstein.[^3][^4]
The Carstensen EFTA index documents additional Epstein file entries relevant to the Burns-Epstein relationship. The Tommy Carstensen aggregator cross-references the EFTA releases to document the Thiel-Epstein-Burns overlap: [[Peter Thiel]]'s documented 2014 meetings at the Epstein townhouse overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the chairman of a major [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] contractor ([[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]], whose government business includes the CIA as a client) and the future CIA director in the same Epstein-mediated setting within the same calendar year. Burns became CIA director in March 2021, seven years after the meetings.[^3][^4] [[Peter Thiel]]'s documented 2014 meetings at the [[9 East 71st Street|Epstein townhouse]] overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the chairman of a major CIA contractor ([[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]], whose government business includes the CIA as a client) and the future CIA director in the same Epstein-mediated setting within the same calendar year. Burns became CIA director in March 2021, seven years after the meetings.[^5][^6]
### The Palantir Overlap ### The Palantir Overlap
Palantir Technologies received early funding from the CIA venture arm [[In-Q-Tel]] in 2004 and is a documented CIA platform supplier through its [[Palantir Gotham|Gotham]] product. Burns's CIA directorship (2021-2025) postdated his 2014 Epstein meetings by seven years. The Carstensen EFTA index documents that Peter Thiel's 2014 meetings at the Epstein townhouse overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the future CIA director and the Palantir chairman on the same Epstein-mediated social terrain within the same calendar year.[^3][^4] Palantir Technologies received early funding from the CIA venture arm [[In-Q-Tel]] in 2004 and is a documented CIA platform supplier through its [[Palantir Gotham|Gotham]] product. Burns's CIA directorship (2021-2025) postdated his 2014 Epstein meetings by seven years. Peter Thiel's 2014 meetings at the Epstein townhouse overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the future CIA director and the Palantir chairman on the same Epstein-mediated social terrain within the same calendar year.[^5][^6]
The substantive question of what was discussed at the Burns-Epstein meetings, and whether any of it touched on Palantir or on intelligence matters, is not documented in the primary sources currently available. Burns's spokesperson's statement framed the meetings as relating to Burns's transition to the Carnegie Endowment and to geopolitics, and the WSJ reporting did not establish that intelligence or contracting matters were discussed. The Epstein calendars and the Carstensen-indexed EFTA entries are the primary record; they document the co-presence but not the meeting content.[^1][^3] The substantive question of what was discussed at the Burns-Epstein meetings, and whether any of it touched on Palantir or on intelligence matters, is not documented in the primary sources currently available. Burns's spokesperson's statement framed the meetings as relating to Burns's transition to the Carnegie Endowment and to geopolitics, and the WSJ reporting did not establish that intelligence or contracting matters were discussed. The Epstein calendars are the primary record; they document the meetings but not their content.[^3][^5]
### The CIA Directorship and the Biden Tenure ### The CIA Directorship and the Biden Tenure
Burns was nominated for the CIA directorship by President Biden in November 2020 and confirmed by the Senate in March 2021. His tenure covered the [[Withdrawal from Afghanistan|2021 Afghanistan withdrawal]], the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] (Burns had met with [[Sergei Naryshkin|Russian SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin]] in Moscow in November 2021 in a documented attempt to dissuade the invasion), the [[Hamas-Israel war|2023 Hamas-Israel war]], and the broader [[China|China]]-Russia strategic realignment. Burns returned to private life in January 2025 at the end of the Biden administration.[^1] Burns was nominated for the CIA directorship by President Biden in November 2020 and confirmed by the Senate in March 2021. His tenure covered the [[Withdrawal from Afghanistan|2021 Afghanistan withdrawal]], the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] (Burns had met with [[Sergei Naryshkin|Russian SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin]] in Moscow in November 2021 in a documented attempt to dissuade the invasion), the [[Hamas-Israel war|2023 Hamas-Israel war]], and the broader [[China|China]]-Russia strategic realignment. Burns returned to private life in January 2025 at the end of the Biden administration.[^3]
The 2023 disclosure of the 2014 Epstein meetings surfaced the connection after Burns had already become CIA director, placing a sitting CIA director in the publicly disclosed Epstein relationship. Burns's spokesperson's framing (unaware of the conviction, regrets the meetings, cut ties on learning) is the official position. The underlying primary documents are the Epstein calendars and the Carstensen-indexed EFTA entries.[^1][^2][^3] The 2023 disclosure of the 2014 Epstein meetings surfaced the connection after Burns had already become CIA director, placing a sitting CIA director in the publicly disclosed Epstein relationship. Burns's spokesperson's framing (unaware of the conviction, regrets the meetings, cut ties on learning) is the official position. The underlying primary documents are the Epstein calendars and the 2026 [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] releases.[^3][^4]
### The Calendar Record and the CIA Statement
The *Journal*'s calendar reporting recorded three meetings between Burns and Epstein in 2014, when Burns was serving as deputy secretary of state in the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] administration and preparing to leave government service.[^1][^2] When the reporting appeared in May 2023, Burns was the sitting CIA director. The agency's spokeswoman, [[Tammy Kupperman Thorp]], said that "the two had no relationship," that Burns "did not know anything about him, other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on transition to the private sector," that he "remembers being introduced in Washington by a mutual friend, and meeting Epstein once briefly in New York," and that he "does not recall any further contact, including receiving a ride to the airport."[^1][^2] The calendar records three meetings; the agency's statement describes one. The mutual friend was not named.
The same calendar reporting documented Epstein's post-conviction meetings with the former [[White House]] Counsel [[Kathryn Ruemmler]], the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Ariane de Rothschild]] of the [[Edmond de Rothschild Group]], [[Joshua Cooper Ramo]], a [[FedEx]] director and former co-chief executive of [[Kissinger Associates]], and [[Leon Botstein]], president of [[Bard College]], who received 150,000 dollars from Epstein.[^1][^2] In 2014, the year of the Burns meetings, Epstein also met Ruemmler within weeks of her departure from the White House.[^7]
### The Aspen Strategy Group Roster, 2016
On August 8, 2016 the [[Hyatt Hotels|Hyatt]] chairman [[Tom Pritzker]] wrote to Epstein that he had "Just finished presentation on leadership to grand pooh baahs of Aspen Strategy Group," adding, "Take a look at members it will make you laugh." Epstein replied, "who attends." Pritzker answered the same evening: "You have to be a bit of a wonk to know some of the names, but Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama NSA), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers ([[MI6]]), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura. Looking for a time to come catch up in NY."[^8] The roster named, besides Burns, the [[Aspen Strategy Group]]'s co-chairs [[Joseph Nye]], [[Brent Scowcroft]], and [[Nicholas Burns]], with [[Condoleezza Rice]] succeeding Scowcroft, and among its members the former CIA director [[David Petraeus]], the former national security advisers [[Tom Donilon]] and [[Stephen Hadley]], [[Jake Sullivan]], and the former chief of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], Sir [[John Sawers]].[^8] Burns was then president of the Carnegie Endowment. A month later Epstein offered to introduce Pritzker to the Russian ambassador to the [[United Nations]], [[Vitaly Churkin]], describing him as "My very close friend Tom Pritzker . Hyatt hotels and chairman of CSI."[^9]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar: CIA Director William Burns..." *Wall Street Journal,* May 2023. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-calendar-cia-director-goldman-sachs-noam-chomsky-c9f6a3ff ; For Burns's career and the CIA directorship, see the CIA official biography and the contemporaneous confirmation and tenure coverage. [^1]: Ponieman, Natan. *Benzinga,* May 2023, on Epstein's private calendar, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/05/32134015/private-calendar-reveals-jeffrey-epsteins-meetings-with-cia-director-noamchomsky-and-goldman-sachs
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein messaged with former CIA director Bill Burns, files show." *The Guardian,* February 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/jeffrey-epstein-bill-burns-cia-messages [^2]: *The Daily Beast,* May 2023, on Epstein's calendar meetings with Noam Chomsky and William Burns. https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-calendar-reveals-meetings-with-noam-chomsky-and-former-cia-chief-william-burns/
[^3]: Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index, "Peter Thiel," cross-referencing the EFTA releases. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/peter-thiel.html [^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar: CIA Director William Burns..." *Wall Street Journal,* May 2023. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-calendar-cia-director-goldman-sachs-noam-chomsky-c9f6a3ff ; For Burns's career and the CIA directorship, see the CIA official biography and the contemporaneous confirmation and tenure coverage.
[^4]: For the Palantir Technologies-In-Q-Tel relationship and the CIA client base, see the Palantir Technologies page and the underlying SEC EDGAR filings. [^4]: "Jeffrey Epstein messaged with former CIA director Bill Burns, files show." *The Guardian,* February 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/jeffrey-epstein-bill-burns-cia-messages
[^5]: "Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein Had a Yearslong Relationship." *Jacobin,* March 2026, on Thiel's 2014 contacts with Epstein and the Epstein-brokered Barak introduction. https://jacobin.com/2026/03/thiel-epstein-barak-ai-israel
[^6]: For the Palantir Technologies-In-Q-Tel relationship and the CIA client base, see the Palantir Technologies page and the underlying SEC EDGAR filings.
[^7]: "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal.* https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01783338, DataSet 10, email exchange between Tom Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein, August 8, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," message of September 6, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf

59
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Adnan Khashoggi.md
View file

@ -1,17 +1,50 @@
--- ---
category: "Key Figures" category: "Key Figures"
created: 2024-04-25 created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-17 updated: 2026-09-25
tags: tags:
- Person - Person
- IranContra - IranContra
- PROMIS - PROMIS
- ArmsDealer - ArmsDealer
- BCCI - BCCI
summary: Adnan Khashoggi (1935-2017) was a Saudi billionaire arms dealer and key Iran-Contra middleman who bridged financing for the Reagan administration's arms sales to Iran through BCCI, and was named alongside Manucher Ghorbanifar and Richard Armitage in the May 1985 Reynolds letter as a broker for the covert distribution of PROMIS software. summary: "Adnan Khashoggi (1935-2017) was a Saudi arms dealer and Iran-Contra middleman whose arms sales to Iran were bridge-financed through BCCI and who was named as a PROMIS software broker in 1985."
born: 1935-07-25 born: 1935-07-25
died: 2017-06-06 died: 2017-06-06
location: "Mecca, Saudi Arabia" location: "Mecca, Saudi Arabia"
relations:
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Manucher Ghorbanifar]]"
role: "co-intermediaries in the Iran arms sales"
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Iran-Contra Affair]]"
role: "middleman and bridge financier for the arms sales to Iran"
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Switzerland]]"
reverse: true
role: "arrested on charges of concealing funds, held three months, extradited"
start: 1988
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
role: "racketeering and fraud; acquitted with Imelda Marcos"
end: 1990
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Samira Khashoggi Fayed]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Jamal Khashoggi]]"
role: "uncle"
fn: 6
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Hassan Yassin]]"
role: "cousin"
fn: 4
--- ---
[[Adnan Khashoggi]] (25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was an international arms merchant and a factotum for the House of Saud. He was considered the richest man in the world in the 1980s. Khashoggi covered his financial tracks by establishing front companies in [[Switzerland]] and [[Liechtenstein]] to handle his commissions. He also developed contacts with notable figures such as [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officers [[James H. Critchfield]] and [[Kim Roosevelt]], and U.S. businessman [[Bebe Rebozo]], a close associate of former U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]].[^1] [[Adnan Khashoggi]] (25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was an international arms merchant and a factotum for the House of Saud. He was considered the richest man in the world in the 1980s. Khashoggi covered his financial tracks by establishing front companies in [[Switzerland]] and [[Liechtenstein]] to handle his commissions. He also developed contacts with notable figures such as [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officers [[James H. Critchfield]] and [[Kim Roosevelt]], and U.S. businessman [[Bebe Rebozo]], a close associate of former U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]].[^1]
@ -19,21 +52,37 @@ Khashoggi's sister, [[Samira Khashoggi Fayed]], was the mother of [[Dodi Fayed]]
### Involvement in Iran-Contra Affair and PROMIS Scandal ### Involvement in Iran-Contra Affair and PROMIS Scandal
Khashoggi was implicated in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] as a key middleman in the arms-for-hostages exchange, working alongside Iranian arms dealer [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]]. He was found to have borrowed money for these arms purchases from the now-bankrupt financial institution, the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], with [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] and U.S. backing.[^1] BCCI helped Adnan Khashoggi finance the sale of arms to [[Iran]] as a part of the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan Administration]]'s Iran-Contra effort.[^2] Khashoggi participated in five of the deals for the [[United States]], and BCCI provided the bridge financing through [[Israel]] to [[Iran]].[^3] Khashoggi was implicated in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] as a key middleman in the arms-for-hostages exchange, working alongside Iranian arms dealer [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]]. He was found to have borrowed money for these arms purchases from the now-bankrupt financial institution, the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], with [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] and U.S. backing.[^1] BCCI helped Adnan Khashoggi finance the sale of arms to [[Iran]] as a part of the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan Administration]]'s Iran-Contra effort.[^2] Khashoggi participated in five of the deals for the [[United States]], and BCCI provided the bridge financing through [[Israel]] to Iran.[^3]
He was also involved in brokering the transaction of [[PROMIS]] software to an Arab Sheik for resale and general distribution. He was mentioned in a document dated May 16, 1985, along with [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]] and [[Richard Armitage]], as individuals who would broker this transaction. [[William Bradford Reynolds]] independently remembered Armitage, Khashoggi, and Ghorbanifar working together on [[PROMIS]].[^1] He was also involved in brokering the transaction of [[PROMIS]] software to an Arab Sheik for resale and general distribution. He was mentioned in a document dated May 16, 1985, along with Manucher Ghorbanifar and [[Richard Armitage]], as individuals who would broker this transaction. [[William Bradford Reynolds]] independently remembered Armitage, Khashoggi, and Ghorbanifar working together on PROMIS.[^1]
### Legal Troubles ### Legal Troubles
In 1988, Khashoggi was arrested in [[Switzerland]], accused of concealing funds. He was held for three months and then extradited to the [[United States]], where he was released on bail and subsequently acquitted. In 1990, a [[United States|U.S.]] federal jury in Manhattan acquitted Khashoggi and [[Imelda Marcos]], widow of the exiled Philippine President [[Ferdinand Marcos]], of racketeering and fraud.[^1] In 1988, Khashoggi was arrested in Switzerland, accused of concealing funds. He was held for three months and then extradited to the United States, where he was released on bail and subsequently acquitted. In 1990, a U.S. federal jury in Manhattan acquitted Khashoggi and [[Imelda Marcos]], widow of the exiled Philippine President [[Ferdinand Marcos]], of racketeering and fraud.[^1]
### Connections ### Connections
His cousin, [[Hassan Yassin]], was described as a close business associate of [[Kamal Adham]].[^4] His cousin, [[Hassan Yassin]], was described as a close business associate of [[Kamal Adham]].[^4]
### Death and the Khashoggi Name in the Epstein Library
Khashoggi died in London on June 6, 2017, aged 81, after suffering from Parkinson's disease. His family's statement said he had "combined commercial acumen with an over-riding loyalty to his country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His work always furthered the interests of his country."[^5] His nephew, the journalist [[Jamal Khashoggi]], was killed in the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul]] on October 2, 2018.[^6]
In the days after Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance his name circulated among [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s correspondents. On October 12, 2018 Epstein's accountant, [[Richard Kahn]], sent him a *[[New York Post]]* report that [[Richard Branson]] had halted a project with Saudi Arabia over the disappearance.[^7] On October 13 the former UN envoy [[Terje Rød-Larsen]] forwarded him [[Elliott Abrams]]'s *[[Washington Post]]* column "Why Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance will haunt the Saudi government."[^8] On October 15 the author [[Edward Jay Epstein]] sent him a *[[The Federalist|Federalist]]* article, "10 Questions To Answer About Khashoggi Before Buying The Narrative."[^9] On November 17, 2018 a correspondent sent Epstein the *Washington Post* report "CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi's assassination" with the question "What does that mean ?"; Epstein replied, "not good."[^10] On December 5, 2018 Epstein sent a correspondent listed as "Jabor Y." a link to a report on Senator [[Lindsey Graham]]'s criticism of Crown Prince [[Mohammed bin Salman]] over the killing.[^11]
On February 5, 2020 an unsolicited message titled "Khashoggi connects to Epstein," which referred to the Khashoggi yacht *Nabila*, reached the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]; it was forwarded internally with the note "I am passing this on" and its receipt was acknowledged. Its claims were not corroborated.[^12] No document located in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] records contact between Epstein and Adnan Khashoggi.
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010. [^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12. [^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 387. [^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 387.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 352. [^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 352.
[^5]: "Family says arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi dies at 81." *Associated Press,* via *Fox News,* June 6, 2017. https://www.foxnews.com/world/family-says-arms-dealer-adnan-khashoggi-dies-at-81
[^6]: "Jamal Khashoggi: A Profile." *Voice of America,* October 11, 2018 (updated October 19, 2018). https://www.voanews.com/a/who-is-jamal-khashoggi/4610403.html
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02619942, DataSet 11, email from Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, October 12, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02619942.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01019780, DataSet 9, email from Terje Rod-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, October 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01019780.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02619510, DataSet 11, email from Edward Epstein to Jeffrey Epstein, October 15, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02619510.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02614545, DataSet 11, email to jeevacation@gmail.com, November 17, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02614545.pdf ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02617007, DataSet 11, reply chain, November 17, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02617007.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02611297, DataSet 11, email from jeevacation@gmail.com to "Jabor Y.," December 5, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02611297.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00104025, DataSet 9, internal U.S. Attorney's Office (SDNY) forwarding chain, "Khashoggi connects to Epstein," February 5-6, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00104025.pdf

56
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Cecile de Jongh.md
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@ -11,10 +11,25 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Cecile Galiber de Jongh - Cecile Galiber de Jongh
- Cecile R. de Jongh - Cecile R. de Jongh
summary: "Cecile de Jongh was the First Lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015 and the office manager of Jeffrey Epstein's territorial companies, whom court filings later cast as his primary conduit for spreading money and influence through the territory's government." summary: "Cecile de Jongh was First Lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015 while serving as office manager of Jeffrey Epstein's territorial companies, which held Economic Development Commission tax benefits."
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands" location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[John de Jongh]]"
role: "wife"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Financial Trust Company]]"
start: 2007
role: "office manager"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Southern Trust Company]]"
end: 2019
role: "office manager"
fn: 6
--- ---
Cecile de Jongh (born Cecile Galiber) was the office manager of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] entities, including [[Financial Trust Company]] and its successor [[Southern Trust Company]], a position she held from 2007 to 2015. During the same years her husband, [[John de Jongh]], served as the territory's seventh governor, making her the First Lady of the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]. A January 2020 civil enforcement complaint by the Virgin Islands [[Denise George|Attorney General]], and later filings by [[JPMorgan Chase]] in related litigation, alleged that she used her dual position to manage Epstein's local affairs, influence territorial legislation, and direct his money toward officials while he was a registered sex offender.[^1][^2] Cecile de Jongh (born Cecile Galiber) was the office manager of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] entities, including [[Financial Trust Company]] and its successor [[Southern Trust Company]], a position she held from 2007 to 2015. During the same years her husband, [[John de Jongh]], served as the territory's seventh governor, making her the First Lady of the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]. A January 2020 civil enforcement complaint by the Virgin Islands [[Denise George|Attorney General]], and later filings by [[JPMorgan Chase]] in related litigation, alleged that she used her dual position to manage Epstein's local affairs, influence territorial legislation, and direct his money toward officials while he was a registered sex offender.[^1][^2]
@ -25,19 +40,48 @@ De Jongh worked as the office manager of Epstein's Virgin Islands companies from
The same filings alleged that Epstein paid tuition for de Jongh's children, that she forwarded her children's tuition bills to him for payment, and that she requested he help fund her husband's re-election campaign. In her May 2023 deposition, taken at the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas over roughly five and a half hours, de Jongh described confronting Epstein after his 2006 Florida arrest, saying she looked him in the eye and asked what was going on, and was assured it was a one-time mistake that would not recur. The arrangement continued after Epstein registered as a sex offender following his 2008 Florida plea.[^2][^3] The same filings alleged that Epstein paid tuition for de Jongh's children, that she forwarded her children's tuition bills to him for payment, and that she requested he help fund her husband's re-election campaign. In her May 2023 deposition, taken at the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas over roughly five and a half hours, de Jongh described confronting Epstein after his 2006 Florida arrest, saying she looked him in the eye and asked what was going on, and was assured it was a one-time mistake that would not recur. The arrangement continued after Epstein registered as a sex offender following his 2008 Florida plea.[^2][^3]
The employment overlapped entirely with her public role. While serving as First Lady from 2007 to 2015, she simultaneously drew her salary from Epstein's companies, an overlap that was reported contemporaneously and that became the foundation of the later allegations. The settlement that resolved the Virgin Islands case against the Epstein estate included language shielding Epstein employees from civil liability, and no charges were brought against de Jongh personally.[^2][^4] The employment overlapped entirely with her public role. While serving as First Lady from 2007 to 2015, she simultaneously drew her salary from Epstein's companies, an overlap that was reported contemporaneously and that became the foundation of the later allegations. No charges were brought against de Jongh, and she was not a defendant in the territory's case against the estate, whose November 2022 settlement resolved only the claims against the estate and the named co-defendants. The phrase "shield its participants from liability" in that litigation comes from the territory's 2020 objection to the estate's proposed victim compensation program, which required claimants to release claims against "any person or entity arising from or related to Mr. Epstein's conduct." Denise George later told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] that Governor Albert Bryan, urging her to settle for 80 million dollars, said "that the Epstein estate just wanted to clear people."[^2][^4][^5][^6][^7]
### Alleged Influence on Territorial Government ### Alleged Influence on Territorial Government
JPMorgan's 2023 court filings described de Jongh as Epstein's "primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government." According to those filings, in 2011 she emailed Epstein proposed language for legislation increasing sex-offender monitoring, asking, "This is the suggested language; will it work for you?" The bank alleged that after a monitoring bill passed she wrote that "all is not lost and we will figure something out by coming up with a game plan to get around these obstacles." The draft she circulated concerned the section of the Virgin Islands Code governing the travel and reporting requirements imposed on registered sex offenders.[^2][^5] JPMorgan's 2023 court filings described de Jongh as Epstein's "primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government." According to those filings, in 2011 she emailed Epstein proposed language for legislation increasing sex-offender monitoring, asking, "This is the suggested language; will it work for you?" The bank alleged that after a monitoring bill passed she wrote that "all is not lost and we will figure something out by coming up with a game plan to get around these obstacles." The draft she circulated concerned the section of the Virgin Islands Code governing the travel and reporting requirements imposed on registered sex offenders.[^2][^8]
The filings further alleged that de Jongh advised Epstein on how to "buy control of the USVI political class," coordinated meetings between him and commissioners, senators, and gubernatorial candidates, recommended placing a sitting senator on a monthly retainer for loyalty and access, and tracked which candidates he funded. They alleged she helped secure student visas for young women connected to Epstein by arranging their enrollment in classes at the [[University of the Virgin Islands]] to provide cover for their presence in the territory, and that she offered to have someone else sign tuition letters so that the registered sex offender's signature would not appear on the paperwork. She was also alleged to have worked with the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] to keep Epstein's companies in compliance so the tax benefits continued, and to have guided his charitable donations to satisfy program requirements.[^2][^5] The filings further alleged that de Jongh advised Epstein on how to "buy control of the USVI political class," coordinated meetings between him and commissioners, senators, and gubernatorial candidates, recommended placing a sitting senator on a monthly retainer for loyalty and access, and tracked which candidates he funded. They alleged she helped secure student visas for young women connected to Epstein by arranging their enrollment in classes at the [[University of the Virgin Islands]] to provide cover for their presence in the territory, and that she offered to have someone else sign tuition letters so that the registered sex offender's signature would not appear on the paperwork. She was also alleged to have worked with the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] to keep Epstein's companies in compliance so the tax benefits continued, and to have guided his charitable donations to satisfy program requirements.[^2][^8]
These allegations originate in the Virgin Islands Attorney General's complaint and in JPMorgan's filings, the latter of which the territory characterized as hyperbole offered to deflect the bank's own liability for failing to report suspicious activity. De Jongh did not respond to requests for comment when the filings were unsealed in 2023. The allegations describe a pattern of conduct rather than any criminal adjudication, and she was never charged.[^2][^4] These allegations originate in the Virgin Islands Attorney General's complaint and in JPMorgan's filings, the latter of which the territory characterized as hyperbole offered to deflect the bank's own liability for failing to report suspicious activity. De Jongh did not respond to requests for comment when the filings were unsealed in 2023. The allegations describe a pattern of conduct rather than any criminal adjudication, and she was never charged.[^2][^4]
### Tenure and the Company Records
The Virgin Islands Daily News, reviewing the JPMorgan exhibits, described de Jongh as Epstein's office manager on St. Thomas "for two decades," through his death, a longer span than the 2007 to 2015 period used in the bank's and territory's filings. In a December 2014 email about employee bonuses she wrote that "in 14 years, we have not had a bad audit and we ensure that you have the best relationships with local regulators and departments," and that "although most of our work is support-based and not revenue-generating, we complete what has to be done for the company efficiently and effectively." In the same email she assured Epstein that "I take this job, my management of your team and our implementation of your requests very seriously and that they be done in the most confidential of ways."[^9]
The December 2014 email described a Southern Trust employee, "Lucas," 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" at a salary of 20,000 dollars, and proposed moving another employee off the Southern Trust payroll onto that of LSJ LLC. Her husband was then in the last days of his second term and facing demands that he repay about 490,000 dollars in public funds spent on security improvements at the couple's private home; he was charged with embezzlement in August 2015, and the case was dismissed in January 2016 after he paid 380,000 dollars.[^9][^10]
The Economic Development Commission compliance officer [[Sandra Bess]] identified de Jongh as the "compliance person" and office manager for both Financial Trust and Southern Trust. When a Washington reporter asked Government House spokesman [[Jean Greaux Jr.]] in 2012 whether she had helped Financial Trust obtain its tax benefits, she drafted a response for Epstein's approval: "Cecile de Jongh currently works for Financial Trust Company in the capacity of office manager. She had nothing to do with Financial Trust Company receiving EDC tax benefits." Epstein answered, "I would simply state that you are an office manager," and she replied, "That's what John went with."[^9][^11]
### January 24, 2014
The Economic Development Commission certificate awarding Southern Trust its ten-year package of exemptions is dated January 24, 2014 and signed by the commission's chairman, [[Albert Bryan]], who was then also her husband's Commissioner of Labor, and by Epstein as the company's president. That day de Jongh emailed Epstein: "I have been fundraising for John's final State of the Territory reception on Monday night. I have raised $15K of the total $35K budget. Would you be willing to match that? John and I will cover the balance." An hour later she emailed Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]]: "Hi Rich, Can you please prepare a check for $15,000 made payable to Governor's Special Events Fund. Thanks." The territory later estimated that the Southern Trust certificate let Epstein avoid 80,576,236 dollars in taxes.[^5][^11]
### Enrollment at the University of the Virgin Islands
In May 2013 de Jongh corresponded with University of the Virgin Islands Vice President for Institutional Advancement [[Dionne Jackson]] about English as a Second Language classes, and told Epstein that "we should put them on the list for the fall semester" after he wrote that two women whose names are redacted 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." University president [[David Hall (academic)|David Hall]] said in May 2023 that he "was not aware of the activities described" and never approved a course for people connected with Epstein.[^9]
### Political Access and Donations
The JPMorgan exhibits show de Jongh arranging Epstein's contacts with the territory's next two governors. On October 16, 2014 she wrote that "Kenn Mapp and Celestino White would like to see you." After [[Kenneth Mapp]] won the governorship, she forwarded an inaugural committee solicitation to Epstein in December 2014, asking him "to confirm that you want to donate $10,000 to the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee and that it should come from Southern Trust." On September 1, 2016 Epstein instructed her to "prepare a check for mapps super pac. For 75k." On December 20, 2018, after Bryan defeated Mapp, she wrote: "I got a call from the Bryan/Roach Inaugural Committee and they asked for a $25,000 donation to the inaugural events. They are trying to raise all the money privately. Please let me know your thoughts." Two minutes later she wrote that "Albert asked that the $30k go to the VI Little League." The exhibits do not show whether Epstein paid the Bryan committee, and Bryan's office said in 2019 that his campaign had not received contributions from Epstein.[^6][^9]
According to FBI notes of an October 2023 interview with the former Attorney General Denise George, George believed that Attorney General [[Vincent Frazer]] had been pressured by Governor John de Jongh to allow Epstein to give 24 hours' notice of travel instead of the 21 days required of registered sex offenders. The arrangement was rescinded in March 2019.[^6]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Virgin Islands governor's wife employed by convicted sex-offender billionaire." *The Daily Caller,* April 22, 2012. https://dailycaller.com/2012/04/22/virgin-islands-governors-wife-employed-by-convicted-sex-offender-billionaire/ [^1]: "Virgin Islands governor's wife employed by convicted sex-offender billionaire." *The Daily Caller,* April 22, 2012. https://dailycaller.com/2012/04/22/virgin-islands-governors-wife-employed-by-convicted-sex-offender-billionaire/
[^2]: "JPMorgan alleges wife of U.S. Virgin Islands' ex-governor aided Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activity." *NBC News,* May 24, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jpmorgan-alleges-ex-virgin-islands-first-lady-aided-jeffrey-epstein-rcna86365 [^2]: "JPMorgan alleges wife of U.S. Virgin Islands' ex-governor aided Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activity." *NBC News,* May 24, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jpmorgan-alleges-ex-virgin-islands-first-lady-aided-jeffrey-epstein-rcna86365
[^3]: "Cecile de Jongh Testifies She Confronted Epstein After His 2006 Arrest." *St. Thomas Source,* July 26, 2023. https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/07/26/cecile-de-jongh-testifies-she-confronted-epstein-after-his-2006-arrest/ [^3]: "Cecile de Jongh Testifies She Confronted Epstein After His 2006 Arrest." *St. Thomas Source,* July 26, 2023. https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/07/26/cecile-de-jongh-testifies-she-confronted-epstein-after-his-2006-arrest/
[^4]: "JPMorgan Chase says Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for kids of U.S. Virgin Islands governor." *CNBC,* May 25, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-jeffrey-epstein-paid-tuition-for-kids-of-virgin-islands-governor.html [^4]: "JPMorgan Chase says Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for kids of U.S. Virgin Islands governor." *CNBC,* May 25, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-jeffrey-epstein-paid-tuition-for-kids-of-virgin-islands-governor.html
[^5]: "JPMorgan accuses wife of former Virgin Islands governor of aiding Epstein." *Fortune,* May 25, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-jeffrey-epstein-virgin-islands-first-lady-sex-trafficking-de-jongh ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022). [^5]: 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 142 to 143, 159, and 175, 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), ECF pp. 30 to 31, 34, 37. 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
[^6]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (FBI notes of October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George).
[^7]: "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/
[^8]: "JPMorgan accuses wife of former Virgin Islands governor of aiding Epstein." *Fortune,* May 25, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-jeffrey-epstein-virgin-islands-first-lady-sex-trafficking-de-jongh ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022).
[^9]: 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 (JPMorgan exhibits: December 2014 bonus email, UVI ESL emails of May and June 2013, 2012 press response, Mapp and White meeting, Mapp-Potter and Mapp super PAC donations, Bryan/Roach inaugural request, Motta statement, Hall statement).
[^10]: "DOJ Drops Charges Against Former Governor De Jongh After $380,000 Settlement." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* January 22, 2016. https://viconsortium.com/vi-vic_news/doj-drops-charges-against-former-governor-de-jongh-with-prejudice-after-380000-settlement
[^11]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/ (Bess identification; January 24, 2014 certificate and same-day emails).

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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Darren Indyke.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- DarrenIndyke
- JeffreyEpstein
- EpsteinEstate
- Lawyer
- ShellCompany
- VirginIslands
alias:
- Darren K. Indyke
- Indyke
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's longtime lawyer, officer of his companies and co-executor of his estate, named a 50 million dollar beneficiary, sued by victims and the Virgin Islands, and under federal investigation in 2026."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "personal attorney"
end: 2019-08-10
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Southern Trust Company]]"
role: "director; signatory on primary bank account"
start: 2013
end: 2019
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Maple Inc.]]"
role: "vice president, secretary and director"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation]]"
role: "president (listed as of October 23, 2007)"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Wexner Foundation]]"
role: "secretary (per SEC filings 1998 to 2001 and tax forms through 2006, as reported by The Daily Beast)"
start: 1998
end: 2006
fn: 5
- type: investigated
with: "[[Denise George]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020
end: 2022-12-01
role: "defendant in the territory's CICO action"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2026-09
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Darren K. Indyke is a New York lawyer who was [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s longtime personal attorney, an officer or director of many of the companies through which Epstein held property and moved money, and, with the accountant [[Richard Kahn]], co-executor of Epstein's estate and co-trustee of the trust Epstein signed two days before his death in August 2019. The trust names Indyke to receive 50 million dollars, second in order of payment. The [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] government sued him in his personal capacity in 2020 as one of the "indispensable captains" of what it called the Epstein Enterprise, victims sued him and Kahn in a class action that the estate agreed in February 2026 to settle for up to 35 million dollars, and in September 2026 federal prosecutors in Manhattan were reported to be investigating both men. Indyke and Kahn deny knowing of Epstein's sex trafficking or knowingly helping him.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Early Career, the Wexners and Maxwell
*[[The Daily Beast]]* reported in August 2020 that Indyke graduated from [[Colgate University]] in 1986 and [[Cornell Law School]] five years later, and then spent four years at the boutique firm Gold & Wachtel, which had represented Epstein "at least as far back as 1988"; the firm's principal, [[William Wachtel]], said he hired Indyke as a favor to his father. According to the same report, Indyke was listed as secretary of [[Wexner Foundation|The Wexner Foundation]] in SEC filings from 1998 to 2001 and on its tax forms through 2006, and in 2008 [[Abigail Wexner]] gave him power of attorney over her condominium at 15 Central Park West, according to property records. The report stated that his name appeared on corporate filings for the company that bought [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s East 65th Street townhouse from [[Lynn Forester]] in 2000 for 4.95 million dollars, that he was a trustee of Maxwell's Max Foundation from 2001 to 2010, and that he had retained the criminal defense lawyer [[Marc Agnifilo]]. A source familiar with the victims' litigation described him to the publication as the "in-house counsel to Epstein's enterprise." A printout of the article is among the Justice Department's Epstein releases.[^5]
### Officer of the Epstein Companies
According to the Virgin Islands government's Second Amended Complaint, filed in November 2022, Indyke or Kahn, "frequently both," were officers or directors of the Butterfly Trust, of the companies holding Epstein's real property, and of Financial Strategy Group, Ltd.; Financial Trust, Inc.; FT Real Estate Inc.; [[Gratitude America]], Inc.; Hyperion Air, Inc.; the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, Inc.; Jeepers, Inc.; Mort, Inc.; Nautilus, Inc.; and Zorro Development Corporation, and had "signatory authority over virtually all of the accounts held by the Epstein Enterprise entities." The territory alleged that the two men "organized, controlled, and directed almost every aspect of the Epstein Enterprise," that with Epstein they "held and managed at least 140 different bank accounts for Epstein and Epstein-owned entities, many of which existed only to transfer payments to other entities and accounts," and that "in many instances, Kahn and/or Indyke structured these transactions in order to evade the bank's reporting requirements."[^2]
Indyke sat with Epstein and Kahn on the board of [[Southern Trust Company]], the St. Thomas company that obtained a Virgin Islands tax-incentive certificate on the representation that it ran a "biomedical and financial informatics" business. He was signatory on its primary bank account, into which funds were wired "primarily from a single source," and authorized a majority of the wire transfers out of it to Epstein's other entities and personal accounts. The territory estimated that the certificate let Epstein avoid 80,576,236 dollars in taxes. When Epstein formed [[Cypress Inc.|Cypress, Inc.]], [[Maple Inc.|Maple, Inc.]] and [[Laurel Inc.|Laurel, Inc.]] as Virgin Islands corporations in November 2011 and moved title to the [[Zorro Ranch]], the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse and his [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house into them, Indyke became vice president, secretary and director of each. The territory alleged that these transfers "were made for the sole purpose of sheltering these assets from collection."[^2]
Indyke was listed as president of the J. Epstein Virgin Islands Foundation, a tax-exempt private foundation, as of October 23, 2007. Between September 2015 and June 2019 he 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 Russian model; in November 2017 he signed a foundation check to a New York immigration lawyer whose memo line referenced that model's surname. Earlier in 2017 he signed a foundation check for 160,000 dollars to resolve an environmental fine Epstein had incurred for construction on [[Great St. James]], which the estate later repaid to the foundation after questions were raised about it. The territory called the payments "inconsistent with the charitable purpose of the Foundation."[^2]
### The Cash Withdrawals
The territory's complaint described transactions on Epstein's personal accounts, for which Indyke was signatory, that bank representatives and the [[New York State Department of Financial Services|New York Department of Financial Services]] flagged as potentially suspicious. On July 20, 2016 Indyke cashed a 7,500 dollar check and told the bank he would cash a second, for 4,000 dollars, the next business day "to avoid all the paperwork," which he did on July 21. From June 2018 to February 2019 there were 97 separate 1,000 dollar withdrawals from one account at an ATM near his law office, and from April 9 to May 8, 2019, 21 more on all but one business day. Eleven checks between April 2016 and April 2019 converted more than 126,000 dollars into euros, some marked "Euros for safe." On January 17, 2018 Indyke cashed a 100,000 dollar check after Kahn arranged with the bank for the cash to be ready. Payments of more than 2.5 million dollars went from the account to dozens of women with Eastern European surnames, described as hotel expenses, tuition and rent, and to the immigration lawyer.[^2]
The complaint alleged that in at least three cases Indyke and Kahn "participated with Epstein in coercing his sex trafficking victims ... to enter into arranged and forced marriages in order to obtain immigration status for the foreign women," that Indyke paid the immigration lawyer, and that he "threatened at least one who indicated that she would seek a divorce." Former Attorney General [[Denise George]] told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in 2023 that her investigation concluded Indyke "was in charge of coordinating female to female marriages to gain immigration status in the [[United States]]." Indyke has denied the allegations and was not charged.[^2][^6]
### The Carbyne Investment
In early 2019 Indyke handled the exercise of warrants in [[Carbyne]], the Israeli emergency-response company chaired by [[Ehud Barak]], for Southern Trust Company, which as a limited partner of SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership put up 2.4 million dollars of the 3.6 million dollar call, alongside NJF Capital, the company of [[Nicole Junkermann]]. When the partnership's [[Tel Aviv]] lawyer, Tomer Toor, relayed the Israeli bank's anti-money-laundering request for the name and citizenship of each limited partner's controlling person, Indyke wrote to Epstein on March 12, 2019: "Not sure how to respond. I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment? Also, Tomer is asking for a bank rec letter from the transferring bank which is DB. I have asked Rich to find out from Stewart Oldfield at DB with whom Rich has a decent relationship if that would even be possible at this point." Epstein replied "ok," and on March 14 Indyke asked, "Am I correct that by your 'ok' you mean that I may confirm that you are the controlling person of the STC?" Epstein answered, "Yes."[^7] [[Deutsche Bank]] had notified Epstein on December 21, 2018 that it would no longer service his accounts.[^8] On March 7, 2019 Indyke forwarded Carbyne's audited 2017 statements, draft 2018 statements and three-year projection to Richard Kahn, and on March 20 sent further Carbyne documents to Toor.[^9]
Deutsche Bank's know-your-customer page for "The 2013 Butterfly Trust," produced to the federal grand jury in New York, listed Indyke among the trust's "Current Potential Beneficiaries," with Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]], his pilot [[Larry Visoski]] and others.[^10]
### Payments to Indyke
The territory alleged that "from 2011 to 2019, Epstein and Epstein-owned entities paid over $16 million net" to Indyke, including loans still outstanding to Indyke-related entities, that tax forms from Epstein entities "did not report nearly the full compensation," and that he was paid through Birch Tree BR, LLC, Harlequin Dane, LLC and Darren K Indyke, PLLC, which it described as shell companies. Indyke was also a beneficiary of the Butterfly Trust, a trust for people who worked for Epstein that also paid numerous young women with Eastern European surnames; Indyke and Kahn signed trust checks of more than 1 million dollars to young women or their entities, some of whom were not beneficiaries.[^2] Through their lawyers, Indyke and Kahn have said they had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes.[^1]
### Co-Executor
Indyke and Kahn filed Epstein's will for probate in the [[Superior Court of the Virgin Islands]] on August 15, 2019, valuing the estate's Virgin Islands property at 577,672,654 dollars, and filed a Certificate of Trust for the 1953 Trust on August 26, 2019. The trust entitles each co-executor to 250,000 dollars a year for running it, which both testified they have not received. The estate's February 2021 accounting valued its assets at about 240.8 million dollars, and by September 2026 court filings put them at 107.6 million dollars. The territory alleged in 2022 that "since they were appointed as Co-Executors ... Indyke and Kahn have approved the release of Estate funds to pay for the legal fees and costs of persons who, like the Co-Executors themselves, are alleged herein to have participated in the criminal activity of the Epstein Enterprise"; Kahn testified in 2026 that the estate spends 10 to 15 million dollars a year on legal and other fees and covers the co-executors' legal bills.[^1][^2]
The territory's action against the estate, Indyke, Kahn and the Epstein companies settled on December 1, 2022 for more than 105 million dollars, half the proceeds of the sale of [[Little St. James]], and the return of more than 80 million dollars in tax benefits.[^11] Testifying to the [[House Oversight Committee]] on March 19, 2026, Indyke said he could only speculate that Epstein left him so much "because there was a lot of work to be done," and that "as to the why he did, what he did and why he gave money to whom he gave the money to, he never had conversations like that with us." He testified that Epstein's 40 million dollars invested in 2015 and 2016 in two funds of [[Valar Ventures]], co-founded by [[Peter Thiel]], was worth about 172 million dollars and would expire in 2026.[^1]
### Victim Suits and Federal Investigation
Victims represented by [[Boies Schiller Flexner]] sued Indyke and Kahn personally in 2024 (Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204, S.D.N.Y., 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 to settle. Indyke's lawyer, Daniel H. Weiner, said: "Neither of the co-executors has made any admission or concession of misconduct. Because they did nothing wrong, the co-executors were prepared to fight the claims against them through to trial, but agreed to mediate and settle this lawsuit in order to achieve finality." A further suit filed in August 2026 alleged that "each played critical roles in enabling Epstein's acts ... by providing Epstein the necessary financial and legal support for his sex trafficking operation." After a victims' attorney raised the co-executors' overlapping roles as beneficiaries, defendants and executors at a September 2026 settlement hearing, Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer for Epstein victims, told CNN: "You're making a decision about your own personal liability, so they decided they had no liability. Surprise, surprise." Weiner and Kahn's lawyer, Daniel Ruzumna, said their clients "emphatically reject" any allegation that they were complicit in or knew of Epstein's crimes and that no women have accused them of committing or witnessing abuse.[^1][^3] In a separate suit by a plaintiff identified as "VE," Indyke and Kahn appeared in May 2020 as co-executors, alongside Nine East 71st Street Corporation and [[Financial Trust Company]], through Charles L. Glover of [[Troutman Sanders]], the firm that had defended Epstein and Financial Trust against [[Steven Hoffenberg]] in 2016.[^12]
On September 23, 2026 the [[Washington Examiner]], citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that federal authorities in New York had opened an investigation of Indyke and Kahn; the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]], which first reported it, said prosecutors in Manhattan were arranging witness interviews and requesting emails and financial records, and that people interviewed described questions about the men's roles in legal entities allegedly used to conceal Epstein's activities. A [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] spokesman said, "We don't comment on the existence, or lack thereof, of investigations." Both men have said none of the women told them they were being abused.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026, citing the 1953 Trust, estate court filings, and the House Oversight Committee testimony of Kahn (March 11, 2026) and Indyke (March 19, 2026). https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis
[^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 8 to 17, 76 to 117, 169, 175, 177 to 195; 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). 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]: 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, Judge Arun Subramanian), 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/
[^4]: Kaelan Deese, "Two Jeffrey Epstein associates under investigation by New York federal prosecutors," *Washington Examiner,* September 23, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4739210/jeffrey-epstein-associates-under-investigation-new-york-federal-prosecutors/
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00163119, DataSet 9, press printout: Kate Briquelet and William Bredderman, "Jeffrey Epstein's Right-Hand Mystery Men: The Lawyer and the Accountant," *The Daily Beast,* August 30, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00163119.pdf
[^6]: Suzanne Carlson, "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026, reporting FBI notes of an October 2, 2023 interview with Denise George. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^8]: 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
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01035810, DataSet 9, email from Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Carbyne," March 15, 2019; EFTA02636176, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Richard Kahn, "Re: CARBYNE," March 27, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01035810.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02636176.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01364303, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank know-your-customer page "The 2013 Butterfly Trust" (DB-SDNY-0054829); EFTA01372887, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank "KYC Print," July 15, 2019 (DB-SDNY-0066790). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01364303.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372887.pdf
[^11]: "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/
[^12]: 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); on Troutman Sanders in the 2016 case, letter of Bennet J. Moskowitz to Judge Richard J. Sullivan, June 28, 2016, filed as ECF No. 16-7 in No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.7.pdf . 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

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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Douglas Leese.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- DouglasLeese
- ArmsTrade
- AlYamamah
- BritishAerospace
- JeffreyEpstein
- StevenHoffenberg
alias:
- Douglas Leese
summary: "Douglas Leese was a British defense contractor named in Parliament in 1996 as a channel for Al-Yamamah commissions, and whom Steven Hoffenberg credited with introducing him to Jeffrey Epstein."
location: "London, United Kingdom; Bermuda"
relations:
- type: contractor_to
with: "[[British Aerospace]]"
role: "alleged by George Galloway under parliamentary privilege to have handled Al-Yamamah commissions"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Julian Leese]]"
role: "father"
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Cam Gears]]"
role: "managing director"
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Douglas Leese was a British businessman and defense contractor. He appears in two records: a January 1996 speech in the [[House of Commons]] in which [[George Galloway]] named him as a channel for secret commissions on the [[Al-Yamamah]] arms sales to [[Saudi Arabia]], and [[Steven Hoffenberg]]'s account, given to [[Vicky Ward]] of *[[Vanity Fair]]* in 2003, that Leese had introduced Hoffenberg to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in the 1980s. Epstein gave a different account of the same introduction.[^1][^2]
### The Al-Yamamah Commissions
On January 24, 1996, in a Commons debate on Saudi Arabia, Galloway said under parliamentary privilege that the Al-Yamamah contract had been "landed by [[British Aerospace]] as a result of corruption on an unprecedented scale," with "enormous bribes and commissions of up to 30 per cent. of the multi-billion pound deal" shared between the defence minister, [[Sultan bin Abdulaziz|Prince Sultan]], and his family and the sons of [[King Fahd]], notably Prince Mohammed.[^1] He named as middlemen [[Wafic Said]], whom he described as a business partner of the Conservative minister [[Jonathan Aitken]], and [[Mark Thatcher]], son of the then prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]]. He then said: "Some of those secret commissions on the Al Yamamah deal have been handled by British Aerospace through a British business man, Douglas Leese, who has close connections with an offshore bank, the [[Bank of N. T. Butterfield|Bank of NT Butterfield]] in [[Bermuda]]."[^1]
In the same speech Galloway said that a report by Sir [[John Bourn]] of the [[National Audit Office]] documenting some of the commissions "has been suppressed by the Select Committee on Public Accounts for more than three years," and cited testimony in a [[United States]] court by Colonel Thomas Dooley, an executive of [[Sikorsky]], describing a "competition for bribes" over Black Hawk helicopter sales in which, Dooley said, Prince [[Bandar bin Sultan]] specified the bribes and the middlemen.[^1] Galloway's statements were made under privilege and were not adjudicated. Five years earlier, in October 1991, Galloway had used the same privilege to raise the allegations that [[Robert Maxwell]] and the *[[Daily Mirror]]* foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] were connected to Israeli intelligence.[^3]
### The Hoffenberg Introduction
Epstein met Hoffenberg, the head of [[Towers Financial Corporation]], in [[London]] in the 1980s. Ward reported in 2003: "According to Hoffenberg, the two men were introduced by Douglas Leese, a defense contractor. Epstein has said they were introduced by [[John Mitchell]], the late attorney general."[^2] Mitchell had been [[Richard Nixon]]'s attorney general and was imprisoned for his part in the [[Watergate]] cover-up. At the time Epstein was running [[International Assets Group]], a consulting company, from his apartment on East 66th Street in New York; he claimed to manage money for billionaires only, but testified in a 1989 deposition that he spent 80 percent of his time helping people recover stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.[^2] Hoffenberg then took Epstein on as a consultant to Towers, which collapsed in 1993 as a Ponzi scheme.[^2]
### The Leese Family and Epstein
Leese had been managing director of his father's steering-gear company, [[Cam Gears]], which was sold in 1965 to the American aerospace and defense contractor [[TRW Inc.|TRW]]. After leaving [[Bear Stearns]] in 1981 Epstein traveled regularly to London; according to [[Julian Leese]], he became Leese's protégé and a close friend of Leese's sons Nicholas and Julian. In what *[[Drop Site News]]* called his final recorded interview, given to the journalist [[Tom Pattinson]], Julian Leese said that his father sold radar equipment rather than weapons, that Epstein occasionally advised his father and attended some of his business meetings, that the two had fallen out in the early 1980s over Epstein's use of his father's expense account, and that his father had supported Towers Financial Corporation by introducing Hoffenberg to people in his circle. Julian Leese, who worked briefly as an intern at Towers after university, died in 2024.[^4]
The Leese sons remained in contact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction. On June 15, 2010 one of Leese's sons wrote to Epstein: "My boy, V good to speak to you over the weekend . I should be back in CA mid August so it would be great if we can find a way to meet up ....too long and we are not getting younger. My bro called last night and sends lots of love." Epstein replied: "Definitely , my great friend , nicole junkeman is considering moving to Singapore . May I have her call you," referring to the investor [[Nicole Junkermann]].[^5] Epstein's calendar for October 30, 2012 carried the reminder "Julian Leese shooting in Sussex Oct. 30th (he wants JE to be there)."[^6] On January 28, 2013 an entry asked: "does Julian Leese want to meet the Pres of the Maldives?"[^7] On June 24, 2013 Epstein's scheduler, [[Lesley Groff]], wrote that "Julian Leese is in NY and would like to come see you (as you suggested)"; the same day's schedule listed a breakfast with [[Leon Black]] and a hoped-for meeting with the defense lawyer [[Reid Weingarten]].[^8] Correspondence with members of the family continued to 2018.[^9] No document located in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] records contact between Epstein and Douglas Leese himself.
### Footnotes
[^1]: House of Commons, *Hansard,* HC Deb 24 January 1996, vol 270, cc453-462, "Saudi Arabia" (George Galloway). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1996/jan/24/saudi-arabia
[^2]: Ward, Vicky. "The Talented Mr. Epstein." *Vanity Fair,* March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303 (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20260916130321/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303)
[^3]: "Media Baron Sues Seymour Hersh." *The Washington Post,* October 25, 1991. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/10/25/media-baron-sues-seymour-hersh/c16c29e2-04ba-4038-9fff-08113fa33b77/
[^4]: "Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner's Base." *Drop Site News,* December 19, 2025, citing Julian Leese's interview with Tom Pattinson. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-iran-contra-planes-leslie-wexner-pottinger-leese-arms-weapons-smuggling
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02412487, DataSet 11, email exchange, "My boy," June 15-16, 2010. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02412487.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02155750, DataSet 10, calendar alert, November 5, 2012, for October 30, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02155750.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02149524, DataSet 10, calendar alert, January 28, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02149524.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00388568, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, "Julian Leese is in NY," June 24, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00388568.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01015987, DataSet 9, email with attachments, "Leese Family photos," November 22, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01015987.pdf

2
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Elon Musk.md
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@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ The Starlink operational question ran alongside the documented Putin contact cha
Musk appears on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster, per *WIRED*'s reporting on the hacktivist [[maia arson crimew|crimew]]'s publication of the Dialog membership directory and the separately provided registration list.[^1] Musk appears on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster, per *WIRED*'s reporting on the hacktivist [[maia arson crimew|crimew]]'s publication of the Dialog membership directory and the separately provided registration list.[^1]
The document releases (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) document that Musk attended an August 2015 dinner that [[Reid Hoffman]] hosted in [[Palo Alto]] to raise money for the [[MIT Media Lab]]. The guest list included Peter Thiel, [[Mark Zuckerberg]], [[Joi Ito]], and [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]]. The dinner was documented in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] releases and indexed in the Carstensen aggregator. The 2015 dinner is seven years after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement.[^1][^5][^8] The document releases (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) document that Musk attended an August 2015 dinner that [[Reid Hoffman]] hosted in [[Palo Alto]] to raise money for the [[MIT Media Lab]]. The guest list included Peter Thiel, [[Mark Zuckerberg]], [[Joi Ito]], and [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]]. The dinner was documented in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] releases and indexed in the Carstensen aggregator. The 2015 dinner is seven years after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^1][^5][^8]
Musk has stated publicly that he attended the dinner because Epstein promised to introduce him to someone, and that he left early. The documented co-presence of Musk, Thiel, Hoffman, Zuckerberg, and Ito at a single Epstein-mediated dinner places five PayPal Mafia and Silicon Valley principals at the same table as the registered sex offender. The Hoffman image-rehabilitation apology (September 2019) covers the broader pattern of Hoffman's Epstein contacts that the 2015 dinner is one documented instance of.[^1][^5][^8] Musk has stated publicly that he attended the dinner because Epstein promised to introduce him to someone, and that he left early. The documented co-presence of Musk, Thiel, Hoffman, Zuckerberg, and Ito at a single Epstein-mediated dinner places five PayPal Mafia and Silicon Valley principals at the same table as the registered sex offender. The Hoffman image-rehabilitation apology (September 2019) covers the broader pattern of Hoffman's Epstein contacts that the 2015 dinner is one documented instance of.[^1][^5][^8]

125
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ghislaine Maxwell.md
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@ -10,65 +10,144 @@ tags:
- Mossad - Mossad
alias: alias:
- Ghislaine Maxwell - Ghislaine Maxwell
summary: "Ghislaine Maxwell is the British socialite convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor for her role as Jeffrey Epstein's principal accomplice, daughter of the publishing mogul Robert Maxwell who was credibly alleged to have operated as a Mossad-connected intelligence asset, and the youngest of the Maxwell children whose family intelligence legacy has produced sustained reporting on whether the Epstein-Maxwell operation functioned as an intelligence-linked compromise operation." summary: "British socialite convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor as Jeffrey Epstein's principal accomplice, daughter of Robert Maxwell, whose immunity appeal failed and whose 2025 Justice Department interview preceded a prison-camp transfer."
born: 1961-12-25 born: 1961-12-25
location: "Maisons-Laffitte, France (born)" location: "Maisons-Laffitte, France (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Robert Maxwell]]"
role: "daughter"
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "companion and principal accomplice"
start: 1991
end: 2019
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020-07-02
fn: 5
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020-06-29
end: 2024-09-17
fn: 5
- type: represented
with: "[[David Oscar Markus]]"
reverse: true
start: 2025
fn: 18
--- ---
Ghislaine Maxwell (born December 25, 1961, in [[Maisons-Laffitte|Maisons-Laffitte]], [[France|France]]) is the British socialite convicted on December 29, 2021 in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York|U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on five of six federal counts including sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor, for her role as [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]]'s principal accomplice in the trafficking operation. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on June 28, 2022. She is the youngest daughter of the publishing mogul [[Robert Maxwell|Robert Maxwell]], who was credibly alleged across multiple documented sources to have operated as a [[Mossad|Mossad]]-connected intelligence asset, and whose family intelligence legacy has produced sustained reporting on whether the Epstein-Maxwell operation functioned as an intelligence-linked compromise operation.[^1][^2][^3] Ghislaine Maxwell (born December 25, 1961, in [[Maisons-Laffitte|Maisons-Laffitte]], [[France|France]]) is the British socialite convicted on December 29, 2021 in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York|U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on five of six federal counts including sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor, for her role as [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]]'s principal accomplice in the trafficking operation. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on June 28, 2022. She is the youngest daughter of the publishing mogul [[Robert Maxwell|Robert Maxwell]], who was credibly alleged across multiple documented sources to have operated as a [[Mossad|Mossad]]-connected intelligence asset, and whose family intelligence legacy has produced sustained reporting on whether the Epstein-Maxwell operation functioned as an intelligence-linked compromise operation.[^1][^2][^3]
### Early Life and the Path to Epstein ### Early Life and the Path to Epstein
Ghislaine Maxwell was the youngest of the nine children of Robert Maxwell and the Holocaust scholar [[Elisabeth Maxwell|Elisabeth "Betty" Maxwell]], and was widely described as her father's favorite, the child after whom he named his yacht. She was educated at [[Marlborough College]] and [[Balliol College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], and worked inside her father's business empire, taking public-facing roles connected to [[Oxford United]] football club and the newspaper The European. She moved in elite British and international social circles before her father's death.[^9] Ghislaine Maxwell was the youngest of the nine children of Robert Maxwell and the Holocaust scholar [[Elisabeth Maxwell|Elisabeth "Betty" Maxwell]], and was widely described as her father's favorite, the child after whom he named his yacht. She was educated at [[Marlborough College]] and [[Balliol College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], and worked inside her father's business empire, taking public-facing roles connected to [[Oxford United]] football club and the newspaper The European. She moved in elite British and international social circles before her father's death.[^4]
After Robert Maxwell drowned in November 1991 and his empire was found to have looted the Mirror Group pension funds, the family fortune and reputation collapsed, and Ghislaine relocated to New York. She reinvented herself there as a society fixer and met Epstein in the early 1990s. Their romantic relationship gave way to a working one in which she organized his households, staff, and social calendar, a role the 2021 trial identified as that of recruiter and procurer for the abuse operation.[^9] After Robert Maxwell drowned in November 1991 and his empire was found to have looted the Mirror Group pension funds, the family fortune and reputation collapsed, and Ghislaine relocated to New York. She reinvented herself there as a society fixer and met Epstein in the early 1990s. Their romantic relationship gave way to a working one in which she organized his households, staff, and social calendar, a role the 2021 trial identified as that of recruiter and procurer for the abuse operation.[^4]
### Arrest, Indictment, and the Non-Prosecution Agreement Defense
A grand jury in the Southern District of New York returned a sealed indictment against Maxwell on June 29, 2020. It was unsealed on July 2, 2020, the day agents of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] arrested her at a property in [[New Hampshire]]. The original six counts charged her with facilitating Epstein's sexual abuse of minor victims "from around 1994 to 1997." A first superseding indictment, filed July 10, 2020, added two counts of perjury arising from her 2016 deposition testimony in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]]. A second superseding indictment, filed March 29, 2021, added a sex trafficking conspiracy count and a count of sex trafficking of a minor, extended the charged conduct into the early 2000s, and renumbered the perjury counts as Counts Seven and Eight. On July 30, 2020, Judge [[Alison Nathan|Alison J. Nathan]] entered the protective order (ECF No. 36) that governed discovery in the case and that the government moved to modify five years later.[^5][^6]
Maxwell's lead pretrial motion, filed over the signatures of Mark S. Cohen of [[Cohen & Gresser]], Jeffrey S. Pagliuca and [[Laura Menninger|Laura A. Menninger]] of [[Haddon, Morgan and Foreman]], and Bobbi C. Sternheim, sought dismissal of the superseding indictment for breach of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]. In consideration of Epstein's state guilty pleas, that agreement provided that "the [[United States]] also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Adriana Ross]], [[Lesley Groff]], or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." Maxwell argued that she was a third-party beneficiary of the clause. Nathan denied the motion with the other pretrial motions in an opinion and order of April 16, 2021 (ECF No. 207).[^6][^7]
The [[Second Circuit]] panel that heard the appeal, Judges [[José A. Cabranes]], [[Richard C. Wesley]], and [[Raymond J. Lohier Jr.]], heard argument on March 12, 2024 and affirmed on September 17, 2024. Applying United States v. Annabi (1985), it held that "[a] plea agreement binds only the office of the United States Attorney for the district in which the plea is entered unless it affirmatively appears that the agreement contemplates a broader restriction," and it acknowledged that the circuits "have been split on this issue for decades." The panel found that "[n]othing before us indicates that USAO-SDNY had been notified or had approved of Epstein's NPA," that the United States Attorney's Manual in force during the negotiations barred any district from making an agreement binding another district without written approval from that district or the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, and that the Assistant Attorney General had told the [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] she "played no role" in the agreement. None of the four has been charged by any federal district.[^7]
The Office of Professional Responsibility's November 2020 report on the Florida resolution found that the U.S. Attorney who approved the agreement, [[Alexander Acosta|R. Alexander Acosta]], had not committed professional misconduct and that OPR "did not find evidence that his decision was based on corruption or other impermissible considerations, such as Epstein's wealth, status, or associations." It concluded that Acosta's decision to resolve the federal investigation through the agreement "constitutes poor judgment," that "the NPA was a flawed mechanism," and that he had "agreed to several unusual and problematic terms in the NPA without the consideration required under the circumstances." Acosta had by then served as Secretary of Labor under [[Donald Trump]] from 2017 until his resignation on July 12, 2019, six days after Epstein's arrest in New York.[^8]
### The Conviction ### The Conviction
The federal trial in the Southern District of New York established that Maxwell was Epstein's "number two," who groomed and recruited underage girls (victims as young as 14), arranged travel for them across state lines, paid them to recruit additional victims, and normalized the abuse through her social position. Four victims testified under pseudonyms ("Jane," "Kate," "Carolyn," "Annie"). The jury found Maxwell guilty on five of six counts: conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor. The sixth count (perjury, related to a 2016 civil deposition) resulted in acquittal; those charges were subsequently dropped. The [[Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] denied Maxwell's appeal in September 2024.[^1][^4] The federal trial in the Southern District of New York established that Maxwell was Epstein's "number two," who groomed and recruited underage girls (victims as young as 14), arranged travel for them across state lines, paid them to recruit additional victims, and normalized the abuse through her social position. Three accusers testified under pseudonyms ("Jane," "Kate," and "Carolyn"), and a fourth, [[Annie Farmer]], testified under her own name. The jury found Maxwell guilty on five of six counts: conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor. The jury acquitted her on Count Two, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. The two perjury counts, arising from her 2016 civil deposition, had been severed for a separate trial and were dismissed at sentencing.[^7] The Second Circuit denied Maxwell's appeal in September 2024.[^1][^9]
The trial ran from November 29 to December 29, 2021, before Judge [[Alison Nathan|Alison J. Nathan]]; the jury of six women and six men deliberated about 40 hours across parts of six days before returning the verdict.[^6] Maxwell moved for a new trial on January 19, 2022 under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, after Juror No. 50 ("Scotty David") told media interviewers that his own childhood sexual abuse, which he had not disclosed on the jury questionnaire, had helped persuade fellow jurors; Nathan held an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion on April 1, 2022, finding the omission "highly unfortunate, but not deliberate" and the juror credibly unbiased.[^7] At the June 28, 2022 sentencing Nathan imposed an above-Guidelines term of 240 months, a five-year term of supervised release, and a 750,000 dollar fine; prosecutors did not seek restitution because the testifying victims had already been compensated through the Epstein Victim Compensation Program and civil settlements, and eight victims submitted impact statements, several reading them aloud.[^1] The Second Circuit affirmed on September 17, 2024 and denied rehearing on November 25, 2024.[^4] The trial ran from November 29 to December 29, 2021, before Judge Alison J. Nathan; the jury of six women and six men deliberated about 40 hours across parts of six days before returning the verdict.[^10] Maxwell moved for a new trial on January 19, 2022 under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, after Juror No. 50 ("Scotty David") told media interviewers that his own childhood sexual abuse, which he had not disclosed on the jury questionnaire, had helped persuade fellow jurors; Nathan held an evidentiary hearing and denied the motion on April 1, 2022, finding the omission "highly unfortunate, but not deliberate" and the juror credibly unbiased.[^11] At the June 28, 2022 sentencing Nathan imposed an above-Guidelines term of 240 months, a five-year term of supervised release, and a 750,000 dollar fine; prosecutors did not seek restitution because the testifying victims had already been compensated through the [[Epstein Victims' Compensation Program|Epstein Victim Compensation Program]] and civil settlements, and eight victims submitted impact statements, several reading them aloud.[^1] The Second Circuit affirmed on September 17, 2024 and denied rehearing on November 25, 2024.[^9]
During the trial Nathan admitted Government Exhibit 52, Epstein's contact book, over defense objections to its authentication and on hearsay grounds, in a memorandum opinion and order of December 9, 2021 (ECF No. 535). The authenticating witness was [[Juan Alessi]], the former house manager of the Palm Beach residence, who was examined by the government and questioned on voir dire by the defense on December 8, 2021. It was a copy of the same directory that a later house manager, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], had been convicted in 2010 of concealing from federal investigators.[^12]
Juror 50 testified under a grant of immunity at a hearing on March 8, 2022 that his inaccurate answers to three questionnaire items on sexual abuse had been an inadvertent mistake. At sentencing Nathan calculated a Guidelines range of 188 to 235 months and imposed concurrent terms of 60 months on each conspiracy count, 120 months on the transportation count, and 240 months on the count of sex trafficking of a minor, with a fine of 250,000 dollars on each of three counts, for a total of 750,000 dollars. The four-level leadership enhancement rested in part on the testimony of two of Epstein's pilots that Sarah Kellen had been Maxwell's assistant, which Nathan found corroborated by other testimony that Maxwell was Epstein's "number two and the lady of the house" in Palm Beach. The Second Circuit upheld the enhancement and the sentence.[^7]
### The Recruitment Operation ### The Recruitment Operation
The trial record and victim accounts established Maxwell as the operation's recruiter and the figure who normalized the abuse. She approached adolescent girls in ordinary settings, spas, shopping areas, and schools, befriended them, and brought them to Epstein under the cover of paid "massage" work that escalated into sexual abuse. She recruited [[Virginia Giuffre]] around 2000, when Giuffre was a teenage locker-room attendant at [[Mar-a-Lago]]. The operation ran as a pyramid in which victims were paid to recruit further victims, multiplying the number of girls cycled through the houses.[^10] The trial record and victim accounts established Maxwell as the operation's recruiter and the figure who normalized the abuse. She approached adolescent girls in ordinary settings, spas, shopping areas, and schools, befriended them, and brought them to Epstein under the cover of paid "massage" work that escalated into sexual abuse. She recruited [[Virginia Giuffre]] around 2000, when Giuffre was a teenage locker-room attendant at [[Mar-a-Lago]]. The operation ran as a pyramid in which victims were paid to recruit further victims, multiplying the number of girls cycled through the houses.[^13]
Maxwell exercised operational control over the physical network. She managed Epstein's residences (the Manhattan townhouse, the [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house, [[Little St. James]] in the Virgin Islands, the [[New Mexico]] ranch, and the Paris apartment), directed household staff, and coordinated travel on Epstein's aircraft. She maintained the contact directory known as the "little black book," which listed hundreds of names; a former house manager, [[Alfredo Rodriguez]], later attempted to sell a copy and was convicted of obstruction. Flight logs and staff testimony placed her at the center of the logistics.[^10] Maxwell exercised operational control over the physical network. She managed Epstein's residences (the Manhattan townhouse, the [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house, [[Little St. James]] in the Virgin Islands, the [[New Mexico]] ranch, and the Paris apartment), directed household staff, and coordinated travel on Epstein's aircraft. She maintained the contact directory known as the "little black book," which listed hundreds of names; a former house manager, Alfredo Rodriguez, later attempted to sell a copy and was convicted of obstruction. Flight logs and staff testimony placed her at the center of the logistics.[^13]
Her social standing opened the doors the operation depended on. She introduced Epstein into circles that included British royalty and American political figures, among them [[Prince Andrew]] and [[Bill Clinton]], and hosted at the properties. A March 2001 photograph taken at Maxwell's London home showed Andrew with his arm around Giuffre and Maxwell in the background, an image central to Giuffre's later civil suit against Andrew. The 2024 unsealing of the [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] documents and the testimony of four pseudonymous accusers at the 2021 trial ("Jane," "Kate," "Carolyn," and "Annie") detailed the mechanics of how the recruitment and abuse were carried out.[^10] Her social standing opened the doors the operation depended on. She introduced Epstein into circles that included British royalty and American political figures, among them [[Prince Andrew]] and [[Bill Clinton]], and hosted at the properties. A March 2001 photograph taken at Maxwell's London home showed Andrew with his arm around Giuffre and Maxwell in the background, an image central to Giuffre's later civil suit against Andrew. The 2024 unsealing of the Giuffre v. Maxwell documents and the testimony of four accusers at the 2021 trial (the pseudonymous "Jane," "Kate," and "Carolyn," and Annie Farmer) detailed the mechanics of how the recruitment and abuse were carried out.[^13]
### The Robert Maxwell Legacy ### The Robert Maxwell Legacy
Robert Maxwell (born Jan Ludvik Hoch, 1923, in [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]]) was the British publishing mogul who controlled [[Mirror Group Newspapers|Mirror Group Newspapers]] and [[Pergamon Press|Pergamon Press]], served as a [[Member of Parliament|Member of Parliament]], and died on November 5, 1991, in a documented drowning at sea off his yacht *Lady Ghislaine* (named for his daughter) near the [[Canary Islands|Canary Islands]]. After his death, his empire was found to have looted approximately 460 million pounds from the Mirror Group pension fund.[^2][^3] Robert Maxwell (born Jan Ludvik Hoch, 1923, in [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]]) was the British publishing mogul who controlled [[Mirror Group Newspapers|Mirror Group Newspapers]] and [[Pergamon Press|Pergamon Press]], served as a [[Member of Parliament|Member of Parliament]], and died on November 5, 1991, in a documented drowning at sea off his yacht *Lady Ghislaine* (named for his daughter) near the [[Canary Islands|Canary Islands]]. After his death, his empire was found to have looted approximately 460 million pounds from the Mirror Group pension fund.[^2][^3]
Robert Maxwell was accused across multiple documented sources of operating as an intelligence asset for Mossad, [[MI6|MI6]], and the [[KGB|KGB]]. The documented allegations include the distribution of modified [[PROMIS|PROMIS]] software to facilitate Israeli intelligence-gathering operations, involvement in the [[Mordechai Vanunu|Vanunu]] case, and the broader intelligence-community relationships documented by the journalists [[Gordon Thomas|Gordon Thomas]] (in *[[Gideon's Spies|Gideon's Spies]]*) and the BBC Select documentary "Robert Maxwell, the KGB and MI6." Robert Maxwell met the accusations with denials and legal threats. No intelligence service has officially confirmed him as an agent.[^2][^3] Robert Maxwell was accused across multiple documented sources of operating as an intelligence asset for Mossad, [[MI6|MI6]], and the [[KGB|KGB]]. The documented allegations include the distribution of modified [[PROMIS|PROMIS]] software to facilitate Israeli intelligence-gathering operations, involvement in the [[Mordechai Vanunu|Vanunu]] case, and the broader intelligence-community relationships documented by the journalists [[Gordon Thomas|Gordon Thomas]] (in *[[Gideon's Spies|Gideon's Spies]]*) and the [[BBC]] Select documentary "Robert Maxwell, the KGB and MI6." Robert Maxwell met the accusations with denials and legal threats. No intelligence service has officially confirmed him as an agent.[^2][^3]
### The Intelligence-Operation Question ### The Intelligence-Operation Question
Ghislaine Maxwell moved to [[New York|New York]] in 1991 after her father's death and the collapse of the family's reputation, reportedly with a financial settlement from the family estate. She met Epstein shortly after. Her lawyers have argued that her father's death "set her on a path" toward Epstein. The documented combination of Robert Maxwell's intelligence legacy, Ghislaine's role as Epstein's social partner and the principal recruiter of the trafficking operation, the documented [[Ehud Barak|Israeli-intelligence]] contacts through Epstein, and the broader pattern of Epstein's relationships with intelligence officials ([[William Burns]]) and technology principals ([[Peter Thiel|Thiel]], [[Elon Musk|Musk]]) has produced the recurring analytical question of whether the Epstein-Maxwell operation functioned as an intelligence-linked compromise or "honeypot" operation. The question is not confirmed in any primary document and is flagged here as a documented analytical thread.[^3][^5] Ghislaine Maxwell moved to [[New York|New York]] in 1991 after her father's death and the collapse of the family's reputation, reportedly with a financial settlement from the family estate. She met Epstein shortly after. Her lawyers have argued that her father's death "set her on a path" toward Epstein. The documented combination of Robert Maxwell's intelligence legacy, Ghislaine's role as Epstein's social partner and the principal recruiter of the trafficking operation, the documented [[Ehud Barak|Israeli-intelligence]] contacts through Epstein, and the broader pattern of Epstein's relationships with intelligence officials ([[William Burns]]) and technology principals ([[Peter Thiel|Thiel]], [[Elon Musk|Musk]]) has produced the recurring analytical question of whether the Epstein-Maxwell operation functioned as an intelligence-linked compromise or "honeypot" operation. The question is not confirmed in any primary document and is flagged here as a documented analytical thread.[^3][^14]
The strongest version of the intelligence claim traces to Ari Ben-Menashe, a self-described former Israeli Military Intelligence figure, who alleged in interviews and in his book *Profits of War* (1992) that Robert Maxwell was a "full-service" Mossad asset and that Epstein and Ghislaine were introduced into Israeli intelligence work through the Maxwell connection.[^8] Ben-Menashe's reliability is contested: his account is uncorroborated by any declassified file, he has made other claims that proved unverifiable, and no intelligence service has confirmed any of it, so the assertion that Ghislaine inherited her father's intelligence ties is reported allegation rather than established fact.[^8] What is documented in the trial record and contemporaneous reporting is narrower: that Maxwell maintained the social access (to figures including Prince Andrew and a transatlantic donor class) through which Epstein's operation functioned, and that Epstein separately cultivated relationships with Barak and others. Whether that access was directed by any service, or was simply the by-product of inherited wealth and connections weaponized for blackmail-adjacent leverage, remains unproven in any primary source.[^3][^5] The strongest version of the intelligence claim traces to [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-described former Israeli Military Intelligence figure, who alleged in interviews and in his book *Profits of War* (1992) that Robert Maxwell was a "full-service" Mossad asset and that Epstein and Ghislaine were introduced into Israeli intelligence work through the Maxwell connection.[^15] Ben-Menashe's reliability is contested: his account is uncorroborated by any declassified file, he has made other claims that proved unverifiable, and no intelligence service has confirmed any of it, so the assertion that Ghislaine inherited her father's intelligence ties is reported allegation rather than established fact.[^15] What is documented in the trial record and contemporaneous reporting is narrower: that Maxwell maintained the social access (to figures including Prince Andrew and a transatlantic donor class) through which Epstein's operation functioned, and that Epstein separately cultivated relationships with Barak and others. Whether that access was directed by any service, or was simply the by-product of inherited wealth and connections weaponized for blackmail-adjacent leverage, remains unproven in any primary source.[^3][^14]
### The 2025 Justice Department Interview and Transfer ### The 2025 Justice Department Interview and Transfer
In late July 2025 the Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], who had previously served as [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump's]] personal defense attorney, interviewed Maxwell over two days at the federal correctional institution in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] under a grant of limited proffer immunity. The Justice Department released a 337-page transcript on August 22, 2025. In it Maxwell discussed Trump, Prince Andrew, and other prominent men associated with Epstein and largely spoke of them in exculpatory terms, while declining to confirm the central allegations against several figures. The interview was conducted while the Trump administration was managing the contested release of the Epstein files, and critics characterized it as an effort to shape the public record.[^11] On July 18, 2025, Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], who had previously served as Donald Trump's personal criminal defense attorney, entered a notice of appearance for the United States in Maxwell's closed criminal case (ECF No. 784) and on the same day personally filed a motion to unseal the grand jury transcripts (ECF No. 785). Maxwell's counsel Melissa Madrigal responded on July 22 regarding the defense's review of the grand jury transcripts (ECF No. 793). Judge [[Paul Engelmayer|Paul A. Engelmayer]], to whom the case had passed after Nathan's elevation to the Second Circuit, denied the motion on August 11, 2025 (ECF No. 809), holding that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) barred disclosure and that the circuit's "special circumstances" exception did not apply.[^16]
On July 22, 2025, between Blanche's motion and his interview, an internal email chain in which one participant's signature reads "FBI NY Violent Crime Threat" compiled a history of the case. It recorded that Maxwell "was first mentioned in the case file on 04/23/2019," that victim interviews described her befriending minor victims and instructing them "on how to massage Epstein, to include sexual contact," and that "SDNY proffered Maxwell with her Defense counsel prior to indictment." The requester asked for draft "proffer 302s," noting that "SDNY kept notes," and asked how many victims had complained about her; the answer was "4 victims that testified and 1 additional victim that did not testify (5 total). Other women named GM but they weren't necessarily determined to be victims of this case." Of the untried perjury counts the chain stated that "After the conviction, the perjury charges were dropped to prevent the victims from testifying in another trial." For the status of her appeal it relied on the trial prosecutor [[Maurene Comey]], who had been dismissed six days earlier.[^17]
Blanche questioned Maxwell over two days in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] beginning at 10:12 a.m. on July 24, 2025. Present for the government were Blanche, Acting Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Spencer Horn of the New York field office, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Mark Beard; present for Maxwell were her attorneys [[David Oscar Markus]], Leah Saffian, and Melissa Madrigal. Blanche described the terms on the record: "whatever you talk about today, you have what's called immunity. So that means that the words that you say today, we cannot use against you in a case in chief, if we were ever to bring one," with an exception for false statements. Asked what she had observed of Trump's relationship with her and Epstein, Maxwell said she had met Trump through her father in the 1990s, that "President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me," and that "I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now. And I like him, and I've always liked him." Of Epstein and Trump she said: "I don't know how they met, and I don't know how they became friends." The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] posted redacted transcripts of both days on August 22, 2025; the first day's transcript runs 263 pages. In the interview Maxwell largely spoke of prominent men associated with Epstein in exculpatory terms.[^18][^19]
On August 1, 2025, roughly one week after the interview, the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|Bureau of Prisons]] moved Maxwell from the low-security federal correctional institution at Tallahassee to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]] in Texas. Former Bureau of Prisons officials called the transfer "highly unusual" for an inmate convicted of a sex offense with more than ten years left to serve, and residents of Bryan protested her arrival.[^19] On August 7, 2025, Senator [[Sheldon Whitehouse]], ranking member of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee|Senate Judiciary]] Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, wrote to Bureau of Prisons Director William K. Marshall III that "Ms. Maxwell's abrupt transfer raises questions about whether she has been given special treatment in exchange for political favors." The letter noted that such an interview "would ordinarily be conducted by an FBI agent or member of the local U.S. Attorney's Office, not the Deputy Attorney General," and that it was "doubly unusual because of Mr. Blanche's former role as President Trump's personal criminal attorney" and the [[Wall Street Journal]] report of July 17, 2025 that Maxwell had assembled a fiftieth-birthday book for Epstein containing a personal note from Trump. Whitehouse cited Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5100.08, under which inmates with a sex-offense history are housed "at a minimum, at low-security facilities" absent a waiver from Bureau officials in Grand Prairie, Texas, and requested Maxwell's security point score and "Management Variables" as of June 1 and August 1, 2025, by August 28. The Bureau of Prisons did not provide a detailed public rationale.[^19][^20]
Maxwell's attorneys had petitioned the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] on April 10, 2025, after Justice [[Sonia Sotomayor]] extended the filing deadline (Application No. 24A709), presenting the question whether "under Santobello v. New York and common principles of contract interpretation, does a promise on behalf of the 'United States' or the 'Government' that is made by a United States Attorney in one district bind federal prosecutors in other districts?" The government filed its opposition on July 14, 2025, ten days before the interview, and Maxwell replied on July 28. The Court denied certiorari on October 6, 2025 (No. 24-1073). She separately offered to testify before the [[House Oversight Committee]], which had subpoenaed her, on the condition that she receive immunity, a condition that was not granted.[^19][^21]
### The Grand Jury Materials and the Epstein Files Transparency Act
The [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] (Pub. L. No. 119-38, 139 Stat. 656), enacted November 19, 2025, directed the Attorney General to release "all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials" relating to Epstein within thirty days, subject to an exception for information identifying victims, and barred withholding or redaction to protect "politically exposed persons." On November 24, 2025, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley renewed the government's motion to unseal the Maxwell grand jury materials, now citing the Act (ECF No. 810). Engelmayer set an expedited schedule that included submissions from victims through a dedicated Justice Department mailbox (ECF No. 811), docketed three redacted victim letters on December 5 (ECF No. 818), and on December 9, 2025 granted the motion and modified the July 30, 2020 protective order, subject to the Act's victim-privacy provision (ECF No. 820).[^22]
On January 13, 2026, Representatives [[Thomas Massie]] and [[Ro Khanna]], the Act's co-sponsors, moved to participate as amici curiae in the closed case and asked the court to appoint "a special master or independent monitor" to supervise the Justice Department's compliance (ECF Nos. 837, 838). They told the court that as of January 5, 2026, more than two weeks after the statutory deadline of December 19, 2025, the Department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents," with "more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act in various phases of review," and that it had missed the Act's fifteen-day reporting deadline to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, invoked privileges the Act did not permit, redacted in a manner inconsistent with its bar on shielding "politically exposed persons," and withdrawn some files after release. Their brief concluded: "DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act." Letters from victims transmitted through the government, including one from [[Haley Robson]] docketed on January 20, 2026 (ECF No. 843), were cited in support. Engelmayer denied the motion on January 21, 2026 (ECF No. 844), holding that "[t]his federal criminal case does not give the Court jurisdiction over, or authority to supervise, DOJ's compliance with the EFTA, a civil records-disclosure statute," and that amici may not inject issues no party has raised; he did not address the substance of the representatives' account. Status letters on the Department's review process followed on January 15 and January 31, 2026 over the name of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, [[Jay Clayton]] (ECF Nos. 839, 847).[^23][^24]
### Correspondence in the Epstein Library
On December 8, 2009, five months after Epstein's release from the Palm Beach stockade, a correspondent signing "Gmax" wrote to Epstein's email address: "If you call I'd start by saying what ever you saw was fake and part of a blackmail scheme...." The message does not say what had been seen or who was to be called.[^25]
An FBI Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021 and filed under the Epstein child-sex-trafficking case number records an October 2020 call from a person who described himself as a former [[Cantor Fitzgerald]] compliance employee and who alleged money laundering by [[Howard Lutnick]]; the form records the caller as saying that "Maxwell and Sarah Ferguson, a royal family member, host events called La Dolce Vita Parties, where high profile celebrities and executives contribute large donations to attend," and that Lutnick had made "huge donations" to them. The form records these as the caller's statements, without findings, and notes that "Queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case."[^26]
### Collateral Attack
On December 17, 2025, Maxwell filed a pro se motion to vacate her sentence under 28 U.S.C. section 2255 (ECF No. 830), opened as the companion civil matters Maxwell v. United States, Nos. 1:25-cv-10464 and 1:25-cv-10468. Engelmayer's January 2026 opinion described the criminal case as "effectively closed," with the section 2255 motion "the only outstanding item." The government's letters of February 12 and April 21, 2026 (ECF Nos. 852, 856) concerned the briefing schedule for its response, and the docket remained active in July 2026 (ECF No. 866).[^23][^27]
Days after the interview, on August 1, 2025, Maxwell was moved from the Tallahassee facility to the minimum-security [[Federal Prison Camp Bryan]] in Texas. Former Bureau of Prisons officials called the transfer "highly unusual" for an inmate convicted of a sex offense with more than ten years left to serve, since prison camps ordinarily exclude both categories. Senator [[Sheldon Whitehouse]] demanded documents explaining the decision, and residents of Bryan protested her arrival. The Bureau of Prisons did not provide a detailed public rationale.[^11]
Maxwell pursued parallel efforts to overturn or shorten her sentence. Her attorneys petitioned the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] to vacate the conviction, arguing that the co-conspirator immunity clause in Epstein's 2007 [[non-prosecution agreement]] with the Southern District of Florida barred her later prosecution anywhere in the country; the Court denied certiorari in October 2025. She separately offered to testify before the [[House Oversight Committee]], which had subpoenaed her, on the condition that she receive immunity, a condition that was not granted.[^11]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse [^1]: "Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison." *U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York,* June 28, 2022. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-20-years-prison-conspiring-jeffrey-epstein-sexually-abuse
[^2]: "The murky life and death of Robert Maxwell, and how it shaped his daughter Ghislaine." *The Guardian,* August 22, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/22/the-murky-life-and-death-of-robert-maxwell-and-how-it-shaped-his-daughter-ghislaine [^2]: "The murky life and death of Robert Maxwell, and how it shaped his daughter Ghislaine." *The Guardian,* August 22, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/22/the-murky-life-and-death-of-robert-maxwell-and-how-it-shaped-his-daughter-ghislaine
[^3]: Thomas, Gordon. *Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.* St. Martin's Press. [^3]: Thomas, Gordon. *Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.* St. Martin's Press.
[^4]: "Ghislaine Maxwell loses sex trafficking appeal." *BBC,* September 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0glxd0gxko [^4]: For Maxwell's family, education, and move to New York, see "Ghislaine Maxwell: The British socialite who became Epstein's confidante." *BBC,* December 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53100417 and the contemporaneous biographical reporting.
[^5]: For the Epstein-Barak Israeli-intelligence channel and the Epstein-Burns CIA-director contacts, see the Jeffrey Epstein, Ehud Barak, and William Burns pages. [^5]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Indictment (filed under seal June 29, 2020, unsealed July 2, 2020); S1 Superseding Indictment (July 10, 2020); S2 Superseding Indictment (March 29, 2021); Protective Order, ECF No. 36 (July 30, 2020). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^6]: "Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Jury finds she sex trafficked a minor for Jeffrey Epstein, guilty on five of six counts." *CNN,* December 29, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/us/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-wednesday [^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]: United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN), Opinion and Order denying motion for new trial (S.D.N.Y. April 1, 2022). See also "Juror's omissions will not trigger Ghislaine Maxwell retrial." *Courthouse News Service.* https://www.courthousenews.com/jurors-omissions-will-not-trigger-ghislaine-maxwell-retrial/ [^7]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 3-4, 6-12, 23-25 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024) (Cabranes, Wesley, Lohier, JJ.), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178 and United States v. Annabi, 771 F.2d 670, 672 (2d Cir. 1985). https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^8]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992. Ben-Menashe's claims that Robert Maxwell was a Mossad asset and that the Maxwell-Epstein link served Israeli intelligence are uncorroborated by declassified material and treated as contested allegation; see also Thomas, *Gideon's Spies* (note 3). [^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of 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. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl)
[^9]: For Maxwell's family, education, and move to New York, see "Ghislaine Maxwell: The British socialite who became Epstein's confidante." *BBC,* December 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53100417 and the contemporaneous biographical reporting. [^9]: "Ghislaine Maxwell loses sex trafficking appeal." *BBC,* September 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0glxd0gxko
[^10]: For the recruitment mechanics, the contact directory, and the victim testimony, see the trial record in United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (S.D.N.Y. 2021), the January 2024 unsealing of Giuffre v. Maxwell exhibits before Judge Loretta Preska, and the Alfredo Rodriguez obstruction case (S.D. Fla.). [^10]: "Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Jury finds she sex trafficked a minor for Jeffrey Epstein, guilty on five of six counts." *CNN,* December 29, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/us/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-wednesday
[^11]: "Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's interview." *CNN,* August 22, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-doj-documents-08-22-25 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas." *CNN,* August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas ; "Supreme Court declines to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal." *SCOTUSblog,* October 2025. https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-ghislaine-maxwells-appeal/ [^11]: United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN), Opinion and Order denying motion for new trial (S.D.N.Y. April 1, 2022). See also "Juror's omissions will not trigger Ghislaine Maxwell retrial." *Courthouse News Service.* https://www.courthousenews.com/jurors-omissions-will-not-trigger-ghislaine-maxwell-retrial/
[^12]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Memorandum Opinion and Order re Government Exhibit 52, ECF No. 535 (Dec. 9, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^13]: For the recruitment mechanics, the contact directory, and the victim testimony, see the trial record in United States v. Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (S.D.N.Y. 2021), the January 2024 unsealing of Giuffre v. Maxwell exhibits before Judge Loretta Preska, and the Alfredo Rodriguez obstruction case (S.D. Fla.).
[^14]: For the Epstein-Barak Israeli-intelligence channel and the Epstein-Burns CIA-director contacts, see the Jeffrey Epstein, Ehud Barak, and William Burns pages.
[^15]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992. Ben-Menashe's claims that Robert Maxwell was a Mossad asset and that the Maxwell-Epstein link served Israeli intelligence are uncorroborated by declassified material and treated as contested allegation; see also Thomas, *Gideon's Spies* (note 3).
[^16]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Notice of Attorney Appearance (Todd Blanche), ECF No. 784 (July 18, 2025); Motion to Unseal, ECF No. 785 (July 18, 2025); defense letter, ECF No. 793 (July 22, 2025); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 809 (Aug. 11, 2025), reported at 794 F. Supp. 3d 215, 225-29 (S.D.N.Y. 2025). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^17]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00161422, DataSet 9, internal email chain, "Re: Ghislaine Maxwell," July 22, 2025, EFTA00161422 to EFTA00161424. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00161422.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, "Interview Transcript, Maxwell, 2025.07.24 (Redacted)," Day 1, 263 pp. https://www.justice.gov/storage/audio-files/Interview%20Transcript/Interview%20Transcript%20-%20Maxwell%202025.07.24%20(Redacted).pdf ; landing page https://www.justice.gov/maxwell-interview
[^19]: "Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's interview." *CNN,* August 22, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-doj-documents-08-22-25 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas." *CNN,* August 1, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-federal-prison-texas ; "Supreme Court declines to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal." *SCOTUSblog,* October 2025. https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-ghislaine-maxwells-appeal/
[^20]: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, letter to William K. Marshall III, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, August 7, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-07-Letter-to-BOP-Maxwell-Transfer.pdf
[^21]: Maxwell v. United States, No. 24-1073 (U.S.), Application No. 24A709 (extension granted Jan. 21, 2025); Petition for a Writ of Certiorari (April 10, 2025); Brief for the United States in Opposition (July 14, 2025); Reply (July 28, 2025); certiorari denied, 146 S. Ct. 93 (Oct. 6, 2025). https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-1073.html ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/doj-disclosures/court-records-maxwell-v-united-states-no-24-1073-us-2025-petition-cert
[^22]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, 139 Stat. 656 (Nov. 19, 2025); United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Renewed Motion to Unseal, ECF No. 810 (Nov. 24, 2025); Order, ECF No. 811 (Nov. 24, 2025); victim letters, ECF No. 818 (Dec. 5, 2025); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 820 (Dec. 9, 2025), 2025 WL 3522378. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^23]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2026), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844, denying motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna (ECF Nos. 837, 838). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
[^24]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), letters re Epstein Files Transparency Act review, ECF No. 839 (Jan. 15, 2026) and ECF No. 847 (Jan. 31, 2026); letter transmitting correspondence from Haley Robson, ECF No. 843 (Jan. 20, 2026). On Robson's public account of her role, see "Jeffrey Epstein accuser reflects on being a sex trafficking victim, and recruiting other girls," *CBS News.* https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-accuser-sex-trafficking-haley-robson/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/
[^25]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02434764, DataSet 11, email, "Gmax" to jeevacation@gmail.com, December 8, 2009. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02434764.pdf
[^26]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01249210, DataSet 9, FBI Form FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," case 50D-NY-3027571, April 23, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf
[^27]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Pro Se Motion to Vacate under 28 U.S.C. 2255, ECF No. 830 (Dec. 17, 2025); Maxwell v. United States, Nos. 1:25-cv-10464, 1:25-cv-10468 (S.D.N.Y. filed Dec. 17, 2025); government letters, ECF No. 852 (Feb. 12, 2026), ECF No. 856 (April 21, 2026); ECF No. 866 (July 31, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/

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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- HowardLutnick
- CantorFitzgerald
- CommerceDepartment
- JeffreyEpstein
- TrumpAdministration
- Finance
alias:
- Howard Lutnick
- Howard W. Lutnick
summary: "Howard Lutnick is the Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce who bought a house Jeffrey Epstein had sold, co-invested with him in 2012, and told the press their contact ended in 2005."
born: 1961-07-14
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Cantor Fitzgerald]]"
role: "president and chief executive from 1991; chairman from 1996"
start: 1991
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[United States Department of Commerce]]"
role: "Secretary of Commerce"
start: 2025-02-21
fn: 2
- type: appointed
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
reverse: true
role: "nominated as Secretary of Commerce"
start: 2025
fn: 2
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "co-investors in Adfin through separate LLCs (CVAFH I and Southern Trust Company)"
start: 2012-12-28
end: 2014
fn: 1
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
role: "FD-71A Guardian complaint alleging money laundering, filed under the Epstein case number"
start: 2020-10-14
fn: 6
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Howard Lutnick is an American financier who has led the brokerage and investment bank [[Cantor Fitzgerald]] since 1991 and who became [[United States Department of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]] in the second administration of [[Donald Trump]] in February 2025.[^1][^2] For more than a decade he lived next door to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] on East 71st Street in [[Manhattan]], in a house that Epstein had sold in 1996 to an entity that resold it to Lutnick two years later. In October 2025 Lutnick said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005; documents released by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] in early 2026 showed correspondence through 2018, a family visit to [[Little St. James]] in December 2012, and a joint investment in an advertising-technology company signed four days after that visit.[^1][^3]
### Cantor Fitzgerald and the Commerce Department
Lutnick became president and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald in 1991 and chairman in 1996.[^1] The firm's venture arm, Cantor Ventures, is its venture-capital subsidiary.[^1] Trump nominated Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce after the 2024 election, and he took office in February 2025, with responsibility for trade policy, export controls, and the department's technology-standards bodies, including the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] and the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]].[^2]
### The House on East 71st Street
In 1996 Epstein sold the property at 11 East 71st Street to an entity called Comet Trust. In 1998 Comet Trust sold it to Lutnick, and it became his primary residence, adjoining Epstein's own mansion on the same block.[^1] The houses stand near the [[Frick Collection]]. In 2018 Lutnick wrote to Epstein about the museum's planned expansion, warning that it might "block your sunlight and views," and pressed him: "You should put in a letter. I'm sending a lawyer. Don't ignore this."[^1]
### The 2005 Account
In October 2025 Lutnick told the [[New York Post]] that he and his wife, Allison, had cut ties with Epstein in 2005 after touring Epstein's townhouse, and said, "I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again."[^1]
### The Correspondence After 2005
The released emails show Lutnick and Epstein arranging calls and planning drinks in 2011.[^1] On April 4, 2011, Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] told him, "Howard Lutnick returned your call." On April 27 she wrote that Lutnick "will come see you at 5pm on Sunday May 1st," and Epstein's calendar for May 1, 2011 reads "5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick."[^4] On November 20, 2012, Groff wrote to Lutnick: "Jeffrey Epstein understands you will be down in St. Thomas some over the holidays," passing on Epstein's telephone numbers and naming as contacts the staff of his St. Thomas office, "FTC," the [[Financial Trust Company]]. Calendar alerts of December 20 and 21, 2012 read "can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE's island?" and "can Howard Lutnick do lunch on Sat. 22nd or Sun. 23rd?"[^5] In December 2012 Lutnick, his wife, and their four children planned a visit to Little St. James, and Lutnick was invited to lunch there on December 24, 2012; afterward Epstein's assistant wrote to Lutnick on Epstein's behalf, "it was nice seeing you."[^1]
On December 28, 2012, four days after the lunch, Lutnick and Epstein each signed, on behalf of limited liability companies, a contract to acquire stakes in Adfin, an advertising-technology company since shut down. Epstein signed for [[Southern Trust Company]], Inc., the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] entity through which he conducted much of his business; Lutnick signed for an LLC named CVAFH I. Their signatures appear on neighboring pages, and the document lists nine shareholders.[^1] A person close to Lutnick told CBS News that "Cantor was a small minority investor in Adfin" and that Lutnick "would not have any knowledge of who the other investors were."[^1] Adfin correspondence continued into 2014, when the shareholder David Mitchell wrote to Epstein about further fundraising involving Cantor Ventures.[^1]
On January 8, 2013, eleven days after the signing, Epstein had his assistant forward Lutnick a document concerning casino legislation in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein kept his island and a range of business interests. A Lutnick spokesperson said he "ignored the document sent to him."[^1] In 2017 Epstein agreed to give 50,000 dollars to a dinner honoring Lutnick organized in part by the hedge-fund manager [[John Paulson]]; Epstein wrote to Paulson, "hope pr is ok," and declined the table his donation bought, telling Paulson that Lutnick could fill the seats.[^1]
### The 2020 FBI Complaint
On October 14, 2020, a caller who described himself as a former compliance employee of BGC and Cantor Fitzgerald, responsible for "reviewing, reporting, and compliance for all of North America," telephoned the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s National Threat Operations Center to report alleged money laundering by Lutnick "via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald." The FBI recorded the call on an FD-71A Guardian complaint form dated April 23, 2021, filed under a money-laundering zero file and under case 50D-NY-3027571, "EPSTEIN, JEFFREY; CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING."[^6]
The caller said he had become a whistleblower after uncovering "fraud, money laundering, Ponzi schemes, and regulatory breaches," described a "global Ponzi share" scheme in which more than 3,500 BGC employees were "forced to contribute 10% of their earnings," and said Lutnick "is deeply rooted to the royal family" and used his charities as a "smokescreen." He said he believed he had documents "which could link Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell": that [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] and [[Sarah Ferguson]] hosted "La Dolce Vita Parties" to which Lutnick made "huge donations," and that "Epstein also sold Lutnick a house for $10 dollars through a trust fund, which was then sold for millions shortly after prior to the money going overseas." He called Lutnick's gifts to [[Haverford College]] suspicious but "cannot prove any illegal activity concerning this aspect."[^6] The recorded conveyance of 11 East 71st Street ran from Epstein to Comet Trust in 1996 and from Comet Trust to Lutnick in 1998.[^1]
The FBI's own queries found that Sentinel and Guardian searches for Lutnick "revealed 26 results in the NY division case files," including a restricted closed case "concerning money laundering" and a control file "concerning a RICO violations/real estate scheme," and that a DIVS query "revealed 34 results, including three SAR's." The form notes: "Queries were not conducted on Epstein and Maxwell due to the sensitive nature of the case."[^6] No charge against Lutnick has been reported, and the Commerce Department has said he "has never been accused of wrongdoing."[^1]
### Senate and House Questioning
At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on February 10, 2026, Lutnick acknowledged the 2012 island visit, saying, "My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies," and that after first meeting Epstein as a neighbor, "Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall."[^3] Senator [[Chris Van Hollen]], the subcommittee's ranking member, told him that "the issue is not that you engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, but that you totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship with him to the Congress, to the American people, and to the survivors of his despicable criminal and predatory acts."[^3] Senator [[Jeff Merkley]] listed eight interactions in the files after 2005, including a possible telephone call and an effort to schedule drinks, and said the planned family trip "sounds like somebody you know well enough to call up."[^3] Senator [[Jacky Rosen]] called the same day for his resignation, saying he had "clearly misled the American people."[^7] Representative [[Robert Garcia]], ranking member of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]], said: "He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together."[^1]
The Commerce Department's statement called the reporting "nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration's accomplishments" and said that "Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing."[^1] In a closed-door House Oversight interview whose transcript was released in May 2026, Lutnick said he had "no recollection of anything being discussed" on the island, adding, "If you said chitchat, I'd go with that," and "'Discussed' sounds like there was like a discussion, which I don't think there was."[^8] He remained in office.
### Footnotes
[^1]: Ruetenik, Daniel, and Graham Kates. "Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show." *CBS News,* updated February 7, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-in-business-together/
[^2]: U.S. Department of Commerce, leadership biography of Howard Lutnick. https://www.commerce.gov/about/leadership/howard-lutnick
[^3]: "Under fire for Epstein ties, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defends visiting his private island." *NBC News,* February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-island-rcna258333
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00654552, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein, April 4, 2011; EFTA01868626, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Howard Lutnick Sunday 5pm," April 27, 2011; EFTA02189429, DataSet 10, calendar alarm "5:00 Drinks w/Howard Lutnick," May 1, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00654552.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01868626.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02189429.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00401048, DataSet 9, email from Lesley Groff to Howard Lutnick, November 20, 2012; EFTA02152992, DataSet 10, calendar alert, December 20, 2012; EFTA02152944, DataSet 10, calendar alert, December 21, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00401048.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152992.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02152944.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01249210, DataSet 9, FBI FD-71A Guardian Complaint Form, "Alleged Money Laundering by Howard Lutnick via BGC Financial and Cantor Fitzgerald," April 23, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01249210.pdf
[^7]: Office of Senator Jacky Rosen, press release calling for Lutnick's resignation, February 10, 2026. https://www.rosen.senate.gov/2026/02/10/after-secretary-of-commerce-howard-lutnick-admits-to-visiting-jeffrey-epsteins-island-in-2012-rosen-calls-for-his-resignation/
[^8]: *MS NOW,* May 2026, on the released transcript of Lutnick's House Oversight interview. https://www.ms.now/news/howard-lutnick-minimizes-epstein-island-visit-in-newly-released-testimony-transcript

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---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- VirginIslands
- Governor
- JeffreyEpstein
- Embezzlement
- GovernmentCapture
- EconomicDevelopmentCommission
alias:
- John de Jongh Jr.
- John P. de Jongh
- John P. de Jongh Jr.
- John deJongh
- John deJongh Jr.
- John DeJongh
- Governor John de Jongh
summary: "John de Jongh Jr. was the two-term governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015, whose wife managed Jeffrey Epstein's territorial office and whose 2015 embezzlement prosecution ended in a settlement."
location: "Estate Mafolie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]"
start: 2007-01
end: 2015-01-05
role: "governor"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Cecile de Jongh]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 7
- type: appointed
with: "[[Albert Bryan]]"
start: 2007-05-03
end: 2015-01-05
role: "Commissioner of Labor"
fn: 5
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Claude Walker]]"
reverse: true
start: 2015-08-18
end: 2016-01-22
role: "acting attorney general, embezzlement charges dismissed with prejudice"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
John P. de Jongh Jr. was the governor of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] for two terms, from 2007 to January 2015. Throughout both terms his wife, [[Cecile de Jongh]], was office manager of [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] territorial companies, [[Financial Trust Company]] and [[Southern Trust Company]], which held tax-incentive certificates from the [[Economic Development Commission]]; he and his Commissioner of Labor, [[Albert Bryan]], who chaired that commission, both signed off on an extension of Southern Trust's benefits. In August 2015 the administration of his successor, [[Kenneth Mapp]], had him arrested on territorial embezzlement charges over about 490,000 dollars in public highway funds spent on security at his private home; the charges were dismissed with prejudice in January 2016 after he paid 380,000 dollars.[^1][^2][^3]
### Governor, 2007 to 2015
De Jongh took office in 2007 and declined to move into the governor's official residence at Estate Catherineberg, remaining at his private house at Estate Mafolie on [[St. Thomas]]. He said renovating Catherineberg for a family would have required more than a year of work at an estimated cost above 1.5 million dollars plus 80,000 dollars a year in housing expenses. He appointed Bryan Commissioner of Labor on May 3, 2007, and Bryan served through the end of his administration. De Jongh defeated Mapp in the 2010 election for a second term.[^1][^2][^4][^5][^6]
### Epstein and the First Lady
Cecile de Jongh drew her salary from Epstein's companies while serving as First Lady, earning more than 200,000 dollars in 2007, the year her husband took office; the employment was reported in 2012. That year a Washington reporter asked Government House whether she had helped Financial Trust obtain its tax benefits. She drafted a response for Epstein stating that she worked "in the capacity of office manager" and "had nothing to do with Financial Trust Company receiving EDC tax benefits"; when Epstein suggested simply stating that she was an office manager, she replied, "That's what John went with." [[JPMorgan Chase]] later alleged in court that Epstein paid tuition for the couple's children and that she asked him to help fund her husband's re-election.[^7][^8][^9]
The Economic Development Commission certificate for Southern Trust, signed by Bryan as chairman, is dated January 24, 2014. That day Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to match 15,000 dollars she had raised for "John's final State of the Territory reception," writing that "John and I will cover the balance," and an hour later asked Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] to prepare a 15,000 dollar check "payable to Governor's Special Events Fund." Bryan and de Jongh both signed off on an extension of Epstein's Southern Trust benefits.[^3][^10]
Registered sex offenders in the territory must generally give 21 days' notice of travel. A prior Attorney General, [[Vincent Frazer]], had allowed Epstein to give 24 hours' notice. The later Attorney General [[Denise George]] told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] in 2023 that she "believed that Frazer was pressured by then Governor John De Jongh." The arrangement was rescinded in March 2019.[^3][^9]
### The Mafolie Prosecution
Beginning in 2007 the Department of Public Works spent more than 490,000 dollars on a fence, a guardhouse, and a camera system at the Mafolie house, after obtaining an opinion from the territorial Attorney General's office that the work was permissible if it served the public interest. In 2010 the [[Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of the Interior|U.S. Interior Department Inspector General]] concluded that the renovations "usurped the Legislature's authority to determine how to spend public funds" and that the money should be returned. In April 2015, after leaving office, de Jongh paid the Department of Property and Procurement 202,832.60 dollars, which he said was the appraised fair-market value of the improvements; in May the Mapp administration's Acting Attorney General [[Terri Griffiths]] returned the payment as less than the 497,000.25 dollars the Inspector General had found owed.[^1][^2][^4]
On August 18, 2015, Acting Attorney General [[Claude Walker]] announced the arrest of de Jongh and [[Julito Francis]], former director of the [[Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority]], on two counts each of embezzlement of public monies and neglecting to pay over public monies, alleging that between April 2007 and January 2009 they "acted in concert" to convert 490,000 dollars of highway funds to improvements at the governor's private residence "without authority of law." The arrest was carried out solely by the territorial Department of Justice; asked why federal authorities were not involved, Walker did not have an answer. De Jongh pleaded not guilty on September 3, 2015, saying every step "was taken with full transparency and in adherence to standard government procedures on procurement."[^1][^4]
In a November 2015 motion to dismiss, his attorneys called the case "a politically-driven, poorly conceived vendetta initiated by the current governor, whom Governor de Jongh defeated handily in his last reelection campaign in 2010," and "a disgrace both upon the Virgin Islands Department of Justice and the Governor's Office," contrasting it with Mapp's own spending on hotel suites, limousines, and a personal chef. In January 2016 the charges were dismissed with prejudice after de Jongh paid the government 380,000 dollars. "I would like to thank our community for the heartfelt support that has been expressed to me and my family during this period," he said.[^2][^6]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Governor John P. de Jongh Arrested By DOJ Officials." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* August 18, 2015. https://viconsortium.com/vi-world/governor-john-p-de-jongh-arrested-being-processed-at-district-court (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=27084).
[^2]: "DOJ Drops Charges Against Former Governor De Jongh After $380,000 Settlement." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* January 22, 2016. https://viconsortium.com/vi-vic_news/doj-drops-charges-against-former-governor-de-jongh-with-prejudice-after-380000-settlement (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=33926).
[^3]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (Cecile de Jongh's employment throughout her husband's tenure; Frazer waiver; George's FBI account; extension of Southern Trust benefits signed off by Bryan and de Jongh).
[^4]: "De Jong Pleads Not Guilty In Superior Court, Says He Believes In 'Just And Proper' Outcome." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* September 3, 2015. https://viconsortium.com/vi-vic_news/de-jong-pleads-not-guilty-in-superior-court-says-he-believes-in-just-and-proper-outcome (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=27962).
[^5]: "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 (Bryan as Commissioner of Labor under de Jongh, May 3, 2007 to January 5, 2015).
[^6]: "De Jongh Attorneys Slam Mapp And Walker; Call Case Against Former Governor Sham, Disgrace And Poltically-Driven." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* November 4, 2015. https://viconsortium.com/vi-government/de-jongh-attorneys-slam-mapp-administration-says-case-against-former-governor-is-sham-disgrace-and-poltically-driven (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=30871).
[^7]: "Virgin Islands governor's wife employed by convicted sex-offender billionaire." *The Daily Caller,* April 22, 2012. https://dailycaller.com/2012/04/22/virgin-islands-governors-wife-employed-by-convicted-sex-offender-billionaire/
[^8]: 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
[^9]: "JPMorgan alleges wife of U.S. Virgin Islands' ex-governor aided Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activity." *NBC News,* May 24, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jpmorgan-alleges-ex-virgin-islands-first-lady-aided-jeffrey-epstein-rcna86365 ; "JPMorgan Chase says Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for kids of U.S. Virgin Islands governor." *CNBC,* May 25, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/25/jpmorgan-jeffrey-epstein-paid-tuition-for-kids-of-virgin-islands-governor.html
[^10]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/

48
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Joi Ito.md
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@ -11,37 +11,65 @@ tags:
- 2015Dinner - 2015Dinner
alias: alias:
- Joichi Ito - Joichi Ito
summary: "Joi Ito is a Japanese-American venture capitalist and former director of the MIT Media Lab who resigned in September 2019 after Ronan Farrow's New Yorker reporting documented that the Media Lab had a deeper financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than previously disclosed, and who attended the 2015 Epstein dinner alongside Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, and Mark Zuckerberg." summary: "Joi Ito is a Japanese venture capitalist who directed the MIT Media Lab from 2011 until resigning in September 2019 after Ronan Farrow reported that he solicited and concealed Jeffrey Epstein's donations."
born: 1966-06-19 born: 1966-06-19
location: "Kyoto, Japan (born)" location: "Kyoto, Japan (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-09-22 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "investments in Ito ventures: 250,000 dollars in an MIT spinout and 1 million dollars in a 9 million dollar Ito fund; Ito disclosed 1.2 million dollars on 2019-09-04"
fn: 6
--- ---
Joi Ito (born Joichi Ito, June 19, 1966, in [[Kyoto]], [[Japan]]) is a Japanese-American venture capitalist and technology advocate who served as director of the [[MIT Media Lab|MIT Media Lab]] from 2011 until his September 2019 resignation. [[Ronan Farrow]]'s *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* reporting (September 2019) documented that the Media Lab had a deeper financial relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] than previously disclosed, including Epstein-directed donations that Ito had personally solicited and attempted to conceal. Ito attended the 2015 Epstein dinner (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) alongside [[Peter Thiel]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Reid Hoffman]], and [[Mark Zuckerberg]]. Hoffman participated in the Epstein image-rehabilitation effort through Ito's introductions.[^1][^2][^3] Joi Ito (born Joichi Ito, June 19, 1966, in [[Kyoto]], [[Japan]]) is a Japanese-American venture capitalist and technology advocate who served as director of the [[MIT Media Lab|MIT Media Lab]] from 2011 until his September 2019 resignation. [[Ronan Farrow]]'s *[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]* reporting (September 2019) documented that the Media Lab had a deeper financial relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] than previously disclosed, including Epstein-directed donations that Ito had personally solicited and attempted to conceal. Ito attended the 2015 Epstein dinner (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) alongside [[Peter Thiel]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Reid Hoffman]], and [[Mark Zuckerberg]]. Hoffman participated in the Epstein image-rehabilitation effort through Ito's introductions.[^1][^2][^3]
### The MIT Media Lab and the Epstein Funding ### The MIT Media Lab and the Epstein Funding
Ito became director of the MIT Media Lab in 2011. The Media Lab is the interdisciplinary research laboratory at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] known for its experimental work at the intersection of technology, media, and design. Ito's tenure was characterized by aggressive fundraising from technology-industry donors and by the expansion of the Lab's corporate-sponsorship model. The Epstein funding was part of this expansion: Epstein directed donations to the Media Lab through a structure designed to conceal the source, and Ito personally solicited additional Epstein-directed funds.[^1][^2] Ito became director of the MIT Media Lab in 2011. The Media Lab is the interdisciplinary research laboratory at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] known for its experimental work at the intersection of technology, media, and design. Epstein made six donations to the lab between 2013 and 2017, totaling 525,000 dollars, which MIT recorded as anonymous, and internal emails credited him with directing at least 7.5 million dollars more from [[Bill Gates]] and [[Leon Black]]; Ito personally solicited Epstein money and instructed staff to record it as anonymous.[^1][^4]
Farrow's *New Yorker* piece (September 6, 2019), titled "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," documented that the Media Lab's relationship with Epstein was more extensive than MIT had publicly acknowledged, that Ito had accepted Epstein-directed donations after the 2008 conviction, and that the Lab had taken steps to keep the relationship from becoming public. The reporting was based on internal Media Lab documents obtained by *The New Yorker.* Ito resigned the same week.[^1] Farrow's *New Yorker* piece (September 6, 2019), titled "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein," documented that the Media Lab's relationship with Epstein was more extensive than MIT had publicly acknowledged, that Ito had accepted Epstein-directed donations after the 2008 conviction, and that the Lab had taken steps to keep the relationship from becoming public. The reporting was based on internal Media Lab documents obtained by *The New Yorker.* Ito resigned the same week.[^1]
### The Image-Rehabilitation Channel and the Hoffman Connection ### The Image-Rehabilitation Channel and the Hoffman Connection
The Ito-Epstein channel functioned as the conduit through which Reid Hoffman participated in the post-conviction Epstein image-rehabilitation effort. [[Axios|Axios]] reported in September 2019 that Hoffman apologized for his role in helping repair Epstein's public image, specifically for introductions Hoffman facilitated related to Epstein's MIT donations through Ito. The effort included an August 2015 dinner that Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]] (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564), ostensibly to raise money for the Media Lab, whose guest list included Ito, Thiel, Musk, Zuckerberg, and Epstein. Epstein described the gathering in an August 20, 2015 email to [[Tom Pritzker]], writing "i had dinner with zuckerburg, mu=k, thiel hoffman, wild."[^2][^3][^4] The Ito-Epstein channel functioned as the conduit through which Reid Hoffman participated in the post-conviction Epstein image-rehabilitation effort. [[Axios|Axios]] reported in September 2019 that Hoffman apologized for his role in helping repair Epstein's public image, specifically for introductions Hoffman facilitated related to Epstein's MIT donations through Ito. The effort included an August 2015 dinner that Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]] (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564), ostensibly to raise money for the Media Lab, whose guest list included Ito, Thiel, Musk, Zuckerberg, and Epstein. Epstein described the gathering in an August 20, 2015 email to [[Tom Pritzker]], writing "i had dinner with zuckerburg, mu=k, thiel hoffman, wild."[^2][^3][^5]
Epstein's donations to the Media Lab were directed through intermediaries and through structures designed to obscure the source. *The New Yorker* reporting documented that Ito had personally solicited additional Epstein-directed funds after the 2008 conviction and that the Lab had marked Epstein's contributions in its internal records with designations intended to keep the relationship from becoming public. The internal Media Lab documents obtained by *The New Yorker* included emails in which Ito and other Media Lab staff discussed how to process Epstein-directed funds without triggering disclosure requirements.[^1][^5] Epstein's donations to the Media Lab were directed through intermediaries and through structures designed to obscure the source. *The New Yorker* reporting documented that Ito had personally solicited additional Epstein-directed funds after the 2008 conviction and that the Lab had marked Epstein's contributions in its internal records with designations intended to keep the relationship from becoming public. The internal Media Lab documents obtained by *The New Yorker* included emails in which Ito and other Media Lab staff discussed how to process Epstein-directed funds without triggering disclosure requirements.[^1][^4]
### The Resignation and the Aftermath ### The Resignation and the Aftermath
Ito resigned from the MIT Media Lab on September 7, 2019, one day after the *New Yorker* reporting. MIT initiated an independent investigation conducted by the law firm [[Goodwin Procter|Goodwin Procter]], which produced a report documenting the extent of the Media Lab's Epstein relationship and the institutional failures that permitted it. The Goodwin Procter investigation foundund that Epstein made ten donations to MIT totaling 850,000 dollars between 2002 and 2017, nine of them, 750,000 dollars, after his 2008 conviction and 525,000 dollars of those to the Media Lab; that the post-conviction gifts were driven by Ito or by Professor Seth Lloyd; that three members of MIT's senior team approved them in 2013 knowing of Epstein's record; and that President L. Rafael Reif "was not contemporaneously aware of Epstein's donations."[^5] Ito resigned from the MIT Media Lab on September 7, 2019, one day after the *New Yorker* reporting. MIT initiated an independent investigation conducted by the law firm [[Goodwin Procter|Goodwin Procter]], which produced a report documenting the extent of the Media Lab's Epstein relationship and the institutional failures that permitted it. The Goodwin Procter investigation found that Epstein made ten donations to MIT totaling 850,000 dollars between 2002 and 2017, nine of them, 750,000 dollars, after his 2008 conviction and 525,000 dollars of those to the Media Lab; that the post-conviction gifts were driven by Ito or by Professor Seth Lloyd; that three members of MIT's senior team approved them in 2013 knowing of Epstein's record; and that President L. Rafael Reif "was not contemporaneously aware of Epstein's donations."[^4]
Ito also resigned from positions at the [[John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation|MacArthur Foundation]], the [[John S. and James L. Knight Foundation|Knight Foundation]], the [[Knight-Hennessy Scholars|Knight-Hennessy Scholars]] program, and the [[New York Times Company|New York Times Company]] board. The resignations terminated Ito's positions across the philanthropic, media, and academic institutions that his Epstein relationship had damaged. The MIT Media Lab subsequently reformed its donor-acceptance policies to prohibit anonymous donations and to require enhanced due diligence on donors with criminal records.[^1][^5] Ito also resigned from positions at the [[John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation|MacArthur Foundation]], the [[John S. and James L. Knight Foundation|Knight Foundation]], the [[Knight-Hennessy Scholars|Knight-Hennessy Scholars]] program, and the [[New York Times Company|New York Times Company]] board. The MIT Media Lab subsequently reformed its donor-acceptance policies to prohibit anonymous donations and to require enhanced due diligence on donors with criminal records.[^1][^4]
### Due Diligence and Cultivation
Ito met Epstein at the [[TED Conference]] in February 2013 through [[Linda Stone]], a former member of the Media Lab's advisory council. Asking Stone about "public perception issues," he wrote that "Nicholas [Negroponte] and I talked about 'figuring it out' if he decides that he wants to give 'real money'" and that "people in my office are a bit weirded out." Stone advised him to "[f]ocus on his funding of Harvard, scientists, over many years"; she later told investigators that Epstein had insisted to her he was "wrongfully convicted" and had passed a lie-detector test. Ito told the investigators he took that advice and was persuaded by Epstein's high-profile connections, who vouched for him. In a June 2013 email to staff who objected, Ito wrote, "I find him very smart and interesting and excited about our work."[^6][^7]
From 2013 to 2018 Ito pitched Epstein on progressively larger gifts: in August 2013 a center for the study of "deceptive design" in evolutionary biology, in February 2016 an endowed chair named for [[Marvin Minsky]] costing several million dollars, in April 2016 a 12 million dollar fellowship program in "antidisciplinary science," and in 2018 1.5 million dollars for research by the Media Lab scientist [[Caleb Harper]]. None was made; Epstein never gave more than 150,000 dollars at a time. When the lab's development director raised the allegation in January 2015 that Epstein had forced an underage girl to have sex with [[Prince Andrew]], Ito replied: "I'm talking to [Epstein] about this. I'd rather not discuss over email, but it's possible, not likely, but possible that in the end, all of this new stuff will help clear him." He also strategized with Epstein about how to "mollify the bad press" after articles on a civil suit by Epstein's victims. In December 2017, answering another staff complaint, Ito wrote that Negroponte "agrees that we should treat Jeffrey with respect."[^6]
Ito proposed in February 2016 that Epstein attend the memorial for Minsky and suggested getting him "a private room at the Lab where he can 'hold court'"; after discussion with Minsky's family Epstein stayed in Ito's office and did not attend the event. On November 3, 2016, without disclosing Epstein's existing anonymous gifts, Ito asked the chairman of MIT's Executive Committee, [[Robert Millard]], "Can you help me figure out how to get money from JE?" Millard declined Epstein's dinner invitation. [[George Church]]'s online calendar listed Ito as a guest at a meal with Epstein.[^6][^8]
### The Bin Sulayem Visit
Four weeks after the Millard email, Ito hosted a Cambridge visit arranged by Epstein for [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman of the Dubai state ports operator [[DP World]]. On November 29, 2016, Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to Ito: "I understand you and Sultan will be meeting with Jeffrey on Wed. Nov. 30th up at Harvard...can you please let me know your timing? Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito answered: "Sultan will be with me at the Media Lab. I can take Sultan to Martin's place. What time? Jeffrey originally told me that he was going to drop by the Media Lab at 11AM and then leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM." He added that he was "locking in a bunch of meetings for Sultan at the Media Lab from 9:30AM-11AM (and we could use a bit more time too if Jeffrey isn't going to be in Boston yet)" and asked Groff for "the specifics of Jeffrey's plan." Bin Sulayem's assistant, one of two DP World employees "with the Chairman's office" travelling with him, wrote that he would stay at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge. Ito's office told Groff that Ito planned to leave the lab with the party "around 11am to head to the Harvard," to the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] of [[Martin Nowak]].[^9]
### The Personal Investments
Epstein also put money into Ito's private ventures: 250,000 dollars in a company formed to commercialize technology developed at MIT and 1 million dollars in a 9 million dollar private investment fund Ito managed. In January 2018 Ito asked Epstein to invest 5 million to 15 million dollars in a further non-MIT fund; Epstein did not. Ito told the investigators the two investments were held in "escrow" while he tried to "eject" Epstein's money.[^6]
On August 15, 2019, Ito posted an apology on the lab's website: "I met Epstein in 2013 at a conference through a trusted business friend and, in my fundraising efforts for MIT Media Lab, I invited him to the Lab and visited several of his residences." He pledged to raise an amount equal to the lab's Epstein donations for survivors' groups and to "return the money that Epstein has invested in my investment funds." His public account said that "the Lab has received money through some of the foundations that he controlled." On Wednesday, September 4, 2019, Ito disclosed that he had received 1.2 million dollars from Epstein for investment funds under his control, in addition to the 525,000 dollars given to the lab. Two days later *The New Yorker* published the internal emails in which Ito solicited Epstein money ("Could you re-up/top-off with another $100K so we can extend his contract another year?") and directed that it be recorded as anonymous ("Make sure this gets accounted for as anonymous"). Ito did not respond to Farrow's requests for comment and resigned on September 7.[^1][^8]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019. [^1]: Farrow, Ronan. "How an Elite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein." *The New Yorker,* September 6, 2019, on the directed gifts, the "re-up/top-off" and "anonymous" emails, Ito's September 4 disclosure of 1.2 million dollars, and his non-response. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^2]: "Mark Zuckerberg's 'Wild' Dinner With Epstein Revealed in Files." *The Daily Beast,* 2026, documenting the August 2015 Palo Alto dinner (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) attended by Thiel, Musk, Hoffman, Zuckerberg, and Ito. https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-zuckerbergs-wild-dinner-with-epstein-revealed-in-files/ [^2]: "Mark Zuckerberg's 'Wild' Dinner With Epstein Revealed in Files." *The Daily Beast,* 2026, documenting the August 2015 Palo Alto dinner (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) attended by Thiel, Musk, Hoffman, Zuckerberg, and Ito. https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-zuckerbergs-wild-dinner-with-epstein-revealed-in-files/
[^3]: "Exclusive: Reid Hoffman apologizes for role in Epstein-linked donations." *Axios,* September 12, 2019. https://www.axios.com/2019/09/12/reid-hoffman-jeffrey-epstein-mit-donations [^3]: "Exclusive: Reid Hoffman apologizes for role in Epstein-linked donations." *Axios,* September 12, 2019. https://www.axios.com/2019/09/12/reid-hoffman-jeffrey-epstein-mit-donations
[^4]: "Exclusive: Reid Hoffman apologizes for role in Epstein-linked donations to MIT." *Axios,* September 12, 2019. https://www.axios.com/2019/09/12/reid-hoffman-jeffrey-epstein-mit-donations [^4]: "MIT releases results of fact-finding on engagements with Jeffrey Epstein." *MIT News,* January 10, 2020, releasing the Goodwin Procter report (donations totaling 850,000 dollars across 2002-2017). https://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-releases-results-fact-finding-report-jeffrey-epstein-0110 ; "Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." Goodwin Procter LLP, January 2020. https://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf
[^5]: "MIT releases results of fact-finding on engagements with Jeffrey Epstein." *MIT News,* January 10, 2020, releasing the Goodwin Procter report (donations totaling 850,000 dollars across 2002-2017). https://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-releases-results-fact-finding-report-jeffrey-epstein-0110 ; "Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." Goodwin Procter LLP, January 2020. https://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf [^5]: "Exclusive: Reid Hoffman apologizes for role in Epstein-linked donations to MIT." *Axios,* September 12, 2019. https://www.axios.com/2019/09/12/reid-hoffman-jeffrey-epstein-mit-donations
[^6]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 17-18 and nn. 19-21, 40-41, 50, on Stone's advice, Ito's June 2013 email, the larger pitches, the January 2015 exchange, "mollify the bad press," the December 2017 email, Ito's personal ventures, the Minsky memorial and the Millard email. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^7]: Goodwin Procter LLP, *Report,* January 10, 2020, p. 10, on Stone's introduction of Ito to Epstein at TED in February 2013. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^8]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Church's calendar entry and Ito's August 15, 2019 apology. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, the MIT Media Lab director's office and DP World staff, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf

2
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Jonathan Levin.md
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@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Thiel took a bachelor of arts in philosophy at Stanford in 1989 and a JD from St
[[Rene Girard|René Girard]], the Andrew B. Hammond Professor of French Language, Literature, and Civilization, taught at Stanford, and Thiel took his courses as an undergraduate in the late 1980s; Girard's mimetic theory became foundational to Thiel's worldview, and Thiel spoke at Girard's memorial after his death in November 2015. [[Alex Karp|Alex Karp]], Thiel's [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]] cofounder, took his JD at Stanford Law in the same 1992 class as Thiel, where the two met, though Karp's undergraduate degree is from Haverford College and his doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt. [[Reid Hoffman|Reid Hoffman]] met Thiel as a Stanford undergraduate, where he studied symbolic systems before taking a philosophy degree at Oxford. The [[Hoover Institution|Hoover Institution]] fellow and former Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson, who hosts the program *Uncommon Knowledge,* has interviewed Thiel within the same conservative-Stanford orbit.[^10][^11][^12] [[Rene Girard|René Girard]], the Andrew B. Hammond Professor of French Language, Literature, and Civilization, taught at Stanford, and Thiel took his courses as an undergraduate in the late 1980s; Girard's mimetic theory became foundational to Thiel's worldview, and Thiel spoke at Girard's memorial after his death in November 2015. [[Alex Karp|Alex Karp]], Thiel's [[Palantir Technologies|Palantir]] cofounder, took his JD at Stanford Law in the same 1992 class as Thiel, where the two met, though Karp's undergraduate degree is from Haverford College and his doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt. [[Reid Hoffman|Reid Hoffman]] met Thiel as a Stanford undergraduate, where he studied symbolic systems before taking a philosophy degree at Oxford. The [[Hoover Institution|Hoover Institution]] fellow and former Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson, who hosts the program *Uncommon Knowledge,* has interviewed Thiel within the same conservative-Stanford orbit.[^10][^11][^12]
The network continued to operate through Stanford institutions during Levin's tenure as dean. In January 2018 the Stanford "Cardinal Conversations" series opened with an event titled "Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel on Technology and Politics," moderated by [[Niall Ferguson|Niall Ferguson]] under the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute. The *Stanford Daily* reported that an invitation found in the Epstein files indicates Levin attended Dialog's 2013 retreat, more than a decade before the 2026 leak.[^12][^13] The network continued to operate through Stanford institutions during Levin's tenure as dean. In January 2018 the Stanford "Cardinal Conversations" series opened with an event titled "Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel on Technology and Politics," moderated by [[Niall Ferguson|Niall Ferguson]] under the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute. The *Stanford Daily* reported that an invitation found in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] indicates Levin attended Dialog's 2013 retreat, more than a decade before the 2026 leak.[^12][^13]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes

77
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Kenneth Marra.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- KennethMarra
- FederalJudge
- JeffreyEpstein
- CrimeVictimsRightsAct
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Chiquita
alias:
- Kenneth A. Marra
- Judge Kenneth Marra
- Judge Marra
summary: "Kenneth Marra is a U.S. district judge in West Palm Beach, appointed in 2002, who presided over the Epstein victims' Crime Victims' Rights Act case and the Chiquita paramilitary-financing litigation."
born: 1951
location: "Queens, New York (born)"
relations:
- type: appointed
with: "[[George W. Bush]]"
reverse: true
role: "U.S. District Judge, Southern District of Florida"
start: 2002-09-13
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
role: "attorney"
start: 1977
end: 1980
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Doe v. United States]]"
role: "presiding judge"
start: 2008-07-07
end: 2019-09-16
fn: 2
- type: participant_in
with: "[[In re Chiquita Brands International]]"
role: "presiding judge"
start: 2008
fn: 8
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Kenneth A. Marra (born 1951) is a senior United States district judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]], sitting in [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]]. Appointed by President [[George W. Bush]] in 2002, he presided from 2008 to 2019 over [[Doe v. United States]], the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] case brought by victims of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], in which he held in February 2019 that federal prosecutors had violated the Act by concealing the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]. He also presided over the multidistrict litigation against [[Chiquita Brands International]] over its payments to Colombian paramilitaries.[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Marra was born in Queens, New York, graduated from the [[State University of New York at Stony Brook]] in 1973, and received his law degree from [[Stetson University College of Law]] in 1977. He was an attorney with the [[Department of Justice]] from 1977 to 1980 and practiced privately in [[Washington, D.C.]], from 1980 to 1983 and in Florida from 1984 to 1996. From 1996 to 2002 he was a judge of Florida's 15th Judicial Circuit Court in [[Palm Beach County]], the circuit whose State Attorney in those years was [[Barry Krischer]].[^1][^4]
Bush nominated Marra to the federal bench on January 23, 2002. The Senate confirmed him on September 9, 2002 and he received his commission on September 13, 2002. He assumed senior status on August 1, 2017, and his seat was filled in November 2020 by [[Aileen Cannon]].[^1]
### The Epstein Cases
Marra presided over the Crime Victims' Rights Act petition filed on July 7, 2008 by the victim then known as Jane Doe 1, later identified as [[Courtney Wild]], and over a separate civil suit by another Jane Doe against Epstein, No. 9:08-cv-80893, which ran from 2008 to 2010. In the petition case he denied the government's July 2008 motion to seal its own response, ordered the government in August 2008 to produce the non-prosecution agreement to the petitioners under a protective order, and in February 2009 denied their motion to unseal it. The case was administratively closed in September 2010, and after Marra issued an order to show cause for lack of prosecution it was reopened in October 2010.[^2][^5]
In a 2011 ruling Marra held that rights under the Act attach before the government files formal charges, and in 2013 that the Act authorizes the rescission of a prosecutorial agreement, including a non-prosecution agreement, reached in violation of the conferral right. In April 2015 he struck from the record the allegations in a December 2014 filing that Epstein had trafficked a victim to [[Alan Dershowitz]] and others, describing them as "immaterial and impertinent" to the case.[^3][^6]
On February 21, 2019 he granted partial summary judgment for the petitioners. He wrote that "[p]articularly problematic was the Government's decision to conceal the existence of the NPA and mislead the victims to believe that federal prosecution was still a possibility," that "[w]hile the Government spent untold hours negotiating the terms and implications of the NPA with Epstein's attorneys, scant information was shared with victims," and that "[t]he Court is not ruling that the decision not to prosecute was improper." He rejected the government's argument that a 2015 amendment had excluded non-prosecution agreements from victims' rights, reasoning that "[o]nce a NPA is entered into without notice, the matter is closed and the victims have no opportunity to be heard regarding any aspect of the case."[^3]
After Epstein's death, Marra closed the case on September 16, 2019, denying the victims' requests to rescind the agreement, to compel a meeting with former U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]], to obtain grand jury and internal documents, and to impose sanctions or damages. He wrote that "[t]he Court has no jurisdiction over Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney, who is now a private citizen," and that "despite Petitioners having demonstrated the Government violated their rights under the CVRA, in the end they are not receiving much, if any, of the relief they sought." He said the rulings "likely played some role, however small it may have been, in the initiation of criminal charges against Mr. Epstein in the Southern District of New York." He also ordered unsealed the remedies briefing that had been filed under seal in December 2011.[^7]
### The Chiquita Litigation
Marra presided over [[In re Chiquita Brands International]], the consolidated suits by relatives of people killed by the [[United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]] (AUC), which Chiquita had admitted paying from 2001 to 2004 in a 2007 federal guilty plea that carried a 25 million dollar fine. In 2019 he ruled that the first bellwether plaintiffs lacked sufficient evidence to reach trial; the Eleventh Circuit reversed in September 2022. On June 10, 2024 a jury in his West Palm Beach courtroom found Chiquita liable for the deaths of eight men and awarded their families 38.3 million dollars. Chiquita said its payments had been extortion rather than collaboration and announced an appeal.[^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Federal Judicial Center, "Marra, Kenneth A.," Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/marra-kenneth
[^2]: Docket, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), entries 1, 11-14, 26, 28, 36, 38, 40, 44, CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
[^3]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 26-33 (Marra, J.), reported at 359 F. Supp. 3d 1201, citing *Does v. United States*, 817 F. Supp. 2d 1337 (S.D. Fla. 2011), and *Doe v. United States*, 950 F. Supp. 2d 1262 (S.D. Fla. 2013). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^4]: "Hon. Kenneth A. Marra '73, U.S. District Court Judge, West Palm Beach," *Stony Brook Matters,* Stony Brook University. https://sbmatters.stonybrook.edu/hon-kenneth-a-marra-73-u-s-district-court-judge-west-palm-beach-2/
[^5]: Docket, *Doe v. Epstein*, No. 9:08-cv-80893-KAM (S.D. Fla.), CourtListener docket 4586642. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4586642/doe-v-epstein/
[^6]: "Lawyers Call Sexual Misconduct Case Against Dershowitz 'A Mistake,'" *The Harvard Crimson,* April 11, 2016. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/4/11/lawyers-drop-dershowitz-case/
[^7]: Opinion and Order, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Sept. 16, 2019), ECF No. 478 (Marra, J.). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736/pdf/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736-2.pdf
[^8]: "Chiquita found liable for paramilitary killings in Colombia," *Courthouse News Service,* June 10, 2024. https://www.courthousenews.com/chiquita-found-liable-for-paramilitary-killings-in-colombia/ ; National Security Archive, "Chiquita Found Liable for Colombia Paramilitary Killings," June 10, 2024. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/colombia-chiquita-papers/2024-06-10/chiquita-found-liable-colombia-paramilitary-killings ; EarthRights International, "U.S. Court Orders Chiquita to Stand Trial for Colombians' Murder Claims." https://earthrights.org/media_release/u-s-court-orders-chiquita-to-stand-trial-for-colombians-murder-claims/

108
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Lawrence Krauss.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- LeonBlack
- ArizonaStateUniversity
- OriginsProject
- Physics
- SciencePhilanthropy
- SexualHarassment
alias:
- Lawrence Krauss
- Lawrence M. Krauss
- Krauss
summary: "Lawrence Krauss is a theoretical physicist who organized Jeffrey Epstein's 2006 Virgin Islands gravity conference, ran an Arizona State institute funded by Epstein and Leon Black, and retired after a 2018 harassment investigation."
born: 1954
location: "Tempe, Arizona"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Arizona State University]]"
role: "Foundation Professor; director, Origins Project"
start: 2008
end: 2019
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Case Western Reserve University]]"
role: "physics professor"
end: 2008
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Origins Project]]"
start: 2008
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "250,000 dollars to the Origins Project through Enhanced Education"
start: 2010-12
end: 2017-04
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
reverse: true
role: "2 million dollars in personal gifts with Debra Black to the Origins Project"
start: 2014
end: 2015
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Arizona State University]]"
reverse: true
role: "sexual-harassment investigation, Provost Mark Searle"
start: 2018
end: 2018-10-19
fn: 3
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Confronting Gravity]]"
role: "organizer of the Epstein-funded 2006 conference, St. Thomas"
start: 2006-03
fn: 1
---
Lawrence M. Krauss (born 1954) is an American-Canadian theoretical physicist and popular-science author who, while at [[Case Western Reserve University]], organized a 2006 physics conference in the [[United States Virgin Islands]] paid for by [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and who from 2008 ran the [[Origins Project]] at [[Arizona State University]], which took Epstein money from December 2010 to April 2017 and 2 million dollars from Epstein's client [[Leon Black]]. He publicly defended Epstein in 2011, consulted him in 2018 about how to answer sexual-misconduct allegations, and agreed that October to retire from Arizona State after the university substantiated several of them. Krauss denies harassing anyone.[^1][^2][^3]
### Physicist and Public Atheist
Krauss rose to prominence in the 1990s through popular books and lectures on physics and atheism, beginning with *The Physics of Star Trek* (1995) and later *A Universe from Nothing* (2012). He taught at Case Western Reserve before moving to Arizona State in 2008, where he founded the Origins Project to stage public events on "the origins of the universe, life, and social systems" with scientists, intellectuals and celebrities. The project relied heavily on donations from foundations and wealthy individuals. He was a contributor to [[John Brockman]]'s [[Edge Foundation|Edge]].[^1][^3][^4][^5]
### The 2006 Gravity Conference
In March 2006 Krauss convened "[[Confronting Gravity]]," a conference of about twenty physicists in [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Thomas]] funded by Epstein's foundation. Krauss had pitched it as "a small and rather exclusive workshop" with all expenses paid, naming as invitees [[Stephen Hawking]], the 2004 Nobel laureates [[David Gross]] and [[Frank Wilczek]], the 1999 laureate [[Gerard 't Hooft]] and [[Kip Thorne]]. "To get good people, you've got to have a hook," Krauss said in 2026. The announcement promised time to "relax on the beach, and take a trip to the nearby private island retreat of the science philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein." Epstein told the *St. Thomas Source* that "there is no agenda except fun and physics, and that's fun with a capital 'F.'" The physicists stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, and the program ended with a submarine dive for Hawking and a boat trip to a barbecue on [[Little St. James]], where a guide told them, "Don't go wandering off into the island."[^1]
[[Alan Guth]] of MIT recalled that "we probably never saw him without three or four young women." [[Jim Peebles]] recalled five to ten young women at a coffee break: "I can only tell you they were younger than the youngest women in our meeting. . . . Were they 15 or 30? I have no idea." Krauss told NPR the young women were Hawking's nurses. Palm Beach police were then completing their investigation of Epstein, who was indicted four months later. In a 2017 text Epstein wrote that when Hawking "came to my island. and said his dream was to go diving . . . i [duct-taped] his head to a high back chair and loaded him in a private sub, great fun," and he later listed the conference among his top five professional achievements. In 2012 someone whose name is redacted told Epstein they were "rehas[h]ing an article . . . on the gravity conference," and a press release on the six-year-old event followed the next month.[^1]
't Hooft told *[[BuzzFeed News]]* he had had no contact with Epstein since 2006; Wilczek said, "I did not receive financial support from Mr. Epstein. I did attend conferences and events which he financed in part." Epstein foundation websites nonetheless listed Wilczek as a funding recipient, and MIT's investigators found no such donation.[^6][^7]
### The Origins Project and the Black Money
Krauss said Epstein contacted him on his 2009 release from jail and told him the "experience had changed his view of the world, and he no longer wanted to make money. . . . He just wanted to support science." In late 2010 Krauss planned an Origins Project board meeting in the Virgin Islands for which [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] documents list Guth and the paleontologist [[Neil Shubin]] as expected attendees; it was called off, for reasons the documents do not state, after Epstein expressed disappointment with its organization. In 2011 Krauss told *[[The Daily Beast]]*: "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people. . . . I don't feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey. I feel raised by it."[^1][^6]
Records obtained by *BuzzFeed News* under Arizona's public records law show that Epstein's Virgin Islands foundation [[Enhanced Education]] paid the Origins Project 250,000 dollars between December 2010 and April 2017; Enhanced Education appears to have filed with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] only once, for 2002. The same records show 2 million dollars in personal gifts from Leon and [[Debra Black]] in 2014 and 2015, and one Origins accounting entry listing Epstein's employer as "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education." Epstein attended the project's fifth-anniversary gala in 2014, where he was photographed with Krauss and [[Steven Pinker]]. In February 2017 he appeared at a meal after an Origins workshop on [[artificial intelligence]]; [[Shahar Avin]] of Cambridge's [[Centre for the Study of Existential Risk]] recalled that "he showed up with two young East European-looking women," that Krauss introduced him only as "my friend Jeffrey," and that "we asked him who he was and he wouldn't say." Avin said Epstein made offensive remarks about race, intelligence and athletic ability. Between 2012 and 2017 Black paid Epstein about 158 million dollars for tax and estate-planning advice.[^2][^6][^8][^9]
### The Harassment Investigation
On February 22, 2018, *BuzzFeed News* published an account of more than a decade of sexual-misconduct allegations against Krauss, and Arizona State reopened an investigation. Provost [[Mark Searle]]'s findings, released under a public records request, substantiated that Krauss grabbed a woman's breast at a 2016 meeting in Australia, touched the thigh of the atheist activist [[Cristina Rad]] at a 2011 meeting in Switzerland, suggested a threesome to a woman discussing employment at the Origins Project, made negative comments about pregnancy and parental leave, looked a student worker up and down while commenting on her clothing, discussed strip clubs with staff, and showed staff nude fan photographs. Krauss admitted telling a female employee in 2012 that she should "take one for the team" and date a donor. Searle also found that Krauss and another staff member failed to report that a donor who had taken a romantic interest in an Origins employee sent her more than fifty messages after she asked him to stop. Searle wrote: "It is inconceivable how a faculty member in the course of carrying out his work responsibilities could believe that the conduct would ever be appropriate." The 33-page determinations letter and Krauss's retirement letter are posted on [[DocumentCloud]].[^3][^10]
A dean recommended Krauss's dismissal on October 8, 2018. On October 19 he agreed to retire, and his retirement took effect in 2019. Krauss told *BuzzFeed News* he had given the university "documentary evidence, including witness statements and photographs, that falsified claims and undermined the credibility of claimants," and stated publicly, "I have never harassed or assaulted anyone." His October 20 letter called *BuzzFeed News* an "online tabloid" and cited "violations of due process, disregard for evidence, discrimination, [and] bias."[^1][^3]
While the allegations were pending, Krauss exchanged dozens of messages and emails with Epstein seeking advice on how to respond. "This is your life and future. I would not be cavalier as you write," Epstein texted him. Krauss ended one exchange, "Thanks for everything Jeffrey." Krauss told NPR in 2026 that in fifteen years of friendship Epstein "not once . . . ever sa[id], 'Hey, I've got a young woman,'" and that "Jeffrey was interested in interesting people."[^1]
### After Arizona State
Arizona State closed the Origins Project in 2018 and converted it into the ASU Interplanetary Initiative. It returned 25,000 dollars in unspent funds to Enhanced Education and about 460,000 dollars to the Blacks at their request; spokesperson [[Katie Paquet]] said, "we believe we have been successful in closing all connections to Epstein and his affiliated entities." Krauss relaunched the Origins Project as an independent foundation, taking some staff, which said it "has not received donations from that individual or any of his charitable foundations." Arizona State first reported only the 250,000 dollars; the Black gifts surfaced in August 2019 through the accounting records.[^2][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026, on the Confronting Gravity conference, the invitees, Guth's and Peebles's recollections, Epstein's 2017 text, the 2012 press-release email, the canceled 2010 board meeting, Epstein's 2009 contact, and the 2018 Krauss and Epstein exchanges. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
[^2]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the Black gifts, the "Leon D. Black, Enhanced Education" accounting entry, the refunds, Paquet's statement, the 2014 gala, the February 2017 workshop, and the independent Origins Project Foundation. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^3]: Aldhous, Peter. "Documents Show That Arizona State Investigated A Slew Of Allegations Against Physicist Lawrence Krauss," *BuzzFeed News,* October 23, 2018, on Searle's findings, Krauss's responses, the October 19 retirement agreement and the October 20 letter. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/lawrence-krauss-sexual-harassment-report
[^4]: Krauss, Lawrence M. *The Physics of Star Trek.* Basic Books, 1995; Krauss, Lawrence M. *A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing.* Free Press, 2012.
[^5]: "About Edge," Edge.org, and Edge contributor listings including Krauss. https://www.edge.org/about-edge
[^6]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, updated July 13, 2019, on the 250,000 dollars obtained by public records request, Enhanced Education's single IRS filing, the 2011 Daily Beast quotations, and the statements of 't Hooft and Wilczek. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^7]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, p. 28 n. 29, on the Epstein foundation web page listing Wilczek and the absence of any such donation. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^8]: MacDonald-Evoy, Jerod. "ASU took more money from Epstein than previously reported," *Arizona Mirror,* August 27, 2019, on the accounting record listing Epstein's supervisor as Leon Black, the refunds, and the conversion of the project into the Interplanetary Initiative. https://azmirror.com/2019/08/27/asu-took-more-money-from-epstein-than-previously-reported/
[^9]: "Billionaire Leon Black made a $158 million payment to Jeffrey Epstein. Senators want to know why," *CNN Business,* July 25, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/business/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-senate-investigation
[^10]: Arizona State University, Office of the Provost. "Krauss Determinations" (letter of Provost Mark Searle, 33 pp., image scan) and "Krauss Retirement Letter," October 2018, posted by *BuzzFeed News* on DocumentCloud. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5015756-Krauss-Determinations.html ; https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5015757-Krauss-Retirement-Letter.html

49
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Marvin Minsky.md
View file

@ -15,16 +15,27 @@ born: 1927-08-09
died: 2016-01-24 died: 2016-01-24
location: "Boston, Massachusetts" location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "100,000 dollars through the C.O.U.Q. Foundation to MIT for Minsky research, and the 2002 and 2011 conferences"
start: 2002
fn: 13
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Gloria Rudisch]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 1
--- ---
Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 to January 24, 2016) was an American cognitive and computer scientist at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] who co-founded the [[MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] and was a central figure in the founding of [[artificial intelligence]] as a field. He received funding from [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and organized a 2002 conference financed by Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands; in 2019 an unsealed deposition by [[Virginia Giuffre]] named Minsky, an allegation his widow [[Gloria Rudisch]] disputed.[^1][^2] Marvin Lee Minsky (August 9, 1927 to January 24, 2016) was an American cognitive and computer scientist at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] who co-founded the [[MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] and was a central figure in the founding of [[artificial intelligence]] as a field. He received funding from [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and organized a 2002 conference financed by Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands; in 2019 an unsealed deposition by [[Virginia Giuffre]] named Minsky, an allegation his widow [[Gloria Rudisch]] disputed.[^1][^2]
### MIT and the Founding of Artificial Intelligence ### MIT and the Founding of Artificial Intelligence
Minsky earned a doctorate in mathematics from Princeton in 1954 and joined MIT, where in 1959 he co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with [[John McCarthy]]. He helped organize the 1956 [[Dartmouth Summer Research Project]], the workshop, convened with McCarthy, [[Claude Shannon]], and [[Nathaniel Rochester]], at which the term artificial intelligence was adopted. His honors included the [[Turing Award]] in 1969, the Japan Prize in 1990, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2001.[^3][^1] Minsky earned a doctorate in mathematics from Princeton in 1954 and joined MIT, where in 1959 he co-founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory with [[John McCarthy]]. He helped organize the 1956 [[Dartmouth Summer Research Project]], the workshop, convened with McCarthy, [[Claude Shannon]], and [[Nathaniel Rochester]], at which the term artificial intelligence was adopted. His honors included the [[Turing Award]] in 1969, the Japan Prize in 1990, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2001.[^1][^3]
Minsky's research spanned neural networks, robotics, and theories of mind. With [[Seymour Papert]] he wrote *Perceptrons* (MIT Press, 1969), a mathematical critique of single-layer neural networks showing that such a network cannot compute the exclusive-or function; the book is often credited with redirecting funding and research away from connectionist approaches and contributing to the first AI funding winter, before multilayer networks revived the field in the 1980s. His 1986 book *The Society of Mind* (Simon & Schuster) argued that intelligence emerges from the interaction of many simple, mindless agents, and he developed the related "frames" model of knowledge representation.[^4][^3] Minsky's research spanned neural networks, robotics, and theories of mind. With [[Seymour Papert]] he wrote *Perceptrons* (MIT Press, 1969), a mathematical critique of single-layer neural networks showing that such a network cannot compute the exclusive-or function; the book is often credited with redirecting funding and research away from connectionist approaches and contributing to the first AI funding winter, before multilayer networks revived the field in the 1980s. His 1986 book *The Society of Mind* (Simon & Schuster) argued that intelligence emerges from the interaction of many simple, mindless agents, and he developed the related "frames" model of knowledge representation.[^3][^4]
Minsky invented the confocal scanning microscope in 1957 and, with Papert, helped build early robotic and machine-vision systems at the MIT AI Laboratory. He later joined the [[MIT Media Lab]] founded by [[Nicholas Negroponte]], where he held the Toshiba Professorship of Media Arts and Sciences and remained active until his death. He continued to argue for symbolic and architectural approaches to general intelligence, developing the ideas in *The Society of Mind* into his 2006 book *The Emotion Machine*.[^3][^4] Minsky invented the confocal scanning microscope in 1957 and, with Papert, helped build early robotic and machine-vision systems at the MIT AI Laboratory. He later joined the [[MIT Media Lab]] founded by [[Nicholas Negroponte]], where he held the Toshiba Professorship of Media Arts and Sciences and remained active until his death. He continued to argue for symbolic and architectural approaches to general intelligence, developing the ideas in *The Society of Mind* into his 2006 book *The Emotion Machine*.[^3][^4]
@ -34,15 +45,27 @@ Epstein donated $100,000 to Minsky in 2002, several years before Epstein's 2008
After Minsky's death in 2016, Negroponte and Ito discussed whether Epstein could attend an on-campus memorial; Negroponte said Epstein would be welcome, but Ito instructed Epstein to stay away from the memorial and an associated reception. A Media Lab staff member later circulated memorial photographs with a note asking that they be posted only "as long as Jeffrey Epstein does not appear in any of the photos."[^2][^5] After Minsky's death in 2016, Negroponte and Ito discussed whether Epstein could attend an on-campus memorial; Negroponte said Epstein would be welcome, but Ito instructed Epstein to stay away from the memorial and an associated reception. A Media Lab staff member later circulated memorial photographs with a note asking that they be posted only "as long as Jeffrey Epstein does not appear in any of the photos."[^2][^5]
In April 2002 Minsky organized a three-day artificial-intelligence meeting, the St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium, held April 14 to 16, 2002, on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and funded by Epstein. The proceedings were published by Minsky, [[Push Singh]], and [[Aaron Sloman]] as "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence" in *AI Magazine* in 2004. Around twenty scientists attended, most of them men, including [[Roger Schank]], [[Doug Lenat]], [[Ken Forbus]], [[Henry Lieberman]], [[Vernor Vinge]], and [[Linda Stone]]. Schank later recalled that Epstein "walks into the conference with two girls on his arm" and sat "in the back, on a couch, hugging and kissing these girls." Epstein separately funded a 2006 physics gathering convened by [[Lawrence Krauss]] on Epstein's island that drew physicists including [[Stephen Hawking]].[^6][^7] In April 2002 Minsky organized a three-day artificial-intelligence meeting, the St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium, held April 14 to 16, 2002, on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and funded by Epstein. The proceedings were published by Minsky, [[Push Singh]], and [[Aaron Sloman]] as "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence" in *AI Magazine* in 2004. Around twenty scientists attended, most of them men, including [[Roger Schank]], [[Doug Lenat]], [[Ken Forbus]], [[Henry Lieberman]], [[Vernor Vinge]], and [[Linda Stone]]. Schank later recalled that Epstein "walks into the conference with two girls on his arm" and sat "in the back, on a couch, hugging and kissing these girls." Epstein separately funded "Confronting Gravity," a March 2006 physics conference at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas convened by [[Lawrence Krauss]], which drew physicists including [[Stephen Hawking]] and ended with a barbecue on Epstein's island, [[Little St. James]].[^6][^7][^8]
### Giuffre Allegation and the Dispute ### Giuffre Allegation and the Dispute
In a deposition given in May 2016 and unsealed in August 2019 as part of a defamation suit brought against [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], Virginia Giuffre stated that Epstein directed her to have sex with Minsky when Minsky visited Epstein's compound in the U.S. Virgin Islands, when she was seventeen and Minsky was in his seventies. Giuffre's claim named Minsky among several prominent men she said she was instructed to have sexual contact with. Minsky, who had died in January 2016, never had an opportunity to respond, and no lawsuit was filed against his estate.[^8][^1] In a deposition given on May 3, 2016 in her defamation suit against [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], and unsealed in stages from August 2019, Virginia Giuffre testified that she was directed to have sex with Minsky when he visited Epstein's compound in the U.S. Virgin Islands, when she was seventeen and Minsky was in his seventies. Giuffre's claim named Minsky among several prominent men she said she was instructed to have sexual contact with. Minsky, who had died in January 2016, never had an opportunity to respond.[^1][^9]
Minsky's widow, the pediatrician Gloria Rudisch, disputed the allegation, saying that she and her husband were "always together" during their visits and that the encounter Giuffre described did not happen. None of the men named in Giuffre's deposition was criminally charged or named as a defendant in civil suits arising from her account, and Giuffre's deposition is the only source for the claim against Minsky.[^9][^2] The transcript pages filed in December 2022 record Maxwell's counsel, [[Laura Menninger]], summarizing Giuffre's testimony and asking, with Giuffre's lawyer [[Bradley Edwards]] objecting to the form: "another prince, the large hotel chain owner and Marvin Minsky, is there anyone else that Ghislaine Maxwell directed you to go have sex with?" Giuffre answered: "I am definitely sure there is. But can I remember everybody's name? No." Under further questioning she said she had kept notes of the men's names, begun around 2011 or 2012 and not at her lawyers' instruction, and had burned them "in a bonfire when I lived at Titusville." A separate witness testified in the same litigation that Minsky and Giuffre were both passengers on a March 2001 flight from Teterboro to Santa Fe and Palm Beach with Epstein, Maxwell, the chef [[Adam Perry Lang]] and the shipping heir [[Henry Jarecki]], when Giuffre was seventeen and Minsky seventy-three.[^10][^11]
The 2019 MIT review and records reported in 2025 and 2026 indicated that Minsky and Rudisch had contact with Epstein over multiple years, including visits to his island. The renewed release of U.S. Department of Justice files in 2026 returned attention to Minsky alongside other scientists in Epstein's orbit, though the allegation against Minsky has not been adjudicated and rests on Giuffre's account.[^2][^9] Minsky's widow, the pediatrician Gloria Rudisch, disputed the allegation, telling the *[[New York Post]]* that she and her husband "were always together" when visiting Epstein. Minsky was never charged. The accusation of sexual contact rests on Giuffre's testimony; the flight testimony places the two on the same aircraft. In a 2015 deposition [[Alan Dershowitz]] said the young women around Epstein "were seen by [[Larry Summers]], they were seen by [George] Church, they were seen by Marvin Minsky," and that "there was no hint or suggestion of anything sexual or improper."[^11][^12]
The 2019 MIT review and records reported in 2025 and 2026 indicated that Minsky and Rudisch had contact with Epstein over multiple years, including visits to his island. The renewed release of [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] files in 2026 returned attention to Minsky alongside other scientists in Epstein's orbit, though the allegation against Minsky has not been adjudicated and rests on Giuffre's account.[^2][^12]
### The 2011 Conference and the Websites
The 2002 gift was the only Epstein donation MIT recorded for Minsky, and it was the one Epstein gift MIT did not reclassify as anonymous in 2013. Epstein's support continued outside MIT's books. Justice Department files show that he funded a second Minsky conference in 2011, addressing "future disasters that may arise in the face of growing populations, new technologies and new social network systems"; a 2012 Epstein foundation press release placed it on Epstein's island in December 2011. From at least August 2014 the website jeffreyepstein.net stated that "Jeffrey Epstein AI sponsors many leading scientists at the forefront of AI research, including Marvin Minsky and Seth Lloyd at MIT," and another page claimed support for "Marvin Minsky and MIT's AI and Media Labs." In a 2017 text message Epstein wrote: "I funded the father of AI marvin minsky for 20 years. I know the subject well."[^8][^11][^13]
When Epstein asked in February 2016 whether he could attend Minsky's memorial, Joi Ito offered two options: "get in a private room at the Lab where he can 'hold court' and people . . . could see him out of the public eye," or "let him participate since we have a good story around it. BTW, will press be at the event?" Nicholas Negroponte answered, "Of course he can come and would be welcome .... I would make absolutely no fuss over his coming and welcome home [sic] 100%." After discussion with Minsky's family, Epstein was kept in Ito's office during the March 17, 2016 event.[^13]
### The Stallman Resignation
In September 2019, on an MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory email list discussing a planned protest over MIT's Epstein ties, the free-software activist [[Richard Stallman]] objected that the announcement "does an injustice to Marvin Minsky." After the emails leaked, Stallman resigned as president and director of the [[Free Software Foundation]] and from his visiting-scientist post at MIT. He rejoined the foundation's board in March 2021.[^12]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
@ -50,8 +73,12 @@ The 2019 MIT review and records reported in 2025 and 2026 indicated that Minsky
[^2]: "Eight revelations from MIT's Jeffrey Epstein report," *MIT Technology Review,* January 10, 2020, on the $100,000 grant in 2002, the Negroponte "closest friend" and "visited him in jail" emails, the memorial episode, and the unsealed Giuffre allegation. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/01/10/130928/mit-jeffrey-epstein-donations-media-lab-joi-ito-seth-lloyd-funding-ethics/ [^2]: "Eight revelations from MIT's Jeffrey Epstein report," *MIT Technology Review,* January 10, 2020, on the $100,000 grant in 2002, the Negroponte "closest friend" and "visited him in jail" emails, the memorial episode, and the unsealed Giuffre allegation. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/01/10/130928/mit-jeffrey-epstein-donations-media-lab-joi-ito-seth-lloyd-funding-ethics/
[^3]: Lohr, Steve. "Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88," *The New York Times,* January 25, 2016, on the Dartmouth project, the AI Lab, and the cause of death. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/marvin-minsky-pioneer-in-artificial-intelligence-dies-at-88.html [^3]: Lohr, Steve. "Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88," *The New York Times,* January 25, 2016, on the Dartmouth project, the AI Lab, and the cause of death. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/business/marvin-minsky-pioneer-in-artificial-intelligence-dies-at-88.html
[^4]: Minsky, Marvin. *The Society of Mind.* Simon & Schuster, 1986. [^4]: Minsky, Marvin. *The Society of Mind.* Simon & Schuster, 1986.
[^5]: "MIT professor 'entirely willing' Epstein associate," *Fox News,* 2020, on Minsky's relationship with Epstein as described in the MIT review. https://www.foxnews.com/us/mit-professor-jeffrey-epstein-associate-entirely-willing [^5]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 9, 16, on the 2002 donation of 100,000 dollars to support Minsky's research and Negroponte's March 2013 email calling Minsky Epstein's closest friend. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf
[^6]: "What it was like to be a scientist in Jeffrey Epstein's circle," *Slate,* August 2019, on the April 2002 AI meeting organized by Minsky, the roughly twenty attendees, Schank's recollection, and the 2006 Krauss conference. https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/jeffrey-epstein-science-eugenics-sexual-abuse-researchers.html [^6]: "What it was like to be a scientist in Jeffrey Epstein's circle," *Slate,* August 2019, on the April 2002 AI meeting organized by Minsky, the roughly twenty attendees, Schank's recollection, and the 2006 Krauss conference. https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/jeffrey-epstein-science-eugenics-sexual-abuse-researchers.html
[^7]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Forgotten AI Summit," Investor News Today, 2025, on the St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium of April 2002 and its attendees. https://investornewstoday.com/2025/08/05/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-forgotten-ai-summit/ [^7]: Minsky, Marvin L., Push Singh, and Aaron Sloman. "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence," *AI Magazine* 25, no. 2 (2004): 113, on the April 2002 symposium and its participants. https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v25i2.1764
[^8]: Brown, Stephanie, et al. "Jeffrey Epstein ordered teen girl to have sex with powerful men, accuser says," *NBC News,* August 9, 2019, on the deposition's unsealing and Giuffre's naming of Minsky. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-ordered-teen-girl-have-sex-powerful-men-accuser-n1040996 [^8]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026, on the 2006 conference, the 2011 Minsky conference and Epstein's 2017 text. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
[^9]: "AI Pioneer Accused of Having Sex With Trafficking Victim On Jeffrey Epstein's Island," *Slashdot,* August 9, 2019, on Rudisch's denial that the encounter occurred and that no estate lawsuit was filed. https://yro.slashdot.org/story/19/08/09/2244200/ai-pioneer-accused-of-having-sex-with-trafficking-victim-on-jeffrey-epsteins-island [^9]: Brown, Stephanie, et al. "Jeffrey Epstein ordered teen girl to have sex with powerful men, accuser says," *NBC News,* August 9, 2019, on the deposition's unsealing and Giuffre's naming of Minsky. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-ordered-teen-girl-have-sex-powerful-men-accuser-n1040996
[^10]: Deposition of Virginia Giuffre, May 3, 2016, transcript pp. 204-206 (Agren Blando Court Reporting), filed as Exhibit 3 (DE 514-3), *Giuffre v. Maxwell*, No. 1:15-cv-07433-LAP (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1295-4 (filed December 12, 2022, under the order of November 18, 2022). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1295.4.pdf
[^11]: Brandom, Russell. "AI pioneer accused of having sex with trafficking victim on Jeffrey Epstein's island," *The Verge,* August 9, 2019, updated November 18, 2022, on the deposition, the March 2001 flight testimony, the December 2011 conference press release, and Dershowitz's 2015 deposition. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798900/marvin-minsky-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-island-court-records-unsealed
[^12]: Brodkin, Jon. "Richard Stallman returns to FSF 18 months after controversial rape comments," *Ars Technica,* March 22, 2021, on Rudisch's statement to the New York Post, Stallman's September 2019 emails and resignations, and his return to the board. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/03/richard-stallman-returns-to-fsf-18-months-after-controversial-rape-comments/
[^13]: Goodwin Procter LLP. *Report Concerning Jeffrey Epstein's Interactions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.* January 10, 2020, pp. 9, 16, 27-28 and n. 29, 50, on the 2002 gift, the absence of other Minsky donations, the non-reclassification of the 2002 gift, the Negroponte email, the website claims, and the memorial exchange. https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/sites/default/files/20200121GoodwinProcterReport.pdf

47
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Nadia Marcinkova.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- NadiaMarcinkova
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Immunity
- Aviation
alias:
- Nadia Marcinko
- Global Girl
summary: "Companion of Jeffrey Epstein named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, never charged, later a commercial pilot and founder of the aviation company Aviloop."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "named potential co-conspirator, immunized"
start: 2007-09-24
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Aviloop]]"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Nadia Marcinkova, who later used the surname Marcinko, is a former companion of [[Jeffrey Epstein]] described in litigation as his "traveling companion." She is one of the four women named in the co-conspirator clause of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], under which the [[United States]] agreed not to charge "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Adriana Ross]], [[Lesley Groff]], or Nadia Marcinkova." She has never been charged. She later became an FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor and founded an aviation company, [[Aviloop]].[^1][^2]
### With Epstein
Marcinkova was reportedly brought to live with Epstein from the former [[Yugoslavia]]. Flight logs place her on Epstein's aircraft, including a February 2005 flight with the modeling agent [[Jean-Luc Brunel]], whose agency [[MC2 Model Management]] Epstein financed. In depositions in the civil litigation brought by Epstein's victims she invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.[^2][^3]
### The Immunity Clause
The agreement naming her was signed in September 2007 by Epstein and the Southern District of Florida under U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta|R. Alexander Acosta]]. In 2024 the [[Second Circuit]] held, in rejecting [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s appeal, that the clause bound only the Florida office; no other federal district has charged Marcinkova. The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] concluded in November 2020 that Acosta had "agreed to several unusual and problematic terms in the NPA without the consideration required under the circumstances," a finding of "poor judgment" rather than misconduct.[^1][^4]
### Aviation
Marcinkova worked as a pilot under the nickname "Gulfstream Girl" until [[Gulfstream Aerospace]] sued her for trademark infringement in 2013. The suit was settled after she renamed herself "Global Girl" in January 2014. She founded Aviloop, an aviation company, and serves as its chief executive; she lives in [[New York City|New York]].[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^3]: "Jean-Luc Brunel: The French Modeling Honcho at the Center of Jeffrey Epstein's Web," *The Fashion Law.* https://www.thefashionlaw.com/jean-luc-brunel-at-the-center-of-jeffrey-epsteins-web-of-underage-girls/
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl

77
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Peter Mandelson.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- PeterMandelson
- LabourParty
- UnitedKingdom
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
- MisconductInPublicOffice
alias:
- Peter Mandelson
- Lord Mandelson
- Baron Mandelson
- Peter Benjamin Mandelson
summary: "Peter Mandelson is the British Labour politician and former business secretary who was dismissed as ambassador to Washington in 2025 over Jeffrey Epstein and arrested in 2026 for alleged misconduct in public office."
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Herbert Morrison]]"
role: "grandson"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[House of Lords]]"
role: "life peer"
start: 2008
end: 2026-02-04
fn: 4
- type: member_of
with: "[[Labour Party (UK)]]"
end: 2026-02-01
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]]"
role: "British Ambassador to the United States"
start: 2025
end: 2025-09-11
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Metropolitan Police]]"
reverse: true
role: "investigation for misconduct in public office; arrested February 23, 2026 and bailed"
start: 2026-02-03
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Peter Mandelson is a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] politician, the grandson of the Labour Cabinet minister [[Herbert Morrison]], and one of the architects of the party's "New Labour" return to power under [[Tony Blair]] in 1997. He held senior posts under Blair from 1997 to 2001, was the [[European Union]]'s trade commissioner, returned to government under [[Gordon Brown]] as business secretary from 2008 to 2010, and was appointed to the [[House of Lords]] for life in 2008.[^1] Prime Minister [[Keir Starmer]] made him ambassador to the [[United States]] at the start of [[Donald Trump]]'s second term and dismissed him on September 11, 2025 after the publication of his emails to [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^1][^2] In an internal review completed in 2019, [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]]'s compliance staff described him as one of the two people with whom Epstein appeared to maintain "a particularly close relationship," and listed him among the people Epstein referred to the bank.[^3] After the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s January 30, 2026 release of [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]], the [[Metropolitan Police]] opened an investigation into whether he passed confidential government information to Epstein while a minister, and arrested him on February 23, 2026; he has denied wrongdoing and does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.[^1][^4][^5]
### Career
Mandelson twice resigned from Blair's government over allegations of financial or ethical impropriety, acknowledging mistakes but denying wrongdoing.[^1] The second resignation, in 2001, concerned allegations that he had helped an Indian billionaire obtain a British passport; an official inquiry cleared him of wrongdoing.[^2] Between his two periods in government he served as the European Union's trade commissioner, and from 2008 to 2010 he was Brown's business secretary.[^1]
Starmer named him ambassador in Washington at the start of Trump's second term, and he helped negotiate the May 2025 trade agreement that spared Britain some of Trump's tariffs.[^1]
### JPMorgan's "Project Jeep" Review
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, JPMorgan's compliance staff reviewed his correspondence with the bank's executives under the code name "Project Jeep." Its October 2019 summary, quoted by the [[United States Virgin Islands]] in its 2023 suit against the bank, stated: "Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the [Duke] of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British Government. He also appears to have a close relationship with [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem|Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem]] who is a senior [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports." The Virgin Islands told Judge [[Jed Rakoff]] that the summary confirmed "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including [[Andrew Farkas]], [[Boris Nikolic]], [[Bill Gates]], and Mandelson; JPMorgan's chief executive, [[Jamie Dimon]], had said at deposition: "We did not need introductions to anybody."[^3]
### Dismissal as Ambassador
A "birthday book" for Epstein, given to Congress by his estate, contained a handwritten message from Mandelson calling Epstein his "best pal."[^2] On September 10, 2025 *[[The Sun]]* published emails Mandelson sent Epstein after his 2006 indictment, including a 2008 message reading, "I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened," and another reading, "Your friends stay with you and love you." Mandelson said in a television interview that day that he now regarded Epstein as "a charismatic criminal liar" and said, "I regret very much that I fell for his lies." On September 11 the Foreign Office minister [[Stephen Doughty]] told Parliament that Mandelson had been withdrawn with immediate effect; the Foreign Office said the emails showed that the depth and extent of the relationship was "materially different" from what had been known at his appointment, and singled out his suggestion that Epstein's conviction was wrongful and should be challenged. The dismissal came less than a day after Starmer told Parliament he had confidence in him. The deputy head of mission, [[James Roscoe]], replaced him.[^2]
### The 2026 Release and the Police Investigation
The files released on January 30, 2026 included bank documents suggesting that in 2003 and 2004 Epstein sent three payments totaling 75,000 dollars to accounts linked to Mandelson or to his partner. Mandelson said he did not remember receiving the money and would investigate whether the documents were authentic. In 2009 Epstein paid 10,000 pounds toward an osteopathy course for his partner; Mandelson told *[[The Times]]* that "in retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment" to accept it.[^4] The messages also showed that in 2009, as business secretary, Mandelson appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby colleagues to reduce a tax on bankers' bonuses, and sent him an internal government report on ways to raise money after the [[2008 financial crisis]], including by selling government assets, with the note, "Interesting note that's gone to the PM." In May 2010 he wrote to Epstein that "sources tell me 500 b euro bailout" was almost complete, hours before European governments announced a 500 billion euro rescue of the single currency.[^4] He also appeared to tell Epstein in advance that Brown would resign in 2010.[^5]
Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party on February 1, 2026, saying he did not want to cause it "further embarrassment." Starmer's spokesman said the government had sent the police its assessment that the documents contained "likely market-sensitive information" that should not have left government. On February 3 the Metropolitan Police said, through Commander [[Ella Marriott]], that it had "launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office offenses"; the same day Mandelson announced his retirement from the House of Lords, effective February 4, as the government prepared legislation to remove him.[^4] Police searched addresses in Camden and [[Wiltshire]], and on February 23, 2026 arrested him in Camden on suspicion of misconduct in public office; he was released on bail early the next morning.[^1][^5] His solicitors, [[Mishcon de Reya]], said the arrest had been "prompted by a baseless suggestion" that he intended to flee and "take up permanent residence abroad," said "There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion," and said his "overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name."[^5] Brown assisted the police with their inquiries.[^1] Four days before Mandelson's arrest, [[Prince Andrew|Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor]] had been arrested by [[Thames Valley Police]] on suspicion of the same offense in connection with his work as trade envoy.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "British police arrest former ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties." *Associated Press,* via *PBS NewsHour,* February 23, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/british-police-arrest-former-ambassador-to-the-u-s-peter-mandelson-in-probe-into-epstein-ties
[^2]: Frayer, Lauren. "U.K. fires its ambassador to Washington over emails to Jeffrey Epstein." *NPR,* September 11, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/09/11/nx-s1-5537814/jeffrey-epstein-uk-ambassador-mandelson
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023, pp. 3-5. 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
[^4]: "The U.K. investigates its ex-ambassador to the U.S. over alleged leaks to Epstein." *Associated Press,* via *NPR,* February 3, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/03/g-s1-108529/epstein-files-uk-peter-mandelson
[^5]: Sutherland, Callum, and Olivia-Anne Cleary. "Mandelson's Lawyers Break Silence on His Arrest." *Time,* February 23, 2026 (updated February 24, 2026). https://time.com/7380534/peter-mandelson-arrested-epstein-files-fallout/

19
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Reid Hoffman.md
View file

@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ tags:
- Microsoft - Microsoft
alias: alias:
- Reid Garrett Hoffman - Reid Garrett Hoffman
summary: "Reid Hoffman is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, a PayPal Mafia principal as cofounder and executive vice president of PayPal, the cofounder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a Greylock general partner, a 2026 Dialog retreat registrant, and a 2015 Epstein dinner attendee who publicly apologized in 2019 for helping repair Jeffrey Epstein's post-conviction image." summary: "Reid Hoffman is the PayPal executive, LinkedIn cofounder and Greylock partner who co-hosted an August 2015 Palo Alto dinner attended by Jeffrey Epstein and apologized in 2019 for aiding Epstein's image repair."
born: 1967-08-05 born: 1967-08-05
location: "Stanford, California (born)" location: "Stanford, California (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
--- ---
Reid Hoffman (born August 5, 1967, in [[Stanford, California|Stanford]], [[California]]) is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur who served as executive vice president and a founding board member of [[PayPal]], cofounded and served as executive chairman of [[LinkedIn]], and joined [[Greylock Partners|Greylock]] as a general partner in 2009. Hoffman is a [[PayPal Mafia]] principal, a 2026 [[Dialog]] retreat registrant per the leaked *WIRED* roster, and a documented attendee at the 2015 Jeffrey Epstein dinner whose guest list also included [[Peter Thiel]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Joi Ito]], and Epstein himself. Hoffman publicly apologized in September 2019 for his role in helping repair Epstein's post-conviction public image.[^1][^2][^3] Reid Hoffman (born August 5, 1967, in [[Stanford, California|Stanford]], [[California]]) is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur who served as executive vice president and a founding board member of [[PayPal]], cofounded and served as executive chairman of [[LinkedIn]], and joined [[Greylock Partners|Greylock]] as a general partner in 2009. Hoffman is a [[PayPal Mafia]] principal, a 2026 [[Dialog]] retreat registrant per the leaked *WIRED* roster, and a documented attendee at the 2015 Jeffrey Epstein dinner whose guest list also included [[Peter Thiel]], [[Mark Zuckerberg]], [[Elon Musk]], [[Joi Ito]], and Epstein himself. Hoffman publicly apologized in September 2019 for his role in helping repair Epstein's post-conviction public image.[^1][^2][^3]
@ -28,21 +28,23 @@ The Microsoft acquisition and Hoffman's subsequent board seat at Microsoft place
### The Epstein Relationship and the 2019 Apology ### The Epstein Relationship and the 2019 Apology
*Axios* reported on September 12, 2019 that Hoffman had emailed the outlet to apologize for his role in helping repair [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]]'s post-conviction public image. The apology covered Hoffman's 2015 interactions with Epstein, including introductions Hoffman facilitated related to Epstein's attempts at image rehabilitation and to the MIT donations Epstein was arranging through Joi Ito at the [[MIT Media Lab]]. The *Wall Street Journal* reported in 2023, on the basis of the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]], that Hoffman visited Epstein's private island.[^2][^3][^4] *Axios* reported on September 12, 2019 that Hoffman had emailed the outlet to apologize for his role in helping repair [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]]'s post-conviction public image. The apology covered Hoffman's 2015 interactions with Epstein, including introductions Hoffman facilitated related to Epstein's attempts at image rehabilitation and to the MIT donations Epstein was arranging through Joi Ito at the [[MIT Media Lab]]. The *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]* reported in 2023, on the basis of the [[Epstein Files|Epstein calendars]], that Hoffman visited Epstein's private island.[^2][^3][^4]
The August 2015 dinner that Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]], ostensibly to raise money for the MIT Media Lab (documented in the Epstein Files Transparency Act releases, EFTA00344556 and EFTA00344564), placed him at the same table as Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Joi Ito, and Epstein. Hoffman apologized in September 2019 for his role in the Epstein image-rehabilitation effort. No Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.[^2][^3][^5] The August 2015 dinner that Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]], ostensibly to raise money for the MIT Media Lab (documented in the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] releases, EFTA00344556 and EFTA00344564), placed him at the same table as Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Joi Ito, and Epstein. Hoffman apologized in September 2019 for his role in the Epstein image-rehabilitation effort. No Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.[^2][^3][^5]
The dinner took place on Sunday, August 2, 2015, at Baume, a restaurant in Palo Alto. On August 5 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to a member of Mark Zuckerberg's staff, with Zuckerberg on the address line, that "Jeffrey Epstein attended Reid Hoffman/Peter Thiel's dinner party this past Sunday night at Baume Restaurant. At the party Mark requested Jeffrey send his contact details to him," and gave Epstein's cell number and email address. Groff wrote that she had obtained the address from a member of Hoffman's office. The reply on August 6 read: "Noted, with thanks."[^6]
### The Dialog Registration ### The Dialog Registration
Hoffman appears on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster, per *WIRED*'s reporting on the leak. Dialog, cofounded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and [[Auren Hoffman]], convenes U.S. officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Hoffman's presence on the roster places a sitting Greylock general partner and a former Microsoft board member inside the same convening network whose 2026 registrants included [[Cory Booker|Senator Cory Booker]], [[Ted Cruz|Senator Ted Cruz]], [[Jared Polis|Governor Jared Polis]], and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe [[Alexus Grynkewich|General Alexus Grynkewich]].[^1] Hoffman appears on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster, per *WIRED*'s reporting on the leak. Dialog, cofounded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and [[Auren Hoffman]], convenes U.S. officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Hoffman's presence on the roster places a sitting Greylock general partner and a former Microsoft board member inside the same convening network whose 2026 registrants included [[Cory Booker|Senator Cory Booker]], [[Ted Cruz|Senator Ted Cruz]], [[Jared Polis|Governor Jared Polis]], and the [[NATO]] Supreme Allied Commander Europe [[Alexus Grynkewich|General Alexus Grynkewich]].[^1]
Hoffman's politics diverge from the Thiel network's Republican alignment. Hoffman has been a prominent [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] donor and operative, supporting [[Joe Biden]] and [[Kamala Harris]] and publicly opposing [[Donald Trump]]. He appears on the roster alongside both Democratic and Republican elected officials.[^1] Hoffman's politics diverge from the Thiel network's Republican alignment. Hoffman has been a prominent [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] donor and operative, supporting [[Joe Biden]] and [[Kamala Harris]] and publicly opposing [[Donald Trump]]. He appears on the roster alongside both Democratic and Republican elected officials.[^1]
### The Musk Clash and the Epstein-Files Politics ### The Musk Clash and the Epstein-Files Politics
Musk and Hoffman clashed publicly over their respective Epstein ties in 2025-2026. The [[Anadolu Agency|Anadolu Agency]] reported on the online exchange on [[X (social media)|X]], in which each accused the other of the closer Epstein relationship. Musk, whose 2015 Epstein dinner attendance is documented in the Epstein file releases (EFTA00344556), pointed to Hoffman's apology for the image-rehabilitation work. Hoffman, whose apology is documented in the September 2019 [[Axios|Axios]] exclusive, pointed to the broader pattern of Musk's Epstein contacts.[^6] Musk and Hoffman clashed publicly over their respective Epstein ties in 2025-2026. The [[Anadolu Agency|Anadolu Agency]] reported on the online exchange on [[X (social media)|X]], in which each accused the other of the closer Epstein relationship. Musk, whose 2015 Epstein dinner attendance is documented in the Epstein file releases (EFTA00344556), pointed to Hoffman's apology for the image-rehabilitation work. Hoffman, whose apology is documented in the September 2019 [[Axios|Axios]] exclusive, pointed to the broader pattern of Musk's Epstein contacts.[^7]
Hoffman subsequently posted on LinkedIn calling for the full release of the Epstein files and pledging to advocate for victim justice. The public clash is part of the broader political dynamics around the 2025-2026 file releases, in which multiple Silicon Valley principals whose Epstein relationships have been documented have positioned themselves on the question of disclosure. [[ABC News|ABC News]] reported that Hoffman's ties to Epstein face a Trump-ordered investigation, though no Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.[^5][^6] Hoffman subsequently posted on LinkedIn calling for the full release of the Epstein files and pledging to advocate for victim justice. The public clash is part of the broader political dynamics around the 2025-2026 file releases, in which multiple Silicon Valley principals whose Epstein relationships have been documented have positioned themselves on the question of disclosure. [[ABC News|ABC News]] reported that Hoffman's ties to Epstein face a Trump-ordered investigation, though no Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.[^5][^7]
Hoffman has funded Democratic candidates and opposed Trump, while Musk moved to Republican alignment across 2022 to 2024. Both appear on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster.[^1] Hoffman has funded Democratic candidates and opposed Trump, while Musk moved to Republican alignment across 2022 to 2024. Both appear on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster.[^1]
@ -53,4 +55,5 @@ Hoffman has funded Democratic candidates and opposed Trump, while Musk moved to
[^3]: "LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman Apologizes for Helping Jeffrey Epstein." *Business Insider,* September 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-apologizes-helping-jeffrey-epstein-2019-9 [^3]: "LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman Apologizes for Helping Jeffrey Epstein." *Business Insider,* September 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-apologizes-helping-jeffrey-epstein-2019-9
[^4]: For the Hoffman visit to the Epstein island, see the *Wall Street Journal* 2023 reporting on the Epstein calendars and the SEC shareholder-proposal filing referencing the visit. [^4]: For the Hoffman visit to the Epstein island, see the *Wall Street Journal* 2023 reporting on the Epstein calendars and the SEC shareholder-proposal filing referencing the visit.
[^5]: "LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's ties to Jeffrey Epstein face Trump-ordered investigation." *ABC News,* 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffmans-ties-jeffrey-epstein-face/story?id=127651719 [^5]: "LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's ties to Jeffrey Epstein face Trump-ordered investigation." *ABC News,* 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffmans-ties-jeffrey-epstein-face/story?id=127651719
[^6]: "2 tech billionaires clash online about ties to Jeffrey Epstein." *Anadolu Agency,* 2025. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/2-tech-billionaires-clash-online-about-ties-to-jeffrey-epstein/3820174 [^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02074070, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Jeffrey Epstein (Hoffman & Thiel Dinner Party)," August 5, 2015; and EFTA00344413, DataSet 9, reply to Lesley Groff, August 6, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02074070.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00344413.pdf
[^7]: "2 tech billionaires clash online about ties to Jeffrey Epstein." *Anadolu Agency,* 2025. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/2-tech-billionaires-clash-online-about-ties-to-jeffrey-epstein/3820174

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- RichardKahn
- JeffreyEpstein
- EpsteinEstate
- Accountant
- ShellCompany
- VirginIslands
alias:
- Richard D. Kahn
- Rich Kahn
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accountant, treasurer of Southern Trust and co-executor of his estate, named a 25 million dollar beneficiary, sued by victims and the Virgin Islands, and under federal investigation in 2026."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "in-house accountant"
end: 2019-08-10
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Southern Trust Company]]"
role: "treasurer and director"
start: 2013
end: 2019
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Maple Inc.]]"
role: "treasurer and director"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Denise George]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020
end: 2022-12-01
role: "defendant in the territory's CICO action"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2026-09
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[Gordon Rhea]]"
reverse: true
role: "counsel in the territory's estate litigation"
fn: 14
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Richard D. Kahn is an accountant who was [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s longtime in-house accountant, treasurer and director of [[Southern Trust Company]] and of the Virgin Islands corporations that held Epstein's real estate, and, with the lawyer [[Darren Indyke]], co-executor of Epstein's estate and co-trustee of the 1953 Trust. The trust names Kahn to receive 25 million dollars, third in order of payment. The [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] government sued him personally in 2020, victims sued him and Indyke in a class action the estate agreed in February 2026 to settle for up to 35 million dollars, and in September 2026 federal prosecutors in Manhattan were reported to be investigating both men. Kahn and Indyke deny knowing of Epstein's sex trafficking or knowingly helping him.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Treasurer of Southern Trust
According to the Virgin Islands government's Second Amended Complaint of November 2022, Kahn, "as Southern Trust's treasurer, oversaw its accounting, invoicing, and tax reporting," and served on its board with Epstein and Indyke. Southern Trust had obtained a territorial tax-incentive certificate by presenting itself as a "biomedical and financial informatics" business, reported net income of 50.3 million dollars in 2013 and 67.5 million dollars in 2014, and received 158 million dollars from 2013 to 2017 from "a single source," 85 percent of its revenue; the territory alleged it "did not perform the 'informatics' business." Payments from [[Leon Black]] began under a February 13, 2013 service agreement between Black and Southern Trust Company, Inc. and came to 50 million dollars in 2013 and 158 million dollars in total through 2017, according to the law firm [[Dechert]]'s review for [[Apollo Global Management]], which found no evidence Black paid for anything but "legitimate advice." The territory estimated that the Southern Trust certificate let Epstein avoid 80,576,236 dollars in taxes.[^2][^5]
On January 24, 2014, the day the [[Economic Development Commission]] certificate for Southern Trust was signed by the commission's chairman, [[Albert Bryan]], Epstein's office manager [[Cecile de Jongh]], wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]], asked Epstein to give 15,000 dollars toward the governor's final State of the Territory reception. An hour later she emailed Kahn: "Hi Rich, Can you please prepare a check for $15,000 made payable to Governor's Special Events Fund. Thanks."[^6]
### The Tree Entities
Epstein formed [[Cypress Inc.|Cypress, Inc.]], [[Maple Inc.|Maple, Inc.]] and [[Laurel Inc.|Laurel, Inc.]] as Virgin Islands corporations in November 2011 and moved into them the [[Zorro Ranch]] in [[New Mexico]], the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse in Manhattan and his house on Brillo Way in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]. Kahn was treasurer and a director of each. Their annual reports to the Office of the [[Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands]], signed by Epstein and Kahn under the attestation "ALL STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS APPLICATION, AND ANY ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS, ARE TRUE AND CORRECT," omitted the properties. Maple reported cash of 21,265 dollars and expenses of 300 dollars for 2018 while paying 336,471.87 dollars in [[New York City]] property taxes; Cypress reported 301 dollars in 2018 expenses while paying 106,394.60 dollars in Santa Fe property taxes on November 6, 2018; Laurel reported 300 dollars while paying 196,673.56 dollars in Palm Beach property taxes that day. In 2013, the territory alleged, Kahn directed the outside accountant not to report the properties on the companies' tax returns. The complaint concluded that "Indyke and Kahn knew or should have known that their attestations were false" and that the transfers "were made for the sole purpose of sheltering these assets from collection."[^2]
### Other Entities and Payments
Kahn was the initial manager, with signatory authority, of JSC Interiors, LLC, a New York company formed in November 2014 whose listed sole owner, identified in the complaint only by the initials JSC, was, according to the territory, "forced and coerced to have sex with Epstein." One of its bank accounts was funded entirely from Epstein's personal accounts, and Kahn described its second payroll recipient to the bank once as an interior designer, which the territory said appeared false, and once as a dentist. The same person was also on the Southern Trust payroll in 2019. Kahn and Indyke signed checks of almost 300,000 dollars from LSJE, LLC to young women or to a New York immigration lawyer, and more than 1 million dollars from the Butterfly Trust, of which both men were themselves beneficiaries. The territory alleged that in at least three cases they took part in arranging marriages to obtain immigration status for foreign women and that Kahn "provided a letter of reference for at least one immigration application and tax services to the spouses." On January 17, 2018 Kahn arranged with a bank for 100,000 dollars in cash to be ready for Indyke to collect. Kahn has denied the allegations and was not charged.[^2]
The territory alleged that "from 2011 to 2019, Epstein and Epstein-owned entities paid ... over $10 million net" to Kahn, including loans still outstanding to Kahn-related entities, through HBRK Associates, Inc. and Coatue Enterprises, LLC, which it described as shell companies, and that Epstein entities' tax forms "did not report nearly the full compensation."[^2] Through their lawyers, Kahn and Indyke have said they had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes.[^1]
### Correspondence in the Epstein Releases
Kahn's emails to Epstein in the Justice Department's releases are signed from HBRK Associates Inc., 575 Lexington Avenue, New York. On December 15, 2014 a correspondent sent him a contact card titled "President Leon Botstein.vcf" under the subject "Leon Botstein/Bard," and Kahn answered "thank you"; in 2016 Epstein's charity [[Gratitude America]] paid [[Leon Botstein]], president of [[Bard College]], 37,500 dollars a quarter by checks drawn on [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas.[^7][^8] On October 12, 2018, ten days after the disappearance of [[Jamal Khashoggi]], Kahn sent Epstein a *New York Post* story on [[Richard Branson]] halting a Saudi project over it.[^9]
In March 2019 Kahn took part in the exercise of warrants in the Israeli company [[Carbyne]] by Southern Trust Company. On March 12, 2019 Darren Indyke told Epstein that the Israeli lawyer on the deal wanted a reference letter from "the transferring bank which is DB," and that he had "asked Rich to find out from Stewart Oldfield at DB with whom Rich has a decent relationship if that would even be possible at this point." Deutsche Bank had notified Epstein on December 21, 2018 that it would no longer service his accounts.[^10] On March 15 Kahn forwarded Epstein Carbyne's audited 2017 and draft 2018 financial statements and a three-year projection, noting "i have not yet reviewed..."; on March 27, replying to a further Carbyne email Kahn had forwarded, Epstein wrote: "Have alan do another for haze trust."[^11][^12]
*[[The Daily Beast]]* reported in August 2020 that on the day after Epstein's death Kahn was photographed leaving the Manhattan townhouse with a bag that, according to a source close to him, contained Epstein's funeral clothes.[^13]
### Co-Executor
Kahn and Indyke filed Epstein's will for probate on August 15, 2019, valuing his Virgin Islands property at 577,672,654 dollars, and filed a Certificate of Trust for the 1953 Trust on August 26, 2019. Testifying to the [[House Oversight Committee]] on March 11, 2026, Kahn said: "I believe that Epstein envisioned me taking this role as co-executor and co-agent trustee ... would be many, many years of working. So if I was not in Epstein's Trust and I was a corporate trustee, I probably would have received an executor fee of $12 million for serving as co-executor and serving as co-trustee. So that could be the only reason why he left me such a large bequest." He testified that the estate spends 10 to 15 million dollars a year on legal and other fees and pays the co-executors' legal bills. The estate's assets fell from 655.1 million dollars at the end of 2019 to 107.6 million dollars by September 2026.[^1][^2]
The territory's action against the estate, Kahn, Indyke and the Epstein companies settled on December 1, 2022 for more than 105 million dollars in cash, half the proceeds of the sale of [[Little St. James]] and the return of more than 80 million dollars in tax benefits.[^5] In 2024 Governor Bryan appointed as attorney general [[Gordon Rhea]], who had represented Kahn in that litigation; Rhea said he would recuse himself from Epstein matters.[^14]
### Victim Suits and Federal Investigation
In the 2024 class action Doe 3 v. Indyke, No. 1:24-cv-01204 (S.D.N.Y.), victims represented by [[Boies Schiller Flexner]] alleged that Kahn and Indyke built "a complex web of corporations and bank accounts" that concealed Epstein's abuse and paid victims and recruiters while they were "richly compensated"; the estate agreed on February 19, 2026 to pay up to 35 million dollars to settle, and Indyke's lawyer, Daniel H. Weiner, said that neither co-executor "has made any admission or concession of misconduct." Victims filed a further suit in August 2026. Kahn's lawyer, Daniel Ruzumna, and Weiner said their clients "emphatically reject" any allegation of complicity in or knowledge of Epstein's crimes, and that any funds from the 1953 Trust would come "only after all claims against the Estate are finally resolved and the Estate is fully probated."[^1][^3]
On September 23, 2026 the [[Washington Examiner]], citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that federal authorities in New York were investigating Kahn and Indyke; the [[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]], which first reported it, said prosecutors were requesting emails and financial records and asking witnesses about the men's roles in legal entities allegedly used to conceal Epstein's activities. The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] declined to comment.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Em Steck, "Epstein left millions to his closest advisers. A shrinking estate and new lawsuits may stand in the way," *CNN,* September 21, 2026, citing the 1953 Trust, estate court filings, and House Oversight Committee testimony of Kahn (March 11, 2026) and Indyke (March 19, 2026). https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/politics/jeffrey-epstein-estate-lawsuit-vis
[^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 11 to 17, 76 to 117, 163, 166 to 175, 177 to 195; 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). 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]: 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, Judge Arun Subramanian), 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/
[^4]: Kaelan Deese, "Two Jeffrey Epstein associates under investigation by New York federal prosecutors," *Washington Examiner,* September 23, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/4739210/jeffrey-epstein-associates-under-investigation-new-york-federal-prosecutors/
[^5]: 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 ; "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/
[^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 certificate and same-day emails. 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, EFTA02087019, DataSet 10, email to Richard Kahn, "Re: Leon Botstein/Bard," December 15, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02087019.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check of Gratitude America, Ltd drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02619942, DataSet 11, email from Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, October 12, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02619942.pdf
[^10]: 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
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01035810, DataSet 9, email from Richard Kahn to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Carbyne," March 15, 2019; EFTA02636176, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Richard Kahn, "Re: CARBYNE," March 27, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01035810.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02636176.pdf
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00163119, DataSet 9, press printout: Kate Briquelet and William Bredderman, "Jeffrey Epstein's Right-Hand Mystery Men: The Lawyer and the Accountant," *The Daily Beast,* August 30, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00163119.pdf
[^14]: Suzanne Carlson, "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026, https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html ; Suzanne Carlson, "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

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---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- RoKhanna
- Congress
- DemocraticParty
- SiliconValley
- EpsteinFilesTransparencyAct
- EpsteinFiles
- DischargePetition
alias:
- Rohit Khanna
- Rep. Ro Khanna
summary: "Democratic congressman for California's Silicon Valley district since 2017, lead author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, who read six redacted names from the files on the House floor in 2026."
born: 1976-09-13
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (born)"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States House of Representatives]]"
start: 2017-01-03
role: "representative for California's 17th congressional district"
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]]"
role: "committee member"
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Department of Commerce]]"
role: "deputy assistant secretary in the Obama administration"
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Ro Khanna (born Rohit Khanna on September 13, 1976, in [[Philadelphia]]) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who has represented California's 17th congressional district, in [[Silicon Valley]], since January 2017.[^1] He introduced the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] with the Kentucky Republican [[Thomas Massie]] in July 2025 and, with Massie, forced it to a floor vote by discharge petition.[^2][^3]
### Background
Khanna's parents emigrated from India in the 1970s. He graduated in economics from the [[University of Chicago]], where he canvassed for [[Barack Obama]]'s 1996 campaign for the Illinois Senate, and took a law degree at [[Yale Law School]]. He served as a deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration and taught economics at [[Stanford University]]. In the House he sits on the [[House Armed Services Committee]], where he is ranking member of the subcommittee on cyber and innovative technologies, on the [[House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party|Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party]] and on the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]], and he is vice chair of the [[Congressional Progressive Caucus]].[^4] On August 13, 2026, he wrote to Commerce Secretary [[Howard Lutnick]] about the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute|Center for AI Standards and Innovation]], stating that the center had reportedly stopped publishing findings on content manipulation in its evaluations of Chinese AI models.[^5]
### The Transparency Act
Khanna introduced H.R. 4405 on July 15, 2025, "for himself and Mr. Massie."[^2] Massie filed the discharge petition on September 2, 2025; it reached 218 signatures on November 12, and the House passed the bill 427 to 1 on November 18, the day before [[Donald Trump]] signed it.[^3][^6] On January 13, 2026, Khanna and Massie moved to appear as amici curiae in the closed criminal case [[United States v. Maxwell]] and asked Judge [[Paul Engelmayer]] to appoint "a special master or independent monitor" over the [[Department of Justice]]'s compliance, telling the court that as of January 5 the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" and that "DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act." Engelmayer denied the motion on January 21, holding that the criminal case gave him no authority to supervise compliance with "a civil records-disclosure statute."[^7]
### The Six Names
On February 9, 2026, Khanna and Massie spent about two hours reading less-redacted files at the Justice Department. On the House floor the next day Khanna said that "70 to 80 percent of the files are still redacted" and that "there were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason," and read their names: Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, Nicola Caputo, [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman and chief executive of [[DP World]], and [[Leslie Wexner]], "who was labeled as a 'co-conspirator' by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]." He asked: "If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those three million files." He said appearing in the files was not evidence of a crime and that "none of this is designed to be a witch hunt."[^8][^9] A department spokesperson said four of the six appear in a single document, that Wexner is referenced nearly 200 times and bin Sulayem more than 4,700 times, and CBS News found that the files it reviewed did not appear to implicate the six in any crime.[^8] Wexner's representative said prosecutors had told his lawyers in 2019 that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect."[^10] Bin Sulayem, whom Massie had identified as the recipient of a 2009 Epstein email reading "I loved the torture video," did not respond to requests for comment and resigned from DP World on February 13, 2026; he has not been accused of a crime.[^11]
When the department sent Congress its list of about 300 "politically exposed persons" in the files on February 14, 2026, Khanna said it was "purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email."[^12] On March 4, 2026, the Oversight Committee, on which he sits, voted 24 to 19 to subpoena Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]].[^13] After Trump removed her on April 2, Khanna told [[NPR]]: "Thomas Massie and I, with passing the Epstein Transparency Act, basically forced Donald Trump to fire his own attorney general."[^14] On September 1, 2026, he and Massie opened a discharge petition for a second bill giving members of Congress, state officials and survivors standing to sue the department over compliance.[^15]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States Congress, legislator record for Ro Khanna (bioguide K000389), born 1976-09-13, terms from 2017-01-03, California 17th district, compiled in the congress-legislators dataset. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json
[^2]: H.R. 4405, 119th Congress, Epstein Files Transparency Act, as introduced July 15, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4405/text
[^3]: "Epstein discharge petition secures final signature needed to force House vote on releasing files," CBS News, November 12, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-discharge-petition-final-signature-files-adelita-grijalva/ ; "US representative files discharge petition to compel release of Epstein investigation documents," JURIST, September 5, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/09/us-representative-files-discharge-petition-to-compel-release-of-epstein-investigation-documents/
[^4]: Office of Representative Ro Khanna, "About Rep. Khanna," official biography, accessed September 2026. https://khanna.house.gov/about/about-rep-khanna
[^5]: Khanna, Ro. Letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, August 13, 2026, published by the Democrats of the House Select Committee on the CCP. https://democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/8.13.26-khanna-letter-to-commerce-on-caisi.pdf
[^6]: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 289, H.R. 4405, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289
[^7]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y.), motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna, ECF Nos. 837, 838 (January 13, 2026); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844 (January 21, 2026). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
[^8]: "Rep. Khanna names 6 men he says were redacted from Epstein files for 'no apparent reason'; DOJ says some had no Epstein ties," CBS News, February 10, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/massie-khanna-epstein-files-6-men/
[^9]: C-SPAN, "Rep. Ro Khanna Reads Names from Redacted Epstein Files," February 10, 2026. https://www.c-span.org/clip/us-house-of-representatives/rep-ro-khanna-reads-names-from-redacted-epstein-files/5192664 ; "Ro Khanna Reads Out Names of Six 'Powerful Men' in Epstein Files," The New Republic, February 10, 2026. https://newrepublic.com/post/206411/ro-khanna-reads-redacted-names-epstein-files-house-floor
[^10]: Dareh Gregorian, "Justice Department releases names of 3 people the FBI once called Jeffrey Epstein 'co-conspirators,'" NBC News, February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-names-3-people-fbi-once-called-jeffrey-epstein-co-conspirators-rcna258335
[^11]: "Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, 'Close Personal Friend' Of Epstein, Resigns As CEO Of DP World," Forbes, February 13, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/13/dubai-ceo-resigns-after-released-email-showed-epstein-thanking-him-for-torture-video/ ; "Emirati billionaire resigns as CEO of logistics firm following Epstein revelations," ABC News, February 13, 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/emirati-billionaire-resigns-ceo-logistics-firm-epstein-revelations/story?id=130136386
[^12]: "Justice Department lists hundreds of prominent people named in Epstein files in letter to Congress," CNN, February 15, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/politics/doj-epstein-files-prominent-people
[^13]: Dareh Gregorian, Kyle Stewart, Owen Hayes and Michael Kosnar, "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," NBC News, March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779
[^14]: A Martínez, "Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on the future of the Epstein inquiry with Bondi's ousting," NPR, April 3, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/04/03/nx-s1-5771625/rep-ro-khanna-d-calif-on-the-future-of-the-epstein-inquiry-with-bondis-ousting
[^15]: Erin Kelly, "Massie seeks signatures to force vote on second Epstein files bill," Spectrum News 1, September 1, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/09/01/massie-discharge-petition-epstein

121
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Robert Maxwell.md
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@ -18,95 +18,134 @@ alias:
- Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch - Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch
- Jan Ludvik Hoch - Jan Ludvik Hoch
- Ian Robert Maxwell - Ian Robert Maxwell
summary: "Robert Maxwell was a British publishing magnate, Labour MP, and alleged simultaneous asset of Mossad, British, and Soviet intelligence whose empire collapsed after he looted the Mirror Group pension funds, who was alleged to be the international distributor of backdoored PROMIS software, and who died at sea off the Canary Islands in 1991 amid contested allegations of foul play." summary: "Robert Maxwell was a British publisher and Labour MP, alleged to have served Israeli, British, and Soviet intelligence, who looted the Mirror Group pension funds and died at sea in 1991."
born: 1923-06-10 born: 1923-06-10
died: 1991-11-05 died: 1991-11-05
location: "London, United Kingdom" location: "London, United Kingdom"
created: 2024-04-25 created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Pergamon Press]]"
start: 1951
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Mirror Group Newspapers]]"
role: "acquired from Reed International for about 113 million pounds"
start: 1984-07
end: 1991
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
role: "father"
fn: 14
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Kevin Maxwell]]"
role: "father"
fn: 13
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Ian Maxwell]]"
role: "father"
fn: 13
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Elisabeth Maxwell]]"
role: "husband"
start: 1945
fn: 3
--- ---
Robert Maxwell was a British publishing magnate, Member of Parliament, and proprietor of [[Mirror Group Newspapers]] who built and lost a sprawling media and finance empire before drowning off his yacht near the [[Canary Islands]] in 1991. He was born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch on June 10, 1923, in Slatinské Doly, Carpathian Ruthenia, then part of Czechoslovakia and now Solotvyno, [[Ukraine]].[^1] After his death, investigators found he had misappropriated hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds, and journalists and a self-described former Israeli intelligence officer alleged he had served Israeli, British, and Soviet intelligence services.[^2] Robert Maxwell was a British publishing magnate, Member of Parliament, and proprietor of [[Mirror Group Newspapers]] who built and lost a sprawling media and finance empire before drowning off his yacht near the [[Canary Islands]] in 1991. He was born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch on June 10, 1923, in Slatinské Doly, Carpathian Ruthenia, then part of Czechoslovakia and now Solotvyno, [[Ukraine]].[^1] After his death, investigators found he had misappropriated hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies' pension funds, and journalists and a self-described former Israeli intelligence officer alleged he had served Israeli, British, and Soviet intelligence services.[^2]
### Origins and War Service ### Origins and War Service
Maxwell came from a poor Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish family in the Carpathian region. His father was Mehel (Mechel) Hoch and his mother Hannah Slomowitz, and Maxwell was one of seven or more children.[^14] After Hungary occupied the region and Nazi Germany took control in 1944, his parents, his grandfather, and three of his siblings were deported to [[Auschwitz]] and murdered there; only Maxwell and two sisters survived the [[Holocaust]].[^14] One sister, Sylvia, was reportedly pulled from a deportation transport in [[Budapest]] by the Swedish diplomat [[Raoul Wallenberg]], who issued her protective papers.[^14] Maxwell himself had left the region in 1939, around age fifteen or sixteen, before the deportations.[^14] Maxwell came from a poor Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish family in the Carpathian region. His father was Mehel (Mechel) Hoch and his mother Hannah Slomowitz, and Maxwell was one of seven or more children.[^3] After Hungary occupied the region and [[Nazi Germany]] took control in 1944, his parents, his grandfather, and three of his siblings were deported to [[Auschwitz]] and murdered there; only Maxwell and two sisters survived the [[Holocaust]].[^3] One sister, Sylvia, was reportedly pulled from a deportation transport in [[Budapest]] by the Swedish diplomat [[Raoul Wallenberg]], who issued her protective papers.[^3] Maxwell himself had left the region in 1939, around age fifteen or sixteen, before the deportations.[^3]
He fled westward after the German occupation, joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile in May 1940, and transferred to the British Army, where he rose from private to sergeant before being commissioned.[^1] He served across North West Europe from the [[Normandy]] landings onward, was commissioned into the [[Queen's Royal Regiment]] in January 1945, and on January 29, 1945, while leading his platoon toward Paarlo in the [[Netherlands]], captured a German machine-gun position; for that action he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] and promoted to captain.[^15] Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]] pinned the decoration on him.[^15] In 1945 he married the Frenchwoman Élisabeth Meynard, with whom he had nine children.[^14] He fled westward after the German occupation, joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile in May 1940, and transferred to the British Army, where he rose from private to sergeant before being commissioned.[^1] He served across North West Europe from the [[Normandy]] landings onward, was commissioned into the [[Queen's Royal Regiment]] in January 1945, and on January 29, 1945, while leading his platoon toward Paarlo in the [[Netherlands]], captured a German machine-gun position; for that action he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] and promoted to captain.[^4] Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]] pinned the decoration on him.[^4] In 1945 he married the Frenchwoman Élisabeth Meynard, with whom he had nine children.[^3]
He became a naturalized British subject on June 19, 1946, and legally changed his name to Ian Robert Maxwell on June 30, 1948.[^1] During the immediate postwar period he served in the Berlin Information Control Unit of the British occupation authorities, and in 1947 he made contact with [[Ferdinand Springer]] of [[Springer-Verlag]], Germany's leading prewar scientific publisher, who had retained large stocks of valuable journal back numbers.[^16] Maxwell agreed to act as Springer's distributor outside Germany through his new British firm, the European Periodicals, Publicity and Advertising Corporation (EPPAC), and in 1949 helped form a joint distribution company, Lange, Maxwell & Springer, in which the Springer interests held a 49 percent stake.[^16] He became a naturalized British subject on June 19, 1946, and legally changed his name to Ian Robert Maxwell on June 30, 1948.[^1] During the immediate postwar period he served in the Berlin Information Control Unit of the British occupation authorities, and in 1947 he made contact with [[Ferdinand Springer]] of [[Springer-Verlag]], Germany's leading prewar scientific publisher, who had retained large stocks of valuable journal back numbers.[^5] Maxwell agreed to act as Springer's distributor outside Germany through his new British firm, the European Periodicals, Publicity and Advertising Corporation (EPPAC), and in 1949 helped form a joint distribution company, Lange, Maxwell & Springer, in which the Springer interests held a 49 percent stake.[^5]
### Czechoslovak Arms to Israel ### Czechoslovak Arms to Israel
Maxwell has been described in several accounts as having used his contacts among the Czechoslovak Communist leadership to help arrange the supply of arms to the [[Jewish Agency]] and the emerging state of [[Israel]] during the 1947-1949 period, when an international embargo otherwise restricted weapons reaching the Zionist forces.[^17] The clandestine Czechoslovak sales, authorized by foreign minister [[Jan Masaryk]] and beginning with a contract in January 1948, delivered rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and Avia S-199 fighter aircraft to the [[Haganah]], and [[Yitzhak Rabin]] later said that without the Czech arms it was doubtful the war could have been won.[^17] Maxwell has been described in several accounts as having used his contacts among the Czechoslovak Communist leadership to help arrange the supply of arms to the [[Jewish Agency]] and the emerging state of [[Israel]] during the 1947-1949 period, when an international embargo otherwise restricted weapons reaching the Zionist forces.[^6] The clandestine Czechoslovak sales, authorized by foreign minister [[Jan Masaryk]] and beginning with a contract in January 1948, delivered rifles, machine guns, ammunition, and Avia S-199 fighter aircraft to the [[Haganah]], and [[Yitzhak Rabin]] later said that without the Czech arms it was doubtful the war could have been won.[^6]
The specifics of Maxwell's personal role rest largely on later biographical and journalistic accounts rather than contemporaneous documentation, and the principal sources, including the writers John Loftus and Mark Aarons and the author [[Gordon Thomas]], place him as a facilitator and shipper of materiel and aircraft parts rather than a signatory to the state-level contracts.[^17][^9] No declassified Czechoslovak or Israeli record has been published that fixes the precise scope of his involvement, and the claim is therefore reported but not independently confirmed.[^17] His Eastern European Communist contacts from this period, together with the trading relationships his publishing businesses later built across the [[Eastern Bloc]], formed part of the basis on which writers afterward speculated about ties to Soviet and Israeli services.[^2] The specifics of Maxwell's personal role rest largely on later biographical and journalistic accounts rather than contemporaneous documentation, and the principal sources, including the writers John Loftus and Mark Aarons and the author [[Gordon Thomas]], place him as a facilitator and shipper of materiel and aircraft parts rather than a signatory to the state-level contracts.[^6][^7] No declassified Czechoslovak or Israeli record has been published that fixes the precise scope of his involvement, and the claim is therefore reported but not independently confirmed.[^6] His Eastern European Communist contacts from this period, together with the trading relationships his publishing businesses later built across the [[Eastern Bloc]], formed part of the basis on which writers afterward speculated about ties to Soviet and Israeli services.[^2]
### Pergamon Press and Mirror Group ### Pergamon Press and Mirror Group
Maxwell founded [[Pergamon Press]] in 1951, buying three-quarters of the science publisher Butterworth-Springer, and built it into a major international scientific and academic publishing house issuing journals across the sciences.[^1] In 1969 the American financier [[Saul Steinberg]] of [[Leasco]] launched a takeover bid for Pergamon that collapsed amid a dispute over the profitability of an encyclopedia-publishing subsidiary, and Maxwell lost control of Pergamon and was expelled from its board in October 1969 before reacquiring the company in 1974.[^1] A [[Department of Trade and Industry]] inspectors' inquiry into the Leasco affair concluded in 1971 with the finding that, "notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company."[^1] Maxwell founded [[Pergamon Press]] in 1951, buying three-quarters of the science publisher Butterworth-Springer, and built it into a major international scientific and academic publishing house issuing journals across the sciences.[^1] In 1969 the American financier [[Saul Steinberg]] of [[Leasco]] launched a takeover bid for Pergamon that collapsed amid a dispute over the profitability of an encyclopedia-publishing subsidiary, and Maxwell lost control of Pergamon and was expelled from its board in October 1969 before reacquiring the company in 1974.[^1] A [[Department of Trade and Industry]] inspectors' inquiry into the Leasco affair concluded in 1971 with the finding that, "notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company."[^1]
He sat as the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Buckingham]] from 1964 to 1970.[^1] In July 1984 he acquired Mirror Group Newspapers, publisher of the [[Daily Mirror]] and other titles, for about 113 million pounds from [[Reed International]].[^1] He expanded into the United States, completing a tender offer of about 2.6 billion dollars for the publisher [[Macmillan]] in November 1988, acquiring the language-school chain [[Berlitz]] and [[Official Airline Guides]], and buying the [[New York Daily News]] in 1991, financing the acquisitions through an increasingly opaque web of public companies and private trusts that left his group heavily indebted.[^3][^18] He sat as the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Buckingham]] from 1964 to 1970.[^1] In July 1984 he acquired Mirror Group Newspapers, publisher of the [[Daily Mirror]] and other titles, for about 113 million pounds from [[Reed International]].[^1] He expanded into the [[United States]], completing a tender offer of about 2.6 billion dollars for the publisher [[Macmillan]] in November 1988, acquiring the language-school chain [[Berlitz]] and [[Official Airline Guides]], and buying the [[New York Daily News]] in 1991, financing the acquisitions through an increasingly opaque web of public companies and private trusts that left his group heavily indebted.[^8][^9]
### Collapse and the Pension Theft ### Collapse and the Pension Theft
By 1991 Maxwell's empire was carrying unsustainable debt, and he was secretly transferring assets among his public companies, [[Maxwell Communication Corporation]] and Mirror Group Newspapers, and his private interests to prop up share prices and service borrowing.[^3] The pension assets of the various Maxwell schemes, covering more than 32,000 members, were largely pooled in a Common Investment Fund managed by a Maxwell-controlled subsidiary, [[Bishopsgate Investment Management]] (BIM), and Maxwell used those assets as collateral for loans to his private companies, pledging pension-fund securities to banks and transferring them to private Maxwell entities for little or no consideration.[^19] By 1991 Maxwell's empire was carrying unsustainable debt, and he was secretly transferring assets among his public companies, [[Maxwell Communication Corporation]] and Mirror Group Newspapers, and his private interests to prop up share prices and service borrowing.[^8] The pension assets of the various Maxwell schemes, covering more than 32,000 members, were largely pooled in a Common Investment Fund managed by a Maxwell-controlled subsidiary, [[Bishopsgate Investment Management]] (BIM), and Maxwell used those assets as collateral for loans to his private companies, pledging pension-fund securities to banks and transferring them to private Maxwell entities for little or no consideration.[^10]
After his death, administrators and the [[Serious Fraud Office]] concluded that roughly 450 to 460 million pounds had been taken from the group's pension funds.[^4][^19] [[Goldman Sachs]], acting on Maxwell's instructions, sold blocks of Mirror Group shares that had been marked as pension-fund property, and BIM went into liquidation in March 1992, with many Mirror Group pensioners facing sharp reductions until a partial rescue was arranged.[^19] A long Department of Trade and Industry inspectors' report published in 2001 catalogued the abuses and criticized City advisers, trustees, and the auditors [[Coopers & Lybrand]] Deloitte; the eventual recovery came through out-of-court settlements, including a March 1995 settlement of about 276 million pounds to the pension schemes.[^20] After his death, administrators and the [[Serious Fraud Office]] concluded that roughly 450 to 460 million pounds had been taken from the group's pension funds.[^10][^11] [[Goldman Sachs]], acting on Maxwell's instructions, sold blocks of Mirror Group shares that had been marked as pension-fund property, and BIM went into liquidation in March 1992, with many Mirror Group pensioners facing sharp reductions until a partial rescue was arranged.[^10] A long Department of Trade and Industry inspectors' report published in 2001 catalogued the abuses and criticized City advisers, trustees, and the auditors [[Coopers & Lybrand]] Deloitte; the eventual recovery came through out-of-court settlements, including a March 1995 settlement of about 276 million pounds to the pension schemes.[^12]
His sons [[Kevin Maxwell]] and [[Ian Maxwell]], the latter a BIM director who had signed pension-fund share transfers to the private Maxwell Group, were prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office and tried at the [[Old Bailey]]; in January 1996, after a trial lasting roughly eight months, a jury acquitted both brothers of conspiracy to defraud the pension funds, and in September 1996 prosecutors decided not to pursue a second trial against Kevin Maxwell.[^5][^19] His daughter [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] later moved to the United States and was convicted in 2021 on federal sex-trafficking charges connected to [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^6] His sons [[Kevin Maxwell]] and [[Ian Maxwell]], the latter a BIM director who had signed pension-fund share transfers to the private Maxwell Group, were prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office and tried at the [[Old Bailey]]; in January 1996, after a trial lasting roughly eight months, a jury acquitted both brothers of conspiracy to defraud the pension funds, and in September 1996 prosecutors decided not to pursue a second trial against Kevin Maxwell.[^10][^13] His daughter [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] later moved to the United States and was convicted in 2021 on federal sex-trafficking charges connected to [[Jeffrey Epstein]].[^14]
### Death off the Lady Ghislaine ### Death off the Lady Ghislaine
Maxwell disappeared from his motor yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, during a cruise off the Canary Islands and was found dead in the Atlantic on November 5, 1991, his body recovered about 20 miles southwest of [[Gran Canaria]] and taken to [[Las Palmas]] for examination.[^7] In the hours before his disappearance he had reportedly been under acute pressure, including an argument by telephone with his son Kevin over loan defaults, and the last contact with crew was logged in the early hours of November 5.[^21] An autopsy noted heart and lung disease and a graze on his left shoulder, with no other significant wounds.[^7][^21] Maxwell disappeared from his motor yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, during a cruise off the Canary Islands and was found dead in the Atlantic on November 5, 1991, his body recovered about 20 miles southwest of [[Gran Canaria]] and taken to [[Las Palmas]] for examination.[^15] In the hours before his disappearance he had reportedly been under acute pressure, including an argument by telephone with his son Kevin over loan defaults, and the last contact with crew was logged in the early hours of November 5.[^16] An autopsy noted heart and lung disease and a graze on his left shoulder, with no other significant wounds.[^15][^16]
Three pathologists examining the body reached differing conclusions, one favoring a heart attack alone, another a heart attack followed by drowning, and a third a fall and drowning.[^21] A Spanish judicial proceeding under Judge Isabel Oliva of the Granadilla district court closed the case as most probably accidental, attributing death to "the association of a double mechanism consisting of a previous causal factor of an ischemic heart attack, followed by a concomitant factor of drowning," and a separate inquest in [[England]] in December 1991 likewise returned a verdict of death by heart attack combined with accidental drowning.[^21][^7] The circumstances remained disputed, with competing theories of accident, suicide given the impending exposure of his frauds, and foul play.[^7] Three pathologists examining the body reached differing conclusions, one favoring a heart attack alone, another a heart attack followed by drowning, and a third a fall and drowning.[^16] A Spanish judicial proceeding under Judge Isabel Oliva of the Granadilla district court closed the case as most probably accidental, attributing death to "the association of a double mechanism consisting of a previous causal factor of an ischemic heart attack, followed by a concomitant factor of drowning," and a separate inquest in [[England]] in December 1991 likewise returned a verdict of death by heart attack combined with accidental drowning.[^15][^16] The circumstances remained disputed, with competing theories of accident, suicide given the impending exposure of his frauds, and foul play.[^15]
### Intelligence Allegations ### Intelligence Allegations
Allegations that Maxwell worked for Israeli intelligence were aired publicly in October 1991, shortly before his death, when [[Seymour Hersh]] discussed his book [[The Samson Option]] at a London press conference, asserting that Maxwell and his Daily Mirror foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] had links to Israeli intelligence and that Davies was involved in Israeli arms dealing.[^8] Hersh further alleged that Maxwell had relayed information to the Israeli embassy in London that led to the capture of the nuclear whistleblower [[Mordechai Vanunu]], a claim Maxwell denounced as a total invention.[^8] Labour MP [[George Galloway]] and Conservative MP [[Rupert Allason]] raised the espionage claims in the [[House of Commons]] under parliamentary privilege on October 21, 1991, and Maxwell sued Hersh and his British publisher for libel; after Maxwell's death the action lapsed, and the Mirror Group later apologized to Hersh and paid damages.[^8] Allegations that Maxwell worked for Israeli intelligence were aired publicly in October 1991, shortly before his death, when [[Seymour Hersh]] discussed his book [[The Samson Option]] at a London press conference, asserting that Maxwell and his Daily Mirror foreign editor [[Nicholas Davies]] had links to Israeli intelligence and that Davies was involved in Israeli arms dealing.[^17] Hersh further alleged that Maxwell had relayed information to the Israeli embassy in London that led to the capture of the nuclear whistleblower [[Mordechai Vanunu]], a claim Maxwell denounced as a total invention.[^17] Labour MP [[George Galloway]] and Conservative MP [[Rupert Allason]] raised the espionage claims in the [[House of Commons]] under parliamentary privilege on October 21, 1991, and Maxwell sued Hersh and his British publisher for libel; after Maxwell's death the action lapsed, and the Mirror Group later apologized to Hersh and paid damages.[^17] The allegations against Davies were also the subject of an Early Day Motion in the Commons, EDM 2134, "Mirror Group Newspapers and Israeli Intelligence."[^18] Galloway used parliamentary privilege again in January 1996, in a debate on [[Saudi Arabia]], to allege that commissions on the [[Al-Yamamah]] arms sales had been paid through middlemen including [[Mark Thatcher]] and the defense contractor [[Douglas Leese]], whom [[Steven Hoffenberg]] later credited with introducing him to Jeffrey Epstein.[^19][^20]
The most detailed espionage account came from [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-described former employee of the Israeli [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Military Intelligence Directorate]], who claimed in his 1992 book [[Profits of War]] that Maxwell and Davies were long-time [[Mossad]] assets, and that Davies had tipped him to Vanunu's 1986 approach to the [[Sunday Mirror]] over the photographs Vanunu had taken at [[Dimona]], introducing him to Vanunu's intermediary [[Oscar Guerrero]]; Vanunu was subsequently lured from London to [[Rome]], seized by Israeli operatives, and convicted in Israel.[^10][^22] His maternal relationship to the prime minister's office began, by his own account, through a meeting arranged with [[Yitzhak Shamir]] in the early 1960s.[^10] The most detailed espionage account came from [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], a self-described former employee of the Israeli [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Military Intelligence Directorate]], who claimed in his 1992 book [[Profits of War]] that Maxwell and Davies were long-time [[Mossad]] assets, and that Davies had tipped him to Vanunu's 1986 approach to the [[Sunday Mirror]] over the photographs Vanunu had taken at [[Dimona]], introducing him to Vanunu's intermediary [[Oscar Guerrero]]; Vanunu was subsequently lured from London to [[Rome]], seized by Israeli operatives, and convicted in Israel.[^21][^22]
The Welsh author Gordon Thomas, in [[Gideon's Spies]] (1999) and the later book Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy (2002), drew partly on Ben-Menashe and on the Israeli operative [[Rafi Eitan]] to allege that Maxwell helped distribute a version of the [[PROMIS]] case-management software that Israeli technicians had fitted with a hidden "trapdoor," enabling Israel to monitor the foreign agencies that bought it, marketing it through the Tel Aviv firm [[Degem|Degem Computers]].[^9][^23] In these accounts Maxwell received a flat fee of about 8 million dollars plus a percentage of revenues, and the agencies said to have received the software through his network included those of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Poland, the Soviet Union, South Africa, Jordan, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Nicaragua, with an abridged version said to have been sold to [[Credit Suisse]] in 1985 and a Soviet sale in the late 1980s facilitated by the lifting of [[IBM]] export restrictions.[^10][^9] INSLAW separately alleged that Maxwell contributed 600,000 dollars from a joint U.S.-Israeli intelligence slush fund to secure the removal of its lead litigation counsel [[Leigh Ratiner]], and that the former senator [[John Tower]] had approached Maxwell in 1984 on behalf of a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-connected group to formalize his role as the PROMIS marketing intermediary; the [[Nicholas J. Bua|Bua Report]] found no credible evidence for these claims.[^10][^25] The Welsh author Gordon Thomas, in [[Gideon's Spies]] (1999) and the later book Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy (2002), drew partly on Ben-Menashe and on the Israeli operative [[Rafi Eitan]] to allege that Maxwell helped distribute a version of the [[PROMIS]] case-management software that Israeli technicians had fitted with a hidden "trapdoor," enabling Israel to monitor the foreign agencies that bought it, marketing it through the [[Tel Aviv]] firm [[Degem|Degem Computers]].[^7][^23] In these accounts Maxwell received a flat fee of about 8 million dollars plus a percentage of revenues, and the agencies said to have received the software through his network included those of the [[United Kingdom]], Australia, Canada, South Korea, Poland, the [[Soviet Union]], [[South Africa]], Jordan, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Nicaragua, with an abridged version said to have been sold to [[Credit Suisse]] in 1985 and a Soviet sale in the late 1980s facilitated by the lifting of [[IBM]] export restrictions.[^7][^21] [[INSLAW]] separately alleged that Maxwell contributed 600,000 dollars from a joint U.S.-Israeli intelligence slush fund to secure the removal of its lead litigation counsel [[Leigh Ratiner]], and that the former senator [[John Tower]] had approached Maxwell in 1984 on behalf of a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-connected group to formalize his role as the PROMIS marketing intermediary; the [[Nicholas J. Bua|Bua Report]] found no credible evidence for these claims.[^21][^24]
Ben-Menashe's reliability has been repeatedly questioned, including by a 1993 congressional task force, and no declassified record has substantiated the PROMIS-distribution or recruitment allegations; an Israeli prime minister's spokesman dismissed Thomas's claims as "unmitigated drivel."[^9][^11] In February 1994 INSLAW argued that twenty pages the FBI had released under the Freedom of Information Act showed its Albuquerque office had run a foreign counterintelligence investigation of Maxwell and one of his companies, and that this must concern a PROMIS sale to a defense installation in [[New Mexico]]; the Justice Department's reviewers, having read the unredacted documents, called the inference "a remarkable leap" and wrote that "none of the documents in question even mentioned INSLAW or PROMIS... In short, there is nothing of which we are aware that links Mr. Maxwell to PROMIS."[^26] Maxwell was also long rumored to have had contacts with British intelligence and, given his Eastern European origins and trading ties, with the Soviet [[KGB]], though these characterizations rest on journalistic sourcing rather than disclosed files, and no archive of any of the three services has been released that confirms a formal agent relationship.[^2][^9] Ben-Menashe's reliability has been repeatedly questioned, including by a 1993 congressional task force, and no declassified record has substantiated the PROMIS-distribution or recruitment allegations; an Israeli prime minister's spokesman dismissed Thomas's claims as "unmitigated drivel."[^7][^25] In February 1994 INSLAW argued that twenty pages the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] had released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] showed its Albuquerque office had run a foreign counterintelligence investigation of Maxwell and one of his companies, and that this must concern a PROMIS sale to a defense installation in [[New Mexico]]; the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s reviewers, having read the unredacted documents, called the inference "a remarkable leap" and wrote that "none of the documents in question even mentioned INSLAW or PROMIS... In short, there is nothing of which we are aware that links Mr. Maxwell to PROMIS."[^26] Maxwell was also long rumored to have had contacts with British intelligence and, given his Eastern European origins and trading ties, with the Soviet [[KGB]], though these characterizations rest on journalistic sourcing rather than disclosed files, and no archive of any of the three services has been released that confirms a formal agent relationship.[^2][^7]
### Murder Allegations ### Murder Allegations
Two former Israeli intelligence figures alleged that Maxwell was killed on Mossad orders. The former case officer [[Victor Ostrovsky]], in his 1994 memoir *The Other Side of Deception*, wrote that Maxwell had become a liability once his empire began collapsing and had threatened to expose Mossad operations unless the agency rescued him financially, ending the passage with the line, "On that cold night Mossad's problems with Robert Maxwell were over."[^24] Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, in *Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy* (2002), identified Rafi Eitan as having overseen an assassination and named the operative they said carried it out only by the pseudonym "Efraim," describing the killing as having occurred on the aft deck of the Lady Ghislaine before the body entered the water.[^23] Maxwell's family and the Spanish judicial finding rejected all foul-play theories, and no official inquiry has substantiated them; the proximity of Maxwell's death to that of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] 87 days earlier, whose "[[The Octopus]]" investigation had encompassed the PROMIS distribution network, was noted by INSLAW and congressional investigators.[^25][^9] Two former Israeli intelligence figures alleged that Maxwell was killed on Mossad orders. The former case officer [[Victor Ostrovsky]], in his 1994 memoir *The Other Side of Deception*, wrote that Maxwell had become a liability once his empire began collapsing and had threatened to expose Mossad operations unless the agency rescued him financially, ending the passage with the line, "On that cold night Mossad's problems with Robert Maxwell were over."[^27] Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, in *Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy* (2002), identified [[Rafael Eitan|Rafi Eitan]] as having overseen an assassination and named the operative they said carried it out only by the pseudonym "Efraim," describing the killing as having occurred on the aft deck of the Lady Ghislaine before the body entered the water.[^23] Maxwell's family and the Spanish judicial finding rejected all foul-play theories, and no official inquiry has substantiated them; the proximity of Maxwell's death to that of the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] 87 days earlier, whose "[[The Octopus]]" investigation had encompassed the PROMIS distribution network, was noted by INSLAW and congressional investigators.[^7][^24]
### The Allegations in JPMorgan's Files and Epstein's Email
The Mossad allegations entered the compliance record of [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]]. On December 6, 2013 the Reputation Risk Committee of the bank's asset management division met in the office of its chair, John Duffy, to review the account of Ghislaine Maxwell, which the summary said had been "originally referred to the PB by Jes Staley," referring to [[Jes Staley]] and the private bank. The summary described her as "the daughter of the late Robert Maxwell," recounted the collapse of his companies and the theft from their pension funds, and stated: "Shortly before Maxwell's death, a former employee of Israel's [[Aman|Military Intelligence Directorate]] intelligence agency Ari Ben-Menashe, had approached a number of news organizations in Britain and the United States with the allegation that Maxwell and the Daily Mirror's foreign editor, Nicholas [surname omitted in the document] were both long-time agents for Mossad. Ben-Menashe also claimed that in 1986 Maxwell had told the Israeli Embassy in London that [[Mordecai Vanunu|Mordechai Vanunu]] had given information about Israel's nuclear capability to [[The Sunday Times]], then to the Daily Mirror. Vanunu was subsequently kidnapped by Mossad and smuggled to Israel, convicted of treason and imprisoned for 18 years." Under negative news it listed 2011 reports "alleging Maxwell solicited young girls for then boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein" and noted that Epstein "is currently being exited from the Bank." The committee's decision was "Exit client," for the reason "Negative media."[^28] The summary was filed as an exhibit in the [[United States Virgin Islands]]' 2023 suit against the bank.[^28]
On March 15, 2018 Epstein sent an email with the subject line "he was passed away" to a recipient whose name is redacted. It consisted of quoted passages, their source not shown, stating that "Robert Maxwell 'threatened Mossad," that he told the agency "unless they gave him £400million to save his crumbling empire, he would expose all he had done for them," that "he had free access to [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s Downing Street, to [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[White House]], to the Kremlin and to the corridors of power throughout Europe," that "Maxwell passed on all the secrets he learned to Mossad in Tel Aviv," and that "He appointed himself as Israel's unofficial ambassador to the Soviet Bloc."[^29]
### Funeral in Jerusalem ### Funeral in Jerusalem
Maxwell's body was flown to Israel, and on November 10, 1991, he was given a state-style funeral and buried on the [[Mount of Olives]] in [[Jerusalem]], one of Judaism's most revered burial grounds.[^12] The ceremony at Jerusalem's convention center drew President [[Chaim Herzog]], Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and much of the Israeli political establishment, with reporting that at least six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence were present.[^12][^9] His friend and longtime attorney [[Samuel Pisar]], a Holocaust survivor, recited the Kaddish.[^1] Maxwell's body was flown to Israel, and on November 10, 1991, he was given a state-style funeral and buried on the [[Mount of Olives]] in [[Jerusalem]], one of Judaism's most revered burial grounds.[^30] The ceremony at Jerusalem's convention center drew President [[Chaim Herzog]], Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]], and much of the Israeli political establishment, with reporting that at least six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence were present.[^7][^30] His friend and longtime attorney [[Samuel Pisar]], a Holocaust survivor, recited the Kaddish.[^1]
Herzog eulogized him with the words, "He scaled the heights of human endeavor. Kings and princes waited on him."[^12] Shamir praised the connections and investment Maxwell had brought to Israel during the 1980s, reportedly saying that Maxwell had done more for Israel than could then be told.[^13] The scale of the official Israeli observance was later cited by writers who argued it reflected an intelligence relationship, though attendance at a prominent Jewish philanthropist's funeral is not itself evidence of espionage, and no Israeli official has confirmed that Maxwell was an agent.[^12][^9] Herzog eulogized him with the words, "He scaled the heights of human endeavor. Kings and princes waited on him."[^30] Shamir praised the connections and investment Maxwell had brought to Israel during the 1980s, reportedly saying that Maxwell had done more for Israel than could then be told.[^31] The scale of the official Israeli observance was later cited by writers who argued it reflected an intelligence relationship, though attendance at a prominent Jewish philanthropist's funeral is not itself evidence of espionage, and no Israeli official has confirmed that Maxwell was an agent.[^7][^30]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Robert Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Maxwell [^1]: "Robert Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Maxwell
[^2]: "Robert Maxwell's alleged ties to intelligence agencies," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-intelligence-ties-evidence-9493b2 [^2]: "Robert Maxwell's alleged ties to intelligence agencies," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-intelligence-ties-evidence-9493b2
[^3]: "Great frauds in history: Robert Maxwell," *MoneyWeek,* 2018. https://moneyweek.com/505757/great-frauds-in-history-robert-maxwell [^3]: "Elisabeth Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Maxwell
[^4]: "Maxwell - the fallout," *Association of Mirror Pensioners.* https://www.mirrorpensioners.co.uk/news/maxwell-the-fallout/ [^4]: "The Second World War medals and orders awarded to Robert Maxwell," *Noonans Mayfair.* https://www.noonans.co.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/502/
[^5]: "Media Magnate Maxwell's Sons Acquitted of Charges They Raided Pension Fund," *The Washington Post,* 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/20/media-magnate-maxwells-sons-acquitted-of-charges-they-raided-pension-fund/1841c6cf-8340-4e9e-876c-9f862b4685b5/ [^5]: "Maxwell Communication Corp. Plc," *Encyclopedia.com.* https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/maxwell-communication-corp-plc
[^6]: "Ghislaine Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ghislaine-Maxwell [^6]: "During Israel's Dire Need: Arming Israel in 1948," *Aish,* on the Czechoslovak arms shipments to the Haganah authorized by Jan Masaryk and the Avia S-199 aircraft. https://aish.com/during-israels-dire-need-arming-israel-in-1948/
[^7]: "What caused Robert Maxwell's mysterious death in 1991?," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-mysterious-death-1991-cause-932d42 [^7]: Pipes, Daniel. "Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas," *Commentary,* 1999. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-pipes/gideons-spies-by-gordon-thomas/
[^8]: "Media Baron Sues Seymour Hersh," *The Washington Post,* 1991. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/10/25/media-baron-sues-seymour-hersh/c16c29e2-04ba-4038-9fff-08113fa33b77/ [^8]: "Great frauds in history: Robert Maxwell," *MoneyWeek,* 2018. https://moneyweek.com/505757/great-frauds-in-history-robert-maxwell
[^9]: Pipes, Daniel. "Gideon's Spies by Gordon Thomas," *Commentary,* 1999. https://www.commentary.org/articles/daniel-pipes/gideons-spies-by-gordon-thomas/ [^9]: "Robert Maxwell, who completed a $2.5 billion tender offer," *UPI,* 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/11/04/Robert-Maxwell-who-completed-a-25-billion-tender-offer/2052594622800/
[^10]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992. [^10]: "Unravelling the Web," *Pensions Archive Trust,* 2021, on Bishopsgate Investment Management, the Common Investment Fund, the roughly 450 to 460 million pounds taken, the Goldman Sachs share sales, and the 1995 settlement. https://pensionsarchive.org.uk/2021/11/03/unravelling-the-web/
[^11]: "Probe by House finds no 'October surprise,'" *The Baltimore Sun,* 1993. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-13-1993013111-story.html [^11]: "Maxwell - the fallout," *Association of Mirror Pensioners.* https://www.mirrorpensioners.co.uk/news/maxwell-the-fallout/
[^12]: "Maxwell, Colossus Even in Death, Laid to Rest on Mount of Olives," *Jewish Telegraphic Agency,* 1991. https://www.jta.org/archive/maxwell-colossus-even-in-death-laid-to-rest-on-mount-of-olives [^12]: "Maxwell report: All the publisher's men," *The CFO,* 2001, on the Department of Trade and Industry inspectors' report and the criticism of Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte. https://the-cfo.io/2001/05/09/maxwell-report-all-the-publishers-men/
[^13]: "Maxwell buried on Mount of Olives," *UPI,* 1991. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/11/10/Maxwell-buried-on-Mount-of-Olives/4340689749200/ [^13]: "Media Magnate Maxwell's Sons Acquitted of Charges They Raided Pension Fund," *The Washington Post,* 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/20/media-magnate-maxwells-sons-acquitted-of-charges-they-raided-pension-fund/1841c6cf-8340-4e9e-876c-9f862b4685b5/
[^14]: "Elisabeth Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Maxwell [^14]: "Ghislaine Maxwell," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ghislaine-Maxwell
[^15]: "The Second World War medals and orders awarded to Robert Maxwell," *Noonans Mayfair.* https://www.noonans.co.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/502/ [^15]: "What caused Robert Maxwell's mysterious death in 1991?," *Factually,* 2025. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-mysterious-death-1991-cause-932d42
[^16]: "Maxwell Communication Corp. Plc," *Encyclopedia.com.* https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/maxwell-communication-corp-plc [^16]: "What caused Robert Maxwell's mysterious death in 1991?," *Factually,* 2025, on the differing pathologists' conclusions and the Judge Oliva ruling. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-mysterious-death-1991-cause-932d42
[^17]: "During Israel's Dire Need: Arming Israel in 1948," *Aish,* on the Czechoslovak arms shipments to the Haganah authorized by Jan Masaryk and the Avia S-199 aircraft. https://aish.com/during-israels-dire-need-arming-israel-in-1948/ [^17]: "Media Baron Sues Seymour Hersh," *The Washington Post,* 1991. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/10/25/media-baron-sues-seymour-hersh/c16c29e2-04ba-4038-9fff-08113fa33b77/
[^18]: "Robert Maxwell, who completed a $2.5 billion tender offer," *UPI,* 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/11/04/Robert-Maxwell-who-completed-a-25-billion-tender-offer/2052594622800/ [^18]: UK Parliament, Early Day Motion 2134, "Mirror Group Newspapers and Israeli Intelligence." https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/2134/mirror-group-newspapers-and-israeli-intelligence
[^19]: "Unravelling the Web," *Pensions Archive Trust,* 2021, on Bishopsgate Investment Management, the Common Investment Fund, the roughly 450 to 460 million pounds taken, the Goldman Sachs share sales, and the 1995 settlement. https://pensionsarchive.org.uk/2021/11/03/unravelling-the-web/ [^19]: House of Commons, *Hansard,* HC Deb 24 January 1996, vol 270, cc453-462, "Saudi Arabia" (George Galloway). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1996/jan/24/saudi-arabia
[^20]: "Maxwell report: All the publisher's men," *The CFO,* 2001, on the Department of Trade and Industry inspectors' report and the criticism of Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte. https://the-cfo.io/2001/05/09/maxwell-report-all-the-publishers-men/ [^20]: Ward, Vicky. "The Talented Mr. Epstein." *Vanity Fair,* March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303
[^21]: "What caused Robert Maxwell's mysterious death in 1991?," *Factually,* 2025, on the differing pathologists' conclusions and the Judge Oliva ruling. https://factually.co/fact-checks/media/robert-maxwell-mysterious-death-1991-cause-932d42 [^21]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* Sheridan Square Press, 1992.
[^22]: Contemporaneous press reporting on the 1986 Mordechai Vanunu affair and the Sunday Mirror's handling of his Dimona account, on which Ben-Menashe's claims about Nicholas Davies and Oscar Guerrero rest. [^22]: Contemporaneous press reporting on the 1986 Mordechai Vanunu affair and the Sunday Mirror's handling of his Dimona account, on which Ben-Menashe's claims about Nicholas Davies and Oscar Guerrero rest.
[^23]: Thomas, Gordon, and Martin Dillon. *Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul.* Carroll & Graf, 2002. [^23]: Thomas, Gordon, and Martin Dillon. *Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul.* Carroll & Graf, 2002.
[^24]: Ostrovsky, Victor. *The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad's Secret Agenda.* HarperCollins, 1994, on the alleged Mossad motive to eliminate Maxwell as a collapsing liability. [^24]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, on the rejection of the Leigh Ratiner and PROMIS-distribution allegations and the proximity of the Casolaro and Maxwell deaths.
[^25]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, on the rejection of the Leigh Ratiner and PROMIS-distribution allegations and the proximity of the Casolaro and Maxwell deaths. [^25]: "Probe by House finds no 'October surprise,'" *The Baltimore Sun,* 1993. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-01-13-1993013111-story.html
[^26]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report on the Allegations of INSLAW, Inc.,* September 27, 1994, section on the INSLAW addendum of February 1994. https://archive.org/details/InslawPROMISBuaReport [^26]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report on the Allegations of INSLAW, Inc.,* September 27, 1994, section on the INSLAW addendum of February 1994. https://archive.org/details/InslawPROMISBuaReport
[^27]: Ostrovsky, Victor. *The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad's Secret Agenda.* HarperCollins, 1994, on the alleged Mossad motive to eliminate Maxwell as a collapsing liability.
[^28]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02816127, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 285-12, Exhibit 55, filed August 15, 2023, "AM Reputation Risk Committee Meeting Summary," meeting of December 6, 2013. 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)/EFTA02816127.pdf
[^29]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02507843, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein, "he was passed away," March 15, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02507843.pdf
[^30]: "Maxwell, Colossus Even in Death, Laid to Rest on Mount of Olives," *Jewish Telegraphic Agency,* 1991. https://www.jta.org/archive/maxwell-colossus-even-in-death-laid-to-rest-on-mount-of-olives
[^31]: "Maxwell buried on Mount of Olives," *UPI,* 1991. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/11/10/Maxwell-buried-on-Mount-of-Olives/4340689749200/

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- SarahKellen
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Immunity
- HouseOversightCommittee
alias:
- Sarah Kensington
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's personal assistant from 2001, named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, never charged, who told Congress in 2026 that she was herself his victim."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "personal assistant and scheduler"
start: 2001
fn: 3
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "named potential co-conspirator, immunized"
start: 2007-09-24
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Brian Vickers]]"
role: "wife"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-07-06
end: 2019-12
fn: 3
- type: investigated
with: "[[House Oversight Committee]]"
reverse: true
role: "deponent"
start: 2026-05-21
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Sarah Kellen is an American former personal assistant to [[Jeffrey Epstein]], employed by him from 2001 for more than a decade to manage his schedule, including the "massage" appointments through which girls were brought to his [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house. She is the first of the four women named in the co-conspirator clause of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], under which the [[United States]] agreed not to charge "any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, [[Adriana Ross]], [[Lesley Groff]], or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." She has never been charged. She later married the racing driver [[Brian Vickers]], took the name Sarah Kensington, and in May 2026 testified to the [[House Oversight Committee]] that Epstein had abused her.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Role in the Epstein Household
Victims described Kellen as the assistant who telephoned them to schedule appointments with Epstein. At [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s 2022 sentencing, Judge [[Alison Nathan|Alison J. Nathan]] applied a four-level leadership enhancement on the finding that Maxwell "supervised" Kellen, relying on testimony from two of Epstein's pilots that Kellen was Maxwell's assistant, corroborated by testimony that Maxwell was Epstein's "number two and the lady of the house" in Palm Beach, "where much of the abuse occurred and where Kellen worked." The [[Second Circuit]] upheld the enhancement in 2024.[^1][^2]
According to flight-log data compiled by the Daily Beast, Kellen flew with [[Bill Clinton]] on at least eleven flights in 2002 and 2003. Her later interior-design firm, SLK Designs, operated for a time from a building in Midtown Manhattan owned by Epstein's brother, the property manager [[Mark Epstein]].[^2]
### The Immunity Clause
The clause naming Kellen was negotiated between Epstein's lawyers and the Southern District of Florida under U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta|R. Alexander Acosta]] and was signed in September 2007. When Maxwell invoked it in 2021, the Second Circuit held under United States v. Annabi (1985) that it bound only the Florida office, since nothing in its text or negotiation history showed an intent to bind other districts and the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s own manual required written approval from any other district to be bound. None of the four has been charged by any federal district.[^1] The Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] concluded in November 2020 that Acosta had "agreed to several unusual and problematic terms in the NPA without the consideration required under the circumstances," and characterized his decision to resolve the case through the agreement as "poor judgment" rather than misconduct.[^5]
Kellen was also a named defendant, with Epstein, Maxwell, and Groff, in the federal sex-trafficking suit brought in 2017 by [[Sarah Ransome]], who alleged that the four told her Epstein would use his influence to secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for massages. The suit was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on December 20, 2018.[^6]
### 2019 Investigation
On July 6, 2019, the day Epstein was arrested in [[New Jersey]], agents of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] approached Kellen; when she asked to have lawyers present, she was served with a grand jury subpoena. Her lawyers first met prosecutors and the FBI in November 2019, and the meetings continued into December. In Justice Department records of those meetings, Kellen described Epstein abusing her "pretty often" and, on one occasion, having "aggressively raped" her. Her attorney Kathleen Cassidy stated: "After Sarah was able to disclose her abuse at Epstein's hands, prosecutors recognized her as a victim and declined to prosecute." The Epstein survivor [[Teresa Helm]] has said Kellen groomed her for abuse; Kellen's lawyers say Kellen never met Helm.[^3]
### Congressional Testimony
Kellen gave a closed-door deposition to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] on May 21, 2026. Her prepared statement read in part: "I was trapped inside Jeffrey Epstein's world," "I was a literal indentured slave," and "The federal government of the United States branded me a criminal in a secret deal," adding, "I have spent every year since trying to live underneath that piece of paper." She called the description of her as "Ghislaine's lieutenant" a "gross misrepresentation" and said Maxwell had called her a "slave" and a "minion." According to the [[Miami Herald]], citing people in the room, she named three other men who she said had sexually abused her. Committee Chairman [[James Comer]] said beforehand, "Out of all the interviews we've done, this is going to be the toughest one," and afterward that the Justice Department did not appear to have regarded her as a co-conspirator but as someone who had aided Epstein's prosecution.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6, 9-12, 24-25 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^3]: "Set to appear before Congress, an Epstein 'potential co-conspirator' says she, too, was a victim," *MS NOW,* May 2026. https://www.ms.now/news/set-to-appear-before-congress-an-epstein-potential-co-conspirator-says-she-too-was-a-victim
[^4]: "Former Epstein assistant Sarah Kellen testified before the House committee. Here's what we know," *PBS News,* May 22, 2026 (updated June 4, 2026). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/former-epstein-assistant-sarah-kellen-testified-before-the-house-committee-heres-what-we-know
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^6]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein (Ransome v. Epstein), No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK (S.D.N.Y.), Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/

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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Steven Hoffenberg.md
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--- ---
category: "Organized Crime" category: "Organized Crime"
tags: [Person, StevenHoffenberg, TowersFinancial, JeffreyEpstein, PonziScheme, Finance, Fraud, SEC] tags:
alias: ["Steven Jude Hoffenberg", "Stephen Hoffenberg"] - Person
- StevenHoffenberg
- TowersFinancial
- JeffreyEpstein
- PonziScheme
- Finance
- Fraud
- SEC
alias:
- Steven Jude Hoffenberg
- Stephen Hoffenberg
- Steven J. Hoffenberg
summary: "Founder of Towers Financial Corporation who pleaded guilty in 1995 to a roughly 475 million dollar Ponzi scheme and later claimed Jeffrey Epstein helped architect the fraud, a claim for which Epstein was never charged." summary: "Founder of Towers Financial Corporation who pleaded guilty in 1995 to a roughly 475 million dollar Ponzi scheme and later claimed Jeffrey Epstein helped architect the fraud, a claim for which Epstein was never charged."
born: 1945-01-12 born: 1945-01-12
died: 2022-08 died: 2022-08
location: Derby, Connecticut location: Derby, Connecticut
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]"
reverse: true
start: 1993-02
fn: 5
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 1994-04-20
end: 1997-03-07
fn: 2
--- ---
Steven Jude Hoffenberg founded and ran [[Towers Financial Corporation]], a Manhattan debt-collection and securities firm that collapsed in 1993 and was later found to be one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history before that of [[Bernard Madoff]]. He pleaded guilty in 1995 to defrauding investors of about 475 million dollars and served roughly 18 years in federal prison. He hired [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as a consultant in the late 1980s and later publicly claimed Epstein had been a co-architect of the Towers fraud. Steven Jude Hoffenberg founded and ran [[Towers Financial Corporation]], a Manhattan debt-collection and securities firm that collapsed in 1993 and was later found to be one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history before that of [[Bernard Madoff]]. He pleaded guilty in 1995, was ordered to pay 475,157,340 dollars in restitution, and served roughly 18 years in federal prison. He hired [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as a consultant in 1987, declined an offer of a reduced sentence in exchange for information about Epstein, and after his release claimed in court filings that Epstein had been a co-architect of the Towers fraud; the suits he brought and inspired ended within weeks.[^1][^2] He was found dead in his Connecticut apartment in August 2022.[^3]
### Early Career ### Early Career
Hoffenberg was born in Brooklyn in 1945 and entered the debt-collection business in New York in the 1970s, reportedly starting with a small initial investment after dropping out of college.[^6] He built Towers Financial Corporation around the practice of buying delinquent debts, including unpaid hospital bills, bank loans and telephone charges, at steep discounts and pursuing the full balances through aggressive collection.[^6] He briefly held a controlling interest in the [[New York Post]] in the early 1990s during the paper's ownership turmoil.[^6] Hoffenberg was born in Brooklyn in 1945 and entered the debt-collection business in New York in the 1970s, reportedly starting with a small initial investment after dropping out of college.[^4] He built Towers Financial Corporation around the practice of buying delinquent debts, including unpaid hospital bills, bank loans and telephone charges, at steep discounts and pursuing the full balances through aggressive collection.[^4] He served as chief executive of Towers from 1975 to April 1993.[^2] He briefly held a controlling interest in the [[New York Post]] in the early 1990s during the paper's ownership turmoil: he took over the Post in 1993 while bidding to own it and funded it for three months, and his bid was derailed by the civil fraud charges the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] brought against Towers.[^3][^4]
### Towers Financial and the Ponzi Scheme ### Towers Financial and the Ponzi Scheme
Towers Financial Corporation operated as a debt-collection business that bought portfolios of distressed receivables, including debts owed to hospitals and telephone companies, for fractions of their face value, while raising money from thousands of investors through unsecured promissory notes and bonds.[^1] Prosecutors and the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] determined that the company functioned as a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to pay returns to earlier ones while Hoffenberg diverted proceeds.[^1] Towers Financial Corporation operated as a debt-collection business that bought portfolios of distressed receivables, including debts owed to hospitals and telephone companies, for fractions of their face value, while raising money from thousands of investors through unsecured promissory notes and bonds.[^5][^6] Prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission determined that the company functioned as a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to pay returns to earlier ones while Hoffenberg diverted proceeds to, among other things, a mansion on Long Island, homes on Sutton Place and in Florida, and a fleet of cars and planes.[^5][^6]
To finance attempted corporate takeovers, Hoffenberg directed Towers to acquire two Illinois insurance companies, United Fire Insurance Co. and Associated Life Insurance Co., in 1987, and prosecutors later found their reserves were looted in the broader fraud.[^3] The Illinois Department of Insurance, then directed by [[James Schacht]], placed the insurers into liquidation and brought a 1991 civil suit that named Jeffrey Epstein in connection with checks drawn on the companies' accounts.[^3] To finance attempted corporate takeovers, Hoffenberg directed Towers to acquire, through a controlling interest in [[United Diversified Corporation]], two Illinois insurance companies, United Fire Insurance Co. and Associated Life Insurance Co., in 1987, and prosecutors later found their reserves were looted in the broader fraud.[^1][^2] The Illinois Department of Insurance, then directed by [[James Schacht]], placed the insurers into liquidation and brought a 1991 civil suit that named Jeffrey Epstein in connection with checks drawn on the companies' accounts.[^1]
The scheme operated between roughly 1988 and 1993, with claimed annual revenues approaching one billion dollars by the time of its collapse.[^1] The SEC charged Towers in February 1993, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 1993.[^2] Hoffenberg pleaded guilty in April 1995 to five criminal charges of defrauding investors of roughly 462 to 475 million dollars; in 1997 Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]] sentenced him to 20 years in prison, a one million dollar fine and roughly 463 million dollars in restitution, and he settled a related SEC civil suit for 60 million dollars.[^2] He served about 18 years and was released from federal custody in 2013.[^2] The scheme operated between roughly 1988 and 1993; Hoffenberg later described it to CBS News as "a billion dollars in raising money. And it was criminal."[^1] The SEC charged Towers, Hoffenberg, [[Mitchell Brater]] and [[Arthur J. Ferro]] in February 1993 (93 Civ. 0744 (WK), S.D.N.Y.), later obtaining a consent judgment against Hoffenberg, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 1993.[^3][^5] He was indicted in the Northern District of Illinois on April 19, 1994 and in the Southern District of New York on April 20, 1994, and on April 20, 1995 he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice and tax evasion (94 Cr. 213 (RWS), 95 Cr. 321 (RWS)). Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]] issued his sentencing opinion on March 4, 1997 and entered judgment on March 7, 1997: 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a one million dollar fine and restitution of 475,157,340 dollars, the total of noteholder and bondholder claims the Bankruptcy Court had validated in April 1996.[^2][^7] The prosecution was led by Daniel Nardello, who went into private practice soon afterward.[^1] He served about 18 years and was released from federal custody on October 11, 2013.[^3][^7]
Hoffenberg swore in 2018 that "during the course of my criminal trial, Prosecutors offered me a reduced sentence in exchange for information about Epstein's role. However, I did not disclose any details about Epstein's involvement." His lawyer [[Gary Baise]] said Sweet asked him, "Why did he not give up Epstein?", and told the [[The Philadelphia Inquirer|Philadelphia Inquirer]], "The judge asked me the same question. I couldn't answer that." Epstein's lawyers wrote in 2016 that at a December 2013 conference in the criminal case "Judge Sweet stated he was unaware of Epstein." Hoffenberg told CBS News in 2019: "I didn't take that opportunity and I was wrong," saying he had not wanted to fight Epstein because of his powerful relationships and political connections.[^1][^2][^8][^9]
### Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein ### Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein
Hoffenberg said he hired Jeffrey Epstein around 1987 as a paid consultant, with reporting citing a salary of about 25,000 dollars per month and, in 1988, a two million dollar non-repayable loan, and he set Epstein up in offices at the [[Villard Houses]] in Manhattan.[^2] At the time Epstein was running his own consulting firm, [[International Assets Group]], from his New York apartment after leaving [[Bear Stearns]].[^3] A Towers attorney confirmed Epstein worked at the firm and recalled drafting a consulting agreement, and [[Terrence Corrigan]], a lawyer for an investor-recovery committee, said Epstein appeared on organizational charts as potentially "the number two or number three person at the firm," though the characterization was disputed.[^3] Court records and the 1991 [[Illinois Department of Insurance]] lawsuit referenced a series of checks payable to "Jeff Epstein" or "Jeff Epstein & Co." drawn on the United Fire and United Diversified accounts and totaling about 215,000 dollars.[^3] Hoffenberg met Epstein in London in the 1980s. He said they were introduced by the defense contractor [[Douglas Leese]]; Epstein said the introduction came from the former attorney general [[John Mitchell]].[^6] Hoffenberg said he hired Jeffrey Epstein around 1987 as a paid consultant, with reporting citing a salary of about 25,000 dollars per month and, in 1988, a two million dollar non-repayable loan, and he set Epstein up in offices at the [[Villard Houses]] in Manhattan.[^3] At the time Epstein was running his own consulting firm, [[International Assets Group]], from his New York apartment after leaving [[Bear Stearns]].[^1] A Towers attorney confirmed Epstein worked at the firm and recalled drafting a consulting agreement, and [[Terrence Corrigan]], a lawyer for an investor-recovery committee, said Epstein appeared on organizational charts as potentially "the number two or number three person at the firm," though the characterization was disputed.[^1] Court records and the 1991 [[Illinois Department of Insurance]] lawsuit referenced a series of checks payable to "Jeff Epstein" or "[[J. Epstein & Co.|Jeff Epstein & Co.]]" drawn on the United Fire and United Diversified accounts and totaling about 215,000 dollars.[^1]
Hoffenberg and Epstein partnered on attempted corporate takeovers in 1988, using Towers and the captive Illinois insurers as the financing vehicles, including an unsuccessful bid involving [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] and an attempt targeting [[Emery Air Freight]].[^2] A Towers press release identified Epstein as "chairman of the board of directors of Intercontinental Asset Group" and a financial adviser to Towers management in connection with the Pan Am financing.[^3] The Illinois suit alleged Epstein manipulated the price of Emery stock through multiple brokerage accounts he controlled and traded without a broker's license.[^3] Epstein and Hoffenberg traveled together on Hoffenberg's private jet during this period, and Epstein left Towers before its collapse and was never charged in connection with the fraud.[^3] Hoffenberg and Epstein partnered on attempted corporate takeovers in 1988, using Towers and the captive Illinois insurers as the financing vehicles, including an unsuccessful bid involving [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] and an attempt targeting [[Emery Air Freight]].[^3] A Towers press release identified Epstein as "chairman of the board of directors of Intercontinental Asset Group" and a financial adviser to Towers management in connection with the Pan Am financing.[^1] The Illinois suit alleged Epstein manipulated the price of Emery stock through multiple brokerage accounts he controlled and traded without a broker's license.[^1] Epstein and Hoffenberg traveled together on Hoffenberg's private jet during this period, and Epstein left Towers before its collapse and was never charged in connection with the fraud.[^1] Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein told him he had left Bear Stearns in 1981 after being discovered executing "illegal operations."[^6]
Before an Illinois grand jury in 1993 Hoffenberg testified that Epstein proposed financing the bids through the insurers and that he, Brater and Epstein arranged to use 3 million dollars of the insurers' bonds as collateral for Pan Am and Emery stock; "Epstein was the person in charge of the transactions," he said. He also alleged that Epstein "created a great scheme to purchase a $500,000 treasury bond that would not be shown ... (as) margined or collateralized," and later claimed that he secretly funded part of Epstein's stakes in [[Riddell Sports]] and a position in the chemical company [[Pennwalt]] taken around the same time, and that the [[Simon & Schuster]] chief executive [[Richard E. Snyder|Dick Snyder]], whom Epstein had brought into the Pennwalt deal, bought part of his investment through him; a source close to Hoffenberg said Hoffenberg later paid Snyder off. Former United Fire officers Daniel Payton and Richard Allen said they had dealt with Epstein about the missing bonds. Epstein denied any dealings with the insurers, and Vanity Fair noted that much of Hoffenberg's testimony in his criminal case "has proven to be false."[^6]
### Later Claims and Death ### Later Claims and Death
After his release, Hoffenberg publicly asserted that Jeffrey Epstein had been central to the Towers fraud, telling CBS News that Epstein was "my partner in what we did raising the billion dollars" and describing him as his "wingman."[^3] He claimed in interviews that Epstein had devised the failed Pan Am and Emery takeover schemes and had misappropriated proceeds from the insurance companies for personal use.[^3] Court documents filed by Hoffenberg alleged Epstein was an "architect" of the scheme, but no charges were ever brought against Epstein over Towers, and investigators said no concrete evidence directly tied him to the criminal conspiracy.[^1] Hoffenberg sued Epstein over the fraud's proceeds in 2019.[^4] After his release, Hoffenberg publicly asserted that Jeffrey Epstein had been central to the Towers fraud, telling CBS News that Epstein was "my partner in what we did raising the billion dollars" and describing him as his "wingman."[^1] He claimed in interviews that Epstein had devised the failed Pan Am and Emery takeover schemes and had misappropriated proceeds from the insurance companies for personal use.[^1] Court documents filed by Hoffenberg alleged Epstein was an "architect" of the scheme, but no charges were ever brought against Epstein over Towers, and investigators said no concrete evidence directly tied him to the criminal conspiracy.[^1]
Hoffenberg involved himself in politics in his later years, including reported backing of a super PAC associated with the 2016 presidential campaign of [[Bernie Sanders]].[^5] He gave numerous media interviews after Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, presenting himself as a witness to Epstein's origins while acknowledging his own criminal history.[^3] ### Litigation Against Epstein
On August 23, 2022 his body was found in advanced decomposition at his apartment in [[Derby, Connecticut]] after a welfare check, prompted when Jeffrey Epstein accuser [[Maria Farmer]] was unable to reach him and contacted police; he was 77.[^2] Farmer told authorities Hoffenberg had recently contracted COVID-19 and had been unable to recover, and investigators estimated he had been dead for at least a week.[^7] An initial autopsy by the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found no signs of trauma or foul play, and police said they believed he died of natural causes pending toxicology results.[^7] Hoffenberg's litigation from prison had drawn warnings before he turned to Epstein. In Hoffenberg v. Hoffman & Pollok (2003), Sweet warned that he would be enjoined from further litigation without prior approval, and in 2013 Judge [[P. Kevin Castel]] ordered Hoffenberg and his lawyer Alan Fraade to show cause why a petition on behalf of "200,000 Towers Investors" (No. 1:13-cv-08563) should not be dismissed as frivolous and sanctioned; Fraade withdrew it.[^9] A June 11, 2015 verified petition in his criminal case named Epstein as the unnamed co-conspirator.[^8][^10]
On May 27, 2016 Hoffenberg, represented by Fraade's firm Mintz & Fraade, sued Epstein and [[Financial Trust Company]] (No. 1:16-cv-03989) "individually, and as constructive trustee of the Noteholders and Bondholders of Towers Financial Corporation." Epstein's lawyer, Bennet J. Moskowitz of [[Troutman Sanders]], 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. Hoffenberg withdrew the complaint with prejudice by letter of July 1, and Sullivan dismissed the case on July 5, 2016, five weeks after filing.[^9][^11] On August 17, 2018 Hoffenberg swore an affidavit that "Epstein and the corporations he formed were my co-conspirators" 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." It was filed with a class action by two Towers noteholders against Epstein and Financial Trust, which was terminated on October 5, 2018 after Epstein's lawyers moved to dismiss and called it "Hoffenberg's rehashing of several of his prior lawsuits."[^2][^8][^10] Hoffenberg told CBS News in 2019 that the limitations period had barred the suits and that he was waiting to refile if a government agency acted against Epstein's estate.[^1]
Hoffenberg involved himself in politics in his later years, including reported backing of a super PAC associated with the 2016 presidential campaign of [[Bernie Sanders]].[^12] He gave numerous media interviews after Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, presenting himself as a witness to Epstein's origins while acknowledging his own criminal history.[^1]
On August 23, 2022 his body was found in advanced decomposition at his apartment in a multifamily house in [[Derby, Connecticut]] after a welfare check; he was 77. Derby police said the check was requested by a private investigator acting for a woman who identified herself as close to Hoffenberg and as a sexual abuse victim of Epstein, and who had not heard from him for five days. He was identified through dental records and was believed to have died at least seven days earlier. The autopsy showed no signs of trauma, there were no indications of a struggle or forced entry, and the cause of death was left pending toxicology results. Baise said he was not surprised because Hoffenberg did not appear to be taking care of himself.[^3]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Towers Financial Corporation," summarizing SEC findings and contemporaneous reporting on the Ponzi scheme and Epstein's disputed role. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/litreleases/lr15053.txt
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's mentor, who once ran a Ponzi scheme, was found dead. He was 77," *NPR,* 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/08/26/1119746511/jeffrey-epstein-mentor-steven-hoffenberg-dead [^1]: Brian Pascus, "Jeffrey Epstein worked at Towers Financial with Steven Hoffenberg, who committed Ponzi scheme crimes," *CBS News,* August 13, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-worked-at-towers-financial-with-stephen-hoffenberg-who-committed-ponzi-scheme-crimes/
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein worked at Towers Financial with Steven Hoffenberg, who committed Ponzi scheme crimes," *CBS News,* 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-worked-at-towers-financial-with-stephen-hoffenberg-who-committed-ponzi-scheme-crimes/ [^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 (citing United States v. Hoffenberg, 94 Cr. 213 (RWS), 95 Cr. 321 (RWS), 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2394 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 4, 1997)), with Exhibit B, Affidavit of Steven J. Hoffenberg sworn August 17, 2018, ECF No. 7-2, paragraphs 2, 36 to 45. https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Gerber-v-The-Financial-Trust-Co-complaint.pdf
[^4]: "Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's old boss says he knows where the mystery millions came from," *Philadelphia Inquirer,* 2019. https://www.inquirer.com/business/jeffrey-epstein-hoffenberg-trump-clinton-20190711.html [^3]: Associated Press, "Jeffrey Epstein's mentor, who once ran a Ponzi scheme, was found dead. He was 77," *NPR,* August 26, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/08/26/1119746511/jeffrey-epstein-mentor-steven-hoffenberg-dead
[^5]: "Bernie Sanders Attracts Big Campaign Money Despite Rhetoric," *Time,* 2016. https://time.com/4141201/bernie-sanders-superpac-money/ [^4]: "Steven Hoffenberg: Who is the former Epstein associate and New York Post owner?," *Yahoo News,* 2019, summarizing his Brooklyn origins, the 1970s debt-collection start and the New York Post stake. https://www.yahoo.com/news/steven-hoffenberg-former-epstein-associate-230443969.html
[^6]: "Steven Hoffenberg: Who is the former Epstein associate and New York Post owner?," *Yahoo News,* 2019, summarizing his Brooklyn origins, the 1970s debt-collection start and the New York Post stake. https://www.yahoo.com/news/steven-hoffenberg-former-epstein-associate-230443969.html [^5]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 15053, SEC v. Michael Rosoff, 96 Civ. 7064 (WK) (S.D.N.Y.), September 17, 1996, describing the Towers scheme and cross-referencing Litigation Release No. 13514 (SEC v. Towers Financial Corporation, Steven Hoffenberg, Mitchell Brater, and Arthur J. Ferro, 93 Civ. 0744 (WK) (S.D.N.Y.)), Litigation Release No. 13550 (amended complaint) and Litigation Release No. 14317 (consent judgment against Hoffenberg); releases 13514 and 13550 are not posted on the SEC website. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/litreleases/lr15053.txt
[^7]: "Who was Steven Hoffenberg? Jeffrey Epstein associate found dead in Connecticut apartment," summarizing the August 2022 welfare check, Maria Farmer's call, and the medical examiner's findings. https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/news-who-steven-hoffenberg-jeffrey-epstein-associate-found-dead-connecticut-apartment [^6]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair,* March 2003, as republished by the author, on Hoffenberg's lifestyle, the Leese and Mitchell accounts, the 1993 Illinois grand jury testimony, the Riddell, Pennwalt and Snyder claims, the Payton and Allen accounts, and Epstein's denials. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
[^7]: Transcript of conference, United States v. Steven Hoffenberg, 94 Cr. 213 (RWS) (S.D.N.Y.), December 5, 2013, before Judge Robert W. Sweet, 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
[^8]: 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
[^9]: 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.), citing 200,000 Towers Inv'rs v. U.S., 13-cv-8563, 2013 WL 6673612 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 18, 2013), Hoffenberg v. Hoffman & Pollok, 288 F. Supp. 2d 527, 540 (S.D.N.Y. 2003), and 94-cr-213, ECF No. 150; 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
[^10]: 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), listing among the defendants' exhibits the Verified Petition to Perpetuate Testimony dated June 11, 2015 filed in United States v. Hoffenberg. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7698990/gerber-v-the-financial-trust-company/
[^11]: 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
[^12]: "Bernie Sanders Attracts Big Campaign Money Despite Rhetoric," *Time,* 2016. https://time.com/4141201/bernie-sanders-superpac-money/

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---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- ThomasMassie
- Congress
- RepublicanParty
- Kentucky
- EpsteinFilesTransparencyAct
- DischargePetition
- SuperPAC
- MIT
alias:
- Thomas Harold Massie
- Rep. Thomas Massie
summary: "MIT-trained engineer and Republican congressman from Kentucky who forced the 2025 House vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act and lost his 2026 primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger after record super PAC spending."
born: 1971-01-13
location: "Huntington, West Virginia (born)"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[SensAble Technologies]]"
start: 1993
end: 2003
role: "co-founder"
fn: 4
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States House of Representatives]]"
start: 2012-11-13
end: 2027-01-03
role: "representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Rhonda Massie]]"
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Thomas Massie (born January 13, 1971, in [[Huntington, West Virginia]]) is an American engineer and Republican politician who has represented [[Kentucky]]'s 4th congressional district since November 2012.[^1] With [[Ro Khanna]] he wrote the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] and filed the discharge petition that forced it to a floor vote over the opposition of the House leadership and the [[White House]]. [[Donald Trump]] endorsed a challenger against him, and on May 19, 2026, he lost the Republican primary after the most expensive House primary on record.[^2][^3]
### Engineering and SensAble
Massie earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1993 and a master's in mechanical engineering in 1996 at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. Working with [[Kenneth Salisbury]] at the MIT [[MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], he built the PHANToM, a force-feedback interface that lets a user feel the shape and consistency of objects on a computer screen. In 1993 he and his wife, [[Rhonda Massie]], founded SensAble Devices from his dormitory room; it was reincorporated in 1996 as [[SensAble Technologies]] when MIT's Bill Aulet joined. He won the first Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, of 30,000 dollars, and the MIT 10K business plan competition in 1995. The company raised 32 million dollars in venture capital, employed 70 people and held 24 patents; its customers included [[Disney]], [[Boeing]] and [[Adidas]]. Massie left in 2003 and returned to Kentucky.[^4] [[Geomagic]] acquired SensAble's design and haptics businesses in April 2012.[^5]
### Congress
Massie won a special election for the 4th district in November 2012 and was seated on November 13 of that year.[^1] When Trump ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, Massie posted, "This is not Constitutional," and argued that the executive branch cannot "unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn't attacked the [[United States]]." On June 22, 2025, Trump's senior political adviser [[Chris LaCivita]] confirmed that he and the pollster [[Tony Fabrizio]] would run a super PAC to unseat Massie.[^6]
### The Epstein Files
On July 15, 2025, Khanna introduced H.R. 4405, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, "for himself and Mr. Massie."[^7] On September 2, 2025, Massie filed a discharge petition to force a vote. It reached 218 signatures on November 12, when [[Adelita Grijalva]] was sworn in after a delay of more than seven weeks; Massie, [[Marjorie Taylor Greene]], [[Lauren Boebert]] and [[Nancy Mace]] were the only Republicans to sign, and White House officials pressed Boebert and Mace to withdraw.[^8] The House passed the bill 427 to 1 on November 18, and Trump signed it on November 19.[^9] On January 13, 2026, Massie and Khanna asked the court in [[United States v. Maxwell]] to appoint "a special master or independent monitor" over the department's compliance, stating that it had "publicly released only 12,285 documents" by January 5; Judge [[Paul Engelmayer]] denied the motion on January 21 for lack of authority.[^10]
On February 9, 2026, Massie and Khanna reviewed less-redacted files at the [[Department of Justice]]. Massie reported that an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] document listing co-conspirators had the name of a "well known retired CEO" redacted; Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]] identified the man as [[Leslie Wexner]], unredacted the name and told Massie to "stop grandstanding." Wexner's representative said prosecutors had told his lawyers in 2019 that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target."[^11][^12] Massie posted a 2009 email exchange in which Epstein wrote to a redacted correspondent, "where are you? are you ok, I loved the torture video," and the correspondent replied that he was in China; the unredacted files identified the correspondent as [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman and chief executive of [[DP World]]. Bin Sulayem, who has not been accused of a crime, did not respond to requests for comment and resigned from DP World on February 13, 2026; Massie wrote, "Today he resigns."[^13][^14] At a [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] hearing on February 11, Massie told Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], "Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did," and when she testified that Wexner's name had been restored within 40 minutes, answered, "Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed." Bondi called him "a failed politician" with "Trump derangement syndrome."[^15]
On September 1, 2026, Massie and Khanna opened a discharge petition for an Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which would let members of Congress, state officials and survivors sue the department for noncompliance. Massie said the government "continues to withhold over three million files."[^16]
### The 2026 Primary
MAGA KY, the super PAC run by LaCivita and Fabrizio, registered with the [[Federal Election Commission]] on June 19, 2025, with Charles Gantt as treasurer. Its first large receipts were 250,000 dollars from [[John Paulson]] on June 26, 2025, and on June 27 one million dollars from [[Paul Singer]] of [[Elliott Management]] and 750,000 dollars from Preserve America PAC, which is associated with [[Miriam Adelson]]. From December 2025 through May 2026 it received transfers from America 21 PAC totaling about 4.4 million dollars; America 21's donors in the same period included Singer (one million dollars each on November 14, 2025, April 8 and May 7, 2026), the Elliott executive [[Jonathan Pollock]] (one million dollars), [[Stephen Schwarzman]] of [[Blackstone]] (400,000 dollars) and Paulson. [[MAGA Inc.]], Trump's principal super PAC, gave MAGA KY 500,000 dollars on May 14, 2026. By July 15, 2026, MAGA KY had raised 7,984,000 dollars and reported 7.48 million dollars in independent expenditures.[^17][^18] The [[United Democracy Project]], the super PAC of [[AIPAC]], spent 4.1 million dollars, mostly on advertising against Massie, and the Republican Jewish Coalition's Victory Fund 3.9 million dollars, mostly for his opponent. A further committee, Kentucky 4th PAC, was funded by a single donor, Tamarack Aspen Inc., whose owners were not disclosed.[^18]
Trump endorsed [[Ed Gallrein]], a retired Navy SEAL from Shelbyville, in October 2025.[^3] On the other side, [[Jeff Yass]] of [[Susquehanna International Group]] gave 7.5 million dollars to Protect Freedom PAC, of which he is the principal funder, on October 20, 2025; Protect Freedom gave one million dollars to the pro-Massie Kentucky First PAC three days later and 300,000 dollars more on April 15, 2026. Massie's campaign committee raised 8.78 million dollars in the cycle through June 30, 2026.[^17] About 37 million dollars was spent on the race by the campaigns and outside groups.[^18]
Gallrein defeated Massie on May 19, 2026, by about ten percentage points.[^3][^18] His term ends on January 3, 2027.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States Congress, legislator record for Thomas Massie (bioguide M001184), terms 2012-11-13 to 2027-01-03, Kentucky 4th district, compiled in the congress-legislators dataset. https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json ; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/M001184
[^2]: "Endorsed by Trump, Ed Gallrein defeats Rep. Thomas Massie in GOP House primary," NPR, May 19, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/05/19/nx-s1-5827183/massie-gallrein-kentucky-race-results-trump
[^3]: "Here's what the Kentucky election results tell us about Ed Gallrein's win over Thomas Massie," Louisville Public Media, May 20, 2026. https://www.lpm.org/news/2026-05-20/heres-what-the-kentucky-election-results-tell-us-about-ed-gallreins-win-over-thomas-massie ; "Republican Thomas Massie who stood up to Trump defeated in Kentucky primary," Al Jazeera, May 20, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/20/republican-thomas-massie-who-stood-up-to-trump-defeated-in-kentucky-primary
[^4]: Lemelson-MIT Program, "Thomas Massie," winner profile. https://lemelson-teams.mit.edu/winners/thomas-massie
[^5]: "Geomagic Acquires Sensable 3D Design and Haptics Businesses," Business Wire, April 12, 2012. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120412006078/en/Geomagic-Acquires-Sensable-3D-Design-and-Haptics-Businesses
[^6]: Jonathan Allen and Raquel Coronell Uribe, "Trump's team launches group to unseat GOP Rep. Thomas Massie," NBC News, June 22, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-thomas-massie-criticism-us-strikes-iran-kentucky-maga-rcna214387
[^7]: H.R. 4405, 119th Congress, Epstein Files Transparency Act, as introduced July 15, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4405/text
[^8]: "US representative files discharge petition to compel release of Epstein investigation documents," JURIST, September 5, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/09/us-representative-files-discharge-petition-to-compel-release-of-epstein-investigation-documents/ ; "Epstein discharge petition secures final signature needed to force House vote on releasing files," CBS News, November 12, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-discharge-petition-final-signature-files-adelita-grijalva/
[^9]: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 289, H.R. 4405, November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289 ; Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, 139 Stat. 656. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf
[^10]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y.), motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna, ECF Nos. 837, 838 (January 13, 2026); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844 (January 21, 2026). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
[^11]: "Thomas Massie and Todd Blanche trade barbs over redactions in Epstein files," Washington Examiner, February 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/4452272/thomas-massie-todd-blanche-redactions-epstein-files-les-wexner/
[^12]: Dareh Gregorian, "Justice Department releases names of 3 people the FBI once called Jeffrey Epstein 'co-conspirators,'" NBC News, February 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-names-3-people-fbi-once-called-jeffrey-epstein-co-conspirators-rcna258335
[^13]: "Ro Khanna Reads Out Names of Six 'Powerful Men' in Epstein Files," The New Republic, February 10, 2026. https://newrepublic.com/post/206411/ro-khanna-reads-redacted-names-epstein-files-house-floor ; "Rep. Khanna names 6 men he says were redacted from Epstein files for 'no apparent reason'; DOJ says some had no Epstein ties," CBS News, February 10, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/massie-khanna-epstein-files-6-men/
[^14]: "Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, 'Close Personal Friend' Of Epstein, Resigns As CEO Of DP World," Forbes, February 13, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/13/dubai-ceo-resigns-after-released-email-showed-epstein-thanking-him-for-torture-video/ ; "Emirati billionaire resigns as CEO of logistics firm following Epstein revelations," ABC News, February 13, 2026. https://abcnews.com/US/emirati-billionaire-resigns-ceo-logistics-firm-epstein-revelations/story?id=130136386
[^15]: Erin Kelly, "Bondi, Massie spar over Epstein files redactions," Spectrum News 1, February 11, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/02/11/bondi-massie-epstein-files-
[^16]: Erin Kelly, "Massie seeks signatures to force vote on second Epstein files bill," Spectrum News 1, September 1, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/09/01/massie-discharge-petition-epstein
[^17]: Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC data: MAGA KY (C00908723), registration and Schedule A receipts, 2026 cycle, through July 15, 2026; America 21 PAC (C00804690), Schedule A receipts, 2026 cycle; Protect Freedom Political Action Committee (C00657866), Schedule A receipts; Kentucky First PAC (C00918227), Schedule A receipts; Thomas Massie for Congress (C00509729), 2026 cycle totals through June 30, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00908723/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00804690/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00657866/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00918227/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00509729/
[^18]: Joe Sonka, "A record-shattering $37M was spent on Kentucky's Massie-Gallrein race. Here's who funded it," Louisville Public Media, July 17, 2026. https://www.lpm.org/news/2026-07-17/a-record-shattering-37m-was-spent-on-kentuckys-massie-gallrein-race-heres-who-funded-it

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- AdrianaRoss
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Immunity
- PrinceAndrew
- Poland
alias:
- Adriana Mucinska
summary: "Polish former model employed at Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach house from 2002, named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, who invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned about Prince Andrew."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "household employee, Palm Beach"
start: 2002
fn: 2
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "named potential co-conspirator, immunized"
start: 2007-09-24
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Adriana Ross, born Adriana Mucinska, is a Polish former model who moved to [[Florida]] in 2002 and was hired to work at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s house in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]. She is one of the four women named in the co-conspirator clause of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], under which the [[United States]] agreed that it "will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to [[Sarah Kellen]], Adriana Ross, [[Lesley Groff]], or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." She has never been charged.[^1][^2]
### Palm Beach and the Deposition
Ross appears in the flight logs of Epstein's aircraft. When she was questioned under oath in 2010, she repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, including in response to questions about whether [[Prince Andrew]] had been involved in the abuse. Andrew has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct connected to Epstein.[^2]
### The Immunity Clause
The clause bearing her name was agreed in September 2007 by the Southern District of Florida under U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta|R. Alexander Acosta]] in exchange for Epstein's guilty pleas to two Florida state charges and an agreed eighteen-month sentence. In 2024 the [[Second Circuit]], rejecting [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s argument that the clause barred her own prosecution, held under United States v. Annabi (1985) that it bound only the Florida office. No federal district has charged Ross. The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] found in November 2020 that Acosta had "agreed to several unusual and problematic terms in the NPA without the consideration required under the circumstances," and that his decision to resolve the case through the agreement "constitutes poor judgment," but found no professional misconduct.[^1][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 5-6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- AlfredoRodriguez
- JeffreyEpstein
- BlackBook
- Obstruction
- PalmBeach
- FBI
alias:
- Alfredo Rodriguez
summary: "Former house manager at Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach residence who withheld a copy of Epstein's contact book, offered it to an undercover FBI agent in 2009, and served eighteen months for obstruction."
location: "Palm Beach County, Florida"
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009-10-29
end: 2009-12-08
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009-12-01
end: 2010-06-21
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Alfredo Rodriguez was a former house manager at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s residence in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] who kept a copy of Epstein's contact directory, the "little black book," withheld it from investigators and from the civil lawyers suing Epstein, and in late 2009 offered it to a man who was in fact an undercover agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. He pleaded guilty in March 2010 to obstruction of an official proceeding under 18 U.S.C. section 1512(c) and was sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison.[^1]
### The Sting
According to the criminal complaint, a cooperating witness told the FBI of Rodriguez's material, and the "associate" to whom the witness referred Rodriguez was an undercover employee of the Bureau. On October 29, 2009, the undercover agent contacted Rodriguez by telephone. Rodriguez said he had not given the information to "any law enforcement agency or any of the civil attorneys," and described it as "the Holy Grail or Golden Nugget." The charged conduct ran from as early as January 18, 2007, while the federal grand jury investigation of Epstein by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] was open, through on or about November 3, 2009, in Palm Beach County.[^1]
### Prosecution
The complaint was filed on December 1, 2009 before Magistrate Judge Linnea R. Johnson, sworn by an FBI special agent assigned to a Safe Streets Task Force, and bears the name of Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]], the line prosecutor on the Epstein investigation who had worked on the September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. Rodriguez was arrested on December 8, 2009 and released the next day on a personal surety bond of 50,000 dollars. He waived indictment on February 1, 2010, and the case (No. 9:10-cr-80015) was assigned to Judge [[Kenneth Marra|Kenneth A. Marra]], who also presided over the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] litigation in [[Doe v. United States]] and over [[Virginia Giuffre|Virginia Roberts]]' 2009 suit against Epstein.[^1][^2]
On March 18, 2010 Rodriguez signed a plea agreement and factual proffer admitting that he had "corruptly obstructed and impeded" an official proceeding, a federal grand jury, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1512(c), an offense carrying a maximum of twenty years. On June 21, 2010 Marra entered judgment on the single count: eighteen months in the custody of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|Bureau of Prisons]], two years of supervised release, and a special assessment of 100 dollars.[^1]
Epstein himself had received an agreed eighteen-month state sentence under the 2007 agreement, served largely on work release.[^3]
### The Directory at the Maxwell Trial
A copy of the same contact book was admitted as Government Exhibit 52 at the 2021 trial of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in the Southern District of New York, over defense objections, after its authentication by another former Palm Beach house manager, [[Juan Alessi]], on December 8, 2021.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Rodriguez, No. 9:10-cr-80015-KAM (S.D. Fla.), Criminal Complaint, ECF No. 3 (filed Dec. 1, 2009, magistrate No. 9:09-mj-08308-LRJ); bond, ECF No. 7 (Dec. 9, 2009); Waiver of Indictment, ECF No. 16 (Feb. 1, 2010); Plea Agreement and Factual Proffer Statement, ECF No. 25 (March 18, 2010); Judgment, ECF No. 31 (June 21, 2010). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15913423/united-states-v-rodriguez/ ; plea agreement https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.351134/gov.uscourts.flsd.351134.25.0_2.pdf
[^2]: Settlement Agreement and General Release, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson (S.D. Fla.), filed in Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 32-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713.32.1.pdf
[^3]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 5-6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf ; Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), para. 15. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
[^4]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Memorandum Opinion and Order, ECF No. 535 (Dec. 9, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/

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---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- BorisNikolic
- BillGates
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
- Biotechnology
- VentureCapital
alias:
- Boris Nikolić
- Boris Nikolic, M.D.
- Dr. Boris Nikolic
summary: "Croatian-trained immunologist and biotech investor, Bill Gates's science adviser from 2009 to 2014, who linked Gates to Jeffrey Epstein and was named backup executor in Epstein's final will."
location: "Seattle, Washington"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Biomatics Capital]]"
role: "managing partner"
start: 2014-04
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[bng0 LLC]]"
role: "managing partner and managing director"
start: 2015-02
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Editas Medicine]]"
role: "board member"
start: 2015-08
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Boris Nikolic is a Croatian-trained physician and immunologist who was an assistant professor at [[Harvard Medical School]] from 2002 to 2010, chief advisor for science and technology to [[Bill Gates]] at Gates's private office, bgC3, from April 2009 to April 2014, and since then a venture investor in life-sciences companies through Biomatics Capital and bng0, LLC. Through Nikolic, [[Jeffrey Epstein]] reached Gates after his 2008 conviction; Epstein copied him on his 2011 proposals to [[JPMorgan Chase]] for a large charitable fund, JPMorgan's internal review listed him among Epstein's referrals to the bank, and Epstein's will of August 8, 2019 named him backup executor, a role Nikolic said he had never been consulted about and would not accept.[^1][^2][^3]
### Harvard, Gates and Biomatics
According to the proxy statements of [[Editas Medicine]], whose board he joined in August 2015, Nikolic earned his medical degree at Zagreb Medical School in Croatia, was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School from 2002 to 2010, served "as Chief Advisor for Science and Technology to Bill Gates at bgC3, a think tank" from April 2009 to April 2014, has been managing partner of the investment fund Biomatics Capital since April 2014 and managing partner of bng0, LLC since February 2015. He served on the boards of Digisight Technologies and Omniome and previously of [[Schrödinger]] and BlueTalon. In 2017 bng0, of which he was managing director, held 2,649,572 Editas shares, 6.4 percent of the company, from an address in Seattle.[^1]
### Epstein, Gates and JPMorgan
*[[Bloomberg]]* reported in 2019 that Nikolic had been introduced to Epstein by [[Melanie Walker]], that Gates's contact with Epstein ran through him, and that both Nikolic and Epstein were private-banking clients of JPMorgan, where people familiar with the bank said Epstein helped bankers attract wealthy clients.[^2] On July 27, 2011, while Nikolic was working for Gates, Epstein wrote to JPMorgan executives [[Jes Staley]] and [[Mary Erdoes]], copying Nikolic, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," with "silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc.," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^4] A month later he warned Staley and Erdoes that senior staff at the Gates foundation were "getting confusing messages from JPM."[^5]
JPMorgan's 2019 internal review of Epstein's emails, Project Jeep, recorded what the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] described in 2023 as "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including [[Andrew Farkas]], Nikolic, Gates and [[Peter Mandelson]]. [[Jamie Dimon]] was questioned about Nikolic at his deposition and testified of Epstein's referrals, "We did not need introductions to anybody"; the bank's lawyers said the underlying emails showed Epstein mentioning prominent people but contained no evidence that he had referred them or that they became clients because of him.[^6][^7]
On July 22, 2013 Epstein wrote to Nikolic and [[Terje Rod-Larsen]], president of the [[International Peace Institute]]: "ipi has not heard from gabriella ."[^8] In November 2013 Nikolic and the Russian bridge player [[Mila Antonova]], whom he had introduced to Epstein, met Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse to pitch an online bridge-teaching venture; Epstein did not invest, and later used Gates's past relationship with Antonova to press him, according to *[[The Wall Street Journal]]*.[^9] On April 13, 2018 Epstein sent Nikolic, without comment, a link to a 2015 *Forbes* article headlined "Charlie Sheen's $10M Blackmail Tax Deduction."[^10]
### The Backup Executor
Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, two days before his death, named his lawyers [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] as executors and Nikolic as successor executor, who would take control of the estate if they could not serve. Nikolic, then 49, said he was "shocked" and "was never consulted on these matters and has no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever," and filed no oath of acceptance; a spokesperson said he and Epstein had no business ties.[^2][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Editas Medicine, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), filed April 26, 2017, director biography of Boris Nikolic, M.D., and security ownership table, note 5. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650664/000104746917002939/a2231931zdef14a.htm
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates," *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
[^3]: James Leggate, "Who is Boris Nikolic? Epstein-named executor is former Bill Gates adviser," *Fox Business,* August 20, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/who-is-boris-nikolic-epstein-executor
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^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, EFTA02808625, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, opposing the motion to reopen depositions, ECF No. 187, June 9, 2023 (filed June 15, 2023), citing Dimon deposition transcript 395:14-21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02572271, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, July 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02572271.pdf
[^9]: Safdar, Khadeeja, and Emily Glazer. "Jeffrey Epstein Apparently Threatened Bill Gates Over Affair." *The Wall Street Journal,* May 21, 2023; summarized in "WSJ: Jeffrey Epstein threatened Bill Gates over affair with Russian bridge player." *Boing Boing,* May 22, 2023. https://boingboing.net/2023/05/22/wsj-jeffrey-epstein-threatened-bill-gates-over-affair-with-russian-bridge-player.html
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02476126, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic, April 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02476126.pdf

2
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/James Riady.md
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@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ On January 11, 2001, Riady agreed to plead guilty in the federal court in Los An
### Leaving Worthen ### Leaving Worthen
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, drawing on the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and C. Joseph Giroir, gave the reason for the family's departure from Worthen: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." Riady and Huang then "focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco, California. Soon thereafter they established the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, which later became LippoBank."[^4] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation records show that the Bank of Trade, chartered in [[San Francisco]] in 1961, moved its main office to Los Angeles on October 31, 1989 and took the name Lippo Bank on January 18, 1990.[^5] The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], drawing on the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and C. Joseph Giroir, gave the reason for the family's departure from Worthen: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." Riady and Huang then "focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco, California. Soon thereafter they established the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, which later became LippoBank."[^4] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation records show that the Bank of Trade, chartered in [[San Francisco]] in 1961, moved its main office to Los Angeles on October 31, 1989 and took the name Lippo Bank on January 18, 1990.[^5]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes

124
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jes Staley.md
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@ -12,49 +12,129 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- James Edward Staley - James Edward Staley
- James E. Staley - James E. Staley
summary: "Career JPMorgan banker who managed Jeffrey Epstein's private-banking relationship, later became Barclays chief executive, and was banned from senior UK finance roles in 2023 for misleading the regulator about the nature and timing of his Epstein relationship." - James Staley
summary: "JPMorgan executive who managed and vouched for Jeffrey Epstein's banking relationship, later ran Barclays, and was banned from senior UK finance roles for misleading the regulator about that relationship."
born: 1956-12-27 born: 1956-12-27
location: "Boston, Massachusetts" location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "Morgan Guaranty Trust and successors"
start: 1979
end: 2013
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[J.P. Morgan Private Bank]]"
start: 1999
end: 2001
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[JPMorgan Asset Management]]"
role: "Chief Executive Officer, Asset and Wealth Management"
start: 2001
end: 2009
fn: 4
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Jamie Dimon]]"
start: 2005-12-31
end: 2009
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[BlueMountain Capital]]"
role: "managing partner"
start: 2013
end: 2015
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Barclays]]"
role: "Group Chief Executive"
start: 2015-12-01
end: 2021-11
fn: 6
- type: investigated
with: "[[Financial Conduct Authority]]"
reverse: true
role: "prohibition order and penalty"
start: 2019-08-15
end: 2025-07-23
fn: 1
--- ---
James Edward Staley is an American banker who spent more than three decades at [[JPMorgan Chase]], rose to run its asset management and then its investment bank, and served as group chief executive of [[Barclays]] from December 2015 until November 2021. During his JPMorgan years he was the senior executive who managed and advocated for the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], a private-banking client from 1998 to 2013. In October 2023 the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] banned Staley from holding senior management functions in UK financial services and fined him for recklessly approving a letter that misled the regulator about his relationship with Epstein, a decision the [[Upper Tribunal]] upheld in June 2025.[^1][^2][^3] James Edward Staley is an American banker who spent more than three decades at [[JPMorgan Chase]], rose to run its asset management and then its investment bank, and served as group chief executive of [[Barclays]] from December 2015 until November 2021. During his JPMorgan years he was the senior executive who managed and advocated for the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], a private-banking client from 1998 to 2013. In a Decision Notice dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] banned Staley from holding senior management functions in UK financial services and fined him for recklessly approving a letter that misled the regulator about his relationship with Epstein, a decision the [[Upper Tribunal]] upheld on June 26, 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### JPMorgan Career ### JPMorgan Career
Staley joined Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in 1979 after graduating from Bowdoin College, and spent the 1980s in the bank's [[Latin America]] division, including as head of corporate finance for Brazil and as general manager of the firm's Brazilian brokerage.[^4] He led [[JPMorgan Asset Management]] from 2001 to 2009 and then ran the corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013.[^5] At the height of his JPMorgan career he was discussed as a potential successor to chief executive [[Jamie Dimon]].[^4] Staley joined Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in 1979 after graduating from Bowdoin College, and spent the 1980s in the bank's [[Latin America]] division, including as head of corporate finance for Brazil and as general manager of the firm's Brazilian brokerage.[^5] He headed JPMorgan's private bank from 1999 to 2001, led [[JPMorgan Asset Management]], later Asset and Wealth Management, from 2001 to 2009, and then ran the corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. [[Mary Erdoes]], who ran the private bank from 2005, reported to him, and he reported to [[Jamie Dimon]] after Dimon became chief executive on December 31, 2005.[^4][^6][^7] At the height of his JPMorgan career he was discussed as a potential successor to chief executive Jamie Dimon.[^5]
Staley managed the private-banking relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein, who became a client of the bank's private bank in 1998.[^6] In a July 2011 email, JPMorgan general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] wrote to Staley and asset-and-wealth-management head [[Mary Erdoes]] that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way" and "should not be a client," and Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein.[^6] Epstein also functioned as a source of referrals and introductions for Staley and the bank, including to wealthy potential clients.[^7] Staley managed the private-banking relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein, who became a client of the bank's private bank in 1998.[^8] The Upper Tribunal found that Staley first met Epstein in 1999 or 2000, when Epstein was a client of the private bank Staley headed, and that a senior JPMorgan executive of that period recommended he get to know Epstein as "an exceptionally well-connected man" who could help him form relationships with influential people; the executive is not named in the decision and was not Dimon, who joined the bank in 2004.[^4] In a July 2011 email, JPMorgan general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] wrote to Staley and asset-and-wealth-management head Mary Erdoes that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way" and "should not be a client," and Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein.[^8] Epstein also functioned as a source of referrals and introductions for Staley and the bank, including to wealthy potential clients.[^9] Staley testified that Epstein arranged his meetings with former Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]], British cabinet minister [[Peter Mandelson]] and [[Bill Gates]]; in January 2008 Staley had his assistant set up a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through Dimon's office. On June 5, 2009 Epstein wrote to Staley that "peter mandelson is now deputy prime minister."[^10]
In 2013 Staley left JPMorgan after more than 30 years to become a managing partner at the hedge fund [[BlueMountain Capital]].[^4] JPMorgan terminated its banking relationship with Epstein the same year.[^6] After BlueMountain, Staley was recruited to lead Barclays, joining as group chief executive on December 1, 2015.[^5] In 2013 Staley left JPMorgan after more than 30 years to become a managing partner at the hedge fund [[BlueMountain Capital]].[^5] In February and March 2013, immediately after leaving, he tried to bring Epstein in as a BlueMountain client, which the FCA and the tribunal found contradicted his later statement that he had not done so.[^1][^4] JPMorgan terminated its banking relationship with Epstein the same year.[^8] After BlueMountain, Staley was recruited to lead Barclays, joining as group chief executive on December 1, 2015.[^6]
### Epstein Emails and the 2015 Island Visit ### Epstein Emails and the 2015 Island Visit
Court filings in litigation brought against JPMorgan by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] disclosed that Staley exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan account between 2008 and 2012.[^7] In a message dated November 1, 2009, sent from Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Epstein wrote, "I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound."[^7] In a 2010 exchange Staley wrote "That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," and when Epstein asked "what character would you like next," Staley answered "Beauty and the Beast"; Staley later said he had no recollection of the messages.[^7] Court filings in litigation brought against JPMorgan by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] disclosed that Staley exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan account between 2008 and 2012; the FCA counted more than 1,100 from July 2008 to December 2012 and about 600 more from January 2013 to October 2015.[^1][^9] In a message dated November 1, 2009, sent from Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Epstein wrote, "I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound."[^9] In a 2010 exchange Staley wrote "That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," and when Epstein asked "what character would you like next," Staley answered "Beauty and the Beast"; Staley later said he had no recollection of the messages.[^9]
Staley and his family visited Epstein's private island, [[Little Saint James]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], on more than one occasion.[^7] After an April 2015 visit, which Staley described as his last in-person meeting with Epstein, Staley emailed Epstein, "Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special ... I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail. All the best Jes."[^8] The April 2015 trip occurred months before Staley was named Barclays chief executive in October 2015.[^8] Staley and his family visited Epstein's private island, [[Little Saint James]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], three times, the last on April 12, 2015, when the family sailed there for lunch; he also visited Epstein's marina near the island twice, his [[Zorro Ranch|New Mexico ranch]], and went to [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] for a birthday dinner while Epstein was under state supervision. Staley testified to two island visits, a count the tribunal treated as further evidence of unreliability.[^1][^4][^9] After an April 2015 visit, which Staley described as his last in-person meeting with Epstein, Staley emailed Epstein, "Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special ... I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail. All the best Jes."[^11] The April 2015 trip occurred months before Staley was named Barclays chief executive in October 2015.[^11]
JPMorgan filed a third-party complaint against Staley in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on March 9, 2023, within the Virgin Islands action.[^9] The complaint asserted indemnification, contribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and "faithless servant" claims, alleging Staley concealed his personal activities with Epstein, and sought to recover compensation paid to him from at least 2006 through 2013.[^9] Staley moved to dismiss, arguing JPMorgan was using him as a "shield" for the bank's own failures.[^10] JPMorgan filed a third-party complaint against Staley in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on March 9, 2023, within the Virgin Islands action.[^12] The complaint asserted indemnification, contribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and "faithless servant" claims, alleging Staley concealed his personal activities with Epstein, and sought to recover compensation paid to him from at least 2006 through 2013.[^12] Staley moved to dismiss, arguing JPMorgan was using him as a "shield" for the bank's own failures.[^13]
### Highbridge, the 2006 Arrest and 2008
In 2004, according to Staley, Epstein was instrumental in JPMorgan's acquisition of [[Highbridge Capital Management]], in which Epstein acted as an adviser to another party. A March 18, 2004 memorandum from Staley and others to Dimon, [[William B. Harrison Jr.]] and [[David Coulter]] described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge."[^4][^14]
On July 25, 2006, after Epstein's arrest in Florida, Staley visited him at his home, where, by Staley's testimony, Epstein admitted "engaging in sex for money with young women" and denied only their ages. The next day Staley wrote to Erdoes: "I went and saw him last night. I've never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages." Staley admitted in discovery that Dimon communicated with him about the arrest in 2006. After the indictment JPMorgan kept Epstein on a "banking only" basis, which continued until he was asked to leave in 2013. Staley admitted to the tribunal that he knew by 2010 that Epstein had lied to him about the girls' ages.[^4][^10]
While Epstein was serving his Florida sentence in 2008, Staley sent him confidential bank information. On July 17, 2008 he asked Epstein's advice on his own pay: "Jamie wants me to tell him how much I should make... What do you think?" Epstein advised asking for "a one million dollar increase to 25 million." On August 23, 2008 Staley told him about a potential JPMorgan purchase of [[Dimensional Fund Advisors|Dimensional]] and sale of [[American Century Investments|American Century]]. On September 27, 2008 he disclosed that a named client was being exited and that "The Private Bank has brought in $44 billion dollars in the last two weeks," which he admitted breached client confidentiality. On October 10 and 11, 2008 he sent Epstein the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] special-purpose vehicle that would borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] to buy short-term bank obligations during the financial crisis; the tribunal found that Epstein was the only person who received details of the proposal who was not involved in it.[^4] In 2009 Staley wrote to Epstein about the "danger" of their written correspondence and of wanting to give him a "long heartfelt hug."[^7]
In a June 2010 email from London, Staley wrote to Epstein, "Andrew just sat next to me at dinner... Any word on M? This is fun," asked whether "she" was free that night, and declined a call from Epstein because "I'm w A." The tribunal received no innocent explanation from Staley and did not identify "Andrew" or "A." On December 22, 2010 [[Prince Andrew]] wrote to Staley: "Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year. Sorry to have missed you this week... I will be at Davos as usual."[^4][^10]
### The 2011 Retention
In 2011 the bank's anti-money-laundering staff asked to exit Epstein, and an internal email said the decision to keep him was "all due to Jes's personal relationship." The tribunal recorded internal evidence that general counsel Stephen Cutler believed Epstein "would have been exited as a client of JPM had not Mr Staley vouched for him," and found it more likely than not that Staley's advocacy caused the retention; Staley testified that Cutler had full latitude to exit Epstein and that he would not have stood in his way. Staley admitted in cross-examination that he knew of and discussed with Epstein the bank's 2011 concern about Epstein's "atypical cash withdrawals" and the trafficking allegations, contrary to his witness statement. An August 4, 2011 internal meeting concluded that the private bank's chief executive, [[John Duffy]], would "reach out to Jes Staley and advise that we exit while things are a bit settled."[^4][^7][^10]
During the same weeks Epstein was pitching Staley and Erdoes on business. On July 27, 2011 he wrote to both, copying [[Boris Nikolic]], the chief science and technology adviser to Bill Gates, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," that "a portfolio will be established for each donor," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^15] On August 27, 2011 he told them that senior staff of the Gates foundation "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things," and closed, "There are too many people without direction. lets speak,,"[^16]
### Project Jeep
After *[[The New York Times]]* reported on Epstein's Wall Street ties on July 22, 2019, JPMorgan's financial-crimes compliance unit began an internal review, later called Project Jeep, whose trade-surveillance staff summarized 222 email exchanges, most of them between Epstein and Staley, in a 22-page document dated September 17, 2019 and circulated on October 27 and 28, 2019. Its first heading read: "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated."[^17][^18][^19] Two items were singled out in the cover email. Under that heading, the reviewers quoted Epstein's December 30, 2008 message offering Staley his house while he was in custody ("everyone is gone except the housekeepers, you are more than welcome to use the house . you will be well looked after. the chef from paris is there"), and Staley's reply the next day that he had "asked Rosa to make a date free in early January for me to visit the Palm Beach office and spend some time with you." Under a heading on comments that "may have the appearance of relating to inappropriate behavior with one reference between Epstein and Staley to a modeling agency," they placed an August 27 to 29, 2009 exchange in which Staley wrote that he would be "In London with Jamie, mid week," Epstein asked "how long london? Do you need anything there?" and Staley answered "Yep," beside a 3,000 dollar wire from Epstein's JPMorgan account on August 29, 2009 to a woman in [[Lithuania]] associated with a ballet company there, who had received 2,000 dollars from Epstein on January 8, 2009.[^18] JPMorgan's counsel told the court that the summary was prepared after Epstein's death by employees with no contemporaneous knowledge of the relationship.[^19]
In its October 10, 2025 letter to Senator [[Ron Wyden]], JPMorgan stated that "with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the Firm's executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity," described Staley as the only person claiming Dimon knew of Epstein before 2019, and quoted the tribunal's finding that he "lacked credibility."[^20] Wyden's August 2026 report named Staley among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation.[^7]
### Barclays and the FCA Ban ### Barclays and the FCA Ban
While Barclays chief executive, Staley was separately sanctioned for attempting to identify a whistleblower who had sent letters criticizing a senior Barclays hire; in 2018 the FCA and the [[Prudential Regulation Authority]] fined him 642,430 pounds and Barclays cut his pay.[^11] Staley remained chief executive until November 2021, when he resigned as the FCA and PRA conclusions about his Epstein relationship became known.[^2] While Barclays chief executive, Staley was separately sanctioned for attempting to identify a whistleblower who had sent letters criticizing a senior Barclays hire; in 2018 the FCA and the [[Prudential Regulation Authority]] fined him 642,430 pounds and Barclays cut his pay.[^21] Staley remained chief executive until November 2021, when he resigned as the FCA and PRA conclusions about his Epstein relationship became known.[^2]
The FCA's case centered on an October 2019 letter that Barclays sent to the regulator, which Staley approved, stating that he "did not have a close relationship" with Epstein and had "ceased contact" with Epstein before joining Barclays.[^1] The FCA found those statements misleading, citing emails in which Staley described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends, and evidence that Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days before his Barclays appointment was announced on October 28, 2015, and indirectly in 2016 and 2017.[^1] On October 12, 2023 the FCA issued a decision banning Staley from senior management functions and imposing a fine of about 1.8 million pounds, with the penalties suspended pending his appeal.[^1] On February 13, 2020, the morning the FCA's inquiry into how Staley had described the relationship became public, a business editor at the London newspaper *i* asked the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] National Press Office whether Staley had been asked to cooperate with its Epstein investigation. An FBI New York public affairs specialist replied that "it's not something we'd be able to comment on," and forwarded the query internally as "news of the day." A member of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] answered the FBI forward: "The FCA reached out to me this morning to give me a heads up as well. We too will not comment if asked."[^22]
The Upper Tribunal heard Staley's reference and, on June 26, 2025, dismissed it and upheld the prohibition, finding that he had acted recklessly and with a lack of integrity and that the evidence of his Epstein relationship was "overwhelming."[^3] The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from about 1.8 million pounds to 1.1 million pounds, reflecting deferred Barclays shares that he forfeited.[^3] During the proceedings Staley testified that he had a sexual encounter with a member of Epstein's staff years earlier, and he maintained that he had not been dishonest.[^12] The FCA's case centered on an October 8, 2019 letter that Barclays sent to the regulator after an FCA call on August 15, 2019, which Staley reviewed on October 6 and approved by email on October 7 as "comfortable with the language," stating that he "did not have a close relationship" with Epstein and had "ceased contact" with Epstein before joining Barclays.[^1] The FCA found those statements misleading, citing emails in which Staley described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends, and evidence that Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days before his Barclays appointment was announced on October 28, 2015, and indirectly in 2016 and 2017.[^1] On October 8, 2015, before the appointment was public, Staley told Epstein that the Barclays board's nominations committee had approved it, and their emails continued until October 25, 2015; Staley had described the April 2015 visit to Barclays colleagues as his last contact. The FCA's Decision Notice, dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, banned Staley from senior management functions and set a penalty of 1,812,862 pounds: 30 percent of his 5,493,526 pounds in relevant income from October 2018 to October 2019, raised 10 percent for his 2018 whistleblower sanction, with no settlement discount because the parties did not agree at the first stage. Staley referred the decision to the tribunal, which suspended its effect.[^1][^2]
The Upper Tribunal heard Staley's reference and, on June 26, 2025, dismissed it and upheld the prohibition, finding that he had acted recklessly and with a lack of integrity and that the evidence of his Epstein relationship was "overwhelming."[^3] The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from 1,812,862 pounds to 1,107,306.92 pounds, reflecting deferred Barclays shares that he forfeited, and applied the standard that recklessness as to the truth of statements on which others may rely amounts to a lack of integrity without proof of dishonesty. The FCA's Final Notice of July 23, 2025 imposed the prohibition from that date and required payment by August 6, 2025.[^3][^4][^23] During the proceedings Staley testified that he had a sexual encounter with a member of Epstein's staff years earlier, and he maintained that he had not been dishonest.[^24]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "FCA fines former Barclays CEO and bans him from senior roles," *Central Banking,* 2023. https://www.centralbanking.com/regulation/banking/7959957/fca-fines-former-barclays-ceo-and-bans-him-from-senior-roles
[^1]: Financial Conduct Authority, Decision Notice to James Edward Staley, Reference JXS02208, May 30, 2023 (published October 12, 2023), paras. 1.1, 2.3-2.25, section 6 and Annex B. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/decision-notices/james-edward-staley-2023.pdf ; "FCA fines former Barclays CEO and bans him from senior roles," *Central Banking,* October 2023. https://www.centralbanking.com/regulation/banking/7959957/fca-fines-former-barclays-ceo-and-bans-him-from-senior-roles
[^2]: "FCA: Staley misled regulators about his relationship with Epstein," *Banking Dive,* 2023. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/fca-staley-misled-regulators-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/733373/ [^2]: "FCA: Staley misled regulators about his relationship with Epstein," *Banking Dive,* 2023. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/fca-staley-misled-regulators-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/733373/
[^3]: "Upper Tribunal upholds Jes Staley ban," Financial Conduct Authority, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/upper-tribunal-upholds-jes-staley-ban [^3]: "Upper Tribunal upholds Jes Staley ban," Financial Conduct Authority, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/upper-tribunal-upholds-jes-staley-ban
[^4]: "Jes Staley," Bank Policy Institute, accessed 2026. https://bpi.com/people/jes-staley/ [^4]: 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
[^5]: "James E. Staley appointed Group Chief Executive," Barclays PLC, October 28, 2015. https://home.barclays/content/dam/home-barclays/documents/news/2015/october/281015_RNS.pdf [^5]: "Jes Staley," Bank Policy Institute, accessed 2026. https://bpi.com/people/jes-staley/
[^6]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/ [^6]: "James E. Staley appointed Group Chief Executive," Barclays PLC, October 28, 2015. https://home.barclays/content/dam/home-barclays/documents/news/2015/october/281015_RNS.pdf
[^7]: "Lawsuit alleges Jeffrey Epstein sent JPMorgan Chase exec photos of young women," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/epstein-jpmorgan-emails [^7]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4-5, 28-31, 60 (citing EFTA01300356 and JPM-SDNYLIT-00152748_R). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^8]: "High flyer to pariah: the saga of Epstein-linked banker Jes Staley," *inkl / Agence France-Presse,* 2025. https://www.inkl.com/news/high-flyer-to-pariah-the-saga-of-epstein-linked-banker-jes-staley [^8]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/
[^9]: "JPMorgan Sues Ex-Executive Associated With Jeffrey Epstein," *Time,* 2023. https://time.com/6261243/jpmorgan-lawsuit-jes-staley-epstein-trafficking/ [^9]: "Lawsuit alleges Jeffrey Epstein sent JPMorgan Chase exec photos of young women," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/epstein-jpmorgan-emails
[^10]: "Jes Staley Says JPMorgan Using Him as 'Shield' for Epstein Failures," *U.S. News & World Report / Reuters,* 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-04-24/jes-staley-seeks-to-dismiss-jpmorgan-chase-lawsuit-over-jeffrey-epstein [^10]: 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. 53-55, 111, 291-306, 393. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^11]: "Ex-Barclays CEO Staley's lifetime FCA ban to remain," *Banking Dive,* 2025. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/jes-staley-fca-lifetime-ban-banking-epstein-barclays-uk/751754/ [^11]: "High flyer to pariah: the saga of Epstein-linked banker Jes Staley," *inkl / Agence France-Presse,* 2025. https://www.inkl.com/news/high-flyer-to-pariah-the-saga-of-epstein-linked-banker-jes-staley
[^12]: "Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley slept with Epstein assistant, court hears," *Yahoo / PA Media,* 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-181703399.html [^12]: "JPMorgan Sues Ex-Executive Associated With Jeffrey Epstein," *Time,* 2023. https://time.com/6261243/jpmorgan-lawsuit-jes-staley-epstein-trafficking/
[^13]: "Jes Staley Says JPMorgan Using Him as 'Shield' for Epstein Failures," *U.S. News & World Report / Reuters,* 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-04-24/jes-staley-seeks-to-dismiss-jpmorgan-chase-lawsuit-over-jeffrey-epstein
[^14]: 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. 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^17]: 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
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808647, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), Exhibit 3 to ECF No. 191, email "Project Jeep Current Review," October 27-28, 2019 (JPM-SDNYLIT-00901997). 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
[^19]: 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
[^20]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf
[^21]: "Ex-Barclays CEO Staley's lifetime FCA ban to remain," *Banking Dive,* 2025. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/jes-staley-fca-lifetime-ban-banking-epstein-barclays-uk/751754/
[^22]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00079559, DataSet 9, FBI New York and USANYS email chain "Jeffrey Epstein case: Jes Staley (Barclays)," February 13, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00079559.pdf
[^23]: Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to James Edward Staley, Reference JXS02208, July 23, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/james-edward-staley-2025.pdf
[^24]: "Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley slept with Epstein assistant, court hears," *Yahoo / PA Media,* 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-181703399.html

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- JohannaSjoberg
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- PrinceAndrew
- GiuffreVMaxwell
- PalmBeach
alias:
- Johanna Sjöberg
- Johanna Sjoberg
summary: "Former Palm Beach Atlantic College student recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 to work for Jeffrey Epstein, whose Giuffre v. Maxwell deposition described Prince Andrew groping her beside a caricature puppet."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "recruited as household help, used for massages"
start: 2001
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Johanna Sjoberg is an American woman who, as a student at [[Palm Beach Atlantic University|Palm Beach Atlantic College]] in [[Florida]], was approached by [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] early in 2001 about a job as a home helper and was then drawn into giving sexual massages to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. Her sworn deposition in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]], the defamation suit [[Virginia Giuffre]] brought against Maxwell in 2015, includes her account of an incident with [[Prince Andrew]] at Epstein's Manhattan house around Easter 2001, when she was 21. The deposition was among the records unsealed by Judge [[Loretta Preska]] in January 2024.[^1][^2]
### Recruitment
Sjoberg testified that she was recruited for sex acts with Epstein and was reprimanded when she did not bring him to orgasm. In a 2007 interview with the [[Mail on Sunday]] she said, "I was groomed for it," described herself as a hard-up student, and called the arrangement a "pact with the devil."[^1]
### The Andrew Account
Sjoberg testified that she did not at first know who the British visitor was until Maxwell took her to fetch a caricature puppet of him from the satirical television program [[Spitting Image]]: "Then it clicked. I'm like, that's who it is." She testified that the group sat on a couch, Giuffre with the puppet on her lap, and that "I sat on Andrew's lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet's hands and put it on Virginia's breast, and so Andrew put his on mine," in what she described as a joking manner. She described Andrew as "charming." The group was photographed.[^1][^2]
Maxwell, asked about the incident in her own deposition, said, "I never gave him a gift of a puppet," and "I recollect the puppet, but I don't recollect anything around the puppet." Buckingham Palace had earlier called Sjoberg's allegations "categorically untrue." After the January 2024 release the [[Metropolitan Police]] stated that "No investigation has been launched."[^1][^2]
### Unsealing
Sjoberg's deposition was part of the discovery record sealed under Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]]'s March 2016 protective order in Giuffre v. Maxwell and kept sealed after the case settled in May 2017. It was released in the tranche that followed Preska's December 18, 2023 findings on the remaining sealed material.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Rozina Sabur, "The woman whose testimony dominates the Epstein files," *The Telegraph,* January 4, 2024 (syndicated). https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-whose-testimony-dominates-epstein-183957952.html
[^2]: "Details on Prince Andrew allegations emerge from new Jeffrey Epstein documents, but no U.K. police investigation," *CBS News,* January 5, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-andrew-allegations-jeffrey-epstein-documents-no-uk-police-investigation/
[^3]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), Protective Order, ECF No. 62 (March 17, 2016); Order, ECF No. 1315 (Dec. 18, 2023); notices of unsealed documents, ECF Nos. 1320-1343 (Jan. 2024). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JosephRecarey
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- PalmBeachPoliceDepartment
- Police
- GrandJury
alias:
- Joe Recarey
- Detective Joseph Recarey
- Det. Joe Recarey
summary: "Joseph Recarey was the Palm Beach police detective who led the 2005 to 2006 Epstein investigation, swore the probable cause affidavit recommending five felony counts, and died in May 2018."
born: 1967-06-05
died: 2018-05-25
location: "Royal Palm Beach, Florida (died)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "officer, then detective"
start: 1991
end: 2013
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Michael Reiter]]"
start: 2005
end: 2009
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2005-09
end: 2006-07
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Sarah Kellen]]"
start: 2005
end: 2006-05
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Joseph Recarey (June 5, 1967 to May 25, 2018) was an American police detective with the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] who led its 2005 to 2006 investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. His May 1, 2006 probable cause affidavit recommended charging Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation; the [[Palm Beach County]] grand jury before which he was the opening witness returned one count of solicitation of prostitution. He retired in 2013 and died at 50 in May 2018, fourteen months before Epstein's federal arrest in New York.[^1][^2][^3]
### Early Life and Career
Recarey was born in Queens, New York, and moved to Florida at 13. He graduated from the police academy in 1990, joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1991, and was promoted to detective in 1994. He worked in the department's organized crime, vice, and narcotics unit, and his obituary describes him as one of the most decorated detectives in the department's history, with more than 150 commendations. He retired in 2013 and joined [[Gold Coast Beverage Distributors]] as director of loss prevention, later becoming director of facilities for Gold Coast Holdings, overseeing more than 90 restaurant locations.[^1]
### The Epstein Investigation
The department received the first complaint on March 15, 2005, from the family of a 14-year-old girl, who identified "Jeff" from a photo lineup. Recarey took over as lead detective in September 2005 under Chief [[Michael Reiter]]. Between March 2005 and February 2006 detectives took sworn taped statements from five victims and seventeen witnesses. Recarey's affidavit described [[Haley Robson]], then a teenager herself, bringing girls to [[358 El Brillo Way]] to give Epstein massages in exchange for money, and Epstein's assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] recording the girls' names and telephone numbers. The girls were paid 200 to 1,000 dollars per visit. According to Robson's statement, Epstein told her after her own first visit that "he would pay her if she brought over some girls" and that "the younger the better."[^1][^2]
To corroborate the accounts, detectives obtained trash from Epstein's residence through the supervisor of the Town of Palm Beach sanitation bureau, which corroborated the appointment scheduling; subpoenaed Kellen's cell phone records and matched her calls to victims and witnesses; and subpoenaed the arrival and departure records of Epstein's aircraft at [[Palm Beach International Airport]] from its operator. Calls to the girls clustered "in the days just prior to [Epstein's] arrival or during the time Epstein was in Palm Beach."[^2]
The affidavit concluded that there was "sufficient probable cause to charge Jeffrey Epstein with FOUR COUNTS of Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor, in violation of Florida State Statute 794.05(1), a second degree felony," as to four girls, and with lewd and lascivious molestation of a 14-year-old under Florida Statute 800.04(5), also a second-degree felony. A companion affidavit sworn the same day sought charges against Kellen as a principal.[^2]
### The Grand Jury
State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] did not file the recommended charges and instead convened a grand jury, which heard the case on July 19, 2006 in a session lasting under four hours. Recarey testified first, describing the recruitment chain, a girl who had gone to the house "over 100 times," and an episode in which a girl "screamed no," after which Epstein stopped, apologized, and paid her 1,000 dollars. The grand jury also heard a second officer, an investigator from the State Attorney's office, and two of the girls. Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] questioned the girls about their own conduct in terms that cast doubt on their credibility. The grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. Recarey and Reiter then referred the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and Reiter told NBC News the agents called it "an easy case."[^3][^4][^5][^6]
The transcript was sealed until Circuit Judge [[Luis Delgado]] released it on July 1, 2024 under a statute enacted that year. The victims' attorney [[Spencer Kuvin]] said on its release: "They basically tanked their own case."[^3]
### Death
Recarey died on May 25, 2018, at 50, "after a brief illness," according to his family's obituary; his funeral mass was held at St. Rita Catholic Church in [[Wellington, Florida|Wellington]]. Reiter said: "Joe Recarey was among the best people I ever knew." The obituary did not state a cause of death. After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, posts circulating online presented Recarey's death as recent; fact-checkers noted that it had occurred in May 2018.[^1][^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Joseph Recarey Obituary (1967-2018)," *Palm Beach Post* via Legacy.com, 2018. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/palmbeachpost/name/joseph-recarey-obituary?id=11914024 ; Dignity Memorial, "Joseph Recarey Obituary," West Palm Beach, Florida. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/west-palm-beach-fl/joseph-recarey-7862448
[^2]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^3]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking ; "Florida prosecutors knew Epstein raped teenage girls 2 years before cutting deal, transcript shows," *WPTV,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wptv.com/news/epstein/palm-beach-county-judge-calls-jeffrey-epstein-most-infamous-pedophile-in-american-history-as-he-releases-transcripts
[^4]: Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Schapiro, "Ex-Florida police chief: Epstein case 'the worst failure of the criminal justice system' in modern times," *NBC News,* September 20, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-florida-police-chief-epstein-case-worst-failure-criminal-justice-n1057226
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, p. i. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^6]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html
[^7]: "Did the Detective Who Led Jeffrey Epstein Investigation Die after a 'Brief Illness' At 50 in September 2019?," *Truth or Fiction,* 2019. https://www.truthorfiction.com/did-the-detective-who-led-jeffrey-epstein-investigation-die-after-a-brief-illness-at-50-in-september-2019/

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- KathrynRuemmler
- WhiteHouseCounsel
- GoldmanSachs
- LathamWatkins
- JeffreyEpstein
- ObamaAdministration
alias:
- Kathryn Ruemmler
- Kathy Ruemmler
summary: "Kathryn Ruemmler is the former Obama White House Counsel who met Jeffrey Epstein more than three dozen times between 2014 and 2019 and resigned as Goldman Sachs general counsel in 2026."
born: 1971
location: "Washington, D.C.; New York, New York"
relations:
- type: appointed
with: "[[Barack Obama]]"
reverse: true
role: "White House Counsel"
start: 2011
end: 2014
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Latham & Watkins]]"
role: "partner; co-chair of the white-collar defense practice"
start: 2014
end: 2020
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Goldman Sachs]]"
role: "general counsel and chief legal officer; co-chair of the reputational risk committee"
start: 2020
end: 2026-06-30
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Kathryn Ruemmler is an American lawyer who served as [[White House Counsel]] to President [[Barack Obama]] from 2011 to 2014, then as a partner at [[Latham & Watkins]] and, from 2020, as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]].[^1][^2] [[Jeffrey Epstein]] telephoned her within weeks of her departure from the White House in 2014, and his calendars record more than three dozen appointments with her through 2019.[^2] She announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs in February 2026, effective June 30, 2026, after her name recurred in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases.[^1][^3]
### White House, Latham, and Goldman
Ruemmler was White House Counsel from 2011 to 2014.[^1] She joined Latham & Watkins in 2014 as a partner and co-chair of its white-collar defense practice.[^2] In 2020 she moved to Goldman Sachs as chief legal officer and general counsel and co-chaired the bank's reputational risk committee.[^1]
### The Calendar Record, 2014 to 2019
According to the *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*'s 2023 reporting on Epstein's private calendars, Epstein first called Ruemmler asking about her interest in [[Bill Gates]] and the [[Gates Foundation]]. He planned an August 2014 lunch for her at his Manhattan townhouse "followed by a series of meetings," had staff keep avocado sushi rolls on hand for her visits, and toured apartments she was considering buying.[^2] In October 2014, tracking her travel, he told staff, "See if there is a first class seat," and "if so upgrade her."[^2] His staff twice emailed him asking whether young women should be kept away from the townhouse while she was there.[^2] His records show a planned 2015 flight to [[Paris]] and a planned 2017 day at his [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] property; a Goldman spokesperson said she "never accepted an invitation or an opportunity to fly with Jeffrey Epstein anywhere" and never visited the island.[^2]
Epstein introduced Ruemmler to [[Ariane de Rothschild]], chief executive of the [[Edmond de Rothschild Group]], and the introduction led the bank to hire Latham & Watkins for U.S. regulatory matters. Latham said that "Epstein was never a client of Latham's."[^2] Goldman described her contacts with Epstein as "the same kinds of contacts and engagements she had with other contacts and clients" and said she "didn't see anything that would lead her to be concerned" at the townhouse. Ruemmler told the *Journal*: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein."[^2]
### The CIA Medal
On January 8, 2015, while a partner at Latham & Watkins, Ruemmler wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?"[^4] [[John Brennan]] was then director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
On April 13, 2018, Epstein sent her, without comment, a link to a November 2015 *[[Forbes]]* article on a "blackmail tax deduction" of 10 million dollars claimed by the actor Charlie Sheen.[^5]
### The Bannon Messages
On August 23, 2018, Epstein exchanged iMessages with [[Steve Bannon]], who was screening his documentary *Trump@War* with journalists from the *Wall Street Journal* and offered to send Epstein a link. Epstein wrote: "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," and "I wont share it unless you think ok." Bannon replied, "Let her watch," and "It's x rated for violence and language now." Earlier that evening Epstein had written, "Pecker immunity one more drop," a reference to the immunity granted to [[David Pecker]] of [[American Media]] in the [[Michael Cohen]] campaign-finance case. At 10:04 pm Epstein wrote to Bannon: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country, and then fake the heart attack." Two minutes later he added: "she said it is a failure to disclose charge. and his changing stories lead to knowledge of wrongdoing. only transmitting." Bannon answered, "Lmao."[^6] No message from Ruemmler appears in the log.
### The 2026 Releases
Emails released by the Justice Department in late January and early February 2026 cover 2014 to 2019.[^1] In May 2015 Epstein asked her about arranging a [[White House]] tour for [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]], writing, "I assume woody would be too politically sensitive?"; she indicated she could arrange it, and White House records show the tour took place in December 2015, while she was in private practice.[^1] In December 2015, after Epstein offered to buy her a first-class ticket to Europe, she wrote: "I adore him. It's like having another older brother!"[^1] An Epstein calendar entry for February 6, 2018 reads: "Kathy Ruemmler to have the Glam Squad to her NY apt for 9am!"[^1]
Goldman's chief executive, [[David Solomon]], said, "I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision," and called her "an extraordinary general counsel" who "will be missed."[^1] Her resignation came in the same weeks as those of Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm [[Paul, Weiss]], and [[Tom Pritzker]] of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation|Hyatt]].[^3] She has not been accused of any crime.
### Footnotes
[^1]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/
[^2]: "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal*'s "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series. https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
[^3]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02386175, DataSet 11, email from Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02475670, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Kathy Ruemmler, April 13, 2018, linking Robert W. Wood, "Charlie Sheen's $10M Blackmail Tax Deduction," *Forbes,* November 18, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02475670.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon, August 23, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf

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---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
- Person
- LarrySummers
- Treasury
- HarvardUniversity
- OpenAI
- JeffreyEpstein
- Economics
alias:
- Larry Summers
- Lawrence Summers
- Lawrence H. Summers
summary: "Lawrence H. Summers is the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president under whom Jeffrey Epstein's 6.5 million dollar gift founded Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, and who corresponded with Epstein until July 2019."
born: 1954-11-30
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[United States Department of the Treasury]]"
role: "Secretary of the Treasury"
start: 1999
end: 2001
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "president"
start: 2001
end: 2006
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]"
role: "established the program as Harvard president following a proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and Benedict Gross"
start: 2003
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "University Professor; director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (on leave from November 19, 2025)"
end: 2026-02
fn: 3
- type: director_of
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
role: "board member"
start: 2023-11
end: 2025-11-19
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[American Economic Association]]"
end: 2025-12-02
role: "resignation accepted and lifetime ban imposed"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Elisa New]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Lawrence H. Summers (born November 30, 1954, in [[New Haven]], [[Connecticut]]) is an American economist who served as [[United States Department of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] under [[Bill Clinton]] from 1999 to 2001 and as president of [[Harvard University]] from 2001 to 2006.[^1] In 2003, during his presidency, Harvard established the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] with a 6.5 million dollar gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest Epstein gift Harvard received.[^2] Emails released by the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] in November 2025 showed Summers seeking Epstein's advice on his pursuit of a woman who regarded him as a mentor, in messages running until the day before Epstein's July 2019 arrest. Within three weeks Summers had resigned from the board of [[OpenAI]], taken leave from his Harvard center, and been banned for life by the [[American Economic Association]].[^1][^3]
### Treasury and Harvard
Summers was Treasury secretary for the last two years of the Clinton administration and became Harvard's president in 2001, serving five years.[^1] He remained on the faculty afterward with the rank of University Professor, Harvard's highest, and directed the [[Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government]] at the [[Harvard Kennedy School]].[^3]
### The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Harvard had courted Epstein as a donor from 1992 and received his first gift in 1998. Between 1998 and 2006 he made 22 gifts totaling 8,443,000 dollars, most between 10,000 and 200,000 dollars, with one exception: 6.5 million dollars in 2003 for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, led by the mathematical biologist [[Martin Nowak]], whom Harvard recruited from the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton, where Epstein had already funded his work.[^2] The program's original website stated: "The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was established in 2003 by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and [[Benedict Gross]]."[^2] The gift paid for a separate research facility in a leased building in [[Harvard Square]].[^2]
Press reports at the time described the gift as part of a 30 million dollar pledge; Harvard's 2020 review "found no Harvard record of such a pledge."[^2] Epstein's own foundation website was still claiming in 2020 that he had established the program "with a $35 million gift."[^2] Harvard stopped accepting Epstein's gifts under Summers's successor, [[Drew Faust]], no later than November 2008.[^2] The review found that Epstein kept a keycard, a passcode, and an office at the program's building into 2018, visiting more than forty times after his 2008 conviction.[^2] Epstein used the suite for dinner parties organized by Nowak's assistants, among them the celebration of Summers's sixtieth birthday.[^4]
### The 2014 Philanthropy Contact
Epstein's calendars show Summers meeting him more than a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, in the years after Harvard had stopped accepting Epstein's money; a Summers spokesperson said in 2023 that he "deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein."[^5] The *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*'s 2023 reporting on Epstein's calendars recorded that in April 2014 Summers sought Epstein's advice on small-scale philanthropy, to help raise one million dollars for an online poetry project developed by his wife, the Harvard literature professor [[Elisa New]].[^5] New later emailed Epstein herself, including a 2015 message thanking him for arranging financial support for the poetry project she directs.[^1] On November 17, 2014, six years after Harvard stopped taking his gifts, Epstein wrote to Summers: "harvard ok with donation?"[^6]
### The Churkin Meeting
On January 13, 2016, Epstein arranged by iMessage a meeting for the next day with [[Vitaly Churkin]], Russia's ambassador to the [[United Nations]]. After Churkin proposed Thursday, Epstein wrote "2?", then "Larry summers will be here as well," and then "Or 12 if you prefer privacy." Churkin replied, "2OK." On January 14 Epstein wrote to Churkin, "Running 15 minutes late."[^7] Eleven days earlier Epstein had offered Churkin a meal with [[Ehud Barak]], who was "in town this week."[^7]
### The 2018 and 2019 Emails
The House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 documents from Epstein's estate on November 12, 2025. Among them was a correspondence of about seven months between Summers and Epstein, from November 2018 to July 2019, which ended one day before Epstein's arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.[^3] In it Summers, who was married, sought Epstein's help with a woman who viewed him as an economic mentor. "im a pretty good wing man , no?" Epstein wrote on November 30, 2018, two days after the [[Miami Herald]] began publishing its "Perversion of Justice" series on his 2008 plea. The next day Summers told Epstein he had texted the woman that he "had something brief to say to her," and asked, "Am I thanking her or being sorry re my being married. I think the former."[^1] The woman has not been publicly identified.
### Resignations and the Lifetime Ban
On November 17, 2025, Summers announced that he would step back from public commitments: "I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein."[^8] He then left his advisory role at the Yale Budget Lab and his fellowship at the [[Center for American Progress]], and the [[New York Times]] declined to renew his contributor contract.[^1][^8] On November 19 he resigned from the OpenAI board, where he had sat since November 2023, when he was added after the brief ouster of [[Sam Altman]]. The board said it respected his decision and appreciated "the perspective he brought to the Board."[^3][^8] The same day he took leave from the Mossavar-Rahmani Center; a Harvard Kennedy School spokesman, Steven Goldberg, said co-teachers would finish his courses and that "he is not scheduled to teach next semester." Harvard said it was "conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted."[^3]
On December 2, 2025, the American Economic Association accepted Summers's resignation and barred him for life from "attending, speaking at, or otherwise participating" in its events, calling his conduct "fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity and with the trust placed in mentors within the economics profession." Summers declined to comment on the ban; the previous week he had called his association with Epstein a "major error in judgement."[^1] In February 2026, after further [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] releases, Summers resigned from Harvard.[^4] No legal proceeding has named him.
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via *Fortune,* December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association
[^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, May 2020, pp. 3-5, 13, 20-22. https://ogc.harvard.edu/report-concerning-Epstein
[^3]: "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/
[^4]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known." *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^5]: Bohannon, Molly. "New Documents Reveal How Frequently Larry Summers, Woody Allen And More Met With Jeffrey Epstein." *Forbes,* May 3, 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal*'s "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/05/03/new-documents-reveal-how-frequently-larry-summers-woody-allen-and-more-met-with-jeffrey-epstein/
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02594668, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Summers, November 17, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02594668.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619434, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Vitaly Churkin, November 16, 2015 to February 23, 2016 (entries of January 2, 13 and 14, 2016). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf
[^8]: *CBS News,* November 2025, on Summers's resignation from the OpenAI board. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/larry-summers-resigns-openai-board-jeffrey-epstein-emails/

109
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Martin Nowak.md
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@ -10,57 +10,120 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Martin Nowak - Martin Nowak
- Martin A. Nowak - Martin A. Nowak
summary: "Martin Nowak is a Harvard mathematical biologist who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which Jeffrey Epstein helped establish with a 2003 gift, and whom Harvard sanctioned in 2021 for hosting Epstein on campus after his 2008 conviction." summary: "Martin Nowak is a Harvard mathematical biologist who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, founded with a 2003 Jeffrey Epstein gift, and was sanctioned in 2021 and placed on leave in 2026 over Epstein."
born: 1965-04-07 born: 1965-04-07
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts" location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Professor of Mathematics and of Biology"
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Institute for Advanced Study]]"
end: 2003
fn: 9
- type: investigated
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
reverse: true
role: "OGC review, 2021 sanctions, 2026 leave"
start: 2019-09
end: 2026-02-25
fn: 10
- type: member_of
with: "[[John Templeton Foundation]]"
role: "Board of Advisors"
fn: 9
- type: member_of
with: "[[Austrian Academy of Sciences]]"
end: 2026-04
fn: 14
--- ---
Martin A. Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born mathematical biologist at [[Harvard University]] who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED) from its founding in 2003. The program was established with help from a $6.5 million gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest single donation Epstein made to Harvard, and a 2020 university report found that Nowak gave Epstein an office and campus access used for more than forty visits after Epstein's 2008 sex-crimes conviction. Harvard sanctioned Nowak in 2021.[^1][^2] Martin A. Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born mathematical biologist at [[Harvard University]] who directed the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] (PED) from its founding in 2003. The program was established with help from a $6.5 million gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest single donation Epstein made to Harvard, and a 2020 university report found that Nowak gave Epstein an office and campus access used for more than forty visits after Epstein's 2008 sex-crimes conviction. Harvard sanctioned Nowak in 2021.[^1][^2]
### Mathematical Biology at Harvard ### Mathematical Biology at Harvard
Nowak trained in biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna before working at the University of Oxford and the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton. He joined Harvard in 2003 as professor of mathematics and biology and became the founding director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which applied mathematical models to evolution, cooperation, cancer, and the dynamics of infectious disease. His books include *Evolutionary Dynamics* (Harvard University Press, 2006) and *SuperCooperators* (Free Press, 2011).[^3][^1] Nowak trained in biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna before working at the University of Oxford and the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton. He joined Harvard in 2003 as professor of mathematics and biology and became the founding director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which applied mathematical models to evolution, cooperation, cancer, and the dynamics of infectious disease. His books include *Evolutionary Dynamics* (Harvard University Press, 2006) and *SuperCooperators* (Free Press, 2011).[^1][^3]
Nowak's central research concerns the evolution of cooperation, set out in his 2006 *Science* paper "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," which catalogued kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection as the mechanisms by which natural selection can favor cooperative behavior. In a 2010 *Nature* paper, "The Evolution of Eusociality," Nowak with [[Corina Tarnita]] and the biologist [[E. O. Wilson]] challenged the dominance of inclusive-fitness theory, prompting a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.[^8][^9] Nowak's central research concerns the evolution of cooperation, set out in his 2006 *Science* paper "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," which catalogued kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection as the mechanisms by which natural selection can favor cooperative behavior. In a 2010 *Nature* paper, "The Evolution of Eusociality," Nowak with [[Corina Tarnita]] and the biologist [[E. O. Wilson]] challenged the dominance of inclusive-fitness theory, prompting a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.[^4][^5]
The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was created in 2003 under Harvard President [[Lawrence Summers]] following a proposal that, according to Harvard's later review, originated with Epstein and the mathematician [[Benedict Gross]]. Epstein told *Vanity Fair* that he had been reluctant to attach his name to the program and that Summers persuaded him to fund it. The program operated out of an office suite at One Brattle Square in Harvard Square rather than on the main campus.[^2][^4] The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was created in 2003 under Harvard President [[Lawrence Summers]] following a proposal that, according to Harvard's later review, originated with Epstein and the mathematician [[Benedict Gross]]. Epstein told *Vanity Fair* that he had been reluctant to attach his name to the program and that Summers persuaded him to fund it. The program operated out of an office suite at One Brattle Square in Harvard Square rather than on the main campus.[^2][^6]
### Epstein's Donations and Campus Access ### Epstein's Donations and Campus Access
A review of Harvard's ties to Epstein, commissioned by President [[Lawrence Bacow]] in September 2019 and released on May 1, 2020, found that Epstein gave Harvard $9,179,000 across 22 gifts between 1998 and 2008, of which the $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2003 was the largest. The review was conducted by the Office of the General Counsel under [[Diane Lopez]] with the law firm [[Foley Hoag]], drew on more than 250,000 pages of documents, and interviewed over forty people. It found that Harvard stopped accepting Epstein gifts after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with the decision to halt gifts made under President [[Drew Faust]] between 2007 and 2008, though Epstein gave $736,000 after his 2006 arrest but before the conviction.[^2][^5] A review of Harvard's ties to Epstein, commissioned by President [[Lawrence Bacow]] in September 2019 and released on May 1, 2020, found that Epstein gave Harvard $9,179,000 across 22 gifts between 1998 and 2008, of which the $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2003 was the largest. The review was conducted by the Office of the General Counsel under [[Diane Lopez]] with the law firm [[Foley Hoag]], drew on more than 250,000 pages of documents, and interviewed over forty people. It found that Harvard stopped accepting Epstein gifts after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with the decision to halt gifts made under President [[Drew Faust]] between 2007 and 2008, though Epstein gave $736,000 after his 2006 arrest but before the conviction.[^2][^7]
Epstein held a formal Harvard appointment as a visiting fellow in the psychology department for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, secured through department chair [[Stephen Kosslyn]] despite Epstein's lacking the doctoral degree the position normally required; Epstein reapplied for 2006 to 2007 but withdrew after his September 2006 arrest. The report found that Epstein retained a dedicated office at PED, identified as Office 610 and known internally as "Jeffrey's Office," to which he brought his own rug and hung his own photographs, with keycard and passcode access and a Harvard telephone line that remained until 2017.[^2][^5] Epstein held a formal Harvard appointment as a visiting fellow in the psychology department for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, secured through department chair [[Stephen Kosslyn]] despite Epstein's lacking the doctoral degree the position normally required; Epstein reapplied for 2006 to 2007 but withdrew after his September 2006 arrest. The report found that Epstein retained a dedicated office at PED, identified as Office 610 and known internally as "Jeffrey's Office," to which he brought his own rug and hung his own photographs, with keycard and passcode access and a Harvard telephone line that remained until 2017.[^2][^7]
The report found that Epstein visited the program more than forty times between 2010 and 2018, including six visits in 2018, often accompanied by young women in their twenties described as assistants. It found that Nowak approved posting on the PED website in 2014 a webpage featuring Epstein's photograph, biography, and charitable links under a tab labeled "Friends," on which Epstein was the only entry, and that the review described the program's account of Epstein's support as "flattering and false." Summers, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean [[Henry Rosovsky]], and law professor [[Alan Dershowitz]] were among those recorded as attending PED events.[^2][^6] The report found that Epstein visited the program more than forty times between 2010 and 2018, including six visits in 2018, often accompanied by young women in their twenties described as assistants. It found that Nowak approved posting on the PED website in 2014 a webpage featuring Epstein's photograph, biography, and charitable links under a tab labeled "Friends," on which Epstein was the only entry, and that the review described the program's account of Epstein's support as "flattering and false." Summers, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean [[Henry Rosovsky]], and law professor [[Alan Dershowitz]] were among those recorded as attending PED events.[^2][^8]
### Sanctions and Aftermath ### Sanctions and Aftermath
On March 26, 2021, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [[Claudine Gay]] announced that Nowak had violated several university policies and imposed sanctions: he was barred for two years from serving as principal investigator on new grants, prohibited for two years from taking on new undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral advisees, and allowed to continue teaching undergraduate courses. Harvard announced that the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics would be closed and that Nowak's research would move into the mathematics department. Nowak had been placed on paid administrative leave in May 2020.[^1][^6] On March 26, 2021, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [[Claudine Gay]] announced that Nowak had violated several university policies and imposed sanctions: he was barred for two years from serving as principal investigator on new grants, prohibited for two years from taking on new undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral advisees, and allowed to continue teaching undergraduate courses. Harvard announced that the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics would be closed and that Nowak's research would move into the mathematics department. Nowak had been placed on paid administrative leave in May 2020.[^1][^8] The closure followed the review's finding that PED's administrator, "with Professor Nowak on notice," had sent Epstein's assistant unassigned access cards in 2017 so that Epstein could avoid the photograph and attestation required for a guest identification.[^9]
Harvard reported that it had identified $200,937 in unspent Epstein funds, which it pledged to direct to organizations supporting victims of human trafficking, and stated it would not accept future gifts from Epstein or his estate. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences lifted the sanctions in 2023, restoring Nowak's research and advising privileges in March of that year.[^2][^7] Harvard reported that it had identified $200,937 in unspent Epstein funds, which it pledged to direct to organizations supporting victims of human trafficking, and stated it would not accept future gifts from Epstein or his estate. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences lifted the sanctions in 2023, restoring Nowak's research and advising privileges in March of that year.[^2][^10]
### The 2026 Files and Renewed Leave ### The 2026 Files and Renewed Leave
In February 2026 the journal *Nature* reported, drawing on U.S. Department of Justice files, that Epstein's involvement with Nowak's work ran deeper than the 2020 review had described, including that Epstein reviewed page proofs of the 2010 eusociality paper and gave advice on responding to its critics. Nowak's name appears more than 8,000 times in the released files. *Nature* also reported that in 2009 Epstein routed scholarship money through Corina Tarnita, then Nowak's PhD student, to two young women studying mathematics at the University of Iași in Romania; Tarnita, by then at [[Princeton University]], told *Nature* the payments were legitimate scholarships and that she wished she had never known Epstein.[^10][^11] In February 2026 the journal *Nature* reported, drawing on [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] files, that Epstein's involvement with Nowak's work ran deeper than the 2020 review had described, including that Epstein reviewed page proofs of the 2010 eusociality paper and gave advice on responding to its critics. Nowak's name appears more than 8,000 times in the released files. *Nature* also reported that in 2009 Epstein routed scholarship money through Corina Tarnita, then Nowak's PhD student, to two young women studying mathematics at the University of Iași in Romania; Tarnita, by then at [[Princeton University]], told *Nature* the payments were legitimate scholarships and that she wished she had never known Epstein.[^11][^12]
A March 10, 2014 email chain published from the files showed Nowak writing to Epstein that "our spy was captured after completing her mission," to which Epstein replied "did you torture her." Nowak later said on his website that the line came from the video game *Civilization II*, where the response signals a successful operation. The files also showed that an Epstein assistant arranged 2014 travel for Nowak and a female Harvard graduate student to Epstein's Caribbean island.[^12][^11] A March 10, 2014 email chain published from the files showed Nowak writing to Epstein that "our spy was captured after completing her mission," to which Epstein replied "did you torture her." Nowak later said on his website that the line came from the video game *Civilization II*, where the response signals a successful operation. The files also showed that an Epstein assistant arranged 2014 travel for Nowak and a female Harvard graduate student to Epstein's Caribbean island.[^12][^13]
On February 25, 2026, Harvard placed Nowak on paid administrative leave a second time, with FAS Dean [[Hopi Hoekstra]] citing new information from the released Department of Justice documents. In April 2026 Nowak resigned from the [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]] amid the renewed scrutiny.[^7][^13] On February 25, 2026, Harvard placed Nowak on paid administrative leave a second time, with FAS Dean [[Hopi Hoekstra]] citing new information from the released Department of Justice documents. In April 2026 Nowak resigned from the [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]] amid the renewed scrutiny.[^10][^14]
### Before Harvard
Nowak's relationship with Epstein began in the late 1990s, while Nowak was at the Institute for Advanced Study and lecturing at Princeton, and Epstein supported his work at the institute before Harvard recruited him. Emails released in 2026 show that Nowak had use of Epstein's New York apartments and his Jaguar and made frequent trips to Epstein's homes in [[New Mexico]] and the Virgin Islands. After a 2002 trip Nowak wrote to [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]: "I would love to ride out with you for a whole day. Just you and me. both of us dressed as cowboys." Maxwell replied, "Riding off into the sunset w/ you sounds very dangerous - we might not come back," and signed off, "Be bad." A 2002 *[[New York (magazine)|New York]]* magazine profile reported that Nowak spoke with Epstein weekly and was flown to his homes to lecture, and quoted him: "Jeffrey has the mind of a physicist. It's like talking to a colleague in your field. . . . He has changed my life. Because of his support, I feel I can do anything I want." In September 2004 the photographer Rick Friedman photographed a Harvard dinner hosted by Epstein at which Nowak appeared with Epstein, Summers, Alan Dershowitz and the evolutionary biologist [[Robert Trivers]].[^7][^15][^16]
### After the Conviction
Soon after Epstein's 2009 release from the Palm Beach County jail, Nowak and his graduate student Corina Tarnita traveled to visit him. Nowak later told *[[The Boston Globe]]* that a spiritual adviser had told him he was "morally obligated to forgive someone who has served a prison sentence." Harvard's review found that Nowak understood from 2008 that President Drew Faust opposed taking Epstein's money but regarded the question as "unclear"; a January 2010 email described him as "trying to figure out a way to have Epstein give PED funds," and in December 2014 he asked the mathematics chair "confidentially" whether there was "an update concerning Jeffrey being an acceptable donor for Harvard?" Meanwhile donors Epstein introduced, [[Leon Black]] and the [[Falconwood Foundation]], paid 7.5 million dollars toward the program's rent, and Nowak, who sat on the [[John Templeton Foundation]]'s Board of Advisors, approved a 2015 letter falsely telling Templeton that an Epstein foundation had "established a gift" to the program in 2003. The review found that Nowak "knowingly approved PED's supplying false information" and that he "had no explanation" for it.[^9][^15]
When *[[Newsweek]]* prepared a 2011 story on Epstein, Epstein asked Nowak and another Harvard friend for character references, explaining that the story's focus was "on why do so many people want to talk to me and seem to ignore . . . their words . . . my crime." Nowak thanked Epstein for financial support in *SuperCooperators* (2011) and in at least six papers published between 2009 and 2012 on subjects including the spread of cancer and the evolution of HIV. In July 2019 he told *[[BuzzFeed News]]*: "The only donation from Epstein was received in 2003. The money was spent by about 2007," adding that "most research projects take many years from first idea until publication." Harvard's review, a year later, recorded Epstein's more than forty visits to Nowak's program between 2010 and 2018, his office and keycards, and the 2010 to 2015 gifts from donors he introduced.[^2][^15][^16][^17]
Nowak's lab administrator arranged Epstein's visits, food and building access. In 2010, when her sister was job-hunting in New York, Nowak suggested Epstein hire her, listing among her credentials that she had provided "legal advice on how to fire models who became fat"; Epstein arranged an interview. Tarnita, who thanked Epstein in her 2009 dissertation "for allowing me to participate in his tireless pursuit of knowledge," later had an Epstein assistant arrange a salon appointment for her, was offered payment for a medical procedure, and in 2011 was referred by Epstein to a lawyer who resolved a visa problem; when she told him of her Princeton job talks, he wrote, "i only wish you well." Tarnita told the *Globe*: "I never saw Epstein behave inappropriately. I am revolted by his depravity and wish I had never met him." The Harvard lecturer [[Moshe Hoffman]], who met Epstein at Nowak's lab in 2013, was taken to a Broadway show by an Epstein assistant at Epstein's expense and in February 2019 asked to stay at one of Epstein's apartments.[^15]
### Chomsky, Hillis, and Bin Sulayem
On October 28, 2015, Epstein wrote jointly to Nowak, the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]], and the computer scientist [[Danny Hillis]]: "would sat the 14th work? cambridge."[^18] On December 23, 2015, he wrote to Nowak and Chomsky together: "animals dream . the mouse is not really there when the cat is chasing it in its dream. if dreams represent a language with no memory or grammar, they could be the precursor to language."[^19]
In November 2016 Epstein arranged for [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman of [[DP World]], to visit the [[MIT Media Lab]] and then Nowak's office. On November 29 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] asked [[Joi Ito]] about his timing for meeting Epstein on November 30 "up at Harvard," adding, "Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that bin Sulayem would be with him at the Media Lab and "I can take Sultan to Martin's place," and that Epstein had planned to "leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM."[^20]
### The Island and the Women
Nowak, who was married, twice asked Epstein by email about bringing women to Epstein's island, and at least once Epstein paid for Nowak and a guest to fly in premium seats and stay two nights. In January 2014 Epstein arranged for Nowak to speak by telephone with a woman; Nowak wrote that he was "nervous like a schoolboy" and added: "I love life! she sounds really nice on the phone. did you ever bring her to harvard? do i know her?" Nowak told the *Globe* he never had a "relationship" with anyone Epstein introduced him to. A photograph released by the Justice Department purports to show Nowak and [[George Church]] on Epstein's island.[^15][^21]
The *Globe* documented Nowak's contact with two young Eastern European women whom Epstein groomed and exploited and whose names the Justice Department redacted as victims; the newspaper identified them only as "the musician" and "the artist." In 2015 Epstein asked Nowak, who was traveling in Austria, to meet the musician there and advance her tuition for a music program; Nowak wrote that he was "investigating how to help her," their schedules did not overlap, and Epstein reimbursed her. Nowak told the *Globe* he never met her and does not recall her. Epstein introduced Nowak to the artist in 2018. In spring 2019, while the *[[Miami Herald]]* series was prompting renewed scrutiny, Nowak sent Epstein photographs of her with her artwork and wrote that she was working on her "master piece"; when Epstein paid for her to travel to New York, he texted her, "I understand you are going to see martin?" She replied, "Martin sayed [sic] that I can come to see him in Boston." Nowak and the artist, through her lawyer, said the visit did not happen; her lawyer said their contact, several emails and one call at Nowak's prompting, which she believes came at Epstein's suggestion, was not sexual. Nowak said he did not know she was being exploited and believed he was "merely supporting her career."[^15]
In May 2019 Nowak asked Epstein's assistant to remove all references to his lab from Epstein's website: "The sooner the better please. . . . Things are getting very strange here."[^15]
### The Bequest
Epstein's will, dated August 8, 2019, two days before his death, left Nowak 5 million dollars. Nowak said the bequest "came as a surprise" and that he has received no payment. In February 2026 he told the *Globe*: "I had no knowledge of his crimes. I was urged to cultivate Mr. Epstein to continue his financial support of academic endeavors." The *Globe* sent Harvard its questions on February 24, 2026; the next day Harvard announced that Summers had resigned and placed Nowak on leave.[^15][^21]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Gay Levies Sanctions Against Prof. Nowak for Contacts With Jeffrey Epstein," *The Harvard Crimson,* March 26, 2021, on the $6.5 million PED gift, the 40-plus visits, the sanctions, the program closure, and the May 2020 leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/26/gay-sanctions-nowak-epstein/ [^1]: "Gay Levies Sanctions Against Prof. Nowak for Contacts With Jeffrey Epstein," *The Harvard Crimson,* March 26, 2021, on the $6.5 million PED gift, the 40-plus visits, the sanctions, the program closure, and the May 2020 leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/26/gay-sanctions-nowak-epstein/
[^2]: "Harvard Asked Its Lawyers to Review the University's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here's What They Found," *The Harvard Crimson,* May 2, 2020, on the $9,179,000 in 22 gifts from 1998 to 2008, Office 610 with keycard access, the telephone line to 2017, the visit count, the unspent $200,937, and the halt on gifts. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/harvard-concludes-epstein-review/ [^2]: "Harvard Asked Its Lawyers to Review the University's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here's What They Found," *The Harvard Crimson,* May 2, 2020, on the $9,179,000 in 22 gifts from 1998 to 2008, Office 610 with keycard access, the telephone line to 2017, the visit count, the unspent $200,937, and the halt on gifts. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/harvard-concludes-epstein-review/
[^3]: Nowak, Martin A. *Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life.* Harvard University Press, 2006. [^3]: Nowak, Martin A. *Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life.* Harvard University Press, 2006.
[^4]: "Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?," *Scientific American,* 2019, on the establishment of PED under Summers and Epstein's account to Vanity Fair. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-jeffrey-epstein-cultivate-famous-scientists/ [^4]: Nowak, Martin A. "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," *Science* 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1560-1563, on kin selection, direct and indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1133755
[^5]: "Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University," Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, on the donation totals, the establishment of PED, and the gift policy. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 [^5]: Nowak, Martin A., Corina E. Tarnita, and Edward O. Wilson. "The Evolution of Eusociality," *Nature* 466 (2010): 1057-1062, the paper that drew a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.
[^6]: "Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement," *Harvard Magazine,* March 2021, on the policy violations, the website descriptions, and the terms of the sanctions. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/martin-nowak-sanctioned-for-jeffrey-epstein-involvement [^6]: "Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?," *Scientific American,* 2019, on the establishment of PED under Summers and Epstein's account to Vanity Fair. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-jeffrey-epstein-cultivate-famous-scientists/
[^7]: "Harvard Places Math Professor Martin Nowak on Paid Administrative Leave Over Epstein Ties," *The Harvard Crimson,* February 25, 2026, on the 2023 restoration and the renewed leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/nowak-leave-epstein/ [^7]: "Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University," Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, on the donation totals, the establishment of PED, and the gift policy. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^8]: Nowak, Martin A. "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," *Science* 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1560-1563, on kin selection, direct and indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1133755 [^8]: "Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement," *Harvard Magazine,* March 2021, on the policy violations, the website descriptions, and the terms of the sanctions. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/martin-nowak-sanctioned-for-jeffrey-epstein-involvement
[^9]: Nowak, Martin A., Corina E. Tarnita, and Edward O. Wilson. "The Evolution of Eusociality," *Nature* 466 (2010): 1057-1062, the paper that drew a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists. [^9]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard OGC and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 5, 10-17, 26-27, on Nowak's prior support at the Institute for Advanced Study, his understanding of Faust's decision, the 2010 and 2014 emails, the Black and Falconwood gifts, his Templeton advisory role, and the false-information finding. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 ; mirror: https://archive.org/download/epstein-docs_20240108/1.%20Harvard%20Epstein%20Report.pdf
[^10]: "Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time," *Harvard Magazine,* February 2026, on the Nature reporting, the page-proof advice on the eusociality paper, the 2014 island travel, and the second leave announced February 27, 2026. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/martin-nowak-harvard-administrative-leave-epstein [^10]: "Harvard Places Math Professor Martin Nowak on Paid Administrative Leave Over Epstein Ties," *The Harvard Crimson,* February 25, 2026, on the 2023 restoration and the renewed leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/nowak-leave-epstein/
[^11]: "Did you torture her?: Emails of Jeffrey Epstein and Martin Nowak reveal shocking details," *WION,* February 2026, on the Romanian scholarships routed through Tarnita, the Iasi students, and the island travel for Nowak and a graduate student. https://www.wionews.com/photos/-did-you-torture-her-emails-of-jeffrey-epstein-and-martin-nowak-reveal-shocking-details-all-about-6-5-million-to-harvard-and-private-travels-1770656438037 [^11]: "Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time," *Harvard Magazine,* February 2026, on the Nature reporting, the page-proof advice on the eusociality paper, the 2014 island travel, and the second leave announced February 27, 2026. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/martin-nowak-harvard-administrative-leave-epstein
[^12]: "Professor Corina Tarnita on the Epstein Files: 'I Wish I Had Never Known Him'," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* 2026, on the March 10, 2014 "spy"/"torture" email exchange, Nowak's Civilization II explanation, and Tarnita's account of the scholarships. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/professor-corina-tarnita-epstein-files-i-wish-i-had-never-known-him [^12]: "Professor Corina Tarnita on the Epstein Files: 'I Wish I Had Never Known Him'," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* 2026, on the March 10, 2014 "spy"/"torture" email exchange, Nowak's Civilization II explanation, and Tarnita's account of the scholarships. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/professor-corina-tarnita-epstein-files-i-wish-i-had-never-known-him
[^13]: "Harvard Professor Martin Nowak Resigns From Austrian Academy Amid Epstein Scrutiny," *The Harvard Crimson,* April 2, 2026, on Nowak's resignation from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/nowak-austrian-academy-resignation/ [^13]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on Epstein's payment for premium travel and two nights' stay for Nowak and a guest; see also "Did you torture her?: Emails of Jeffrey Epstein and Martin Nowak reveal shocking details," *WION,* February 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^14]: "Harvard Professor Martin Nowak Resigns From Austrian Academy Amid Epstein Scrutiny," *The Harvard Crimson,* April 2, 2026, on Nowak's resignation from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/nowak-austrian-academy-resignation/
[^15]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on the late-1990s origins, the apartments and car, the Maxwell messages, the 2004 dinner photograph, the 2009 visit, the Newsweek references, the lab administrator, Tarnita, Hoffman, the island travel, the January 2014 introduction, the musician and the artist, the May 2019 email, the bequest, and Nowak's statements. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^16]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, quoting the 2002 *New York* magazine profile. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^17]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Nowak's statement, the *SuperCooperators* and journal acknowledgments, and the 2012 lunch at his institute. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00842252, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky, Martin Nowak and Danny Hillis, October 28, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00842252.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00838191, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky and Martin Nowak, December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00838191.pdf
[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, the MIT Media Lab director's office and DP World staff, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf
[^21]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026, on the island photograph and the will dated August 8, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- MichaelReiter
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- PalmBeachPoliceDepartment
- Police
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Chief Michael Reiter
- Michael S. Reiter
- Chief Reiter
summary: "Michael Reiter was the Palm Beach police chief from 2001 to 2009 who opened the 2005 Epstein investigation, sought the State Attorney's disqualification, and referred the case to the FBI."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "chief of police"
start: 2001-03
end: 2009
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "officer and commander"
start: 1981
end: 2001
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2005-03
end: 2006-07
fn: 3
- type: founded
with: "[[Michael Reiter and Associates]]"
start: 2009
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Michael Reiter is an American former police officer who served as chief of the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] in [[Palm Beach, Florida]], from 2001 to 2009. His department opened the March 2005 investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and after State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]]'s grand jury returned a single solicitation count in 2006, Reiter asked for Krischer's disqualification and took the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. When federal prosecutors concluded the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] in September 2007, they instructed the official briefing him not to tell him about its money provisions.[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Reiter joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1981, serving 28 years there, the last eight as chief after his appointment in March 2001. His firm's published biography states that he served on the executive board of the FBI's [[Joint Terrorism Task Force]] and directed countywide election security planning, and that he is a graduate of the [[FBI National Academy]] and of the [[Harvard Kennedy School]] program for senior executives in state and local government. After leaving the department in 2009 he founded [[Michael Reiter and Associates]], a Palm Beach security consulting firm.[^1][^4]
### The Donation
On the Palm Beach Post's account, Epstein gave the Palm Beach Police Department 90,000 dollars before the investigation began, and the money was returned after his arrest. Reiter, answering 2026 statements by Representative [[Melanie Stansbury]] about the police handling of the case, said she was "clearly misinformed about the facts of this case" and said his department "stood alone among local criminal justice agencies in advocating for a full prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, one that should have resulted in hundreds of felony counts and a life sentence."[^5]
### The Investigation
In March 2005 the parents of a 14-year-old girl complained to the department that Epstein had paid her for a massage at [[358 El Brillo Way]]. Detective [[Joseph Recarey]] led the inquiry, which took sworn taped statements from five victims and seventeen witnesses, subpoenaed telephone records, and matched calls from Epstein's assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] to victims against the arrival records of [[Lolita Express|Epstein's plane]] at [[Palm Beach International Airport]]. Reiter told NBC News that when police executed their search warrant the house had been cleaned and a surveillance computer removed, "with all the wires left hanging there," and that Epstein's lawyers seemed to know "minute details that nobody else knew" before they had been disclosed.[^2][^4]
On May 1, 2006 Recarey swore a probable cause affidavit recommending five second-degree felony counts. That year Reiter wrote to Krischer that the State Attorney's handling of the case was "highly unusual" and asked him to consider whether "good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from prosecution of these cases." On July 19, 2006 the grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. Because the police chief and the lead detective "were dissatisfied with the State Attorney's handling of the case," the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] later recorded, "they referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in West Palm Beach." Reiter said the agents called it "an easy case."[^2][^3][^4][^6]
### The Referral to the FBI
Reiter testified in a 2009 civil deposition that when his department first brought the case to the State Attorney's Office in 2005, Barry Krischer told him "Let's go for it," because Epstein was "somebody we have to stop"; in 2006, he said, Krischer suggested that the police issue Epstein a notice to appear on misdemeanor charges. "I knew that it didn't really matter what the facts were in this case, it was pretty clear to me that Mr. Krischer did not want to prosecute this case." On May 1, 2006 he sent Krischer probable cause affidavits and a case filing package covering Epstein, one of his personal assistants, and a young local woman whom Epstein had first victimized and then used to recruit other girls, with a transmittal letter urging Krischer "to examine the unusual course that your office's handling of this matter has taken." Asked about favoritism to the defense, Krischer later told the Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]]: "I just don't play that way."[^7]
The federal prosecutors' own chronology of the case opens with Reiter's May 2006 letter and his August 2, 2006 letter stating that he was unhappy with the State Attorney's handling of the case and was referring it to the FBI; the federal case file, code-named "Operation Leap Year," was opened in late July 2006. On August 16, 2006 the Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told viewers that Reiter believed Krischer was "in the tank for Epstein" and had "handed his evidence over to the FBI because he believes Krischer will not prosecute the case honestly"; a transcript of the segment was kept among Epstein's papers.[^8][^9]
### Kept Out of the Agreement
The U.S. Attorney's Office under [[Alexander Acosta]] signed the non-prosecution agreement on September 24, 2007. That day the line prosecutor, [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]], wrote to Epstein's lawyer [[Jay Lefkowitz]]: "I know that Andy promised Chief Reiter an update when a resolution was achieved.... Rolando is calling, but Rolando knows not to tell Chief Reiter about the money issue, just about what crimes Mr. Epstein is pleading guilty to and the amount of time that has been agreed to. Rolando also is telling Chief Reiter not to disclose the outcome to anyone." "Andy" was [[Andrew Lourie]], manager of the office's West Palm Beach branch.[^3]
### The Plea Hearing and the Victim List
When Epstein changed his plea in state court on June 30, 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office decided that victim notification could come only from a state investigator, and First Assistant [[Jeffrey Sloman]] asked Reiter to help; on June 28 the line prosecutor reported that Reiter "is going to notify victims about the plea." She told OPR that she sent Reiter a list of the victims with their telephone numbers and asked him to destroy it. Reiter testified that he had asked for the list because the state indictment did not include all the victims his department had identified and he "wanted to make sure that some prosecution body had considered all of our victims"; he showed it to the lead detective, who said "they're all there," and then destroyed it. In her 2008 declaration the prosecutor conceded that "all known victims were not notified."[^8][^10]
### Later Statements
Reiter described the Epstein outcome to NBC News in September 2019 as "the worst failure of the criminal justice system" in modern times, said "I've never seen anything like it," and said he was "embarrassed" by how the system had treated the victims while maintaining that his department "did our job." When Recarey died in May 2018 Reiter said: "Joe Recarey was among the best people I ever knew." In 2026 he said the department had been "the only law enforcement agency to successfully investigate Epstein in a manner that resulted in his felony conviction, incarceration and registration as a sexual offender," because it "refused to allow the rest of the local criminal justice system to look the other way."[^4][^5][^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Michael Reiter and Associates, "About" (firm-published biography of Michael Reiter). https://www.michaelreiterandassociates.com/
[^2]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^3]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 9 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraph 52; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Executive Summary, November 2020, p. i. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^4]: Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Schapiro, "Ex-Florida police chief: Epstein case 'the worst failure of the criminal justice system' in modern times," *NBC News,* September 20, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-florida-police-chief-epstein-case-worst-failure-criminal-justice-n1057226
[^5]: Hannah Phillips, "Congresswoman's claims about Epstein police probe were misleading," *Palm Beach Post* (via AOL), May 13, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/congresswomans-claims-epstein-police-probe-181112537.html
[^6]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 14 to 16 and n. 17. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 1, 37. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00214226, DataSet 9, FoxNews.com transcript, "The O'Reilly Factor," Talking Points Memo, August 16, 2006. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214226.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), pp. 231 to 232 and n. 353.
[^11]: "Joseph Recarey Obituary (1967-2018)," *Palm Beach Post* via Legacy.com, 2018. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/palmbeachpost/name/joseph-recarey-obituary?id=11914024

2
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Mochtar Riady.md
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@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23 updated: 2026-09-23
--- ---
Mochtar Riady is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who built the [[Lippo Group]]; according to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, citing *Forbes,* he found it necessary to "Indonesianize" his name, which had been Li Mo Tie. He first met [[Jackson Stephens]] and [[Witt Stephens]] of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] in 1976, when he was looking into buying [[Bert Lance]]'s share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]; that purchase fell through, and in 1978 the two families formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]].[^1] The Riady and Stephens families later controlled [[Worthen Bank]] in Little Rock together.[^1][^2] Mochtar Riady is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who built the [[Lippo Group]]; according to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], citing *Forbes,* he found it necessary to "Indonesianize" his name, which had been Li Mo Tie. He first met [[Jackson Stephens]] and [[Witt Stephens]] of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] in 1976, when he was looking into buying [[Bert Lance]]'s share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]; that purchase fell through, and in 1978 the two families formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]].[^1] The Riady and Stephens families later controlled [[Worthen Bank]] in Little Rock together.[^1][^2]
### Clinton ### Clinton

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Sarah Ransome.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- SarahRansome
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- SexTrafficking
- GiuffreVMaxwell
- FederalTortClaimsAct
alias:
- Jane Doe 43
summary: "Epstein trafficking survivor who sued Epstein, Maxwell, Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff in 2017 as Jane Doe 43, settled in 2018, and in 2023 joined Maria Farmer's 600 million dollar FBI claim."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein]]"
role: "plaintiff"
start: 2017-01-26
end: 2018-12-20
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Marsh Law Firm]]"
reverse: true
start: 2023-07-20
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Sarah Ransome is a survivor of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s trafficking operation who, on January 26, 2017, sued Epstein, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Lesley Groff]], and Natalya Malyshev in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] under the federal sex-trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. section 1591. She filed as Jane Doe 43 and later litigated under her own name. The case (No. 1:17-cv-00616) was assigned to Judge [[John G. Koeltl]], with Magistrate Judge [[Sarah Netburn]], and was dismissed with prejudice on a stipulated settlement on December 20, 2018. Kellen and Groff, two of the defendants, had been named as potential co-conspirators and immunized in Epstein's 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^1][^2]
### The Suit
Ransome alleged that Epstein, Maxwell, Kellen, and Groff told her that Epstein would use his wealth and influence to secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for her giving massages, while they knew she was being recruited for sexual purposes, and that she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell in 2006 and 2007. On August 8, 2018, Koeltl denied five motions to dismiss, for reasons stated on the record at oral argument (ECF No. 140). The Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice (ECF No. 189) recites a stipulation "entered into by and among Plaintiff, Sarah Ransome, and Defendants, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sarah Kellen and" Groff, each side bearing its own fees and costs; the next day she voluntarily dismissed her claims against Malyshev, who had never appeared (ECF No. 190). The terms were not disclosed.[^1][^2]
### Giuffre v. Maxwell
Ransome was deposed in 2017 as a witness in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] and produced dozens of photographs showing Epstein, Maxwell, herself, and other young women on Epstein's island, [[Little St. James]], some of them taken by the modeling agent [[Jean-Luc Brunel]] and given to her by him. Documents unsealed in January 2024 also included emails she sent to a [[New York Post]] reporter in the fall of 2016 making allegations about [[Bill Clinton]], [[Donald Trump]], [[Prince Andrew]], and [[Richard Branson]] and describing videotapes she said she possessed but could not produce. In an October 2016 message she told the reporter she wanted to "retract everything I have said to you and walk away from this." No evidence supporting those allegations entered the case record, and she told [[The New Yorker]] in 2019 that she had invented the claims of videotapes to draw attention to Epstein's conduct. The four men have denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.[^3]
### Claim Against the FBI
On July 20, 2023, through Jennifer Freeman of the [[Marsh Law Firm]], Ransome and [[Maria Farmer]] presented a claim under the [[Federal Tort Claims Act]] to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] for 600 million dollars, on behalf of themselves "as well as all other Epstein victims trafficked in the Epstein sex trafficking conspiracy after August 29, 1996," the date of Farmer's first report of Epstein and Maxwell to law enforcement. The claim alleges that the victims suffered "as a result of negligent failures, acts and omissions" of the Bureau.[^4] Farmer sued the [[United States]] on her own claim in May 2025.[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein, No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK-SN (S.D.N.Y.), filed Jan. 26, 2017; Order, ECF No. 140 (Aug. 8, 2018); Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018); Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, ECF No. 190 (Dec. 21, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/
[^2]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^3]: "Discredited claims about Clinton, Trump mentioned in latest batch of Epstein docs," *ABC News,* January 9, 2024. https://abcnews.com/US/new-round-jeffrey-epstein-court-documents-unsealed/story?id=106174129
[^4]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), submitted to the FTCA Claims Administrator, FBI Headquarters, signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
[^5]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025). https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf

71
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Steven Pinker.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- Harvard
- Linguistics
- EdgeFoundation
- AlanDershowitz
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Steven Pinker
- Steven Arthur Pinker
- Pinker
summary: "Steven Pinker is a Harvard psychologist and linguist whose 2007 reading of the federal enticement statute was cited by Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers to federal prosecutors; he says he acted unpaid and now regrets it."
born: 1954
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology"
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[John Brockman]]"
reverse: true
role: "literary agent, Brockman Inc."
fn: 4
---
Steven Pinker (born 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist and linguist, the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at [[Harvard University]], and a client of the literary agent [[John Brockman]]. In July 2007, while federal prosecutors in Florida were weighing an indictment of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], Epstein's lawyers [[Alan Dershowitz]] and [[Gerald Lefcourt]] told the prosecutors that Pinker had analyzed the federal internet-enticement statute and found their narrow reading of it "the sole rational reading." Pinker says he wrote the opinion as an unpaid favor to Dershowitz, did not recall being told it concerned Epstein, never took Epstein's money, and regrets the letter.[^1][^2]
### Psychologist and Brockman Client
Pinker taught at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] before moving to Harvard in 2003. His books on language, cognition and human nature, among them *The Language Instinct* (1994), *The Blank Slate* (2002), *The Better Angels of Our Nature* (2011) and *Enlightenment Now* (2018), were sold through Brockman's agency, Brockman Inc., and he was a regular contributor to Brockman's [[Edge Foundation|Edge]], which drew most of its revenue from 2001 to 2017 from Epstein foundations. A December 31, 2010 email from Brockman to Epstein, released in November 2025, reads: "Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting this year's EDGE Question." No direct correspondence between Pinker and Epstein was reported in the released files.[^3][^4][^5]
Pinker's first contact with Epstein came through Brockman. "In 02, my lit agent invited me to join a group of east-coast TED speakers Epstein flew to CA," Pinker wrote in 2019. The group on the 2002 flight to the [[TED Conference]] included [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Daniel Dennett]] and the Brockmans.[^5][^6]
Epstein held an appointment as a Visiting Fellow in Harvard's Psychology Department, Pinker's department, for 2005 and 2006, on the recommendation of its chair, [[Stephen Kosslyn]], whose research Epstein had funded with 200,000 dollars; Kosslyn acknowledged that Epstein lacked the qualifications for the research he proposed. Epstein also served on Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior advisory committee, and his foundation's press releases billed him as a "Harvard philanthropist."[^2][^7]
### The 2007 Defense Letter
After Epstein's 2006 indictment in Palm Beach County, the [[United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] prepared federal charges; by May 2007 Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]] had drafted a prosecution memorandum and an indictment. One statute under consideration was 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), which punishes anyone who, "using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce," entices a minor into prostitution or illegal sexual activity, with a ten-year minimum sentence. Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School colleague and personal friend of Epstein, asked Pinker to parse the wording.[^2][^8]
On July 6, 2007, a letter on the letterhead of Lefcourt's firm, signed by Lefcourt and Dershowitz, went by Federal Express to First Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Jeffrey Sloman]], [[Matthew Menchel]], [[Andrew Lourie]], the deputy chief of the office's Northern Region, and Villafaña. It argued that § 2422(b) did not reach Epstein because the government had not shown he used the telephone or internet as the means of the enticement itself:[^1][^2]
> To confirm our view of the "plain meaning" of the words, we asked Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor at Harvard University's Department of Psychology . . . a noted linguist, to analyze the statute to determine the natural and linguistically logical reading or readings of the section. Specifically, we asked whether the statute contemplates necessarily that the means of communication must be the vehicle through which the persuading or enticing directly occurs. According to Dr. Pinker, that is the sole rational reading.
Pinker's own opinion letter was annexed to the defense submission at Tab A. Eleven weeks later, on September 24, 2007, the office signed the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]], which dropped the federal case in exchange for two state guilty pleas and immunized named and unnamed co-conspirators. Epstein pleaded guilty in June 2008, received an eighteen-month sentence and served about thirteen months in the Palm Beach County stockade, much of it on daytime work release. The July 2007 letter entered the public record in February 2016 as Exhibit 46 to the victims' motion for partial summary judgment in [[Doe v. United States]], the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] suit over the agreement. The U.S. Attorney who approved the agreement, [[Alexander Acosta]], resigned as Secretary of Labor on July 12, 2019, the day *[[BuzzFeed News]]* reported Pinker's role.[^1][^2][^8]
Dershowitz said he did not remember Pinker's involvement until he saw the document again: "My expertise was in the relationship between law and science, so it was natural that I would call on Pinker." Asked what weight the argument carried, he said: "It was one among many arguments as to why the statutes were not applicable. . . . In the end, the reason we got the deal we did is we had many persuasive arguments." Pinker said he had regularly given Dershowitz linguistic opinions for various cases: "I don't recall his telling me that the question pertained to the Epstein defense. I was not aware of the charges against Epstein at the time. And no, I was not paid for the letter, it's something that Alan and I do regularly, as colleagues." He added: "Though I did this as a favor to a friend and colleague, and not as either a paid expert witness or as a part of a defense team, knowing what I know now I do regret writing the letter."[^2]
### The Arizona Photograph and Later Statements
In 2014 Pinker was photographed beside Epstein and the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]] at the fifth-anniversary gala of Krauss's [[Origins Project]] at [[Arizona State University]], a project that took money from Epstein's foundation [[Enhanced Education]] and from Epstein's client [[Leon Black]]. When the photograph circulated after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Pinker wrote: "I have no relationship with Epstein & have taken no funding from him. Our circles have occasionally overlapped. . . . In 14, Krauss seated me next to him at a lunch, & someone snapped a photo." He told *BuzzFeed News*: "My appearing in a couple of photos with Epstein is a bitter irony for me, because unlike a number of friends and colleagues I could never stand the guy and always tried to keep my distance. . . . Frankly I never understood why so many colleagues treated him as a serious intellectual."[^6][^9]
After the November 2025 release of Epstein's emails, Pinker restated his position, saying that "Dershowitz often asks me questions about syntax and semantics of laws," that he now regretted the letter and found Epstein's behavior "reprehensible," and that "the annoying irony is that I could never stand the guy, never took research funding from him, and always tried to keep my distance." He described Epstein dismissing observations "with an adolescent wisecrack" and repeated a friend's remark that Epstein had "voted me off the island." Pinker noted that the 2002 flight predated Epstein's indictment and that the 2014 lunch came after he had served his sentence.[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Letter from Gerald B. Lefcourt and Alan M. Dershowitz to Jeffrey Sloman, Matthew Menchel, Andrew Lourie and A. Marie Villafaña, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, July 6, 2007, filed as Exhibit 46 to Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2's Consolidated Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 361-46 (entered February 10, 2016), 24 pp., quoting Pinker's opinion and annexing it at Tab A. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.361.46.pdf ; docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
[^2]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense Wound Up With A Footnote From Steven Pinker" ("Jeffrey Epstein's First Criminal Case Was Helped By A Famous Harvard Language Expert"), *BuzzFeed News,* July 12, 2019, on the statute, the letter's text, Dershowitz's and Pinker's statements, the Mind, Brain, and Behavior committee, and Acosta's resignation. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-alan-dershowitz-steven-pinker
[^3]: Pinker, Steven. *The Language Instinct.* William Morrow, 1994; *The Blank Slate.* Viking, 2002; *The Better Angels of Our Nature.* Viking, 2011; *Enlightenment Now.* Viking, 2018.
[^4]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits," *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on Epstein-linked foundations supplying 638,000 dollars of the roughly 857,000 dollars Edge received from 2001 to 2017 and on Brockman's client roster. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^5]: "Release of emails renews interest in Harvard professor Steven Pinker's link to Jeffrey Epstein," *The Boston Globe,* November 19, 2025, on the December 31, 2010 Brockman email, the 2002 TED flight passengers, and Pinker's 2025 statements. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/19/metro/steven-pinker-epstein-ties/
[^6]: Pinker, Steven (@sapinker), reply to @HeerJeet, X (Twitter), July 11, 2019, as reproduced in Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^7]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3-8, on Epstein's Visiting Fellow appointment in the Psychology Department and Kosslyn's recommendation. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^8]: 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, on the prosecution memorandum, the draft indictment and the September 24, 2007 agreement; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, *Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein,* Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. i-xi. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/ ; https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^9]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the 2014 Origins Project gala photograph and the Epstein and Black funding of the project. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.md Normal file
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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- SultanAhmedBinSulayem
- DPWorld
- Dubai
- UnitedArabEmirates
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
alias:
- Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem
- Sultan bin Sulayem
- Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem
- Sultan Ahmed Sulayem
summary: "Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is the Emirati executive who led Dubai's state ports operator DP World until February 2026, when he was replaced after the release of his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein."
location: "Dubai, United Arab Emirates"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[DP World]]"
role: "chairman and group chief executive"
end: 2026-02-13
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Dubai World]]"
role: "chairman"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is an Emirati businessman who for decades headed [[DP World]], the [[Dubai]] government-controlled ports and logistics company that operates the [[Jebel Ali]] port and more than sixty ports and terminals worldwide. He earlier chaired the Dubai World conglomerate, which then included the property developer [[Nakheel]], builder of the Palm and World artificial islands.[^1][^2] In 2019 an internal [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]] compliance review of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s correspondence described him as a close associate of Epstein and "a senior [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."[^3] He was replaced as DP World's chairman and chief executive on February 13, 2026, three days after Representative [[Ro Khanna]] read his name on the floor of the House from redacted pages of the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein release.[^1]
### Epstein Correspondence
A January 2012 DP World email chain in Epstein's files forwarded a letter from the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and [[New Jersey]] confirming that it would induct bin Sulayem into its 19th Annual International Maritime Hall of Fame at the [[Grand Hyatt New York]] on May 9, 2012, before "350-380 CEOs and senior executives." DP World's chief operating officer, [[Anil Wats]], asked him which guests he wished to invite. The chain reached Epstein under a cover note, its sender not shown, reading: "Dear Jeffrey Will you be able to attend and can you suggest me names of others I can invite to sit at my table."[^4]
On November 29, 2016 Epstein's assistant, [[Lesley Groff]], wrote to [[Joi Ito]], director of the [[MIT Media Lab]]: "I understand you and Sultan will be meeting with Jeffrey on Wed. Nov. 30th up at Harvard...can you please let me know your timing? Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that "Sultan will be with me at the Media Lab," that he was "locking in a bunch of meetings for Sultan at the Media Lab from 9:30AM-11AM," and that "Jeffrey originally told me that he was going to drop by the Media Lab at 11AM and then leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM." A DP World employee in the chairman's office wrote that bin Sulayem would arrive in [[Boston]] on the evening of November 30, stay at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and hold meetings on December 1; Ito's assistant told Groff that Ito planned to leave the Media Lab with the party around 11 a.m. for [[Harvard University|Harvard]].[^5] [[Martin Nowak]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] at Harvard had been founded with a 6.5 million dollar gift from Epstein.[^6]
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, JPMorgan's compliance staff conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." Its October 2019 summary of Epstein's emails, quoted by the [[United States Virgin Islands]] in its 2023 suit against the bank, stated: "Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with [[Prince Andrew]] the [Duke] of York and Lord [[Peter Mandelson]], a senior member of the British Government. He also appears to have a close relationship with Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem who is a senior UAE official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."[^3]
### Disclosure and Removal
Bin Sulayem's name was redacted in the documents released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] in January 2026. On February 10, 2026 Khanna identified him on the floor of the [[United States House of Representatives|House]], together with five other men whose names had been redacted, saying the government had shielded their names "for no apparent reason"; the department then partially unredacted some of the pages he cited.[^1] [[Al Jazeera]] reported that the released correspondence covered deals, a visit by bin Sulayem to Epstein's island, the sharing of business and political contacts, and salacious remarks about women, including an exchange with bin Sulayem's email address in which Epstein wrote, "I loved the torture video."[^1] The [[Associated Press]] reported that some emails referred to pornography, sexual massages, and escorts, and that the emails did not appear to implicate bin Sulayem in Epstein's alleged crimes.[^2] [[CNN]] reported that his name appeared thousands of times in the release, that Epstein had described him as "funny," "educated," "a master," and a "best and trusted friend," and that bin Sulayem had not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing.[^7]
In the same week the British government's development investor, [[British International Investment]], and the Canadian pension fund [[La Caisse]], which had invested 2.5 billion dollars in 2022 in Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone, and the National Industries Park, paused new investment with DP World.[^1] On February 13, 2026 the Dubai Media Office announced, without naming bin Sulayem, that [[Essa Kazim]], governor of the [[Dubai International Financial Centre]], had been appointed chairman of DP World and [[Yuvraj Narayan]], its former chief financial officer, group chief executive. British International Investment said the same day that it would resume investment alongside the company.[^1][^2] DP World did not respond to the Associated Press's requests for comment.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Dubai-based DP World replaces chief named in Epstein files." *Al Jazeera,* February 13, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/13/logistics-giant-dp-world-replaces-chief-named-in-epstein-files
[^2]: "Businessman named in Jeffrey Epstein files replaced as chairman of major logistics company." *Associated Press,* via *NBC News,* February 13, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/sultan-ahmed-bin-sulayem-jeffrey-epstein-rcna258902
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023, p. 3. 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
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02033989, DataSet 10, forwarded DP World email chain, "Confirmation of Sultan Ahmed Sulayem for Hall of Fame, May 9," January 25-26, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02033989.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, Yuko Barnaby, and DP World staff, November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf
[^6]: 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. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^7]: "Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem: Powerful Dubai tycoon replaced after DOJ reveals sexually explicit emails with Epstein." *CNN Business,* February 13, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/business/epstein-files-bin-sulayem-friendship-intl

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Terje Rød-Larsen.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- TerjeRodLarsen
- Norway
- OsloAccords
- InternationalPeaceInstitute
- UnitedNations
- JeffreyEpstein
alias:
- Terje Rød-Larsen
- Terje Rod-Larsen
- Terje Roed-Larsen
- Terje Rød Larsen
summary: "Terje Rød-Larsen is the Norwegian sociologist and diplomat who helped open the Oslo channel, led the International Peace Institute until 2020, and borrowed 130,000 dollars from Jeffrey Epstein in 2013."
born: 1947-11-22
location: "Oslo, Norway; New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Fafo]]"
role: "founder and director of the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science"
start: 1981
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United Nations]]"
role: "Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Under-Secretary-General"
start: 1999-09
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[International Peace Institute]]"
role: "president"
start: 2005
end: 2020-10
fn: 2
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Mona Juul]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[Økokrim]]"
reverse: true
role: "formally named as a suspect (siktet) for complicity in aggravated corruption"
start: 2026-02
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Terje Rød-Larsen (born November 22, 1947) is a Norwegian sociologist and diplomat. As director of the [[Fafo]] research institute he helped establish, at the request of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]], the secret channel that produced the 1993 [[Oslo Accords|Declaration of Principles]]; he later served as a [[United Nations]] Under-Secretary-General and as president of the [[International Peace Institute]] (IPI) in New York from 2005 to 2020.[^1][^2] He resigned from IPI in October 2020 after the disclosure that he had secured donations from foundations linked to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and a personal loan of 130,000 dollars from Epstein in 2013.[^3] In February 2026 Norway's economic crime unit, [[Økokrim]], formally named his wife, the diplomat [[Mona Juul]], as a suspect in aggravated corruption and Rød-Larsen as a suspect in complicity in it, in connection with their dealings with Epstein; both deny wrongdoing.[^2][^4]
### Fafo and the Oslo Channel
Rød-Larsen studied history, philosophy, and sociology and taught at the universities of [[Bergen]] and [[Oslo]] before founding the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science in Oslo in 1981. As its director he began a study of living conditions among Palestinians in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. The contacts he made with Palestinians and Israelis during that project led the PLO in 1992 to ask him to help set up a secret channel for negotiations with the government of [[Israel]]; those negotiations ended with the signing of the Declaration of Principles at the [[White House]] on September 13, 1993. Juul also took part in the Oslo negotiations.[^1][^3]
In 1993 he was appointed ambassador and special adviser to the Norwegian foreign minister for the [[Middle East]] peace process, and in mid-1994 United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, based in Gaza. He returned to Norway at the end of 1996 to serve as Minister of Planning, and in January 1998 was again appointed ambassador and special adviser on the peace process. On September 21, 1999 Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] appointed him United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and his personal representative to the PLO and the [[Palestinian Authority]], with the rank of Under-Secretary-General.[^1]
### The International Peace Institute and Epstein
On July 22, 2013 Epstein wrote to [[Boris Nikolic]], the science adviser to [[Bill Gates]], and to Rød-Larsen: "ipi has not heard from gabriella ."[^5] In the same year Rød-Larsen took a personal loan of 130,000 dollars from Epstein, which the institute later said he repaid in full from his own funds.[^3]
On October 13, 2018, eleven days after the journalist [[Jamal Khashoggi]] disappeared in the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul]], Rød-Larsen forwarded to Epstein a message from [[Fabrice Aidan]] containing [[Elliott Abrams]]'s *[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]* column "Why Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance will haunt the Saudi government," distributed by the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].[^6]
After the Norwegian business daily *[[Dagens Næringsliv]]* reported on the relationship among Rød-Larsen, IPI, and Epstein, IPI's board, chaired by the former Australian prime minister [[Kevin Rudd]], announced on October 29, 2020 that Rød-Larsen had resigned and had apologized for his "failed judgment" in securing donations from Epstein-related foundations and for the personal loan, "neither of which the board was aware of." The board said "IPI never made a payment to Epstein," called Epstein's crimes "hideous," and said it would "conduct an immediate audit of IPI's finances." [[Adam Lupel]] became acting president. In October 2020 UN Secretary-General [[António Guterres]] informed IPI that he had decided not to serve outside entities "whether in an honorary, advisory, or other capacity."[^3] IPI's relationship with the Norwegian foreign ministry, which had funded it, had earlier been criticized by Norway's Office of the Auditor General.[^2]
### The 2026 Disclosures and the Økokrim Charges
The January 2026 release of [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] files under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] reopened the matter. According to reports on the release, Epstein's will, amended two days before his death in August 2019, left several million dollars, reported as 10 million dollars, to the two youngest children of Rød-Larsen and Juul. Rød-Larsen's lawyer, [[John Christian Elden]], said that neither Rød-Larsen nor anyone else in the family knew of the bequest in advance.[^2][^4]
Juul, then Norway's ambassador to [[Jordan]] and [[Iraq]], was suspended and on February 8, 2026 resigned. She told the news agency NTB that it had been "imprecise" to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, that it had "originated in her husband's relationship with Epstein," and that it had been "sporadic and private, not part of her official duties." Foreign Minister [[Espen Barth Eide]] called her resignation "correct and necessary," said her contact showed "a serious lapse in judgment," and said Rød-Larsen "also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein." The ministry opened a review of its funding of and contact with IPI during Rød-Larsen's presidency.[^4]
On February 9, 2026 Økokrim announced that it had opened an investigation and formally named (siktet) Juul as a suspect in aggravated corruption, related to her positions in the foreign ministry, and Rød-Larsen as a suspect in aggravated corruption through complicity; the Associated Press reported that Juul "is suspected of gross corruption" and that Økokrim suspects Rød-Larsen "of aiding and abetting gross corruption." Its chief, [[Pål Lønseth]], described the investigation as extensive and likely to be long-running and did not rule out naming further suspects. Investigators searched an apartment in Oslo's Frogner district and the home of a witness. Elden said the suspicion covered a 2018 transaction for that apartment and travel preceding it, that his client was surprised by the decision and had cooperated fully, and that he expected the case to be dismissed. Juul's lawyer, [[Thomas Skjelbred]], said she did not recognize herself in the allegation and would cooperate.[^2] Økokrim had opened a separate investigation of the former Norwegian prime minister [[Thorbjørn Jagland]] on February 5, 2026, also for aggravated corruption.[^2] Jagland had appeared in Epstein's messages to the Russian ambassador [[Vitaly Churkin]] in September 2016 as a guest who "will be staying with me."[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United Nations, "Secretary-General Appoints Terje Roed-Larsen of Norway as United Nations Special Co-ordinator for Middle East Peace Process," press release SG/A/705, September 21, 1999. https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990921.sga705.doc.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20201107182927/https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990921.sga705.doc.html)
[^2]: "Økokrim åpner etterforsking av Mona Juul og Terje Rød-Larsen." *NRK,* February 9, 2026 (updated February 12, 2026). https://www.nrk.no/norge/okokrim-apner-etterforsking-av-mona-juul-og-terje-rod-larsen-1.17761823
[^3]: Lederer, Edith M. "Oslo peace accords architect resigns as think tank CEO over Epstein link." *Associated Press,* via *The Times of Israel,* November 3, 2020. https://www.timesofisrael.com/oslo-peace-accords-architect-resigns-as-think-tank-ceo-over-epstein-link/
[^4]: "Norwegian ambassador resigns as she faces scrutiny over contacts with Epstein." *Associated Press,* via *KSAT,* February 9, 2026. https://www.ksat.com/news/2026/02/09/norwegian-ambassador-resigns-as-she-faces-scrutiny-over-contacts-with-epstein/
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02572271, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, July 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02572271.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01019780, DataSet 9, email from Terje Rod-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Why Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance will haunt the Saudi government," October 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01019780.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," message of September 7, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf

60
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Tom Pritzker.md
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@ -10,14 +10,33 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Thomas J. Pritzker - Thomas J. Pritzker
- Thomas Pritzker - Thomas Pritzker
summary: "Thomas J. Pritzker is the billionaire executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and chairman of the Pritzker family's business empire, whose 2011 correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein used the phrase 'secret society' (Epstein Files document EFTA02407727), establishing a parallel 'secret society' channel through Epstein independent of the Peter Thiel correspondence." summary: "Thomas J. Pritzker is the Hyatt heir whom Jeffrey Epstein's calendar scheduled for 28 meetings from 2013 to 2018, and who retired as Hyatt's executive chairman in February 2026."
born: 1950-06-06 born: 1950-06-06
location: "Chicago, Illinois (family base)" location: "Chicago, Illinois (family base)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]]"
role: "executive chairman"
start: 2004
end: 2026-02-17
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[J.B. Pritzker]]"
role: "cousin"
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]"
role: "chairman of the board of trustees, succeeding Sam Nunn"
start: 2015-11
fn: 8
- type: member_of
with: "[[Aspen Strategy Group]]"
fn: 8
--- ---
Thomas J. Pritzker (born June 6, 1950) is an American billionaire businessman, the executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]], and the chairman of the broader [[Pritzker Organization|Pritzker family]] business empire. The Pritzker family's holdings span hotels (Hyatt), industrial manufacturing ([[Marmon Group|Marmon Group/Trinity Industries]]), finance, and the philanthropic [[Pritzker Foundation|Pritzker Foundation]], and the family's cumulative wealth places it among the wealthiest American business dynasties. Pritzker's correspondence with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2011, documented in the EFTA releases as document [[EFTA02407727|EFTA02407727]], used the phrase "secret society," establishing a second documented "secret society" channel through Epstein independent of the [[Peter Thiel]] correspondence.[^1][^2][^3] Thomas J. Pritzker (born June 6, 1950) is an American billionaire businessman, the executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]] for more than twenty years until February 17, 2026, and the chairman of the broader [[Pritzker Organization|Pritzker family]] business empire. The Pritzker family's holdings span hotels (Hyatt), industrial manufacturing ([[Marmon Group|Marmon Group/Trinity Industries]]), finance, and the philanthropic [[Pritzker Foundation|Pritzker Foundation]], and the family's cumulative wealth places it among the wealthiest American business dynasties. Pritzker's correspondence with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2011, documented in the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act|EFTA]] releases as document [[EFTA02407727|EFTA02407727]], used the phrase "secret society," establishing a second documented "secret society" channel through Epstein independent of the [[Peter Thiel]] correspondence. Epstein's calendar scheduled 28 meetings with Pritzker between 2013 and 2018, and after the 2025 and 2026 releases of their correspondence Pritzker retired from Hyatt, saying he had "exercised terrible judgment."[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### The Pritzker Family and the Hyatt Empire ### The Pritzker Family and the Hyatt Empire
@ -27,19 +46,44 @@ The Pritzker family's philanthropic arm, the Pritzker Foundation, has funded the
### The Epstein Correspondence and the "Secret Society" Email ### The Epstein Correspondence and the "Secret Society" Email
The EFTA releases include document EFTA02407727, a 2011 correspondence between Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein in which Pritzker used the phrase "secret society." Epstein's reply, per the document, was "Remind me next month." The document is indexed in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] aggregators and cited in the secondary reporting on the Epstein-Pritzker relationship. The correspondence is dated 2011, three years after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement.[^2][^3] The EFTA releases include document EFTA02407727, a 2011 correspondence between Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein in which Pritzker used the phrase "secret society." Epstein's reply, per the document, was "Remind me next month." The document is indexed in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] aggregators and cited in the secondary reporting on the Epstein-Pritzker relationship. The correspondence is dated 2011, three years after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^2][^3]
The Pritzker "secret society" email runs parallel to the Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence (documented in [[EFTA01738574|EFTA01738574]], dated February 2016). The two are independent channels: the Thiel correspondence records Epstein reporting that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea," and the Pritzker correspondence records Pritzker himself using the phrase. Whether the two channels refer to the same "secret society" concept or to separate projects is not established in the primary documents. The 2011 Pritzker email predates the 2016 Thiel email by five years.[^2][^4] The Pritzker "secret society" email runs parallel to the Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence (documented in [[EFTA01738574|EFTA01738574]], dated February 2016). The two are independent channels: the Thiel correspondence records Epstein reporting that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea," and the Pritzker correspondence records Pritzker himself using the phrase. Whether the two channels refer to the same "secret society" concept or to separate projects is not established in the primary documents. The 2011 Pritzker email predates the 2016 Thiel email by five years.[^2][^6]
### The Pritzker-Epstein Relationship ### The Pritzker-Epstein Relationship
The *Wall Street Journal* reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Pritzker was among the business figures who met with Epstein repeatedly in the post-2008-conviction period. Pritzker's meetings with Epstein occurred in the 2011-2014 window and included discussions that Pritzker's representatives framed as relating to philanthropic and business matters. The *Wall Street Journal* reporting placed Pritzker alongside [[William Burns]], [[Noam Chomsky]], and the former Goldman Sachs lawyer [[Kathryn Ruemmler|Kathryn Ruemmler]] in the group of establishment figures whose Epstein meetings were documented in the calendars.[^3] The *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]* reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Pritzker was among the business figures who met with Epstein repeatedly in the post-2008-conviction period. Pritzker's meetings with Epstein included discussions that Pritzker's representatives framed as relating to philanthropic and business matters. The *Wall Street Journal* reporting placed Pritzker alongside [[William Burns]], [[Noam Chomsky]], and the former Goldman Sachs lawyer [[Kathryn Ruemmler|Kathryn Ruemmler]] in the group of establishment figures whose Epstein meetings were documented in the calendars.[^3]
The Pritzker-Epstein relationship is the parallel establishment channel to the Thiel-Epstein relationship. Both channels run through Epstein in the post-2008-conviction period, both involve "secret society" language, and both connect Epstein to principals of major business and institutional networks (the Pritzker hotel-and-finance empire and the Thiel technology-and-defense empire respectively). The question of whether the two channels intersect, beyond the shared Epstein intermediary, is not documented in the primary sources currently available.[^2][^3][^4] The Pritzker-Epstein relationship is the parallel establishment channel to the Thiel-Epstein relationship. Both channels run through Epstein in the post-2008-conviction period, both involve "secret society" language, and both connect Epstein to principals of major business and institutional networks (the Pritzker hotel-and-finance empire and the Thiel technology-and-defense empire respectively). The question of whether the two channels intersect, beyond the shared Epstein intermediary, is not documented in the primary sources currently available.[^2][^3][^6]
### The 2025 Email Release
The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s November 2025 release of documents from Epstein's estate showed that Epstein's calendar scheduled Pritzker for 28 meetings between 2013 and 2018.[^4] The two exchanged friendly emails on at least five occasions, including one about "the Chicago way of politics."[^7] In August 2016 Pritzker wrote, "Looking for a time to catch up in NY," and Epstein replied, "I'm in santa fe for the next two weeks come visit."[^4]
Epstein offered Pritzker's time to others. Writing to a third party whom he offered to introduce to Pritzker, he described Pritzker as "like family." He asked another contact whether they had "input or questions" for an event Pritzker was chairing in [[China]], and told a correspondent that "tom has GREAT relations in China."[^4] The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s early 2026 releases added further emails between the two arranging dinners and invitations to events.[^5]
### CSIS, the Aspen Strategy Group, and Churkin
In November 2015 Pritzker became chairman of the board of trustees of the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]] (CSIS) in Washington, succeeding the former senator [[Sam Nunn]], after eight years on its board and executive committee. He was also a member of the [[Aspen Strategy Group]].[^8]
On the morning of August 8, 2016, Epstein wrote to Pritzker, "glenn?" Pritzker answered that he was "working on a date" and had "Just finished presentation on leadership to grand pooh baahs of Aspen Strategy Group. Take a look at members it will make you laugh." Epstein replied, "who attends." That evening Pritzker wrote: "You have to be a bit of a wonk to know some of the names, but Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama NSA), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers ([[MI6]]), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura. Looking for a time to come catch up in NY."[^9] The names correspond to the co-chairs [[Joseph Nye]], [[Brent Scowcroft]] and [[Nicholas Burns]], Scowcroft's successor [[Condoleezza Rice]], and the members [[David Petraeus]], [[Madeleine Albright]], [[Anne-Marie Slaughter]], [[Tom Donilon]], [[Stephen Hadley]], [[Jake Sullivan]], William Burns, [[Kurt Campbell]], [[James Cartwright]], [[Jane Harman]], [[David Ignatius]], [[David Sanger]], Nunn, [[Jack Reed (senator)|Jack Reed]], [[John Sawers]], [[Wendy Sherman]] and [[Robert Work]].
Four weeks later, on September 6, 2016, Epstein wrote by iMessage to [[Vitaly Churkin]], Russia's ambassador to the [[United Nations]]: "My very close friend Tom Pritzker . Hyatt hotels and chairman of CSI is in town . Didn't know if you had any interest." Churkin replied, "Could do tomorrow 6pm," and thanked Epstein "for time with max," his son Maxim. The next morning Epstein wrote, "Re Pritzker -my schedule has gotten too crowded maybe 18 th or 19th if you are in town." Churkin answered, "18 might work," and Epstein added, "great. also thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me," a reference to [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], then secretary general of the [[Council of Europe]].[^10] Eight days earlier, on August 29, 2016, Churkin had lunched at Epstein's house with [[Ehud Barak]] and [[Tom Barrack]].[^11]
### Retirement From Hyatt
On February 17, 2026, Pritzker, then 75, retired as executive chairman of Hyatt with immediate effect and said he would not stand for re-election to its board. In a prepared statement he said he deeply regretted his association with Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]: "I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner. I condemn the actions and the harm caused by Epstein and Maxwell and I feel deep sorrow for the pain they inflicted on their victims."[^5] Hyatt's chief executive, [[Mark Hoplamazian]], succeeded him as chairman. His retirement came days after Kathryn Ruemmler announced her resignation as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]] and after [[DP World]] replaced its chairman over his Epstein ties.[^5] Pritzker has not been accused of any crime, and no investigation of him has been reported.
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Hyatt Hotels Corporation, "Board of Directors: Thomas J. Pritzker," documenting his role as executive chairman (assumed 2004), the November 2009 IPO, and his Marmon Holdings chairmanship. https://investors.hyatt.com/governance/board-of-directors/ [^1]: Hyatt Hotels Corporation, "Board of Directors: Thomas J. Pritzker," documenting his role as executive chairman (assumed 2004), the November 2009 IPO, and his Marmon Holdings chairmanship. https://investors.hyatt.com/governance/board-of-directors/
[^2]: EFTA02407727, Epstein Files Transparency Act release. The 2011 Pritzker-Epstein correspondence using the phrase "secret society," with Epstein's reply "Remind me next month." Documented in the Epstein file aggregators. [^2]: EFTA02407727, Epstein Files Transparency Act release. The 2011 Pritzker-Epstein correspondence using the phrase "secret society," with Epstein's reply "Remind me next month." Documented in the Epstein file aggregators.
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series, *Wall Street Journal,* 2023, documenting the Pritzker-Epstein meetings from the Epstein calendars. [^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series, *Wall Street Journal,* 2023, documenting the Pritzker-Epstein meetings from the Epstein calendars.
[^4]: For the parallel Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence, see EFTA01738574 (February 6, 2016) and the Peter Thiel and [[Thiel Influence Network]] pages. [^4]: Durkee, Alison. "Jeffrey Epstein And Thomas Pritzker: What Epstein Emails Say About Their Friendship." *Forbes,* November 19, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/11/19/epstein-emails-spotlight-billionaire-thomas-pritzkers-relationship-with-financier-like-family/
[^5]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
[^6]: For the parallel Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence, see EFTA01738574 (February 6, 2016) and the Peter Thiel and [[Thiel Influence Network]] pages.
[^7]: *Chicago Sun-Times,* November 19, 2025, on the Epstein emails with Thomas Pritzker. https://chicago.suntimes.com/washington/2025/11/19/jeffrey-epstein-thomas-pritzker-emails-deeper-ties-jb-pritzker-cousin
[^8]: Center for Strategic and International Studies, "CSIS Announces Thomas J. Pritzker Appointed Chairman of CSIS Board of Trustees," 2015; and CSIS, "Thomas J. Pritzker," biography. https://www.csis.org/news/csis-announces-thomas-j-pritzker-appointed-chairman-csis-board-trustees ; https://www.csis.org/people/thomas-j-pritzker
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01783338, DataSet 10, email chain between Tom Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein, August 8, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Vitaly Churkin, May 23 to September 7, 2016 (entries of September 6 and 7, 2016). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016; and EFTA02045038, DataSet 10, calendar alert "LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin," August 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02045038.pdf

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Tova Noel.md Normal file
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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- BureauOfPrisons
- DeathInCustody
- CorrectionalOfficer
- SuspiciousActivityReport
- DeferredProsecution
alias:
- Tova Noel
summary: "Tova Noel is the former Bureau of Prisons officer on duty in Jeffrey Epstein's housing unit the night he died, charged with falsifying records, whose cash deposits a bank had flagged."
location: "The Bronx, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]]"
start: 2018-06
role: "correctional officer, Federal Bureau of Prisons"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-11-19
end: 2021-12-13
role: "falsification of records, dismissed after deferred prosecution agreement"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-08
end: 2023-06
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Tova Noel is a former correctional officer of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] who was one of the two staff members on duty in the Special Housing Unit of the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]] on the night of August 9 to 10, 2019, when [[Jeffrey Epstein]] died in his cell. She and the materials handler [[Michael Thomas]] were indicted in November 2019 for falsifying the records of inmate counts and rounds; the charges were dismissed in December 2021 after both completed deferred prosecution agreements. Records released by the [[Department of Justice]] in 2026 showed that [[JPMorgan Chase]] had filed a suspicious activity report on twelve cash deposits to her account, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019, and that a search for "latest on epstein in jail" was run on her workstation less than an hour before Epstein was found. She was not questioned about the deposits, and she denied under oath any role in Epstein's death.[^1][^2][^3]
### Background
Noel was born in [[Antigua]] and raised by her mother and grandparents. Her mother emigrated from [[St. Croix]] to Tannersville, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains, and Noel joined her there at thirteen, graduating from high school in 2005 at sixteen after skipping grades. She enlisted in the [[Army National Guard]] at nineteen, served six years, including active duty in [[Kuwait]] in 2012 during [[Operation Enduring Freedom]], became a naturalized citizen, and was honorably discharged in 2014. In 2013 her seven-year-old half-brother and his mother were murdered on St. Croix; no one was arrested. She worked for New York's [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] on and off from 2014 to 2016, took a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from [[John Jay College of Criminal Justice]] in 2017, and worked for the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Postal Service]] before the Bureau of Prisons hired her at MCC New York in June 2018.[^1][^4]
Her lawyer, Jason Foy, wrote in a background letter submitted with her deferred prosecution agreement that she found a "BOP way" and an "MCC way" of doing things depending on who trained her, and that she was made to sign a document confirming training for the Special Housing Unit that she had not received. Foy wrote that she had never worked the unit before August 9, 2019; a bureau document released in 2026 placed her start there on July 7, 2019, the day after Epstein's arrest.[^3][^4]
### August 9 and 10, 2019
Noel worked her regular shift in the Special Housing Unit from 4 p.m. to midnight on August 9 and an overtime shift from midnight to 8 a.m. on August 10. About 7 p.m. on August 9, a Unit Manager put Epstein in the unit's shower area for an unrecorded call on the legal line and left the building; Noel told the Inspector General that no one told her to monitor the call, that it lasted about 20 minutes, and that after she took the phone back and went to the bathroom, she returned to find Epstein already in his cell. His cellmate had been transferred out that morning and no replacement was assigned; Noel said she did not know he was alone.[^2][^4]
She did not conduct the 4 p.m. or 10 p.m. counts on August 9, and with Thomas skipped the midnight, 3 a.m., and 5 a.m. counts on August 10, while signing count slips and more than 75 entries on 30-minute round sheets for checks that were not made. An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] briefing released in 2026 described a figure on the surviving camera footage at about 10:40 p.m. as "a correctional officer, believed to be Tova Noel," carrying "linen or inmate clothing up to the L-Tier," the last time any officer approached the tier entrance before morning. Noel told investigators she last saw Epstein alive "somewhere around after 10" and that she "never gave out linen." The FBI's 66-page forensic examination of the officers' desktop computers highlighted searches for "latest on epstein in jail" at 5:42 and 5:52 a.m.; Noel told the Inspector General in 2021 that she did not recall making the search and that the data "wouldn't be accurate." She had also searched for furniture and "law enforcement discounts." Her lawyer said Thomas told her the rounds were not necessary that night and slept for most of the shift with a hoodie pulled over his head.[^2][^3][^4][^5]
The Bureau of Prisons records later produced in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] show the assignments. The MCC New York Daily Assignment Roster for Saturday, August 10, 2019, printed at 8:58 p.m. that evening, lists "Noel, T" on SHU post 1 for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, marked as overtime, and "Thomas, M" on SHU post 2 for the same shift, marked "OT (NC)." Warden [[Lamine N'Diaye]]'s Form 583 Report of Incident, NYM-19-0082, which dates the incident to 6:33 a.m., lists Noel among the staff involved. The jail nurse's resuscitation record for that morning describes Epstein as "Cold, with circumferential Bruising around the neck and posterior mottling."[^6]
At about 6:30 a.m. Thomas opened Epstein's cell and found him hanged. Noel said she stood outside the cell, heard "a rip," and saw only "when the top part of his body went to the floor." The Inspector General's agent told her, "I thought you said you never looked in. You never saw anything." Noel said she never looked at the live camera feeds and did not know that all but one camera near the officers' station had stopped recording. "I've never worked in the Special Housing Unit and actually done rounds every 30 minutes," she said.[^3][^4]
### Prosecution
On November 19, 2019 a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Noel and Thomas on one count each of conspiracy and multiple counts each of making false records, in a case announced by U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]]; according to the indictment, Thomas told a supervisor after finding Epstein, "we messed up." Each was released on a 100,000 dollar bond and ordered to surrender their passports. On May 25, 2021 both entered deferred prosecution agreements admitting that they had falsely certified counts and rounds, and agreeing to cooperate with the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Inspector General]], the FBI, and prosecutors and to perform 100 hours of community service; on December 13, 2021 the court entered a nolle prosequi order dismissing the charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute other Special Housing Unit employees who had also falsified count slips and round sheets on August 9 and 10. Both officers were fired.[^2][^3][^7]
### The Deposits and the 2026 Inquiry
On November 22, 2019, three days after the indictment, JPMorgan Chase filed a suspicious activity report with the FBI on twelve cash deposits Noel made between April 2018 and July 2019, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019, eleven days before Epstein's death; available records showed seven deposits totaling 11,880 dollars from December 2018. Bank records also showed she was leasing a new Land Rover Range Rover valued at more than 60,000 dollars. The FBI subpoenaed both officers' phones and financial records. Noel was not asked about the deposits in her 2021 Inspector General interview.[^3][^4][^8]
FBI notes released in 2026 recorded an unnamed inmate's account that on the morning of August 10 he heard officers shout "Breathe! Breathe!" and then someone say "you killed that dude," and a female officer reply, "If he is dead we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi, my officers"; he said other inmates later said "Miss Noel killed Jeffrey." The account has not been substantiated. Asked under oath whether she had any part in Epstein's death, Noel answered, "No."[^4][^5]
In March 2026 [[James Comer]], chairman of the [[House Oversight Committee]], asked Noel to sit for a transcribed interview, saying the committee's goal was "to understand whether this was simply a series of failures inside the Bureau of Prisons or whether additional questions remain unanswered." The interview, set for March 26, was postponed. CNN's requests for comment to her attorney went unanswered.[^3][^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Here's What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Federal Jail Guards." *Newsweek,* November 20, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guards-tova-noel-michael-thomas-1473052 (age 31 at indictment; MTA employment; National Guard; John Jay College 2017; Postal Service; hired by the Bureau of Prisons).
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf (pp. iii to iv, 5 to 6, indictment, counts, 75 round-sheet entries, deferred prosecution agreements, nolle prosequi, declinations; pp. 59 to 60, the August 9 call).
[^3]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died (start in the unit in early July 2019; forensic examination and searches; 2021 testimony; SAR of November 22, 2019; Range Rover; both officers fired; interview postponed).
[^4]: Brown, Julie K. "Tova Noel, the prison guard who worked night of Epstein's death, was born in Antigua and lived a number of years on STX." *Miami Herald* via *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 27, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/ap/tova-noel-the-prison-guard-who-worked-night-of-epstein-s-death-was-born-in/article_e0fd90de-fa08-4667-9bff-838a8e591755.html (biography from court records; Foy letter; OIG interview transcript; Comer statement; inmate account; FBI subpoenas).
[^5]: Eastham, Janet. "'Suspicious' payments to last guard who saw Epstein." *The Telegraph* via *Yahoo News,* March 8, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-prison-guard-made-suspicious-132416347.html (FBI briefing on the 10:40 p.m. figure; search times; "I don't remember doing that"; inmate account; Noel's "No").
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00048963, DataSet 9, Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, including the Emergency Code resuscitation encounter of August 10, 2019 (EFTA00049334), Form 583 Report of Incident NYM-19-0082 (EFTA00049914 to 49916), and the Daily Assignment Roster for August 10, 2019 (EFTA00049931). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
[^7]: "Correctional Officers Charged With Falsifying Records On August 9th And 10th At The Metropolitan Correctional Center." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* November 19, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/correctional-officers-charged-falsifying-records-august-9th-and-10th-metropolitan ; "Here's What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Federal Jail Guards." *Newsweek,* November 20, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guards-tova-noel-michael-thomas-1473052
[^8]: Salamone, Olivia. "Jeffrey Epstein Prison Guard Googled Him Minutes Before Death And Made $5K Cash Deposit Days Earlier, DOJ Records Show." *RadarOnline* via *AOL,* March 7, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guard-googled-224000591.html (seven deposits totaling 11,880 dollars from December 2018; start in the unit on July 7, 2019).

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10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Courtney Wild.md Normal file
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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- CourtneyWild
- JeffreyEpstein
- CrimeVictimsRightsAct
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- VictimsRights
alias:
- Courtney Wild
summary: "Courtney Wild is an Epstein survivor who, as Jane Doe 1, brought the 2008 Crime Victims' Rights Act challenge to his non-prosecution agreement, which ended when the Supreme Court denied review in 2022."
location: "Florida"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Doe v. United States]]"
role: "petitioner (Jane Doe 1)"
start: 2008-07-07
end: 2019-09-16
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[In re Wild]]"
role: "petitioner"
start: 2019-09-30
end: 2022-02-22
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Courtney Wild is an American survivor of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s abuse who, under the pseudonym Jane Doe 1, filed the July 2008 emergency petition under the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] that became [[Doe v. United States]]. The litigation established in 2019 that federal prosecutors had violated her right to confer by concealing the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]], but produced no remedy: the en banc [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit|Eleventh Circuit]] held in 2021 that the statute gave her no way to enforce the right, and the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] declined review in February 2022. A proposed amendment to the Act bears her name.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### The Federal Investigation
According to Edwards, Wild was 14 when Epstein sexually coerced her at his house in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]. On or about June 7, 2007, FBI agents delivered to her a standard victim notification letter promising the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s "best efforts" to protect her rights, including "the reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the United States in the case," and stating that "[a]t this time, your case is under investigation." On August 7, 2007 she gave the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] information about her own abuse and that of Jane Doe 2.[^1][^5]
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]] signed the non-prosecution agreement on September 24, 2007 without consulting her. In late October 2007 two FBI agents met her and told her that Epstein would plead guilty to state charges and register as a sex offender; she said they did not tell her the agreement had already been signed, and she understood that the federal investigation would continue. On January 10, 2008 the FBI sent her a letter stating that "[t]his case is currently under investigation" and requesting her "continued patience." On January 31, 2008 she met FBI agents and an Assistant U.S. Attorney and gave further details of her abuse; the stipulated record states that the prosecutor "did not disclose to Jane Doe 1 at this meeting that they had already negotiated a NPA with Epstein."[^1]
On June 30, 2008 Epstein pleaded guilty in state court. Wild stated in her declaration that she received no notice that the plea affected her rights and that, had she known the plea was connected to blocking the prosecution of her case, "she would have attended and tried to object to the judge to prevent that plea from going forward."[^1]
### The Litigation
Wild had retained [[Bradley Edwards]] in June 2008. On July 7, 2008 he filed her emergency petition to enforce her rights, and two days later the government's response made the first reference to the non-prosecution agreement. The case, later joined by the law professor [[Paul Cassell]] and the attorney [[Jay Howell]], ran before Judge [[Kenneth Marra]] for eleven years. Wild also sued Epstein in state court for damages and received a monetary settlement.[^1][^6]
On February 21, 2019 Marra held that the government had violated her conferral right under the Act. After Epstein's death Marra denied all her requested remedies on September 16, 2019. On September 30, 2019 she petitioned the Eleventh Circuit for mandamus in her own name. At oral argument the government conceded that the office had "made a mistake in causing her to believe that the case was ongoing when in fact the NPA had been signed." A divided panel denied the petition in April 2020; the full court vacated that decision and reheard the case.[^1][^2][^7]
On April 15, 2021 the en banc court denied her petition seven to four. Judge Kevin Newsom wrote for the majority: "We have the profoundest sympathy for Ms. Wild and others like her, who suffered unspeakable horror at Epstein's hands," adding that they had been "left in the dark" and, "so it seems, affirmatively misled" by government attorneys: "Even so, we find ourselves constrained to deny Ms. Wild's petition." The majority held that the Act did not authorize a freestanding suit to enforce victims' rights before charges were filed. The Supreme Court denied her petition for certiorari on February 22, 2022, after the Solicitor General opposed review. Wild wrote after the denial: "The government intentionally misled the victims but found a way to get away with it by working with a child molester to get around the law. And the Judges ruled in their favor. How?"[^3][^4]
### The Courtney Wild Crime Victims' Rights Reform Act
In October 2019 Representatives [[Jackie Speier]], [[Scott Perry]], [[Lois Frankel]], and [[Mo Brooks]] introduced the Courtney Wild Crime Victims' Rights Reform Act of 2019 (H.R. 4729), which would have made the Act's conferral and notice rights expressly applicable before charges and added remedies for their violation. It was not enacted. Speier reintroduced it in 2022 as H.R. 9444, and [[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]] later introduced a successor bill, the Courtney Wild Reinforcing Crime Victims' Rights Act.[^8]
### Wild v. Brown
On February 3, 2022 Wild and [[Haley Robson]] sued the journalist [[Julie K. Brown]] for defamation in Miami-Dade County circuit court over Brown's 2021 book *Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story*. Their complaint alleged that the book falsely stated that Wild had been raped by Epstein and had later had intercourse with him, which the complaint said "is false," and that Brown had minimized Wild's role in exposing the agreement, in the creation of the [[Epstein Victim Compensation Program]], and in Epstein's arrest while crediting herself. Robson alleged that after she declined an interview Brown told her she was "making the biggest mistake of your life" and then portrayed her as a member of Epstein's inner circle rather than as a victim. The complaint sought a public apology and damages. Brown told the Florida Bulldog on the day of filing that she had not yet seen the suit and had called her lawyer, and she declined to comment to the Miami Herald. Brown's [[Miami Herald]] series "Perversion of Justice" had been cited by the Justice Department as the report that renewed scrutiny of the agreement in 2018.[^2][^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 2-3, 12, 16, 19-20, 22 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraphs 6, 13, 70, 93, 97, 126, the Jane Doe 1 declaration (ECF No. 361-26), and ECF No. 415 at paragraph 12. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. iii-v. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^3]: *In re Wild*, No. 19-13843, 994 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. Apr. 15, 2021) (en banc), opinion of Newsom, J., at 2-3. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf
[^4]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 21-351, order of February 22, 2022 denying certiorari. https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-351.html ; "Supreme Court Turns Away Jeffrey Epstein Victim's Petition on Dead Predator's Infamous Non-Prosecution Agreement," *Law & Crime,* February 22, 2022. https://lawandcrime.com/jeffrey-epstein-2/supreme-court-turns-away-jeffrey-epstein-victims-petition-on-dead-predators-infamous-non-prosecution-agreement/
[^5]: Bradley J. Edwards with Brittany Henderson, *Relentless Pursuit: My Fight for the Victims of Jeffrey Epstein* (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), publisher's description. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Relentless-Pursuit/Bradley-J-Edwards/9781982148140
[^6]: Docket, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
[^7]: Opinion and Order, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Sept. 16, 2019), ECF No. 478 (Marra, J.). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736/pdf/USCOURTS-flsd-9_08-cv-80736-2.pdf
[^8]: Office of Rep. Jackie Speier, "Rep Speier Introduces Bipartisan Courtney Wild Crime Victims' Rights Reform Act of 2019," October 2019. https://speier.house.gov/2019/10/rep-speier-introduces-bipartisan-courtney-wild-crime-victims-rights-reform-act-of-2019-to-rectify-injustices-faced-by-epstein-s-victims ; H.R. 4729, 116th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4729/text ; H.R. 9444, 117th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/9444 ; Office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, "Support the Courtney Wild Reinforcing Crime Victims' Rights Act." https://wassermanschultz.house.gov/uploadedfiles/cvraonepager.pdf
[^9]: Complaint, *Wild and Robson v. Brown* (Fla. 11th Jud. Cir., Miami-Dade County, filed Feb. 3, 2022), paragraphs 5-13 and prayer for relief. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/wild-brown-complaint.pdf ; "Two victims of Jeffrey Epstein sue reporter/author Julie Brown for defamation," *Florida Bulldog,* February 2022. https://www.floridabulldog.org/2022/02/two-victims-jeffrey-epstein-sue-reporter-author-julie-brown-defamation/

6
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Donald Trump.md
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@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ tags:
- FederalistSociety - FederalistSociety
alias: alias:
- Donald John Trump - Donald John Trump
summary: "Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th President of the United States whose two administrations functioned as the political vehicle through which the Peter Thiel commercial network, the Leonard Leo judicial-selection network, and the Jared Kushner Middle East network exercised documented federal power, including Palantir's expanded government contracting, the Federalist Society Supreme Court confirmations, and the Kushner-MBS relationship that produced the Abraham Accords." summary: "Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th President of the United States, whose administrations placed figures from the Peter Thiel, Leonard Leo and Jared Kushner networks in federal power and oversaw the Epstein file releases."
born: 1946-06-14 born: 1946-06-14
location: "Queens, New York City (born)" location: "Queens, New York City (born)"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ The [[Heritage Foundation|Heritage Foundation]]'s [[Project 2025|Project 2025]]
The second Trump administration (2025-present) has produced the documented expansion of Palantir's ICE contracting (the 30 million dollar ImmigrationOS contract), the Palantir-Israel strategic partnership for "war-related missions" in the Gaza war, and the [[Department of Government Efficiency|DOGE]] access to federal systems. [[David Sacks|David Sacks]], the PayPal Mafia COO, received the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar appointment. The DOGE, led by [[Elon Musk|Musk]], produced the documented [[NLRB Data Exfiltration|NLRB data exfiltration]] with Russian IP login attempts and the documented exfiltration of union-organizing records.[^1][^3][^8] The second Trump administration (2025-present) has produced the documented expansion of Palantir's ICE contracting (the 30 million dollar ImmigrationOS contract), the Palantir-Israel strategic partnership for "war-related missions" in the Gaza war, and the [[Department of Government Efficiency|DOGE]] access to federal systems. [[David Sacks|David Sacks]], the PayPal Mafia COO, received the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar appointment. The DOGE, led by [[Elon Musk|Musk]], produced the documented [[NLRB Data Exfiltration|NLRB data exfiltration]] with Russian IP login attempts and the documented exfiltration of union-organizing records.[^1][^3][^8]
[[Howard Lutnick|Howard Lutnick]], the [[Cantor Fitzgerald|Cantor Fitzgerald]] CEO whose Epstein emails are documented in the 2026 file releases, received the [[Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]] appointment. [[Pam Bondi|Pam Bondi]], who declared the [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]] files release "complete" amid the "300 names" controversy (which included impossible entries for [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]], [[Princess Diana|Princess Diana]], and [[Kurt Cobain|Kurt Cobain]]), received the [[Attorney General|Attorney General]] appointment. [[Todd Blanche|Todd Blanche]], the deputy attorney general who announced the 3.5 million page Epstein-files publication, was previously Trump's personal defense attorney in the Manhattan criminal case. The second-administration personnel pattern places documented Epstein-network contacts (Lutnick) and Epstein-files oversight figures (Bondi, Blanche) in the executive branch.[^1] [[Howard Lutnick|Howard Lutnick]], the [[Cantor Fitzgerald|Cantor Fitzgerald]] CEO whose Epstein emails are documented in the 2026 file releases, received the [[Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]] appointment. [[Pam Bondi|Pam Bondi]] received the [[Attorney General|Attorney General]] appointment and was confirmed on February 4, 2025; a year later she co-signed the February 2026 report to Congress under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] that listed some 300 names of officials and public figures referenced in the [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]] files, among them [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]], [[Princess Diana|Princess Diana]], and [[Kurt Cobain|Kurt Cobain]]. [[Todd Blanche|Todd Blanche]], the deputy attorney general who announced the 3.5 million page Epstein-files publication, was previously Trump's personal defense attorney in the Manhattan criminal case. The second-administration personnel pattern places documented Epstein-network contacts (Lutnick) and Epstein-files oversight figures (Bondi, Blanche) in the executive branch.[^1]
### The Epstein Relationship ### The Epstein Relationship
@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Trump and Epstein socialized from the late 1980s through 2004, mostly in [[Palm
The relationship broke in 2004 over a Palm Beach property. In November 2004 Trump outbid Epstein for the oceanfront mansion [[Maison de l'Amitie]], paying 41.35 million dollars, and the bankruptcy trustee for the estate described the two men lobbying him and disparaging each other's finances. Trump later said he had a falling out with Epstein "a long time ago" and had thrown him out of Mar-a-Lago as "persona non grata" for poaching club staff. Little public record of contact survives after 2004. [[Maria Farmer]], who reported Epstein to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in 1996, said she had also flagged a 1990s encounter involving Trump, an account that remains an uncorroborated allegation. No allegation of criminal wrongdoing by Trump in connection with Epstein has been established in any court or official finding.[^12] The relationship broke in 2004 over a Palm Beach property. In November 2004 Trump outbid Epstein for the oceanfront mansion [[Maison de l'Amitie]], paying 41.35 million dollars, and the bankruptcy trustee for the estate described the two men lobbying him and disparaging each other's finances. Trump later said he had a falling out with Epstein "a long time ago" and had thrown him out of Mar-a-Lago as "persona non grata" for poaching club staff. Little public record of contact survives after 2004. [[Maria Farmer]], who reported Epstein to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in 1996, said she had also flagged a 1990s encounter involving Trump, an account that remains an uncorroborated allegation. No allegation of criminal wrongdoing by Trump in connection with Epstein has been established in any court or official finding.[^12]
The relationship returned as a political liability across 2025. As president, Trump presided over the Justice Department that handled the file releases; he denied authoring the 2003 "birthday book" letter that the [[Wall Street Journal]] reported bore his signature and a drawing of a nude woman, dismissed the report as fake, and filed a multibillion-dollar defamation suit against the paper. After months of pressure from members of his own coalition demanding disclosure, Trump signed the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] in November 2025. The staged releases, the missing "client list" that Bondi had promised, and the unexplained redactions kept the Trump-Epstein history in continuous national coverage through the end of 2025.[^13] The relationship returned as a political liability across 2025. As president, Trump presided over the Justice Department that handled the file releases; he denied authoring the 2003 "birthday book" letter that the [[Wall Street Journal]] reported bore his signature and a drawing of a nude woman, dismissed the report as fake, and filed a multibillion-dollar defamation suit against the paper. After months of pressure from members of his own coalition demanding disclosure, Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025. The staged releases, the missing "client list" that Bondi had promised, and the unexplained redactions kept the Trump-Epstein history in continuous national coverage through the end of 2025.[^13]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes

112
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Leslie Wexner.md
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@ -1,77 +1,117 @@
--- ---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks" category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags: [Person, LesWexner, JeffreyEpstein, LBrands, VictoriasSecret, MegaGroup, Finance, NewAlbany] tags:
alias: ["Les Wexner", "Leslie H. Wexner"] - Person
- LesWexner
- JeffreyEpstein
- LBrands
- VictoriasSecret
- MegaGroup
- Finance
- NewAlbany
alias:
- Les Wexner
- Leslie H. Wexner
- Leslie Herbert Wexner
summary: "Founder of The Limited and L Brands who granted Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over his fortune in 1991 and later said Epstein misappropriated vast sums from him." summary: "Founder of The Limited and L Brands who granted Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over his fortune in 1991 and later said Epstein misappropriated vast sums from him."
born: 1937-09-08 born: 1937-09-08
location: New Albany, Ohio location: New Albany, Ohio
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 1987
end: 2007
role: "personal financial adviser; power of attorney from July 1991"
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Zeiger, Tigges & Little]]"
reverse: true
role: "Wexner's counsel; declined to accept service of the Virgin Islands subpoena"
start: 2023-02
fn: 23
--- ---
Leslie Herbert Wexner founded the Columbus, Ohio retailer The Limited in 1963 and built it into the holding company later known as [[L Brands]], owner of [[Victoria's Secret]], [[Bath & Body Works]], Lane Bryant and Express. From the late 1980s until around 2007 [[Jeffrey Epstein]] served as Wexner's personal financial adviser, and in 1991 Wexner granted Epstein a sweeping power of attorney over his finances.[^1] Leslie Herbert Wexner founded the Columbus, Ohio retailer The Limited in 1963 and built it into the holding company later known as [[L Brands]], owner of [[Victoria's Secret]], [[Bath & Body Works]], Lane Bryant and Express. From the late 1980s until around 2007 [[Jeffrey Epstein]] served as Wexner's personal financial adviser, and in 1991 Wexner granted Epstein a sweeping power of attorney over his finances.[^1]
### Business Career ### Business Career
Wexner opened the first Limited store in 1963 at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, near Columbus, using a 5,000 dollar loan from his aunt and 5,000 dollars borrowed from a bank.[^10] He named the shop The Limited because he limited its stock to women's sportswear and separates rather than carrying a full line of dresses and coats, and the store recorded first-year sales of about 160,000 dollars.[^10] Through the 1970s and 1980s he expanded it into a portfolio of mall retailers including The Limited, Limited Express and Lane Bryant.[^2] Wexner opened the first Limited store in 1963 at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, near Columbus, using a 5,000 dollar loan from his aunt and 5,000 dollars borrowed from a bank.[^2] He named the shop The Limited because he limited its stock to women's sportswear and separates rather than carrying a full line of dresses and coats, and the store recorded first-year sales of about 160,000 dollars.[^2] Through the 1970s and 1980s he expanded it into a portfolio of mall retailers including The Limited, Limited Express and Lane Bryant.[^3]
Wexner acquired Victoria's Secret in 1982 from founder [[Roy Raymond]] for about one million dollars, taking over five stores, a catalog and roughly six million dollars in annual sales from a company that was approaching bankruptcy.[^11] He recast the brand from a male-oriented novelty shop into a mass-market lingerie chain, inventing a fictional London address and remaking the catalog and store aesthetics, and by 1995 Victoria's Secret operated several hundred stores with sales in the billions.[^11] Raymond founded a children's retailer that failed and died by suicide in 1993.[^11] In 1990 Wexner launched Bath & Body Works, whose first store opened that September in a Cambridge, Massachusetts mall, and the personal-care brand grew into one of the company's largest divisions.[^12] The parent firm operated for decades as Limited Brands and was renamed L Brands in 2013.[^2] Wexner acquired Victoria's Secret in 1982 from founder [[Roy Raymond]] for about one million dollars, taking over five stores, a catalog and roughly six million dollars in annual sales from a company that was approaching bankruptcy.[^4] He recast the brand from a male-oriented novelty shop into a mass-market lingerie chain, inventing a fictional London address and remaking the catalog and store aesthetics, and by 1995 Victoria's Secret operated several hundred stores with sales in the billions.[^4] Raymond founded a children's retailer that failed and died by suicide in 1993.[^4] In 1990 Wexner launched Bath & Body Works, whose first store opened that September in a Cambridge, Massachusetts mall, and the personal-care brand grew into one of the company's largest divisions.[^5] The parent firm operated for decades as Limited Brands and was renamed L Brands in 2013.[^3]
Wexner developed the village of [[New Albany, Ohio]] outside Columbus from rural land into an upscale planned suburb, building an estate there and steering corporate and residential development.[^3] Jeffrey Epstein became a general partner in the New Albany real estate holding company and, according to property records, held roles in entities tied to the development.[^3] In 1991 Wexner co-founded the [[Mega Group]], a private network of wealthy Jewish American philanthropists and businessmen, with Seagram heir [[Charles Bronfman]].[^4] [[The Wall Street Journal]] reported in 1998 that the group, which grew from about 20 founding members toward 50 and charged dues of roughly 30,000 dollars a year, met twice annually for seminars on philanthropy and Jewish affairs.[^13] Wexner developed the village of [[New Albany, Ohio]] outside Columbus from rural land into an upscale planned suburb, building an estate there and steering corporate and residential development.[^6] Jeffrey Epstein became a general partner in the New Albany real estate holding company and, according to property records, held roles in entities tied to the development.[^6] In 1991 Wexner co-founded the [[Mega Group]], a private network of wealthy Jewish American philanthropists and businessmen, with Seagram heir [[Charles Bronfman]].[^7] [[The Wall Street Journal]] reported in May 1998 that the group, originally called the Study Group, which grew from about 20 founding members toward 50 and charged dues of roughly 30,000 dollars a year, met twice annually for seminars on philanthropy and Jewish affairs.[^8] The group was founded in the same year Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney over his finances.[^1]
### New Albany, Ohio ### New Albany, Ohio
Beginning in the 1980s Wexner bought up land in New Albany, then a Central Ohio village of a few hundred people about 20 minutes northeast of Columbus, partnering with developer [[Jack Kessler]] in an entity that the two men later formalized as the [[New Albany Company]].[^14] Locals nicknamed the planned town "Wexley," a portmanteau of Wexner and Bexley, the affluent Columbus suburb where he had previously lived, and the New Albany Company became the area's dominant landowner, holding roughly 80 percent of the municipality at points and shaping development through a public-private partnership with the local government.[^14] The village's population grew from about 1,600 in 1990 to more than 10,000, with a median household income several times the Ohio average.[^14] Beginning in the 1980s Wexner bought up land in New Albany, then a Central Ohio village of a few hundred people about 20 minutes northeast of Columbus, partnering with developer [[Jack Kessler]] in an entity that the two men later formalized as the [[New Albany Company]].[^9] Locals nicknamed the planned town "Wexley," a portmanteau of Wexner and Bexley, the affluent Columbus suburb where he had previously lived, and the New Albany Company became the area's dominant landowner, holding roughly 80 percent of the municipality at points and shaping development through a public-private partnership with the local government.[^9] The village's population grew from about 1,600 in 1990 to more than 10,000, with a median household income several times the Ohio average.[^9]
Epstein signed incorporation paperwork for the New Albany Company as its president alongside Wexner, according to Ohio state records, and owned a residence on the Wexner estate before the relationship ended in 2007.[^14] Wexner built a Georgian-style mansion on a roughly 336-acre estate along Kitzmiller Road that ranks among the largest private residences in Ohio.[^14] The New Albany Company later assembled a large business park along Route 161 and sold land to technology firms including Amazon, Facebook and Google, generating proceeds for a company subsidiary.[^14] Epstein signed incorporation paperwork for the New Albany Company as its president alongside Wexner, according to Ohio state records, and owned a residence on the Wexner estate before the relationship ended in 2007.[^9] Wexner built a Georgian-style mansion on a roughly 336-acre estate along Kitzmiller Road that ranks among the largest private residences in Ohio.[^9] The New Albany Company later assembled a large business park along Route 161 and sold land to technology firms including Amazon, Facebook and Google, generating proceeds for a company subsidiary.[^9]
### Wexner Foundation and Philanthropy ### Wexner Foundation and Philanthropy
Wexner established the [[Wexner Foundation]] and the related Wexner Heritage Foundation in 1984 to develop Jewish lay and professional leadership in North America and public-sector leaders in Israel.[^15] The foundation's programs include the Wexner Heritage Program, a two-year intensive Jewish learning course for young volunteer leaders, along with the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the Wexner Israel Fellows and other tracks.[^15] Wexner also funded institutions at [[The Ohio State University]] and the [[Harvard Kennedy School]], where the Wexner-Israel Fellowship trained Israeli officials.[^15] Wexner established the [[Wexner Foundation]] and the related Wexner Heritage Foundation in 1984 to develop Jewish lay and professional leadership in North America and public-sector leaders in Israel.[^10] The foundation's programs include the Wexner Heritage Program, a two-year intensive Jewish learning course for young volunteer leaders, along with the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the Wexner Israel Fellows and other tracks.[^10] Wexner also funded institutions at [[The Ohio State University]] and the [[Harvard Kennedy School]], where the Wexner-Israel Fellowship trained Israeli officials.[^10]
Abigail Koppel, who became Abigail Wexner on her marriage to Wexner on January 23, 1993, practiced law at [[Davis Polk & Wardwell]] in New York and London from 1987 to 1992 before her philanthropic work in Columbus.[^16] Epstein drafted the prenuptial agreement for the marriage.[^5] In 2008 Epstein directed a portion of recovered funds toward a foundation associated with Abigail Wexner.[^8] Epstein became a trustee of the foundation. Wexner wrote in 2019 that "in the early 1990s Mr. Epstein became a trustee of The Wexner Foundation, but he had no executive responsibilities in the running of the Foundation. He did not work directly with Foundation staff, and he did not engage with leadership initiatives in any way."[^11] Vanity Fair reported in 2003 that in 1992 Epstein persuaded Wexner to put him on the foundation's board in place of Wexner's ailing mother, [[Bella Wexner]], who recovered and demanded to be reinstated; Epstein said the two settled it by splitting the foundation in two. A source close to Wexner told the magazine that Wexner had assigned Epstein "the power of fiduciary over all of his private trusts and foundations."[^12]
Abigail Koppel, a 31-year-old lawyer, married Wexner in 1993, and the couple settled in Ohio; in 1996 Epstein moved into Wexner's Manhattan townhouse.[^12] Epstein drafted the prenuptial agreement for the marriage.[^13] In 2008 Epstein directed a portion of recovered funds toward a foundation associated with Abigail Wexner.[^14]
### Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein ### Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein
Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein were introduced in the mid-1980s; later reporting placed the meeting around 1986 through insurance executive [[Robert Meister]], who had met Epstein on a flight to Palm Beach.[^5] Epstein became Wexner's financial adviser by 1987, and in July 1991 Wexner gave him a power of attorney that authorized Epstein to sign checks, borrow money, buy and sell property, and hire and fire on Wexner's behalf.[^1] A close Wexner adviser, [[Harold Levin]], reportedly warned that he did not trust Epstein, telling Wexner he "smell[ed] a rat," and at least one board member commissioned a background investigation, but Wexner continued the relationship.[^5] According to the New York Times account, Epstein later engineered Levin's firing by accusing him of stealing from Wexner, an accusation that would subsequently be leveled at Epstein himself.[^17] Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein were introduced in the mid-1980s; later reporting placed the meeting around 1986 through insurance executive [[Robert Meister]], who had met Epstein on a flight to Palm Beach.[^13] Wexner wrote in 2019 that he met Epstein "through friends who vouched for and recommended him as a knowledgeable financial professional," and that "Mr. Epstein represented that he had various well-known and respected individuals both as his financial clients and in his inner circle."[^11] Epstein told people he met Wexner in 1986 in Palm Beach and won his confidence by advising him to stay out of the stock market before the 1987 crash; asked by Vanity Fair whether Wexner had known of his work for [[Steven Hoffenberg]] at [[Towers Financial Corporation]], Epstein said he had begun working for Wexner in 1989 and that "it was certainly not the same time." Before he was engaged, Epstein met several times with [[Harold Levin]], then head of Wexner Investments, who found his ideas about currencies incomprehensible; a former Limited vice-chairman, [[Robert Morosky]], said "everyone was mystified as to what his appeal was."[^12] Epstein became Wexner's financial adviser by 1987, and in July 1991 Wexner gave him a power of attorney that authorized Epstein to sign checks, borrow money, buy and sell property, and hire and fire on Wexner's behalf.[^1] A close Wexner adviser, Harold Levin, reportedly warned that he did not trust Epstein, telling Wexner he "smell[ed] a rat," and at least one board member commissioned a background investigation, but Wexner continued the relationship.[^13] According to the [[New York Times]] account, Epstein later engineered Levin's firing by accusing him of stealing from Wexner, an accusation that would subsequently be leveled at Epstein himself.[^15]
A New York Times Magazine investigation published December 16, 2025 traced Epstein's accumulation of wealth back to his hiring at [[Bear Stearns]] and his early targeting of wealthy businessmen, and detailed how his control over Wexner's accounts gave him unregulated access to fund real estate purchases, including property near [[Mar-a-Lago]] in Palm Beach, the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse in Manhattan, and the New Albany mansion.[^5] Epstein also drafted the prenuptial agreement for Wexner's marriage to [[Abigail Wexner|Abigail Koppel]] and obtained tax breaks for Epstein's [[Little St. James]] island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[^5] The Times wrote that the central unanswered question was what Wexner gained from the relationship, and Wexner declined to participate in the investigation.[^17] A New York Times Magazine investigation published December 16, 2025 traced Epstein's accumulation of wealth back to his hiring at [[Bear Stearns]] and his early targeting of wealthy businessmen, and detailed how his control over Wexner's accounts gave him unregulated access to fund real estate purchases, including property near [[Mar-a-Lago]] in Palm Beach, the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse in Manhattan, and the New Albany mansion.[^13] Epstein also drafted the prenuptial agreement for Wexner's marriage to [[Abigail Wexner|Abigail Koppel]] and obtained tax breaks for Epstein's [[Little St. James]] island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.[^13] The Times wrote that the central unanswered question was what Wexner gained from the relationship, and Wexner declined to participate in the investigation.[^15]
In a February 2026 deposition before members of the House Oversight Committee, Wexner described himself as "naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein," calling him "a con man."[^6] He said he had revoked the power of attorney, removed Epstein from his accounts and terminated him in 2007, and that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target" of investigators.[^18] JPMorgan Chase records cited in the released files placed the formal end of the financial relationship in February 2008, several months later than the 2007 date Wexner had publicly given.[^18] Wexner described the relationship to Vanity Fair for its March 2003 profile: "I think we both possess the skill of seeing patterns. But Jeffrey sees patterns in politics and financial markets, and I see patterns in lifestyle and fashion trends." He called Epstein "very smart with a combination of excellent judgment and unusually high standards. Also, he is always a most loyal friend," and said that "Jeffrey has the unusual quality of knowing when he is winning." Epstein said, "People have said it's like we have one brain between two of us: each has a side." A person who worked for Wexner and saw their contract said Epstein was involved in "everything, not just a little here, a little there. Everything!" and that "Wexner likes having a hatchet man... Whenever there is dirty work to be done he'd stick Jeffrey on it." Epstein inserted himself into the construction of Wexner's 315-foot yacht Limitless, which led to litigation between Wexner and the shipyard, and the lawyer Lars Forsberg said his firm had to sue for its fees. When the co-investors in [[Riddell Sports]] bought out Epstein's stake in 1995 and asked him to guarantee access to a few million dollars against later disputes, Wexner signed for him.[^12]
In a February 2026 deposition before members of the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]], Wexner described himself as "naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein," calling him "a con man."[^16] He said he had revoked the power of attorney, removed Epstein from his accounts and terminated him in 2007, and that he was "neither a co-conspirator nor target" of investigators.[^17] [[JPMorgan Chase]] records cited in the released files placed the formal end of the financial relationship in February 2008, several months later than the 2007 date Wexner had publicly given.[^17]
### The 9 East 71st Street Townhouse ### The 9 East 71st Street Townhouse
Wexner purchased the seven-story townhouse at 9 East 71st Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1989 for about 13.2 million dollars.[^7] The roughly 21,000-square-foot limestone mansion, one of the largest single-family residences in the city, had been built early in the twentieth century, and control of the property moved through a chain of corporate entities during the 1990s, with Jeffrey Epstein listed in various officer or trustee roles.[^7] The residence became Epstein's primary New York base and the site of much of the conduct later detailed in the federal sex-trafficking case against him.[^7] Wexner purchased the townhouse at 9 East 71st Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side through a trust in 1989 for a reported 13.2 million dollars. The limestone mansion, one of the largest single-family residences in the city, had been built in the early 1930s and until 1989 housed the Birch Wathen School. Epstein moved in in 1996, and in 2003 Vanity Fair reported that public documents still showed the trust as owner while Epstein said he owned the house.[^12] The residence became Epstein's primary New York base and the site of much of the conduct later detailed in the federal sex-trafficking case against him.
In 2011 the mansion was conveyed to Maple Inc., an Epstein-linked U.S. Virgin Islands entity, for zero dollars in recorded consideration; Epstein signed the transaction for both the seller and the buyer.[^7] Reporting at the time valued the property in the tens of millions of dollars, and the terms of the transfer were never fully explained publicly.[^7] A 1998 purchase and sale agreement underlying the transfer involved a 10 million dollar promissory note and personal guaranty signed by Epstein.[^5] A 1998 purchase and sale agreement for the house involved a 10 million dollar promissory note and personal guaranty signed by Epstein.[^13] By 2011 the townhouse was held by Nine East 71st Street Corporation, described by the Virgin Islands government as "owned by Epstein," which on or about December 23, 2011 transferred it to [[Maple Inc.]], a Virgin Islands corporation Epstein had just formed. Maple's annual reports to the territory never listed the house, and for 2018 reported expenses of 300 dollars while it paid 336,471.87 dollars in [[New York City]] property taxes on it. The estate valued the townhouse corporation at 56 million dollars after Epstein's death.[^18]
An FBI internal memo among the files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act stated that "Epstein controlled all of Wexner's personal finances with virtually no oversight" and described how Epstein sold himself a New York home and a private plane that had belonged to Wexner at a "deeply discounted price."[^19] The transfers of the townhouse and aircraft to Epstein-controlled entities for nominal or discounted sums became central to later accounts of how Epstein converted his control of Wexner's affairs into personal assets.[^19] An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] internal memo among the files released under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] stated that "Epstein controlled all of Wexner's personal finances with virtually no oversight" and described how Epstein sold himself a New York home and a private plane that had belonged to Wexner at a "deeply discounted price."[^19] The transfers of the townhouse and aircraft to Epstein-controlled entities for nominal or discounted sums became central to later accounts of how Epstein converted his control of Wexner's affairs into personal assets.[^19]
### Statements After Epstein's Arrest ### Statements After Epstein's Arrest
After Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019, Wexner said he had severed ties around 2007 and that "in that process, we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family."[^8] In a letter to his foundation, Wexner disclosed that Epstein had returned funds, and reporting indicated the recovered sum exceeded 46 million dollars, a portion of which Epstein directed in 2008 to a foundation associated with Abigail Wexner.[^8] A spokesperson declined to specify the total amount allegedly taken or whether it had been reported to authorities.[^9] After Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019, Wexner wrote to the Wexner Foundation community that "by early fall 2007, it was agreed that he should step back from the management of our personal finances. In that process, we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family." He described Epstein as "a person I employed more than a decade ago," wrote that Epstein "was given power of attorney as is common in that context, and he had wide latitude to act on my behalf," and said of the recovered money that "the widely reported payments Mr. Epstein made to the charitable fund represented a portion of the returned monies. All of that money - every dollar of it - was originally Wexner family money."[^11][^14] Reporting indicated the recovered sum exceeded 46 million dollars, a portion of which Epstein directed in 2008 to a foundation associated with Abigail Wexner.[^14] A spokesperson declined to specify the total amount allegedly taken or whether it had been reported to authorities.[^20]
Documents in the 2026 Epstein files described a larger figure than the 46 million dollars cited in 2019. An investigative memo recorded that Wexner's attorneys told investigators in 2008 that Epstein had repaid him about 100 million dollars, described as only a portion of what he had taken, and that Abigail Wexner had taken over the family's finances and found Epstein had misappropriated "several hundred million dollars."[^18] Wexner provided documents to investigators that he said showed Epstein's alleged theft, but he did not publicly detail the full scope.[^9] Documents in the 2026 [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]] described a larger figure than the 46 million dollars cited in 2019. An investigative memo recorded that Wexner's attorneys told investigators in 2008 that Epstein had repaid him about 100 million dollars, described as only a portion of what he had taken, and that Abigail Wexner had taken over the family's finances and found Epstein had misappropriated "several hundred million dollars."[^17] Wexner provided documents to investigators that he said showed Epstein's alleged theft, but he did not publicly detail the full scope.[^20]
The released files showed that Wexner and Epstein remained in contact after 2007. Following the announcement of Epstein's 2008 Florida plea deal, Wexner wrote a note saying he felt sorry and reminding Epstein to "always be careful," to which Epstein replied "no excuse."[^18] An FBI email from August 2019 labeled Wexner a "secondary co-conspirator" while noting "limited evidence regarding his involvement," and a Fox News account reported that an internal FBI memo had characterized him as an Epstein co-conspirator.[^19] In January 2026 the House Oversight Committee moved to subpoena Wexner over his ties to Epstein, and he was deposed at his Ohio home in February 2026.[^6] The released files showed that Wexner and Epstein remained in contact after 2007. Following the announcement of Epstein's 2008 Florida plea deal, Wexner wrote a note saying he felt sorry and reminding Epstein to "always be careful," to which Epstein replied "no excuse."[^17] An FBI email from August 2019 labeled Wexner a "secondary co-conspirator" while noting "limited evidence regarding his involvement," and a Fox News account reported that an internal FBI memo had characterized him as an Epstein co-conspirator.[^19] In January 2026 the House Oversight Committee moved to subpoena Wexner over his ties to Epstein, and he was deposed at his Ohio home in February 2026.[^16]
### The Banks, the Lawyer and the 2023 Subpoena
A May 2003 JPMorgan Chase due-diligence report stated that "Jeffrey Epstein, through the trading of his accounts and that of Leslie Wexner, generates one of the largest annual revenue flows of private clients in the private bank."[^21] Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] was listed as secretary of the Wexner Foundation in SEC filings from 1998 to 2001 and on its tax forms through 2006, and in 2008, after Epstein's departure from the Wexners' affairs, Abigail Wexner gave Indyke power of attorney over her condominium at 15 Central Park West, according to property records cited by *[[The Daily Beast]]* in 2020.[^22]
In the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|Virgin Islands' suit against JPMorgan]], the territory's lawyers at [[Motley Rice]] sought to serve Wexner with a document subpoena in February 2023. According to their sworn declaration, on February 2, 2023 they asked Wexner's longtime Columbus lawyer John W. Zeiger of [[Zeiger, Tigges & Little]] whether he would accept service; Zeiger said he was unable to speak that day and did not return two follow-up calls. On February 15, 2023 his partner Marion Little said he had represented Wexner but would not accept service "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 for an order authorizing service on Wexner by certified mail.[^23]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Heather Long and Renae Merle, "Lawyers Question Wexner's Financial Arrangement With Jeffrey Epstein," *WOSU / NPR,* 2019. https://www.wosu.org/news/2019-08-08/lawyers-question-wexners-financial-arrangement-with-jeffrey-epstein [^1]: Heather Long and Renae Merle, "Lawyers Question Wexner's Financial Arrangement With Jeffrey Epstein," *WOSU / NPR,* 2019. https://www.wosu.org/news/2019-08-08/lawyers-question-wexners-financial-arrangement-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^2]: "Les Wexner: How the billionaire enabled Jeffrey Epstein's rise," *Al Jazeera,* 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/19/les-wexner-how-the-billionaire-enabled-jeffrey-epsteins-rise [^2]: "Leslie Wexner," *Entrepreneur,* on the 1963 founding of The Limited at Kingsdale Shopping Center with a 5,000 dollar loan and first-year sales of about 160,000 dollars. https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/leslie-wexner/197714
[^3]: "What do we know about Les Wexner and Epstein as deposition approaches?," *AOL / Columbus Dispatch,* 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/know-les-wexner-epstein-deposition-193023473.html [^3]: "Les Wexner: How the billionaire enabled Jeffrey Epstein's rise," *Al Jazeera,* 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/19/les-wexner-how-the-billionaire-enabled-jeffrey-epsteins-rise
[^4]: Frank, Robert. "The Mega Group, a Club of Wealthy Jewish Businessmen, Lends Its Power to Help Israel and Jews." *Wall Street Journal,* May 1998, on the 1991 founding by Leslie Wexner and Charles Bronfman. [^4]: "Victoria's Secret founding: Roy Raymond had a great idea, but Les Wexner was the one to see it through," *Slate,* 2013. https://slate.com/business/2013/10/victorias-secret-founding-roy-raymond-had-a-great-idea-but-les-wexner-was-the-one-to-see-it-through.html
[^5]: "Les Wexner Was Warned About Epstein, And Other Things We Learned From the *Times* Investigation," *Rolling Stone,* 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/epstein-investigation-times-report-finance-crimes-1235486388/ [^5]: For the 1990 founding of Bath & Body Works within The Limited and the first store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, see the L Brands corporate history and contemporaneous retail trade press.
[^6]: "Billionaire Les Wexner says he was 'duped' by adviser Jeffrey Epstein, 'a world-class con man,'" *13abc / WTVG,* 2026. https://www.13abc.com/2026/02/18/billionaire-les-wexner-says-he-was-duped-by-adviser-jeffrey-epstein-world-class-con-man/ [^6]: "What do we know about Les Wexner and Epstein as deposition approaches?," *AOL / Columbus Dispatch,* 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/know-les-wexner-epstein-deposition-193023473.html
[^7]: "What the Records Show: The Townhouses on East 71st Street," summarizing NYC ACRIS deed records and 2019 reporting on the 2011 transfer to Maple Inc. https://www.habituallychic.luxury/2020/07/a-look-inside-9-east-71st-street/ [^7]: Lisa Miller, "Titans of Industry Join Forces To Work for Jewish Philanthropy," *The Wall Street Journal,* May 4, 1998, on the 1991 founding by Leslie Wexner and Charles Bronfman. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB894240270899870000 (an earlier version of this footnote gave the byline as Robert Frank; the Lisa Miller byline is as reported in later coverage and was not verified against the WSJ archive).
[^8]: "Victoria's Secret owner says disgraced financier Epstein stole $46M from him," *CBC,* 2019. https://amp.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.5240145 [^8]: Lisa Miller, "Titans of Industry Join Forces To Work for Jewish Philanthropy," *The Wall Street Journal,* May 4, 1998, reporting the group's membership and roughly 30,000 dollar annual dues. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB894240270899870000
[^9]: "L Brands CEO Les Wexner has been giving documents to investigators showing alleged Jeffrey Epstein theft," *CNBC,* 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/les-wexner-gives-feds-documents-showing-alleged-jeffrey-epstein-theft.html [^9]: "How Les Wexner Created the Richest Town in Ohio," *Commercial Observer,* 2019, with NBC4 reporting on Epstein's incorporation role and residence on the estate. https://commercialobserver.com/2019/11/how-les-wexner-created-the-richest-town-in-ohio/
[^10]: "Leslie Wexner," *Entrepreneur,* on the 1963 founding of The Limited at Kingsdale Shopping Center with a 5,000 dollar loan and first-year sales of about 160,000 dollars. https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/leslie-wexner/197714 [^10]: "Our Story," *The Wexner Foundation,* on the 1984 founding and the foundation's leadership programs. https://www.wexnerfoundation.org/our-story/
[^11]: "Victoria's Secret founding: Roy Raymond had a great idea, but Les Wexner was the one to see it through," *Slate,* 2013. https://slate.com/business/2013/10/victorias-secret-founding-roy-raymond-had-a-great-idea-but-les-wexner-was-the-one-to-see-it-through.html [^11]: Leslie Wexner, "Letter from Les," *The Wexner Foundation,* August 2019. https://www.wexnerfoundation.org/letter-from-les/
[^12]: For the 1990 founding of Bath & Body Works within The Limited and the first store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, see the L Brands corporate history and contemporaneous retail trade press. [^12]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair,* March 2003, as republished by the author, on the 1992 foundation board seat, the fiduciary powers, the 1993 marriage and 1996 move, the dating of the relationship, the Levin meetings, Wexner's and Epstein's statements, the "hatchet man" account, the Limitless litigation, the Riddell guarantee, and the townhouse purchase through a trust. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
[^13]: Frank, Robert. "The Mega Group." *Wall Street Journal,* May 1998, reporting the group's membership and roughly 30,000 dollar annual dues. [^13]: "Les Wexner Was Warned About Epstein, And Other Things We Learned From the *Times* Investigation," *Rolling Stone,* 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/epstein-investigation-times-report-finance-crimes-1235486388/
[^14]: "How Les Wexner Created the Richest Town in Ohio," *Commercial Observer,* 2019, with NBC4 reporting on Epstein's incorporation role and residence on the estate. https://commercialobserver.com/2019/11/how-les-wexner-created-the-richest-town-in-ohio/ [^14]: "Victoria's Secret owner says disgraced financier Epstein stole $46M from him," *CBC,* 2019. https://amp.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.5240145
[^15]: "Our Story," *The Wexner Foundation,* on the 1984 founding and the foundation's leadership programs. https://www.wexnerfoundation.org/our-story/ [^15]: "New York Times details how Les Wexner met sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as he built wealth," *WOSU Public Media,* 2025, summarizing the December 16, 2025 New York Times Magazine investigation. https://www.wosu.org/politics-government/2025-12-16/new-york-times-details-how-les-wexner-met-sex-trafficker-jeffrey-epstein-as-he-built-wealth
[^16]: "Abigail S. Koppel," summarizing her legal career at Davis Polk & Wardwell (1987 to 1992) and the January 23, 1993 marriage to Wexner. https://www.thenexthint.com/abigail-s-koppel-wife-of-les-wexner/ [^16]: "Billionaire Les Wexner says he was 'duped' by adviser Jeffrey Epstein, 'a world-class con man,'" *13abc / WTVG,* 2026. https://www.13abc.com/2026/02/18/billionaire-les-wexner-says-he-was-duped-by-adviser-jeffrey-epstein-world-class-con-man/
[^17]: "New York Times details how Les Wexner met sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as he built wealth," *WOSU Public Media,* 2025, summarizing the December 16, 2025 New York Times Magazine investigation. https://www.wosu.org/politics-government/2025-12-16/new-york-times-details-how-les-wexner-met-sex-trafficker-jeffrey-epstein-as-he-built-wealth [^17]: "Billionaire Les Wexner is being deposed in the Epstein files probe. Here's what documents show about their relationship," *PBS NewsHour,* 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/billionaire-les-wexner-is-being-deposed-in-the-epstein-files-probe-heres-what-documents-show-about-their-relationship
[^18]: "Billionaire Les Wexner is being deposed in the Epstein files probe. Here's what documents show about their relationship," *PBS NewsHour,* 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/billionaire-les-wexner-is-being-deposed-in-the-epstein-files-probe-heres-what-documents-show-about-their-relationship [^18]: 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 15, 177 to 189; 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). 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
[^19]: "FBI memos, bank record, odd emails mention Wexner in new Epstein files," *AOL,* 2026, on the FBI memo language, the discounted home and plane, and the co-conspirator characterization. https://www.aol.com/articles/les-wexner-appears-latest-epstein-171239980.html [^19]: "FBI memos, bank record, odd emails mention Wexner in new Epstein files," *AOL,* 2026, on the FBI memo language, the discounted home and plane, and the co-conspirator characterization. https://www.aol.com/articles/les-wexner-appears-latest-epstein-171239980.html
[^20]: "L Brands CEO Les Wexner has been giving documents to investigators showing alleged Jeffrey Epstein theft," *CNBC,* 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/les-wexner-gives-feds-documents-showing-alleged-jeffrey-epstein-theft.html
[^21]: 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). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.238.31.pdf ; Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, ECF No. 221 (filed July 24, 2023). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^22]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00163119, DataSet 9, press printout: Kate Briquelet and William Bredderman, "Jeffrey Epstein's Right-Hand Mystery Men: The Lawyer and the Accountant," *The Daily Beast,* August 30, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00163119.pdf
[^23]: 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

2
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Mark Zuckerberg.md
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@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Thiel acted as an intermediary between Zuckerberg and the political right. He at
### The Epstein Dinner ### The Epstein Dinner
An August 2015 dinner in Palo Alto, hosted by [[Reid Hoffman]] and reported by Vanity Fair in 2019, placed Zuckerberg at the same table as Thiel, [[Elon Musk]], and [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]], who brokered access to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s money and circle. Epstein emailed the financier Thomas Pritzker on August 20, 2015, "i had dinner with zuckerburg, mu=k, thiel hoffman, wild," and emailed himself a photograph from the gathering, both of which surfaced in the document releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in late 2025 and early 2026. Releasers stressed that being named in the files is not evidence of wrongdoing.[^4][^7] An August 2015 dinner in Palo Alto, hosted by [[Reid Hoffman]] and reported by Vanity Fair in 2019, placed Zuckerberg at the same table as Thiel, [[Elon Musk]], and [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]], who brokered access to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s money and circle. Epstein emailed the financier Thomas Pritzker on August 20, 2015, "i had dinner with zuckerburg, mu=k, thiel hoffman, wild," and emailed himself a photograph from the gathering, both of which surfaced in the document releases under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] in late 2025 and early 2026. Releasers stressed that being named in the files is not evidence of wrongdoing.[^4][^7]
Meta has disputed any closer connection, with a spokesman stating in 2019 that Zuckerberg "met Epstein in passing one time at a dinner" and "did not communicate with Epstein again." Hoffman apologized in September 2019 for participating in fundraising where Epstein was present, saying he had helped "repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice," while Musk has said he refused invitations to Epstein's island, a claim that reporters noted sits awkwardly against released 2012 to 2013 emails between Musk and Epstein. Ito resigned from the MIT Media Lab, the MIT Corporation, and other boards in September 2019 after Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker that the lab had concealed millions of dollars in Epstein-linked donations, referring to him internally as "Voldemort."[^8][^9] Meta has disputed any closer connection, with a spokesman stating in 2019 that Zuckerberg "met Epstein in passing one time at a dinner" and "did not communicate with Epstein again." Hoffman apologized in September 2019 for participating in fundraising where Epstein was present, saying he had helped "repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice," while Musk has said he refused invitations to Epstein's island, a claim that reporters noted sits awkwardly against released 2012 to 2013 emails between Musk and Epstein. Ito resigned from the MIT Media Lab, the MIT Corporation, and other boards in September 2019 after Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker that the lab had concealed millions of dollars in Epstein-linked donations, referring to him internally as "Voldemort."[^8][^9]

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- BureauOfPrisons
- DeathInCustody
- CorrectionalOfficer
- DeferredProsecution
alias:
- Michael Thomas (correctional officer)
summary: "Michael Thomas is the former Bureau of Prisons materials handler who found Jeffrey Epstein hanged in August 2019 and was charged with falsifying the unit's count and round records."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]]"
start: 2007
role: "materials handler and correctional officer, Federal Bureau of Prisons"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-11-19
end: 2021-12-13
role: "falsification of records, dismissed after deferred prosecution agreement"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-08
end: 2023-06
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Michael Thomas is a former employee of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] at the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]] who, working an overtime shift in the Special Housing Unit with the correctional officer [[Tova Noel]], found [[Jeffrey Epstein]] hanged in his cell at about 6:30 a.m. on August 10, 2019. He and Noel were indicted in November 2019 for falsifying the records of inmate counts and rounds that night; the charges were dismissed in December 2021 after both completed deferred prosecution agreements, and both were fired. Thomas told the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Inspector General]] that no one entered or left Epstein's cell during his shift and denied that he or Noel had any role in the death.[^1][^2][^3]
### Background
Thomas was 41 when he was charged. He joined the Bureau of Prisons at MCC New York in 2007 and most recently worked as a materials handler supervisor, while often taking overnight shifts as a correctional officer. He told the Inspector General that he had worked in the Special Housing Unit "fairly regularly" since 2007 and knew its procedures, including that an inmate coming off suicide watch or psychological observation should be assigned a cellmate, and that he knew Epstein had been on both.[^1][^2]
Thomas had also responded on the night of Epstein's first injury. In a memorandum dated July 23, 2019 and signed "M. Thomas, Material Handler Supervisor," he wrote that at about 1:27 a.m. the Control Center called for assistance in the Special Housing Unit, that on arriving he found Epstein "lying on the floor of his cell handcuffed," and that he helped carry Epstein on a stretcher to the unit where he "was dressed in a suicide smock and placed on Suicide Watch observation with staff."[^4]
### August 10, 2019
Thomas did not work his regular post on August 10 and instead took an overtime shift in the Special Housing Unit from midnight to 8 a.m.; he had worked an eight-hour shift ending at 8 a.m. the previous day, and Noel's lawyer later described him as working a triple shift. Neither officer conducted the midnight, 3 a.m., or 5 a.m. counts or the required 30-minute rounds. Thomas told the Inspector General that the round sheets were signed but the rounds not done "because he was tired that day," and recalled "dozing off from here and there." Noel's lawyer wrote that Thomas told her the rounds were not necessary and slept most of the shift with a hoodie pulled over his head. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s forensic examination of the officers' workstations found that Thomas had been looking at motorcycles online.[^2][^5][^6]
At about 6:30 a.m. Thomas knocked on Epstein's cell door while delivering breakfast, got no response, unlocked the cell, and found Epstein hanged with "an orange string, presumably from a sheet or a shirt," tied to the top bunk. He said he ripped it away, lowered Epstein to the floor, and began chest compressions without checking for a pulse, until medical staff took over. He told a lieutenant, "Oh, it's not her fault, we fucked up," and "We didn't do the rounds. We messed up." He said anyone reaching Epstein's tier would have had to walk directly past the officers' station where he sat and that no one did.[^2]
The MCC New York Daily Assignment Roster for Saturday, August 10, 2019 lists "Thomas, M" on SHU post 2 for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, marked "OT (NC)," beside "Noel, T" on SHU post 1. Warden [[Lamine N'Diaye]]'s Form 583 Report of Incident, NYM-19-0082, which dates the incident to 6:33 a.m., lists Thomas among the staff involved.[^4]
### Prosecution
On November 19, 2019 a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Thomas and Noel on conspiracy and making false records, in a case announced by U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]]. Each was released on a 100,000 dollar bond, and a magistrate judge told Thomas to abstain from "excessive use of alcohol." On May 25, 2021 both entered deferred prosecution agreements that included admissions that they had falsely certified counts and rounds, cooperation with the Inspector General, the FBI, and prosecutors, and 100 hours of community service; the court dismissed the charges on December 13, 2021. The [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] declined to prosecute other Special Housing Unit staff who also falsified count slips and round sheets on August 9 and 10.[^1][^2][^3]
In the 2026 Epstein file releases, the bank records flagged in a suspicious activity report concerned Noel, not Thomas. CNN's requests for comment to attorneys for both officers in March 2026 went unanswered.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Here's What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Federal Jail Guards." *Newsweek,* November 20, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guards-tova-noel-michael-thomas-1473052 (age; employment since 2007; materials handler supervisor; prior shift; bond; alcohol condition).
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf (pp. iii to iv, 5 to 6, charges and dispositions; pp. 57, 66 to 67, 70 to 72, Thomas's statements).
[^3]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00048963, DataSet 9, Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, including the memorandum of M. Thomas, "Possible Suicide Attempt," July 23, 2019 (EFTA00049483), Form 583 Report of Incident NYM-19-0082 (EFTA00049914 to 49916), and the Daily Assignment Roster for August 10, 2019 (EFTA00049931). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
[^5]: Brown, Julie K. "Tova Noel, the prison guard who worked night of Epstein's death, was born in Antigua and lived a number of years on STX." *Miami Herald* via *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 27, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/ap/tova-noel-the-prison-guard-who-worked-night-of-epstein-s-death-was-born-in/article_e0fd90de-fa08-4667-9bff-838a8e591755.html
[^6]: Salamone, Olivia. "Jeffrey Epstein Prison Guard Googled Him Minutes Before Death And Made $5K Cash Deposit Days Earlier, DOJ Records Show." *RadarOnline* via *AOL,* March 7, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guard-googled-224000591.html

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10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nicholas Tartaglione.md Normal file
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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- BureauOfPrisons
- MetropolitanCorrectionalCenter
- Police
- Murder
- DeathInCustody
alias:
- Nick Tartaglione
- Nicholas Tartaglione
summary: "Nicholas Tartaglione is a former Briarcliff Manor police officer, convicted of four 2016 murders, who shared Jeffrey Epstein's cell at MCC New York in July 2019 and later produced a purported Epstein note."
born: "c. 1967"
location: "Otisville, Orange County, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Briarcliff Manor Police Department]]"
role: "police officer"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2016-12
end: 2024-06-10
role: "United States v. Tartaglione, No. 16-CR-832 (KMK); four consecutive life sentences"
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Bruce Barket]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019
fn: 7
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Nicholas Tartaglione is a former police officer of the [[Briarcliff Manor Police Department]] in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]], [[New York]], who was convicted in April 2023 of the April 2016 murders of four men and sentenced to four consecutive life terms. While awaiting trial he was held at the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]], where from July 2019 he shared a cell in the Special Housing Unit with [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. After Epstein was found with a cloth around his neck on July 23, 2019, Epstein told an officer that Tartaglione had tried to kill him, then told a jail investigator eight days later that he had "never had any issues with Tartaglione." In 2026 a federal judge unsealed a handwritten note that Tartaglione says he found in the cell and that has not been authenticated.[^1][^2][^3]
### Police Career and the 2016 Murders
Tartaglione served as a police officer in Briarcliff Manor, a Westchester village about 20 miles north of [[New York City]]. On April 11, 2016 he and accomplices kidnapped Martin Luna, whom he suspected of stealing 250,000 dollars from him; Luna was strangled with a zip tie, and three men who were with him, Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna and Hector Gutierrez, were forced to kneel in the woods and shot in the back of the head. The four bodies were buried on Tartaglione's property in [[Otisville, New York|Otisville]], [[Orange County, New York|Orange County]]. He was indicted in the [[Southern District of New York]] in December 2016 on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and four counts of murder in furtherance of a drug crime, and a second superseding indictment added firearm murder, kidnapping conspiracy, kidnapping resulting in death and Travel Act murder counts.[^1][^4][^5] He was held in federal custody from December 2016.[^6] The Bureau of Prisons described him as "a certified death penalty eligible inmate."[^2]
During the pretrial proceedings Judge [[Kenneth M. Karas]] appointed separate counsel under Curcio to advise him on a conflict among his lawyers, held a multi-day sealed hearing with the participation of the government's "firewall" counsel, and on May 25, 2021 disqualified one of his retained attorneys, John Weider, for "an actual, unwaivable conflict of interest," while finding that any conflicts of the attorney [[Bruce Barket]] and his firm were waivable. Trial ran from March 13 to April 6, 2023, and the jury convicted him on every count. On June 10, 2024 Karas sentenced him to four consecutive life terms followed by five years of supervised release; U.S. Attorney [[Damian Williams]] said he had "brutally and senselessly murdered Martin Luna over money." His appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] (No. 24-1852) was pending in May 2026.[^1][^5]
### Cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein
When Epstein was placed in the Special Housing Unit on July 7, 2019, the jail's executive staff chose Tartaglione, who had arrived at MCC New York on January 23, 2018, as his cellmate. A later institution response to a Bureau of Prisons psychological reconstruction team explained: "MCC New York administrators initially housed Mr. Epstein with Mr. Tartaglione as both had high profile cases. Mr. Tartaglione is also a certified death penalty eligible inmate and, thus, based on correctional judgment, less likely to assault or otherwise try to harm Mr. Epstein." The reconstruction team wrote that "input was not sought from Psychology Services" and that the two men "did not share the risk associated with being a sex offender and their pairing may have aggravated Mr. Epstein's risk for self-directed violence." Tartaglione's jail file carried the security threat group labels "EX LAW ENFORCEMENT" and "POSTED PICTURE CARD FILE."[^2]
At about 1:27 a.m. on July 23, 2019 officers heard noises from cell Z05-124 and found Epstein "laying down near his bunk with what appeared to be a piece of handmade orange cloth around his neck"; one officer restrained Tartaglione and secured him in the bathroom. When Epstein became responsive he told a senior officer specialist that he thought his "Bunkie, Tartaglione," had "tried to kill him," that the cellmate had tried "to extort money from him," and that "this has been going on for a week." A lieutenant photographed Tartaglione that night; Tartaglione said he had been asleep with headphones on, felt something hit his legs, turned on the light and saw Epstein "with a string around his neck," and that he slept on a mattress on the floor because he had given Epstein the bottom bunk "because he's old." Epstein told the same lieutenant that Tartaglione had come back from a day in court in Westchester "carrying on," and had shown him a Daily News page with Epstein's picture on it saying that he was worth seventy-seven million dollars.[^2]
The jail's Special Investigative Services lieutenant interviewed both men on July 31, 2019. Epstein said he "has never had any issues with Tartaglione, he is not threatened by Tartaglione," that Tartaglione had once "called him a pedophile" after returning from court upset, and that he "feels safe being housed with Tartaglione." Tartaglione said he did not "understand Epstein's motive and what he is trying to do," that "Epstein made him uncomfortable when Epstein stated 'fourteen (14) is legal in most states and I don't understand what's the problem here'," that Epstein "normally paces the cell and complains about his attorney's not doing their job and he needs to fire them," and that he did "not want to be involved with any plots Epstein have in mind in order to try to get released." A medical assessment found no injuries on Tartaglione. The report, case NYM-19-0061, signed off by Warden [[Lamine N'Diaye]] on August 2, 2019, found "insufficient evidence to support Epstein was assaulted by Tartaglione" and that no separation order was warranted; a later review called the results "inconclusive as to whether Mr. Epstein engaged in self-directed violence, willingly fought with his cellmate, or was assaulted by his cellmate," and the self-mutilation incident report against Epstein was expunged.[^2][^3]
When Epstein left suicide watch, Tartaglione "was not chosen as the investigation at the time had not yet cleared him of any wrongdoing," and the jail instead narrowed its choice to cooperators, housing Epstein with an inmate "confirmed as proffering with the U.S. Attorney's Office." According to the Inspector General, after returning to the Special Housing Unit Epstein asked two staff members whether he could be housed again with the same cellmate.[^2][^3]
### After Epstein's Death
On September 12, 2019 the [[New York Daily News]] published a two-page handwritten letter from Tartaglione: "As far as Jeff Epstein is concerned, I never touched the man. I despise anyone who hurts children but whatever was going to happen to him, I was not going to be a part of it," and "The prison told Epstein they were putting him in a cell with me because they knew I would neither hurt nor extort him. The staff here at MCC had hundreds of inmates to choose from yet I was their first choice." Barket said his client had not been questioned "by any law enforcement official since July 23." Staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York circulated the article internally the next day. The Bureau of Prisons later withheld several categories of its records on Tartaglione on the ground that they could "adversely affect the Tartaglione proceedings and influence potential juror's perceptions."[^6][^7]
### The Note
On May 20, 2021 material described as "a suicide note purportedly authored by Jeffrey Epstein, recovered by . . . Tartaglione, and then reportedly submitted by . . . Tartaglione's attorneys" was placed in the court's vault. After Tartaglione discussed it in interviews, [[The New York Times]] asked for it to be unsealed, and on May 6, 2026 Karas granted the request, finding that Tartaglione's "repeated public discussion about the Note's contents constitutes waiver of the attorney-client privilege" and that the privacy interests of a deceased person "are vastly reduced." According to the Times's letter, a [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] document placed the note's existence more than a week before Epstein's death and before Epstein was moved from Tartaglione's cell. Tartaglione said he found it inside a book in the cell after the July 23 incident. The handwritten note includes the lines "It is a treat to be able to choose" and "NOT WORTH IT!!"; neither the court nor the Justice Department has authenticated it, and it does not appear in the Inspector General's report or the government's other published reviews of Epstein's death.[^1][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Tartaglione, No. 16-CR-832 (KMK) (S.D.N.Y.), Order of Judge Kenneth M. Karas, May 6, 2026, pp. 1 to 13. https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/16cr832%20-%20Tartaglione%20Order%20-%2026.5.6.pdf
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00048963, DataSet 9, Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, July 8 to August 10, 2019, including staff memoranda of July 23, 2019 (EFTA00049345 to 49347), SIS Inmate Investigative Report NYM-19-0061 of July 31 to August 2, 2019 (EFTA00049238 to 49243), and the psychological reconstruction findings and institution response on cellmate assignments (EFTA00049770 to 49772). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023, pp. 14 to 20. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf
[^4]: Phil Helsel, "Ex-New York police officer sentenced to life in execution of 4 men," *NBC News,* June 10, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-new-york-police-officer-sentenced-life-execution-4-men-rcna156462
[^5]: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, "Former Police Officer Sentenced To Four Consecutive Life Sentences For 2016 Quadruple Murder," June 10, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-police-officer-sentenced-four-consecutive-life-sentences-2016-quadruple-murder ; Karen Zraick, "Police Officer With Bit Part in Epstein Jail Drama Is Convicted of Murder," *The New York Times,* April 6, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/nyregion/briarcliff-manor-police-officer-murder.html
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00009966, DataSet 8, internal USANYS email forwarding Stephen Rex Brown, "'I never touched the man,' Jeffrey Epstein's former cellmate insists in letter to Daily News," *New York Daily News,* September 12, 2019, September 13, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00009966.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00039895, DataSet 9, description of Bureau of Prisons records on Tartaglione withheld from production. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00039895.pdf ; Stephen Rex Brown, *New York Daily News,* September 12, 2019, as forwarded in EFTA00009966 (Barket statements).
[^8]: Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister, "Judge releases note that cellmate says he found after Epstein's suspected suicide attempt," *Associated Press* via *PBS News,* May 6, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-releases-note-that-cellmate-says-he-found-after-epsteins-suspected-suicide-attempt

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10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Peter Thiel.md
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@ -13,16 +13,16 @@ tags:
- Trump - Trump
alias: alias:
- Peter Andreas Thiel - Peter Andreas Thiel
summary: "Peter Thiel is a German-born American billionaire investor who cofounded PayPal and Palantir Technologies, founded Founders Fund, cofounded the secret society Dialog in 2006, is the central figure of the PayPal Mafia, and is the most prominent financial patron of the neoreactionary political philosopher Curtis Yarvin." summary: "Peter Thiel is the German-born investor who cofounded PayPal, Palantir and the Dialog society, founded Founders Fund, funded Curtis Yarvin, and corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein from 2011 to 2019."
born: 1967-10-11 born: 1967-10-11
location: "Frankfurt, West Germany (born); San Francisco, California (base)" location: "Frankfurt, West Germany (born); San Francisco, California (base)"
created: 2026-06-17 created: 2026-06-17
updated: 2026-06-17 updated: 2026-09-25
--- ---
Peter Thiel (born October 11, 1967, in [[Frankfurt]], [[West Germany]]) is a German-born American billionaire investor and the central figure of the [[PayPal Mafia]], the informal network of founders and early executives of [[PayPal]] who went on to found or lead much of the subsequent generation of [[Silicon Valley]] companies. Thiel cofounded PayPal, founded the venture capital firm [[Founders Fund]], and cofounded and chairs the data-analytics and defense contractor [[Palantir Technologies]]. In 2006 he cofounded the secret society [[Dialog]] with [[Auren Hoffman]]. He is the most prominent documented financial patron of the neoreactionary philosopher [[Curtis Yarvin]], the founder of [[Neoreaction]] (NRx) and co-originator of the [[Dark Enlightenment]], and his political investments extended to funding the covert lawsuit that destroyed [[Gawker Media]] and bankrolling the U.S. Senate and subsequent vice-presidential campaigns of [[JD Vance]].[^1][^2][^3] Peter Thiel (born October 11, 1967, in [[Frankfurt]], [[West Germany]]) is a German-born American billionaire investor and the central figure of the [[PayPal Mafia]], the informal network of founders and early executives of [[PayPal]] who went on to found or lead much of the subsequent generation of [[Silicon Valley]] companies. Thiel cofounded PayPal, founded the venture capital firm [[Founders Fund]], and cofounded and chairs the data-analytics and defense contractor [[Palantir Technologies]]. In 2006 he cofounded the secret society [[Dialog]] with [[Auren Hoffman]]. He is the most prominent documented financial patron of the neoreactionary philosopher [[Curtis Yarvin]], the founder of [[Neoreaction]] (NRx) and co-originator of the [[Dark Enlightenment]], and his political investments extended to funding the covert lawsuit that destroyed [[Gawker Media]] and bankrolling the U.S. Senate and subsequent vice-presidential campaigns of [[JD Vance]].[^1][^2][^3]
Across these activities Thiel has built a coordinated program for the privatization and concentration of state-adjacent capacity: payments (PayPal), intelligence and law-enforcement data integration (Palantir Technologies), elite convening (Dialog), and the ideological framework that argues this concentration is both desirable and inevitable (the Yarvin patronage and the neoreactionary current). The political donations placed figures aligned with the thesis (Vance, [[Blake Masters]]) inside the U.S. government. The set of activities is mutually reinforcing rather than a portfolio of separate bets. Across these activities Thiel has built a coordinated program for the privatization and concentration of state-adjacent capacity: payments (PayPal), intelligence and law-enforcement data integration (Palantir Technologies), elite convening (Dialog), and the ideological framework that argues this concentration is both desirable and inevitable (the Yarvin patronage and the neoreactionary current). The political donations placed figures aligned with the thesis (Vance, [[Blake Masters]]) inside the [[U.S. government]]. The set of activities is mutually reinforcing rather than a portfolio of separate bets.
### PayPal and the PayPal Mafia ### PayPal and the PayPal Mafia
@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ The PayPal Mafia included [[Max Levchin]] (CTO, later [[Affirm]]), [[Reid Hoffma
### Palantir Technologies ### Palantir Technologies
In 2003 Thiel cofounded Palantir Technologies with [[Joe Lonsdale|Joseph Lonsdale]], [[Alex Karp]], [[Stephen Cohen]], and [[Nathan Gettings]], initially funded in part by an investment from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] venture capital arm [[In-Q-Tel]]. Palantir Technologies built its business on data integration and analytics platforms for intelligence, defense, and law enforcement clients, and became a major contractor to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ([[ICE]]) for case management, to the Department of Defense, and to allied intelligence services. Thiel chairs the company.[^2][^3] In 2003 Thiel cofounded Palantir Technologies with [[Joe Lonsdale|Joseph Lonsdale]], [[Alex Karp]], [[Stephen Cohen]], and [[Nathan Gettings]], initially funded in part by an investment from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] venture capital arm [[In-Q-Tel]]. Palantir Technologies built its business on data integration and analytics platforms for intelligence, defense, and law enforcement clients, and became a major contractor to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ([[ICE]]) for case management, to the [[Department of Defense]], and to allied intelligence services. Thiel chairs the company.[^2][^3]
The Palantir Technologies contracting model uses a single firm to supply data fusion across multiple federal agencies. Thiel has argued publicly that concentrated private technological capacity should replace decentralized government functions, and Palantir is the firm he built to apply that thesis. The company received early institutional backing from In-Q-Tel, took its direct listing on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] in September 2020 under ticker PLTR, and supplies two principal products: Gotham for intelligence and defense users and Foundry for commercial enterprises. The early growth driver was post-[[September 11 attacks|9/11]] counterterrorism contracting, and the platform was used in the operation that located [[Osama bin Laden]] in 2011, according to company and press accounts.[^2][^3] The Palantir Technologies contracting model uses a single firm to supply data fusion across multiple federal agencies. Thiel has argued publicly that concentrated private technological capacity should replace decentralized government functions, and Palantir is the firm he built to apply that thesis. The company received early institutional backing from In-Q-Tel, took its direct listing on the [[New York Stock Exchange]] in September 2020 under ticker PLTR, and supplies two principal products: Gotham for intelligence and defense users and Foundry for commercial enterprises. The early growth driver was post-[[September 11 attacks|9/11]] counterterrorism contracting, and the platform was used in the operation that located [[Osama bin Laden]] in 2011, according to company and press accounts.[^2][^3]
@ -40,19 +40,19 @@ The Palantir Technologies contracting model uses a single firm to supply data fu
Thiel founded Founders Fund in 2005 with Howery and Nosek. The firm's portfolio includes early investments in Facebook (Thiel was the first outside investor, in 2004, with 500,000 dollars), [[SpaceX]], [[Airbnb]], [[Stripe]], and the defense contractor [[Anduril Industries]]. Founders Fund's investment thesis, articulated in Thiel's framing, targets companies pursuing monopoly positions in technologies the firm judges to be foundational, including defense, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.[^2] Thiel founded Founders Fund in 2005 with Howery and Nosek. The firm's portfolio includes early investments in Facebook (Thiel was the first outside investor, in 2004, with 500,000 dollars), [[SpaceX]], [[Airbnb]], [[Stripe]], and the defense contractor [[Anduril Industries]]. Founders Fund's investment thesis, articulated in Thiel's framing, targets companies pursuing monopoly positions in technologies the firm judges to be foundational, including defense, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.[^2]
The thesis is set out in the 2014 book *Zero to One*, coauthored by Thiel and Masters, which argues that competition is for losers and that durable value comes from building monopolies around proprietary technology. The framework licenses the fund's preference for capital-intensive, defensibility-focused bets in domains (defense, frontier biotech, sovereign-grade infrastructure) that traditional venture capital had avoided. Founders Fund was the first institutional backer of Anduril Industries, the Palmer Luckey defense firm that operationalized the same thesis for the Pentagon market, and the firm's defense portfolio is the commercial counterpart to Thiel's argument that state capacity should be rebuilt by private contractors under private control.[^2] The thesis is set out in the 2014 book *Zero to One*, coauthored by Thiel and Masters, which argues that competition is for losers and that durable value comes from building monopolies around proprietary technology. The framework licenses the fund's preference for capital-intensive, defensibility-focused bets in domains (defense, frontier biotech, sovereign-grade infrastructure) that traditional venture capital had avoided. Founders Fund was the first institutional backer of Anduril Industries, the [[Palmer Luckey]] defense firm that operationalized the same thesis for the Pentagon market, and the firm's defense portfolio is the commercial counterpart to Thiel's argument that state capacity should be rebuilt by private contractors under private control.[^2]
### Dialog ### Dialog
In 2006 Thiel cofounded the invitation-only secret society Dialog with Hoffman, which convenes U.S. officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. The organization operated without a public website and with a deliberately concealed membership until June 2026, when the hacktivist crimew published a membership directory embedded in the Dialog website's source code and a source separately provided *WIRED* with the 222-name registration list for the 2026 retreat. The 2026 registrants included Musk, Harris, Representative Himes, Senator Booker, Senator Cruz, Governor Polis, Levin of Stanford University, and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Grynkewich.[^1] In 2006 Thiel cofounded the invitation-only secret society Dialog with Hoffman, which convenes U.S. officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. The organization operated without a public website and with a deliberately concealed membership until June 2026, when the hacktivist crimew published a membership directory embedded in the Dialog website's source code and a source separately provided *WIRED* with the 222-name registration list for the 2026 retreat. The 2026 registrants included Musk, Harris, Representative Himes, Senator Booker, Senator Cruz, Governor Polis, Levin of Stanford University, and the [[NATO]] Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Grynkewich.[^1]
Dialog's function in the Thiel network is convening: it places the commercial principals (the PayPal Mafia core), the ideological principals (the neoreactionary and adjacent intellectuals), and the government principals (sitting senators, the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] ranking member, an active four-star NATO commander) in a single off-the-record room. The registration fee of more than 16,000 dollars, the no-press rule, and the matchmaking app together constitute the design of a private institution optimized for sustained, repeated, unrecorded contact across the three networks. A 2013 Dialog retreat invitation surfaced in the Department of Justice Epstein document release, forwarded to Epstein in November 2012, which establishes that Dialog's circulation list overlapped with the Epstein contact network in Thiel's orbit.[^1][^4] Dialog's function in the Thiel network is convening: it places the commercial principals (the PayPal Mafia core), the ideological principals (the neoreactionary and adjacent intellectuals), and the government principals (sitting senators, the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence|House Intelligence Committee]] ranking member, an active four-star NATO commander) in a single off-the-record room. The registration fee of more than 16,000 dollars, the no-press rule, and the matchmaking app together constitute the design of a private institution optimized for sustained, repeated, unrecorded contact across the three networks. A 2013 Dialog retreat invitation surfaced in the [[Department of Justice]] Epstein document release, forwarded to Epstein in November 2012, which establishes that Dialog's circulation list overlapped with the Epstein contact network in Thiel's orbit.[^1][^4]
### René Girard and Mimetic Theory ### René Girard and Mimetic Theory
Thiel's intellectual framework derives from the French theorist [[Rene Girard|René Girard]], under whom he studied as a [[Stanford University]] undergraduate in the late 1980s and with whom he kept a lifelong association. Girard's theory of mimetic desire holds that people want things because others want them, that imitation breeds rivalry, and that archaic societies discharged the resulting violence onto scapegoats. Thiel adopted the framework directly: he credits it with his 2004 decision to make the first outside investment in [[Facebook]], which he read as a mimetic engine, and *Zero to One* applies the theory in arguing that competition is a destructive trap and that founders should escape rivalry by building monopolies.[^2][^15] Thiel's intellectual framework derives from the French theorist [[Rene Girard|René Girard]], under whom he studied as a [[Stanford University]] undergraduate in the late 1980s and with whom he kept a lifelong association. Girard's theory of mimetic desire holds that people want things because others want them, that imitation breeds rivalry, and that archaic societies discharged the resulting violence onto scapegoats. Thiel adopted the framework directly: he credits it with his 2004 decision to make the first outside investment in [[Facebook]], which he read as a mimetic engine, and *Zero to One* applies the theory in arguing that competition is a destructive trap and that founders should escape rivalry by building monopolies.[^2][^5]
Thiel funds Imitatio, a [[Thiel Foundation]] project he established with the theologian [[Robert Hamerton-Kelly]] and Girard to promote mimetic theory. The Girardian reading of crowds and scapegoating recurs across Thiel's public conduct, from his account of his 2007 outing by Gawker to the apocalyptic structure of the Antichrist lectures.[^14][^15] Thiel funds Imitatio, a [[Thiel Foundation]] project he established with the theologian [[Robert Hamerton-Kelly]] and Girard to promote mimetic theory. The Girardian reading of crowds and scapegoating recurs across Thiel's public conduct, from his account of his 2007 outing by Gawker to the apocalyptic structure of the Antichrist lectures.[^5][^6]
### The Curtis Yarvin Patronage and Neoreaction ### The Curtis Yarvin Patronage and Neoreaction
@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ The Yarvin current is intellectually adjacent to but distinct from the violent [
### The Singularity Institute and AI-Risk Funding ### The Singularity Institute and AI-Risk Funding
Thiel was the earliest prominent funder of the artificial-intelligence-risk movement that produced the Bay Area [[Rationalist Community]]. He began donating in 2005 to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the nonprofit founded by [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] that was later renamed the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] (MIRI), and in 2006 cofounded its conference, the [[Singularity Summit]], with Yudkowsky and the futurist [[Ray Kurzweil]]. His cumulative donations to the institute were later reported as exceeding 1.6 million dollars. The funding helped concentrate the rationalist and transhumanist scene in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] during its formative decade, the same milieu from which the [[Effective Altruism]] movement and the [[Leverage Research]], [[Michael Vassar|Vassarite]], and [[The Zizians|Zizian]] formations later emerged.[^13] Thiel was the earliest prominent funder of the artificial-intelligence-risk movement that produced the Bay Area [[Rationalist Community]]. He began donating in 2005 to the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the nonprofit founded by [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] that was later renamed the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] (MIRI), and in 2006 cofounded its conference, the [[Singularity Summit]], with Yudkowsky and the futurist [[Ray Kurzweil]]. His cumulative donations to the institute were later reported as exceeding 1.6 million dollars. The funding helped concentrate the rationalist and transhumanist scene in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] during its formative decade, the same milieu from which the [[Effective Altruism]] movement and the [[Leverage Research]], [[Michael Vassar|Vassarite]], and [[The Zizians|Zizian]] formations later emerged.[^7]
By the mid-2010s Thiel said the researchers he had funded had drifted "from transhumanism to Luddite." In a private four-part lecture series on the [[Antichrist]] delivered in San Francisco in September and October 2025, recordings of which reached the *Washington Post*, he named Yudkowsky alongside the philosopher [[Nick Bostrom]] and the climate activist [[Greta Thunberg]] as "legionnaires of the Antichrist," technology-stopping figures he said had become "deranged." In the September 15 lecture he said, "In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It's someone like Greta or Eliezer."[^14] By the mid-2010s Thiel said the researchers he had funded had drifted "from transhumanism to Luddite." In a private four-part lecture series on the [[Antichrist]] delivered in [[San Francisco]] in September and October 2025, recordings of which reached the *[[Washington Post]]*, he named Yudkowsky alongside the philosopher [[Nick Bostrom]] and the climate activist [[Greta Thunberg]] as "legionnaires of the Antichrist," technology-stopping figures he said had become "deranged." In the September 15 lecture he said, "In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It's someone like Greta or Eliezer."[^6]
### The Gawker Litigation ### The Gawker Litigation
@ -74,47 +74,51 @@ Thiel acknowledged the funding in a *Forbes* interview, framing it as retaliatio
### Political Investments: Vance, Masters, and Trump ### Political Investments: Vance, Masters, and Trump
Thiel's political activity moved from libertarian advocacy to direct electoral investment in the 2020s. He was the largest single donor to the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of JD Vance in [[Ohio]], contributing approximately fifteen million dollars through a super PAC, and to the concurrent Senate campaign of Masters in [[Arizona]], who had served as president of [[Thiel Capital]] and as coauthor with Thiel of *Zero to One*. Vance won and, in 2024, was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with [[Donald Trump]].[^2] Thiel's political activity moved from libertarian advocacy to direct electoral investment in the 2020s. He was the largest single donor to the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign of JD Vance in [[Ohio]], contributing approximately fifteen million dollars through a super PAC, and to the concurrent Senate campaign of Masters in [[Arizona]], who had served as president of [[Thiel Capital]] and as coauthor with Thiel of *Zero to One*. Vance won and, in 2024, was elected Vice President of the [[United States]] on the Republican ticket with [[Donald Trump]].[^2]
Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention endorsing Trump and was a significant contributor to his 2016 and 2024 campaigns. The Vance outcome compressed an unusually short cycle from investment to return: a single donor's fifteen million dollars in primary-cycle super PAC spending produced a sitting U.S. senator who became vice president within three years. The Masters campaign lost. Both candidates had been backed by Thiel and had worked under him (Masters as Thiel Capital president and *Zero to One* coauthor; Vance as a Thiel-funded political entrant).[^2] Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention endorsing Trump and was a significant contributor to his 2016 and 2024 campaigns. The Vance outcome compressed an unusually short cycle from investment to return: a single donor's fifteen million dollars in primary-cycle super PAC spending produced a sitting U.S. senator who became vice president within three years. The Masters campaign lost. Both candidates had been backed by Thiel and had worked under him (Masters as Thiel Capital president and *Zero to One* coauthor; Vance as a Thiel-funded political entrant).[^2]
### The 2016 Transition and the NSC Placements ### The 2016 Transition and the NSC Placements
Thiel joined the Trump transition team's executive committee in November 2016 and used the position to place associates into national-security and technology roles. [[Kevin Harrington|Kevin Harrington]], managing director of [[Thiel Macro|Thiel Macro LLC]] and a longtime Thiel associate, was appointed Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the [[National Security Council|National Security Council]] and subsequently elevated to Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning. *Just Security* described Harrington as an architect of the Trump NSC structure. [[Justin Mikolay|Justin Mikolay]], a former Palantir official, took a senior government role, and a Thiel aide was appointed White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer.[^12] Thiel joined the Trump transition team's executive committee in November 2016 and used the position to place associates into national-security and technology roles. [[Kevin Harrington|Kevin Harrington]], managing director of [[Thiel Macro|Thiel Macro LLC]] and a longtime Thiel associate, was appointed Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the [[National Security Council|National Security Council]] and subsequently elevated to Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning. *Just Security* described Harrington as an architect of the Trump NSC structure. [[Justin Mikolay|Justin Mikolay]], a former Palantir official, took a senior government role, and a Thiel aide was appointed [[White House]] Deputy Chief Technology Officer.[^8]
Thiel himself declined a formal administration position, telling *Politico* in January 2017 that he wanted to "stay involved in Silicon Valley and help Mr. Trump as I can without a full-time position." The Harrington NSC placement placed a Thiel-employee inside the strategic-planning apparatus of the national-security council, at the level where intelligence priorities, defense procurement, and foreign-policy framing are coordinated. The placement ran alongside the Palantir government-contracting expansion, the Founders Fund defense-portfolio buildout, and the Dialog convening-network operation.[^12] Thiel himself declined a formal administration position, telling *Politico* in January 2017 that he wanted to "stay involved in Silicon Valley and help Mr. Trump as I can without a full-time position." The Harrington NSC placement placed a Thiel-employee inside the strategic-planning apparatus of the national-security council, at the level where intelligence priorities, defense procurement, and foreign-policy framing are coordinated. The placement ran alongside the Palantir government-contracting expansion, the Founders Fund defense-portfolio buildout, and the Dialog convening-network operation.[^8]
### The Sovereign Individual and the Ideological Frame ### The Sovereign Individual and the Ideological Frame
Thiel has repeatedly cited the 1997 book *The Sovereign Individual* by [[James Dale Davidson]] and [[William Rees-Mogg|Lord William Rees-Mogg]] as prophetic. The book argued that digital encryption and electronic commerce would erode the taxing capacity of nation-states and produce a new class of mobile, sovereign individuals operating beyond territorial jurisdiction. The framework connects Thiel's commercial investments (cryptocurrency, offshore structures, the [[Seasteading Institute]], the Founders Fund thesis) to the Neoreaction argument that state capacity should be privatized.[^2] Thiel has repeatedly cited the 1997 book *[[The Sovereign Individual]]* by [[James Dale Davidson]] and [[William Rees-Mogg|Lord William Rees-Mogg]] as prophetic. The book argued that digital encryption and electronic commerce would erode the taxing capacity of nation-states and produce a new class of mobile, sovereign individuals operating beyond territorial jurisdiction. The framework connects Thiel's commercial investments (cryptocurrency, offshore structures, the [[Seasteading Institute]], the Founders Fund thesis) to the Neoreaction argument that state capacity should be privatized.[^2]
The Davidson-Rees-Mogg thesis is that the sovereign individual is the natural successor to the nation-state as the relevant unit of political and economic agency, and that the firms building the infrastructure for that transition (payments, encryption, identity, data fusion, private defense) are positioned to become the institutional substrate of the post-state order. Thiel has endorsed the book repeatedly in public, including in *Zero to One* and in interviews, and the commercial portfolio tracks the infrastructure categories the book identifies.[^2] The Davidson-Rees-Mogg thesis is that the sovereign individual is the natural successor to the nation-state as the relevant unit of political and economic agency, and that the firms building the infrastructure for that transition (payments, encryption, identity, data fusion, private defense) are positioned to become the institutional substrate of the post-state order. Thiel has endorsed the book repeatedly in public, including in *Zero to One* and in interviews, and the commercial portfolio tracks the infrastructure categories the book identifies.[^2]
### Epstein Contacts ### Epstein Contacts
The unsealed [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]] document releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act document a Thiel-Epstein relationship running from 2011 through 2019, eight years after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement. The primary-document index (EFTA01738574) records a February 6, 2016 email in which Epstein wrote that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea.. he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far." An August 2015 dinner that Reid Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]] (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) placed Thiel at the same table as [[Mark Zuckerberg]], Elon Musk, [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]], and Epstein. *Jacobin* (April 2026) reported that hundreds of emails document Epstein's encouragement of Thiel's political trajectory, including a February 2013 audio recording of Epstein advising Thiel.[^1][^5][^6] The unsealed [[Jeffrey Epstein|Epstein]] document releases under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] document a Thiel-Epstein relationship running from 2011 through 2019, eight years after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. The primary-document index (EFTA01738574) records a February 6, 2016 email in which Epstein wrote that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea.. he has done alot of work on the concept. all failed so far." An August 2015 dinner that Reid Hoffman hosted in [[Palo Alto]] (EFTA00344556, EFTA00344564) placed Thiel at the same table as [[Mark Zuckerberg]], Elon Musk, [[Joi Ito]] of the [[MIT Media Lab]], and Epstein. *Jacobin* (April 2026) reported that hundreds of emails document Epstein's encouragement of Thiel's political trajectory, including a February 2013 audio recording of Epstein advising Thiel.[^1][^9][^10]
A 2013 Dialog retreat invitation forwarded to Epstein in November 2012 surfaced in the Department of Justice [[Epstein Files|Epstein document release]] (document D-23831), placing Epstein on the Dialog circulation list. The [[New York Times]] reported in May 2023 that Thiel met with Epstein multiple times in 2014. The Carstensen EFTA index documents additional exchanges including a 2014 meeting at the Epstein townhouse attended by CIA director [[William Burns|William J. Burns]] and an occasion on which Thiel lunched with Russian UN ambassador [[Vitaly Churkin]]. Thiel is one of a number of Silicon Valley and finance figures whose post-2008 contacts with Epstein have been documented through the releases.[^1][^5][^6][^7] A 2013 Dialog retreat invitation forwarded to Epstein in November 2012 surfaced in the Department of Justice [[Epstein Files|Epstein document release]] (document D-23831), placing Epstein on the Dialog circulation list. The [[New York Times]] reported in May 2023 that Thiel met with Epstein multiple times in 2014. The Carstensen EFTA index documents additional exchanges including a 2014 meeting at the [[9 East 71st Street|Epstein townhouse]] attended by CIA director [[William Burns|William J. Burns]] and an occasion on which Thiel lunched with Russian UN ambassador [[Vitaly Churkin]]. Thiel is one of a number of Silicon Valley and finance figures whose post-2008 contacts with Epstein have been documented through the releases.[^1][^9][^10][^11]
Epstein's staff described the August 2015 gathering as Thiel's as well as Hoffman's. On August 5, 2015, Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to a member of Zuckerberg's staff that "Jeffrey Epstein attended Reid Hoffman/Peter Thiel's dinner party this past Sunday night at Baume Restaurant," on August 2, and that "At the party Mark requested Jeffrey send his contact details to him."[^12]
On May 21, 2018, Epstein wrote to Thiel: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^13] [[Carbyne]], formerly Reporty Homeland Security, was an Israeli emergency-call technology company chaired by the former Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]], in which Epstein held an investment through a limited partnership funded by his [[Southern Trust Company]].[^14] In January 2019 Barak, copying Epstein, offered Carbyne's services for the 2022 World Cup to Jabor Al Thani of Qatar, proposing to "work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile."[^14]
### The FBI Confidential Human Source Relationship ### The FBI Confidential Human Source Relationship
[[Business Insider]] reported in October 2023 that Thiel began providing information to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] as a confidential human source (CHS) in summer 2021, with the Los Angeles-based counterintelligence agent [[Jonathan Buma]] as his handler. The CHS relationship placed Thiel in the formal FBI source program while he simultaneously chaired Palantir Technologies (a major CIA and FBI contractor), cofounded the Dialog convening network, funded the JD Vance and Blake Masters Senate campaigns, and maintained the documented Epstein relationship that ran through 2019. A House Judiciary Committee document submitted January 22, 2026 references Thiel's CHS role in the congressional record.[^8] [[Business Insider]] reported in October 2023 that Thiel began providing information to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] as a confidential human source (CHS) in summer 2021, with the Los Angeles-based counterintelligence agent [[Jonathan Buma]] as his handler. The CHS relationship placed Thiel in the formal FBI source program while he simultaneously chaired Palantir Technologies (a major CIA and FBI contractor), cofounded the Dialog convening network, funded the JD Vance and Blake Masters Senate campaigns, and maintained the documented Epstein relationship that ran through 2019. A [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]] document submitted January 22, 2026 references Thiel's CHS role in the congressional record.[^15]
Buma was arrested at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|JFK Airport]] on March 17, 2025 while attempting to board an international flight, charged with unlawfully disclosing confidential information. [[CBS News]] reported that FBI investigators assessed Buma may have compromised as many as 130 FBI files. Buma publicly accused the FBI of pro-Trump political bias, and claimed in May 2025 (per [[The Guardian]]) that "intense" Russian-intelligence efforts had targeted Elon Musk.[^8][^9] Buma was arrested at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|JFK Airport]] on March 17, 2025 while attempting to board an international flight, charged with unlawfully disclosing confidential information. [[CBS News]] reported that FBI investigators assessed Buma may have compromised as many as 130 FBI files. Buma publicly accused the FBI of pro-Trump political bias, and claimed in May 2025 (per [[The Guardian]]) that "intense" Russian-intelligence efforts had targeted Elon Musk.[^15][^16]
### The Clearview AI Seed Investment ### The Clearview AI Seed Investment
Thiel was the first investor in [[Clearview AI]], the facial-recognition firm founded by [[Hoan Ton-That]] and [[Richard Schwartz]], providing seed funding before the company was even named (the [[Smart Checker]] period). [[NPR]] confirmed in 2023 that Thiel was Clearview's first investor. The seed investment was made directly by Thiel rather than through Founders Fund, placing Clearview in the same Thiel-seed-investment lineage as Palantir.[^10] Thiel was the first investor in [[Clearview AI]], the facial-recognition firm founded by [[Hoan Ton-That]] and [[Richard Schwartz]], providing seed funding before the company was even named (the [[Smart Checker]] period). [[NPR]] confirmed in 2023 that Thiel was Clearview's first investor. The seed investment was made directly by Thiel rather than through Founders Fund, placing Clearview in the same Thiel-seed-investment lineage as Palantir.[^17]
The *New York Times* reported in March 2021 that [[Charles C. Johnson|Charles Johnson]], the far-right provocateur and self-described federal informant, played a pivotal early role alongside Thiel in the Clearview founding. Johnson announced in 2017 that he was "building algorithms to ID all the illegal immigrants for the deportation squads," which *Byline Supplement* reported as part of the Clearview prehistory. Johnson subsequently claimed cofounder status and sued Clearview for a share of its profits before dropping the suit in February 2025.[^10] The *New York Times* reported in March 2021 that [[Charles C. Johnson|Charles Johnson]], the far-right provocateur and self-described federal informant, played a pivotal early role alongside Thiel in the Clearview founding. Johnson announced in 2017 that he was "building algorithms to ID all the illegal immigrants for the deportation squads," which *Byline Supplement* reported as part of the Clearview prehistory. Johnson subsequently claimed cofounder status and sued Clearview for a share of its profits before dropping the suit in February 2025.[^17]
Johnson disclosed Thiel's FBI CHS status, per the Business Insider reporting of October 2023. The Johnson-Thiel relationship extends beyond Clearview: the *Business Insider* piece described Johnson as "a tech investor and far-right agitator with long-standing ties to both Thiel and to the network." The [[Federal Trade Commission]] issued a consent order against Clearview in March 2022 barring the company from selling its database to private entities, following the documented deployment of the product by law enforcement, government clients, and private actors.[^10] Johnson disclosed Thiel's FBI CHS status, per the Business Insider reporting of October 2023. The Johnson-Thiel relationship extends beyond Clearview: the *Business Insider* piece described Johnson as "a tech investor and far-right agitator with long-standing ties to both Thiel and to the network." The [[Federal Trade Commission]] issued a consent order against Clearview in March 2022 barring the company from selling its database to private entities, following the documented deployment of the product by law enforcement, government clients, and private actors.[^17]
### New Zealand Citizenship ### New Zealand Citizenship
Thiel was granted [[New Zealand]] citizenship on August 4, 2011 under an "exceptional circumstances" provision that waived the standard 1,350-day residency requirement. Thiel had visited New Zealand four times before the grant and had never resided there. The *Guardian*, *New York Times*, and *Washington Post* reported in February 2017 that internal Department of Internal Affairs officials granted the waiver after Thiel made approximately ten million dollars in New Zealand investments (including stakes in [[Xero]]) and a one million dollar donation to [[Christchurch]] earthquake relief. Thiel described New Zealand as "the future" in his citizenship application.[^11] Thiel was granted [[New Zealand]] citizenship on August 4, 2011 under an "exceptional circumstances" provision that waived the standard 1,350-day residency requirement. Thiel had visited New Zealand four times before the grant and had never resided there. The *Guardian*, *New York Times*, and *Washington Post* reported in February 2017 that internal Department of Internal Affairs officials granted the waiver after Thiel made approximately ten million dollars in New Zealand investments (including stakes in [[Xero]]) and a one million dollar donation to [[Christchurch]] earthquake relief. Thiel described New Zealand as "the future" in his citizenship application.[^18]
The citizenship was not publicly disclosed for nearly six years. The February 2017 disclosure prompted criticism of the New Zealand government's use of the exceptional-circumstances provision for a non-resident billionaire. Thiel also acquired a 193-hectare estate near [[Lake Wanaka]] in the South Island, part of a documented pattern of Silicon Valley billionaire property acquisition in New Zealand. The New Zealand government subsequently tightened the investor-visa provisions.[^11] The citizenship was not publicly disclosed for nearly six years. The February 2017 disclosure prompted criticism of the New Zealand government's use of the exceptional-circumstances provision for a non-resident billionaire. Thiel also acquired a 193-hectare estate near [[Lake Wanaka]] in the South Island, part of a documented pattern of Silicon Valley billionaire property acquisition in New Zealand. The New Zealand government subsequently tightened the investor-visa provisions.[^18]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
@ -122,14 +126,17 @@ The citizenship was not publicly disclosed for nearly six years. The February 20
[^2]: Thiel, Peter, and Blake Masters. *Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.* Crown Business, 2014. [^2]: Thiel, Peter, and Blake Masters. *Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.* Crown Business, 2014.
[^3]: Yarvin, Curtis (Moldbug). "Unqualified Reservations" (blog), 2007 onward. See also Thiel, Peter. "The Education of a Libertarian." *Cato Unbound,* 2009. https://www.cato.org/cato-unbound/education-libertarian/ [^3]: Yarvin, Curtis (Moldbug). "Unqualified Reservations" (blog), 2007 onward. See also Thiel, Peter. "The Education of a Libertarian." *Cato Unbound,* 2009. https://www.cato.org/cato-unbound/education-libertarian/
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein document release. 2013 Dialog retreat invitation forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein, November 2012. Document D-23831. https://epsteinexposed.com/documents/d-23831 [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein document release. 2013 Dialog retreat invitation forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein, November 2012. Document D-23831. https://epsteinexposed.com/documents/d-23831
[^5]: "Peter Thiel Is Latest Billionaire Said to Have Met With Jeffrey Epstein." *New York Times,* May 18, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/business/jeffrey-epstein-peter-thiel.html [^5]: "René Girard," *Encyclopædia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Girard ; "Mimesis, Violence, and Facebook: Peter Thiel's French Connection," *Cyborgology,* August 13, 2016. https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/08/13/mimesis-violence-and-facebook-peter-thiels-french-connection-full-essay/ ; Imitatio, "What We Do." http://www.imitatio.org/about-imitatio
[^6]: "Jeffrey Epstein Encouraged Peter Thiel's Political Journey." *Jacobin,* April 2026. https://jacobin.com/2026/04/epstein-thiel-tech-finance-trump ; "What Peter Thiel Saw in Jeffrey Epstein." *The Nation,* 2026. https://www.thenation.com/?post_type=article&p=586795 [^6]: "What billionaire Peter Thiel said in his private 'Antichrist lectures.'" *Washington Post,* October 10, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/10/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures-leaked/ ; "Peter Thiel Thinks the Antichrist Is 'Someone Like' This AI Doomer That He Funded." *Gizmodo,* October 2025. https://gizmodo.com/peter-thiel-thinks-the-antichrist-is-someone-like-this-ai-doomer-that-he-funded-2000671027
[^7]: Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index, "Peter Thiel," cross-referencing the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) document releases, including EFTA01738574 (Feb 6, 2016 "secret society" email), EFTA00344556 and EFTA00344564 (2015 dinner guest list), and the Thiel-Churkin lunch record. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/peter-thiel.html [^7]: Hagey, Keach. *The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future.* W. W. Norton, 2025, on Thiel funding the Singularity Institute from 2005 and cofounding the 2006 Singularity Summit; cumulative donations cross-referenced against the MIRI donation timeline at timelines.issarice.com.
[^8]: "Exclusive: Tech Billionaire Peter Thiel Was an FBI Informant." *Business Insider,* October 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-fbi-informant-charles-johnson-johnathan-buma-chs-genius-2023-10 ; U.S. Congress, House Judiciary Committee, document referencing Thiel's CHS role, January 22, 2026. https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118881/documents/HHRG-119-JU00-20260122-SD011-U11.pdf [^8]: "Disrupting the White House: Peter Thiel's Influence is Shaping the National Security Council." *Just Security.* https://www.justsecurity.org/37466/disrupting-white-house-peter-thiels-influence-shaping-national-security-council/ ; "Peter Thiel: I won't take a job with Trump's administration." *Politico,* January 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/peter-thiel-no-job-trump-administration-233523 ; "Inside Trump's shadow national security council." *Washington Post,* January 19, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/19/inside-trumps-shadow-national-security-council/
[^9]: "Former FBI Special Agent Arrested for Disclosure of Confidential Information." *DOJ Office of Inspector General,* 2025. https://oig.justice.gov/news/press-release/former-fbi-special-agent-arrested-disclosure-confidential-information ; "FBI whistleblower claims he tried to get to Musk to warn him he was being targeted by Russia." *The Guardian,* May 22, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/fbi-whistleblower-musk-russia [^9]: "Peter Thiel Is Latest Billionaire Said to Have Met With Jeffrey Epstein." *New York Times,* May 18, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/business/jeffrey-epstein-peter-thiel.html
[^10]: "What We Learned About Clearview AI's Hidden 'Co-Founder.'" *New York Times,* March 18, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/technology/clearview-facial-recognition-ai.html ; "Business Partner Sues Chuck Johnson for Falsely Presenting as Intelligence Agent." *Semafor,* October 16, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/16/2024/business-partner-sues-chuck-johnson-for-falsely-presenting-as-intelligence-agent [^10]: "Jeffrey Epstein Encouraged Peter Thiel's Political Journey." *Jacobin,* April 2026. https://jacobin.com/2026/04/epstein-thiel-tech-finance-trump ; "What Peter Thiel Saw in Jeffrey Epstein." *The Nation,* 2026. https://www.thenation.com/?post_type=article&p=586795
[^11]: "Documents reveal how Peter Thiel was granted New Zealand citizenship." *The Guardian,* February 1, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/01/documents-reveal-how-peter-thiel-was-granted-new-zealand-citizenship ; "New Zealand Is 'the Future,' Peter Thiel Said in His Push for Citizenship." *New York Times,* February 1, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/business/peter-thiel-new-zealand-citizenship.html [^11]: Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index, "Peter Thiel," cross-referencing the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) document releases, including EFTA01738574 (Feb 6, 2016 "secret society" email), EFTA00344556 and EFTA00344564 (2015 dinner guest list), and the Thiel-Churkin lunch record. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/peter-thiel.html
[^12]: "Disrupting the White House: Peter Thiel's Influence is Shaping the National Security Council." *Just Security.* https://www.justsecurity.org/37466/disrupting-white-house-peter-thiels-influence-shaping-national-security-council/ ; "Peter Thiel: I won't take a job with Trump's administration." *Politico,* January 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/peter-thiel-no-job-trump-administration-233523 ; "Inside Trump's shadow national security council." *Washington Post,* January 19, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/19/inside-trumps-shadow-national-security-council/ [^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02074070, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Jeffrey Epstein (Hoffman & Thiel Dinner Party)," August 5, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02074070.pdf
[^13]: Hagey, Keach. *The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future.* W. W. Norton, 2025, on Thiel funding the Singularity Institute from 2005 and cofounding the 2006 Singularity Summit; cumulative donations cross-referenced against the MIRI donation timeline at timelines.issarice.com. [^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^14]: "What billionaire Peter Thiel said in his private 'Antichrist lectures.'" *Washington Post,* October 10, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/10/peter-thiel-antichrist-lectures-leaked/ ; "Peter Thiel Thinks the Antichrist Is 'Someone Like' This AI Doomer That He Funded." *Gizmodo,* October 2025. https://gizmodo.com/peter-thiel-thinks-the-antichrist-is-someone-like-this-ai-doomer-that-he-funded-2000671027 [^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain among Tomer Toor, Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein on the exercise of Carbyne warrants by SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, funded 66.67 percent by Southern Trust Inc., March 2019; and EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
[^15]: "René Girard," *Encyclopædia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Girard ; "Mimesis, Violence, and Facebook: Peter Thiel's French Connection," *Cyborgology,* August 13, 2016. https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/08/13/mimesis-violence-and-facebook-peter-thiels-french-connection-full-essay/ ; Imitatio, "What We Do." http://www.imitatio.org/about-imitatio [^15]: "Exclusive: Tech Billionaire Peter Thiel Was an FBI Informant." *Business Insider,* October 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-fbi-informant-charles-johnson-johnathan-buma-chs-genius-2023-10 ; U.S. Congress, House Judiciary Committee, document referencing Thiel's CHS role, January 22, 2026. https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118881/documents/HHRG-119-JU00-20260122-SD011-U11.pdf
[^16]: "Former FBI Special Agent Arrested for Disclosure of Confidential Information." *DOJ Office of Inspector General,* 2025. https://oig.justice.gov/news/press-release/former-fbi-special-agent-arrested-disclosure-confidential-information ; "FBI whistleblower claims he tried to get to Musk to warn him he was being targeted by Russia." *The Guardian,* May 22, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/fbi-whistleblower-musk-russia
[^17]: "What We Learned About Clearview AI's Hidden 'Co-Founder.'" *New York Times,* March 18, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/technology/clearview-facial-recognition-ai.html ; "Business Partner Sues Chuck Johnson for Falsely Presenting as Intelligence Agent." *Semafor,* October 16, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/16/2024/business-partner-sues-chuck-johnson-for-falsely-presenting-as-intelligence-agent
[^18]: "Documents reveal how Peter Thiel was granted New Zealand citizenship." *The Guardian,* February 1, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/01/documents-reveal-how-peter-thiel-was-granted-new-zealand-citizenship ; "New Zealand Is 'the Future,' Peter Thiel Said in His Push for Citizenship." *New York Times,* February 1, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/business/peter-thiel-new-zealand-citizenship.html

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---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- RonWyden
- SenateFinanceCommittee
- JeffreyEpstein
- LeonBlack
- SuspiciousActivityReports
- Surveillance
- Oregon
alias:
- Senator Ron Wyden
- Ronald Wyden
- Ronald Lee Wyden
summary: "Oregon Democratic senator since 1996 whose Senate Finance Committee staff investigated Leon Black's payments to Jeffrey Epstein and the banks that handled Epstein's money, from 2022 onward."
born: 1949-05-03
location: "Portland, Oregon"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States House of Representatives]]"
role: "Representative from Oregon"
start: 1981
end: 1996
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States Senate]]"
role: "Senator from Oregon"
start: 1996-01-30
fn: 1
- type: member_of
with: "[[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Senate Finance Committee]]"
role: "Chairman"
start: 2021
end: 2025
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[Senate Finance Committee]]"
role: "Ranking Member"
start: 2025
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Ronald Lee Wyden (born May 3, 1949, in [[Wichita, Kansas]]) is a Democratic senator from [[Oregon]], elected in a special election on January 30, 1996 after serving in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1981. He sits on the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]], the Budget and Energy and Natural Resources committees, and the [[Joint Committee on Taxation]], and is ranking member of the [[Senate Finance Committee]], which he chaired when his staff opened an inquiry in June 2022 into [[Leon Black]]'s payments to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. The inquiry grew into an investigation of the suspicious-activity reporting of [[JPMorgan Chase]], [[Deutsche Bank]] and [[Bank of America]], published as a report on August 4, 2026.[^1][^2][^3]
### Early Career
Wyden attended the [[University of California, Santa Barbara]] on a basketball scholarship, played two seasons of Division I basketball, and transferred to [[Stanford University]], where he completed his bachelor's degree. He received his law degree from the [[University of Oregon School of Law]] in 1974, taught gerontology, co-founded the Oregon chapter of the [[Gray Panthers]], and directed Oregon Legal Services for the Elderly from 1977 to 1979.[^1]
### Intelligence Oversight
At a March 12, 2013 open hearing of the Intelligence Committee, Wyden asked [[Director of National Intelligence]] [[James Clapper]] whether the [[National Security Agency]] collected "any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans." Clapper answered, "No, sir." After [[Edward Snowden]]'s disclosures, Clapper wrote to committee chair [[Dianne Feinstein]] on June 21, 2013 that he had been thinking of content rather than metadata collection under [[Section 215]] of the [[USA PATRIOT Act]] and that "my response was clearly erroneous, for which I apologize." A Wyden spokesman said Clapper's office had acknowledged the statement was inaccurate shortly after the hearing but "refused to correct the public record when given the opportunity."[^4] Wyden's Senate biography credits him with forcing the declassification of the [[CIA Inspector General]]'s report on the [[September 11 attacks]], shutting down the [[Total Information Awareness]] program, and drawing attention to the reliance of the Bush and Obama administrations on "secret law."[^1]
### The Leon Black Inquiry
The Finance Committee's inquiry began in June 2022, prompted, in the committee's words, by "inconsistencies" in the report that the law firm [[Dechert]] prepared for [[Apollo Global Management]]'s board on Black's payments of 158 million dollars to Epstein. On July 25, 2023 Wyden, as chairman, announced that the investigation had found a transaction Epstein devised to help Black avoid more than one billion dollars in federal gift and estate taxes, and that Black "improperly received excess income from Apollo partnership interests held in a trust, assets he indicated to the IRS he no longer owned." Black's representatives told the committee that the [[Internal Revenue Service]] had not audited any of the transactions or trusts.[^3]
On March 11, 2025, by then ranking member, Wyden wrote to Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] and [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] Director [[Kash Patel]] that Black's bank had not filed a suspicious activity report on about 156 million dollars in wires to Epstein until February 2020, six months after Epstein's death, and had flagged two more wires in a second report in October 2020. He wrote that committee staff had found 12 million dollars in wires that the Apollo board's review had not identified, and that "I have not received any explanation from Black's attorneys as to why the Apollo Board's investigation omitted or failed to identify these $12 million payments or their purpose."[^5] On June 4, 2026 he referred his findings to the [[House Oversight Committee]] ahead of Black's deposition there, writing that unsealed [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] files indicated Epstein "kept close tabs of women who Black had reached settlements/NDAs with and reached out to Russian government officials to help Black with these so-called problems" and "appears to have acted as a middleman for Black to pay women on Black's behalf." Black's counsel [[Aaron Cutler]] of [[Hogan Lovells]] had written to Wyden on April 13, 2026 that the inquiry concerned a "private citizen's personal life" and sought to "unfairly harass" Black.[^6]
### The Treasury Records and the Banks
On February 14, 2024 bipartisan Finance Committee staff reviewed Epstein-related suspicious activity reports in camera at a Treasury Department reading room. On April 4, 2024 Wyden asked Bank of America chief executive [[Brian Moynihan]] sixteen questions about its handling of Black's payments; the bank's counsel replied on May 6, 2024 that it would not cooperate absent a subpoena. Wyden asked Bessent for the Treasury's Epstein file on March 11, June 16 and September 2, 2025. Treasury declined each time and on January 22, 2026 told him it had provided the records to the Republican-led [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] instead.[^2][^5]
On September 9, 2025 Wyden introduced the [[Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act]] (S. 2746), requiring Treasury to give Congress the Epstein suspicious activity reports, a list of filing institutions, and a report on any [[Bank Secrecy Act]] investigations of those institutions. On March 3, 2026 he asked unanimous consent to pass it, telling the Senate that his staff had seen records of "4,725 wire transfers adding up to more than $1 billion in and out of his JPMorgan bank accounts in the decade after 2003" and that "there could be more than $1.5 billion in suspicious Epstein transactions." Finance Committee chairman [[Mike Crapo]] objected, stating that the House Oversight and Judiciary committees were leading the review and that the Banking Committee, not Finance, had jurisdiction over suspicious activity reports.[^7] Wyden's report stated that his office had approached Senator [[Marsha Blackburn]]'s staff from June 2024 about a bipartisan subpoena for Epstein bank records and later about cosponsoring the bill, and received no commitment; Blackburn had said publicly in February 2025 that her "efforts to crack the Epstein trafficking ring wide open have been stonewalled by Democrats at every turn."[^2]
Wyden's September 24, 2025 letter to [[Jamie Dimon]] set out 31 questions about the bank's Epstein accounts and its six-year delay in filing reports after exiting him in 2013; JPMorgan's October 10, 2025 reply answered none of them and attributed all misconduct to [[Jes Staley]].[^8][^9] On January 15, 2026 he wrote to [[BNY Mellon]] about Epstein transactions processed through its [[Pershing]] subsidiary; its counsel also declined to cooperate.[^2] In February 2026, after reports that Epstein and associates had been targets of a federal drug-trafficking, prostitution and money-laundering investigation, he asked the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] for its results, and he later announced that Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]], [[Donald Trump]]'s former personal lawyer, had intervened to block the [[DEA]] from complying.[^10]
### Looking the Other Way
The August 4, 2026 report, "Looking the Other Way," concluded that JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America likely violated federal anti-money-laundering law by failing to report Epstein's transactions in time, identified Bank of America as the bank that held Black's accounts and filed the February 7, 2020 report, and named thirteen bankers, among them [[Mary Erdoes]], [[Stephen Cutler]], Staley and [[Paul Morris]], whose conduct it said merited investigation. It called for criminal investigations of Epstein's lawyer [[Darren Indyke]] and accountants [[Richard Kahn]] and [[Harry Beller]], stating that federal prosecutors had never questioned them; none of the three has been charged with a crime. It also stated that Wyden had given a taped interview on March 26, 2026 to [[60 Minutes]] correspondent [[Sharyn Alfonsi]] for a segment on the banks and the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] government, that CBS News leadership under [[Bari Weiss]] fired Alfonsi shortly afterward, and that the interview had not aired.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Office of Senator Ron Wyden, "Meet Ron," accessed September 25, 2026. https://www.wyden.senate.gov/meet-ron
[^2]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 3-6, 50-61. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf ; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Report on Failure of Wall Street Banks to Blow the Whistle on Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking and Money Laundering Schemes," August 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-report-on-failure-of-wall-street-banks-to-blow-the-whistle-on-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-and-money-laundering-schemes
[^3]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^4]: "Director of National Intelligence apologizes for his 'clearly erroneous' NSA testimony," *NBC News / Associated Press,* July 2, 2013. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna52381116
[^5]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1 ; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Information on Financing of Jeffrey Epstein's Operations by Billionaire Leon Black, Seeks Documents from Trump Administration," March 12, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-information-on-financing-of-jeffrey-epsteins-operations-by-billionaire-leon-black-seeks-documents-from-trump-administration
[^6]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding Leon Black, June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf
[^7]: Congressional Record, vol. 172, no. 40 (March 3, 2026), Senate, pp. S748 ff. (Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act, unanimous consent request and objection). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2026-03-03/html/CREC-2026-03-03-pt1-PgS748-2.htm ; S. 2746, 119th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2746
[^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]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Releases New Report on Failure of Wall Street Banks to Blow the Whistle on Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking and Money Laundering Schemes," August 4, 2026 (background section). https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-releases-new-report-on-failure-of-wall-street-banks-to-blow-the-whistle-on-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-and-money-laundering-schemes

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---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
- Organization
- VirginIslands
- JeffreyEpstein
- TaxIncentives
- SouthernTrust
- GovernmentCapture
- RegulatoryFailure
alias:
- Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission
- V.I. Economic Development Commission
- USVI Economic Development Commission
- EDC
summary: "The Economic Development Commission is the U.S. Virgin Islands tax-incentive board that granted Jeffrey Epstein's Financial Trust and Southern Trust companies benefits from 1999 until his death, after his sex-offender registration."
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]]"
role: "subsidiary commission"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Financial Trust Company]]"
start: 1999
fn: 3
- type: funded
with: "[[Southern Trust Company]]"
start: 2013-02-01
end: 2023-01-31
role: "10-year certificate, 90 percent income-tax exemption"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Stacey Plaskett]]"
reverse: true
start: 2007
end: 2014
role: "general counsel"
fn: 3
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Sandra Bess]]"
reverse: true
role: "program compliance officer"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The Economic Development Commission is the board of the [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] that grants tax-incentive certificates to companies operating in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], trading large reductions in territorial income, gross-receipts, excise, and withholding taxes for local employment and investment. It certified [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] [[Financial Trust Company]] from 1999 and his [[Southern Trust Company]] from 2013, and his companies kept their benefits after his 2008 [[Florida]] conviction, his 2010 registration as a sex offender in the territory, and a January 2015 internal query about "current media discussions surrounding a principal of Southern Trust Company." The future governor [[Albert Bryan]] chaired the commission when it issued Southern Trust's certificate in January 2014, and the future congressional delegate [[Stacey Plaskett]] was its general counsel from 2007 to 2014. A consultant retained by [[JPMorgan Chase]] put Epstein's total benefits at about 300 million dollars.[^1][^2][^3]
### Structure and the Incentive Program
The commission is a subsidiary of the Economic Development Authority, a semi-autonomous territorial instrumentality created and governed under Title 29, section 1101 of the Virgin Islands Code. Beneficiaries apply, present their business at a public hearing, and receive a certificate setting the term, the percentage exemptions, and the employment, residency, and charitable-giving conditions they must meet. The authority's compliance staff then review annual reports submitted by the certificate holders.[^1][^2]
Its general counsel from 2007 to 2014 was Stacey Plaskett, who had worked for the St. Thomas attorney [[Erika Kellerhals]] before her election as the territory's delegate to the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]. Kellerhals represented Epstein before the commission. The attorney [[Henry Smock]], who assisted Epstein in the 1998 purchase of [[Little St. James]], served for years as counsel to the authority's board. Plaskett, like the other officials named in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein files]], has denied wrongdoing.[^3]
### Financial Trust Company, 1999 to 2012
Epstein bought Little St. James in 1998 and incorporated Financial Trust Company in the territory on November 6, 1998. The commission granted it benefits beginning in 1999. The authority did not audit Financial Trust until 2008, nearly ten years after the original grant. Asked in a May 2023 deposition whether it would be unusual for a certificate holder to go nine years without a compliance report, the compliance officer [[Sandra Bess]] answered, "It is, should not be unusual but it maybe has happened in one or two cases." Financial Trust reported assets of 212 million dollars on its last public balance sheet, filed in 2012.[^1][^2]
[[Cecile de Jongh]], the wife of Governor [[John de Jongh]], was office manager of Financial Trust from 2007 and dealt with the authority on the company's compliance; Bess identified her as the company's "compliance person." When a Washington reporter asked Government House in 2012 whether she had helped the company obtain its benefits, she proposed a response to Epstein: "Cecile de Jongh currently works for Financial Trust Company in the capacity of office manager. She had nothing to do with Financial Trust Company receiving EDC tax benefits." Epstein wrote back, "I would simply state that you are an office manager," and she replied, "That's what John went with."[^2][^4][^5]
### Southern Trust Company, 2012 to 2019
Southern Trust was incorporated on November 18, 2011 as Financial Informatics, Inc., and renamed in September 2012; most of Epstein's territorial companies were created in 2011 and 2012, after his 2010 registration as a sex offender. It applied to the commission in October 2012. At a public hearing on November 15, 2012, Epstein and Kellerhals testified under oath that the company provided "cutting edge consulting services" in "biomedical and financial informatics." According to the hearing transcript, no one asked Epstein about his conviction or registration.[^1][^2]
The commission granted Southern Trust a ten-year package running from February 1, 2013 to January 31, 2023, with a 90 percent exemption from income taxes and 100 percent exemptions from gross-receipts, excise, and withholding taxes. The certificate is dated January 24, 2014 and signed by Bryan, as chairman, and Epstein, as president. That day Cecile de Jongh asked Epstein to match 15,000 dollars she had raised for her husband's final State of the Territory reception, and an hour later asked Epstein's accountant [[Richard Kahn]] to "prepare a check for $15,000 made payable to Governor's Special Events Fund." Bryan and Governor de Jongh both signed off on an extension of the Southern Trust benefits, and Bryan was serving as commission chairman and as the territory's Commissioner of Labor at the same time in 2013.[^1][^2][^3]
Between 2013 and 2019 Southern Trust employed thirteen people besides Epstein, eleven of them in administrative or support roles. The territory later alleged that its information-technology manager, reported as a Virgin Islands resident, held a Florida driver's license with a Miami address and served as Epstein's driver; that an "executive assistant" lived at 301 East 66th Street in Manhattan, a building Epstein's address book listed as an "Apt. for models"; and that another employee was represented by Kahn as an interior designer and a dentist. Southern Trust affirmed to the commission that it had no non-resident employees while employing non-residents, had no visible clients, and held no investments for others.[^1]
### The Money
Southern Trust reported net income of 50.3 million dollars in 2013, 67.5 million in 2014, 52.8 million in 2015, 4.8 million in 2016, and 17.1 million in 2017, and about 184 million dollars in revenue for 2013 to 2017. Bank records showed that "virtually all" of its income came from a single source, which the territory's complaint did not name. "In all, the single source paid $158 million to Defendant Southern Trust Company from 2013 to 2017, which constitutes 85% of the total revenues reported by Southern Trust Company. These funds appear to have not been used to pay for informatics or datamining services." The money moved through other Epstein entities and personal accounts, with [[Darren Indyke]] as signatory on the company's primary account and Kahn as treasurer. An independent review commissioned by [[Apollo Global Management]] found that the Apollo co-founder [[Leon Black]] paid Epstein about 158 million dollars between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate-planning advice.[^1][^6]
For 2013 through 2017 Southern Trust received tax exemptions of 73.6 million dollars, and after it elected S-corporation status Epstein's personal income-tax exemption for the period was 71.3 million dollars. Including gross-receipts taxes, the territory estimated that the certificate allowed Epstein to avoid 80,576,236 dollars in taxes. Southern Trust had assets of about 391 million dollars by 2015. The authority's records show Epstein's companies received 144.9 million dollars in incentives between 2013 and 2019 alone, according to filings by the Virgin Islands [[Department of Justice]].[^1][^5]
### Oversight
Bess testified that compliance review consisted of checking that the figures on the summary page of a beneficiary's annual report matched the supporting pages, "many of which were authored by the company itself": "I would look at the presentation and what was presented at the back and ensure that the numbers total." Asked whether any part of her job involved "reviewing the character of the people who are the owners of the companies receiving tax benefits," she said no, and said such review "would usually come from the application side."[^2]
In January 2015 the authority's director of compliance requested an assessment of the impact on Southern Trust's business "in light of current media discussions surrounding a principal of Southern Trust Company." Southern Trust kept its benefits for five more years. On July 10, 2019, four days after Epstein's arrest in [[New Jersey]], authority spokeswoman Shanell Petersen advised the authority's "Business Ambassador," Governor Bryan's wife [[Yolanda Bryan]], about two press inquiries concerning "Jeffrey Epstein being an active EDC Beneficiary": "I recommend contacting Southern Trust and IYG (companies which he has ownership interest) to update them that we have provided public information based on the Sunshine Act... Informing them will allow them to prepare their PR team." Smock was part of the authority's nine-step protocol for answering press inquiries after the arrest. In October 2019, when a [[The New York Times|New York Times]] reporter asked about oversight of Epstein's companies, managing director [[Margarita Benjamin]] forwarded the query to colleagues: "I personally think the questions are opening us up to public scrutiny."[^2][^3]
### Litigation and Aftermath
In its January 2020 civil action against the Epstein estate, the territory alleged that Southern Trust fraudulently induced the commission to grant its benefits. The November 2022 settlement returned "more than $80 million in economic development tax benefits that Epstein and his co-defendants fraudulently obtained." In the territory's 2022 suit against JPMorgan, the bank's consultant [[Carlyn Irwin]] found that "the EDC did not investigate or question" Epstein's claims, including "computer generated solutions for medical problems"; that the territory, expecting 1.30 dollars in economic benefit for each dollar of tax benefit, received a return of pennies on the dollar; and that "giving Mr. Epstein $300 million in benefits made no economic sense." Irwin also found that Epstein "funneled a $15,000 donation from Southern Trust to Ms. Plaskett and a $10,000 donation to the Mapp-Potter Inaugural committee." Plaskett acknowledged in a May 2023 deposition receiving about 30,000 dollars in campaign contributions from Epstein and his employees.[^3][^5][^7]
The Virgin Islands Department of Justice answered JPMorgan's account of the program through its spokesperson Venetia Velazquez, who said that "the USVI identified and addressed deficiencies in Southern Trust's and Financial Trust's compliance with the federal tax incentive program." As of June 2023 the territory had not amended its law to bar registered sex offenders from obtaining incentive certificates. Companies affiliated with the investor [[Stephen Deckoff]], who bought Little St. James and [[Great St. James]] from the Epstein estate in 2023, have held commission benefits since 2012.[^2][^5][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 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 37, 137 to 140, and 157 to 176, 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), ECF pp. 29 to 37. 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 (EDC as EDA subsidiary under 29 V.I.C. section 1101; Southern Trust incorporation, application, hearing, grant terms, staffing, income, single-source payments, tax figures).
[^2]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/ (benefits from 1999; Bess deposition; 2008 first audit; January 2015 compliance letter; October 2019 Benjamin email; January 24, 2014 certificate; Velazquez statement).
[^3]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (300 million dollars in benefits; Plaskett as EDC general counsel 2007 to 2014; Smock as EDA board counsel; Petersen report and Yolanda Bryan notation; Bryan and de Jongh extension; Irwin report).
[^4]: "Virgin Islands governor's wife employed by convicted sex-offender billionaire." *The Daily Caller,* April 22, 2012. https://dailycaller.com/2012/04/22/virgin-islands-governors-wife-employed-by-convicted-sex-offender-billionaire/
[^5]: 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 (2012 response exchange; 144.9 million dollars in incentives 2013 to 2019; Plaskett deposition; no amendment of the law).
[^6]: "Apollo Announces Review of Significant Governance Enhancements as Part of Continued Evolution and Institutionalization of the Firm and Leadership Transition." *Apollo Global Management,* January 25, 2021. https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2021/01/apollo-announces-review-of-significant-governance-enhancements-as-part-of-continued-evolution-and-institutionalization-of-the-firm-and-leadership-transition-211534651 (Dechert LLP review: about 158 million dollars paid by Black to Epstein, 2012 to 2017).
[^7]: "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/
[^8]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Still no resort plans for Epstein's islands purchased by Deckoff." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 6, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/still-no-resort-plans-for-epsteins-islands-purchased-by-deckoff/article_84d776de-8427-4080-a1b5-6cf81418e23d.html (Black Diamond Advisors and Black Diamond Holdings receiving EDC benefits since 2012).

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---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
- Organization
- VirginIslands
- JeffreyEpstein
- GovernmentCapture
- JPMorganChase
- SexOffenderRegistration
- Litigation
alias:
- Government of the Virgin Islands
- Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands
- USVI government
- GVI
summary: "The Government of the United States Virgin Islands is the territorial executive that registered and subsidized Jeffrey Epstein for two decades and after his death recovered about 180 million dollars in Epstein-related settlements."
location: "Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Kenneth Mapp]]"
reverse: true
start: 2015-01-05
end: 2019-01-07
role: "governor"
fn: 7
- type: investigated
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
start: 2022-12-27
end: 2023-09
role: "Trafficking Victims Protection Act suit, settled for 75 million dollars"
fn: 8
- type: investigated
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
end: 2023-01
role: "potential Epstein-related claims, resolved by a 62.5 million dollar payment"
fn: 10
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The Government of the [[United States]] Virgin Islands is the executive government of the unincorporated U.S. territory of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], headed by an elected governor with supervision over all executive departments under the [[Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands|Organic Act]]. From 1998, when [[Jeffrey Epstein]] bought [[Little St. James]], to his death in 2019, its agencies registered him as a sex offender, verified his address, received his travel notices, inspected his construction, and through the [[Economic Development Commission]] granted his companies tax benefits later put at about 300 million dollars, while the wife of one governor managed his office and the next two governors' inaugural committees solicited or received his money. After his death the government, as plaintiff, sued his estate and [[JPMorgan Chase]], and with a payment from [[Leon Black]] recovered about 180 million dollars after legal fees. JPMorgan Chase argued in that litigation that the government itself had shielded Epstein, which the government called an attempt to shift blame.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Governors and Attorneys General
Three governors held office during and after Epstein's years as a registered sex offender in the territory: [[John de Jongh]] (2007 to 2015), [[Kenneth Mapp]] (2015 to 2019), and [[Albert Bryan]] (from January 7, 2019). Bryan served as de Jongh's Commissioner of Labor from 2007 to 2015 and, in 2013 and 2014, simultaneously chaired the Economic Development Commission. De Jongh's wife, [[Cecile de Jongh]], was office manager of Epstein's territorial companies throughout her husband's two terms. In March 2026 Bryan said the Organic Act gave the governor authority to order any department to act: "I could just tell them do it, you don't do it, you're fired."[^3][^5][^6]
The Attorney General heads the [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice]], which kept the territory's sex-offender registry. [[Vincent Frazer]] allowed Epstein to give 24 hours' notice of travel instead of the usual 21 days; acting Attorney General [[Carol Thomas-Jacobs]] rescinded that arrangement in March 2019 after Epstein was detained in the [[Dominican Republic]]. [[Denise George]], appointed by Bryan in 2019, filed the cases against the estate and JPMorgan and was fired on December 31, 2022. She was followed by Thomas-Jacobs, again acting, and by [[Ariel Smith]], who had been Civil Division chief on the estate case. In 2024 Bryan appointed [[Gordon Rhea]], who had represented Epstein's co-executor [[Richard Kahn]] in the estate litigation and said he would recuse himself from Epstein matters.[^3][^4][^7]
### Registration and Monitoring
Epstein registered as a sex offender in the territory in 2010 as a Tier 1 offender on the strength of his 2008 [[Florida]] conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, which required annual registration, advance notice of travel, and random address checks. Most of his territorial companies were created in 2011 and 2012, soon after he registered. At his last verification, in July 2018, he refused to let Department of Justice investigators, assisted by [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]], go beyond the dock of Little St. James, calling the dock his "front door," and arranged to meet them at his office on St. Thomas. His March 19, 2019 notice of a ten-day trip to France omitted travel to [[Vienna]] and [[Monaco]]. The [[Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources|Department of Planning and Natural Resources]] found his inspections of unpermitted construction on [[Great St. James]] objected to as "invasions" of his constitutional right to privacy in a home he defined as the entire island.[^2]
In May 2019 Bryan's nominee for planning commissioner, [[Jean-Pierre Oriol]], said publicly that Epstein was continuing construction on Great St. James despite a stop-work order; Epstein complained to Bryan, who replied "We got u." Following Epstein's July 2019 arrest, George said a civil claim filed in New York was insufficient to open a territorial investigation without a local complaint. Asked in March 2026 about territorial oversight of Epstein, Bryan said, "Are there any victims in the Virgin Islands saying they were abused?"[^5]
### Money and Access
The Economic Development Commission granted Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] benefits from 1999 and his [[Southern Trust Company]] a ten-year package from February 1, 2013, certified on January 24, 2014 over Bryan's signature as chairman. The territory later estimated that the Southern Trust certificate allowed Epstein to avoid 80,576,236 dollars in taxes; Economic Development Authority records put his incentives from 2013 to 2019 at 144.9 million dollars. The commission's general counsel from 2007 to 2014 was [[Stacey Plaskett]], who later became the territory's delegate to Congress and acknowledged receiving about 30,000 dollars in campaign contributions from Epstein and his employees.[^2][^3][^8][^9]
The JPMorgan exhibits record Epstein's office handling requests from the governors' political committees. In December 2014 Cecile de Jongh asked him to confirm a 10,000 dollar donation from Southern Trust to the Mapp-Potter inaugural committee; on September 1, 2016 Epstein told her to "prepare a check for mapps super pac. For 75k"; and on December 20, 2018 she relayed a request from the Bryan/Roach inaugural committee for 25,000 dollars. The JPMorgan exhibits do not show whether the Bryan committee was paid. The former senator [[Celestino White]], whom Bryan renominated to the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]] board, had offered to work on Epstein's behalf, including on the purchase of the government-owned Dog Island.[^5][^9]
### Litigation and Recovery
On January 15, 2020 George sued the estate in the Superior Court under the territory's Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, naming the co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and Richard Kahn and Epstein's companies. The case settled on November 30, 2022 for 105 million dollars, half the proceeds of the sale of Little St. James (about 11 million dollars), and 450,000 dollars for remediation on Great St. James; the law firm [[Motley Rice]], retained on contingency, stood to receive more than 23 million dollars. In January 2023 Leon Black paid 62.5 million dollars to resolve potential claims. The government sued JPMorgan on December 27, 2022 in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] before Judge [[Jed Rakoff]], and the bank settled in September 2023 for 75 million dollars.[^1][^4][^8][^9][^10]
JPMorgan's defense was that "the entity that most directly failed to protect public safety and most actively facilitated and benefited from Epstein's continued criminal activity was the plaintiff in this case, the USVI government itself." The government's spokesperson Venetia Velazquez said the bank had "cherry-picked and mischaracterized Epstein's interactions with U.S. Virgin Islands officials" and that "the USVI identified and addressed deficiencies in Southern Trust's and Financial Trust's compliance." In an October 2023 interview with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], George said Bryan had pressed her to grant Epstein a travel-notice waiver in 2019 and later to settle the estate case for 80 million dollars through the attorney [[Henry Smock]], saying the estate "just wanted to clear people"; Bryan has said Epstein received no special privilege from his administration.[^3][^5][^8]
The government received about 180 million dollars in Epstein-related settlements after Motley Rice's fees. A 2024 territorial law required a full report on how the money was spent; as of January 2026 the Bryan administration had not filed it, and it was unclear how much remained. As of June 2023 the territory had not amended its law to bar registered sex offenders from obtaining economic-development tax benefits.[^3][^9]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "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/
[^2]: 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 6, 132 to 137, 157 to 159, and 175, 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), ECF pp. 3, 28 to 30, 33 to 34, 37. 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]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html
[^4]: "Virgin Islands prosecutor fired after accusing JPMorgan of aiding Epstein's sex trafficking ring." *The Washington Times,* January 3, 2023. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/3/virgin-islands-prosecutor-fired-after-accusing-jpm/
[^5]: 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
[^6]: "DOJ Drops Charges Against Former Governor De Jongh After $380,000 Settlement." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* January 22, 2016. https://viconsortium.com/vi-vic_news/doj-drops-charges-against-former-governor-de-jongh-with-prejudice-after-380000-settlement
[^7]: "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
[^8]: "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. 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/ ; "US Virgin Islands sue JPMorgan Chase over handling of Jeffrey Epstein accounts." *JURIST,* December 30, 2022. https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/12/us-virgin-islands-sue-jp-morgan-over-handling-of-jeffery-epstein-accounts/ ; "Attorney general going after Jeffrey Epstein's estate says she was fired for her dogged pursuit." *Fortune,* November 17, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/11/17/jeffrey-epstein-us-virgin-islands-jpmorgan-attorney-general-investigation-fired/
[^9]: 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
[^10]: "Financier and MoMA Trustee Leon Black Agrees to Pay $62.5 Million to Settle Jeffrey Epstein-Related Claims in the Virgin Islands." *Artnet News,* 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/leon-black-62-million-settlement-with-virgin-islands-epstein-claims-2341599

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---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
- Organization
- Government
- Congress
- CongressionalOversight
- JeffreyEpstein
- EpsteinFiles
- Subpoena
- ContemptOfCongress
alias:
- House Oversight Committee
- House Committee on Oversight and Accountability
- House Committee on Oversight and Reform
- United States House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
- House Government Reform and Oversight Committee
- House Committee on Government Reform
- United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
summary: "Principal investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, which from 2025 subpoenaed Jeffrey Epstein's estate, deposed Bill and Hillary Clinton, subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi and cited Leon Black for contempt."
start: 1927
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[James Comer]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Bill Clinton]]"
start: 2025-08
end: 2026-02
role: "subpoena, contempt vote and deposition in the Epstein inquiry"
fn: 12
- type: investigated
with: "[[Alexander Acosta]]"
start: 2025-09
role: "deposition on the 2008 non-prosecution agreement"
fn: 9
- type: investigated
with: "[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]"
start: 2025-07
end: 2026-02
role: "subpoena and deposition"
fn: 10
- type: investigated
with: "[[Pam Bondi]]"
start: 2026-03-04
role: "subpoena for testimony on the Epstein files"
fn: 3
- type: investigated
with: "[[Leon Black]]"
start: 2026-03-03
end: 2026-09-16
role: "subpoenas and contempt of Congress citation"
fn: 15
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal investigative committee of the [[United States House of Representatives]], with jurisdiction over the operations of the federal government and authority to investigate any matter within the jurisdiction of any other House committee. It was formed in 1927 as the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments and has since been renamed several times with changes of party control: Government Operations from 1952, Government Reform and Oversight from 1995, Government Reform from 1997, Oversight and Government Reform from 2007, Oversight and Reform from 2019, and Oversight and Accountability for the 118th Congress (2023 to 2025). The rules package of the 119th Congress restored the name Oversight and Government Reform in January 2025.[^1] Its chairman is [[James Comer]] of Kentucky; its ranking Democrat is [[Robert Garcia]] of California.[^2][^3]
### Earlier Investigations
As the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight under [[Dan Burton]], the committee investigated fundraising for the 1996 Clinton campaign; its 1998 interim report traced the partnership between the [[Lippo Group]] of the [[James Riady|Riady]] family and the [[Jackson Stephens|Stephens]] family of Arkansas through [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] and [[Worthen Bank]].[^4] On July 2, 2008, the chairman [[Henry Waxman]] released documents showing that officials of the State and Commerce Departments knew of [[Hunt Oil]]'s interest in Iraqi Kurdistan months before its contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government.[^5] On July 26, 2023, a subcommittee of the renamed Committee on Oversight and Accountability heard [[David Grusch]], formerly of the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], testify that officials had told him of special access programs for the retrieval of unidentified anomalous phenomena that had not been disclosed to Congress.[^6]
In February 2025 Comer created a Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets under Representative [[Anna Paulina Luna]], with a remit covering the assassinations of [[John F. Kennedy]], [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], unidentified aerial phenomena, the origins of COVID-19, the September 11 attacks and the Epstein "client list." Its Republican members included [[Nancy Mace]], [[Lauren Boebert]] and [[Tim Burchett]]. The task force had no subpoena power of its own.[^7]
### The Epstein Inquiry
On August 25, 2025, Comer subpoenaed the estate of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and the committee also approved subpoenas to former officials and to Bill and [[Hillary Clinton]]. On September 2, 2025, it released records received from the [[Department of Justice]], and on September 8 the estate's first production, including the fiftieth-birthday album assembled by [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in 2003. Comer said Democrats were "cherry-picking documents" and that "President Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing," and the committee stated that it had "obtained information about Epstein's bank accounts" and would "pursue these bank records."[^8] [[Alexander Acosta]], who as United States Attorney in Miami negotiated the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|2008 non-prosecution agreement]], sat for a closed deposition of about six hours in September 2025, and the committee released the transcript on October 17.[^9] On a motion by Burchett, Comer subpoenaed Maxwell in July 2025 for a deposition at the federal prison in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] on August 11. Her lawyers asked for immunity and wrote that if she "were to receive clemency" she would testify in public; the committee refused immunity and postponed the deposition. By then she had already been interviewed by Deputy Attorney General [[Todd Blanche]] on July 24 and 25 under a grant of limited immunity and moved to a minimum-security camp in Texas. At her deposition in early February 2026 she invoked the Fifth Amendment in answer to every question, and her lawyer said she would testify if [[Donald Trump]] granted her clemency.[^10]
On November 12, 2025, the committee's Democrats released three estate emails, including a 2019 message to the writer [[Michael Wolff]] in which Epstein wrote that Donald Trump "knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop," and a 2015 exchange in which Wolff suggested that a denial by Trump of having been on the plane or at the house would give Epstein "a valuable PR and political currency." Garcia said the emails "raise serious questions about what else the [[White House]] is hiding." Committee Republicans released about 20,000 pages from the estate the same day.[^11]
The Clintons declined to appear under the subpoenas. On January 21, 2026, the committee voted 34 to 8 to recommend that Bill Clinton be held in contempt of Congress and 28 to 15 for Hillary Clinton; nine Democrats voted for the first resolution and three for the second. Both were then deposed in late February 2026 near their home in Chappaqua, New York, where Bill Clinton said, "I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," and video of the depositions was released in early March.[^12][^13]
On March 4, 2026, on a motion by Mace, the committee voted 24 to 19 to subpoena Attorney General [[Pam Bondi]], with Mace, Burchett, Boebert, [[Michael Cloud]] and [[Scott Perry]] joining the Democrats; Comer had told members that Bondi's chief of staff offered to brief small groups instead. Mace said: "The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history." The subpoena, issued on March 17, set a deposition for April 14.[^3] Donald Trump removed Bondi on April 2. Comer said he would consult committee Republicans on whether to pursue the subpoena; Garcia said Bondi "remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath."[^14]
On March 3, 2026, Comer asked [[Leon Black]], the co-founder of [[Apollo Global Management]] who paid Epstein about 158 million dollars, for a transcribed interview into how the federal government "for decades failed survivors" and "how Mr. Epstein sought to curry favor with influential individuals to avoid scrutiny." The [[Senate Committee on Finance]] minority referred its own findings on Black to the committee on June 4, 2026. Black walked out of a voluntary interview on June 26, 2026, and was subpoenaed for a deposition and for the nondisclosure agreements he had signed, including any with Epstein's victims; he did not appear on September 3 and sued the committee and Comer in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]] (Black v. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, No. 1:26-cv-03084). The committee voted 41 to 0 on September 15 to recommend contempt, and on September 16, 2026, the House held Black in contempt by unanimous consent, the first witness in the Epstein inquiry so cited, with referral to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Comer said: "No one is above the law." Black's lawyers called the action "outrageous."[^15][^16][^17][^18]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Congressional Research Service, *House Rules Changes Affecting Committee Procedure in the 119th Congress (2025-2026),* R48466. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48466 ; U.S. Government Publishing Office, "House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform," committee publications index. https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-oversight
[^2]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "About," committee website, accessed September 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/about/
[^3]: Dareh Gregorian, Kyle Stewart, Owen Hayes and Michael Kosnar, "House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Pam Bondi for testimony on Epstein files," NBC News, March 4, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/pam-bondi-subpoenaed-testify-epstein-files-house-oversight-committee-rcna261779 ; House Oversight Committee Democrats, "Ranking Member Robert Garcia Statement on Securing Subpoena for Attorney General Pam Bondi," March 4, 2026. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-robert-garcia-statement-on-securing-subpoena-for-attorney-general-pam-bondi-to-testify-before-oversight-in-epstein-files-cover-up ; Office of Representative Nancy Mace, "Rep. Nancy Mace Issues Statement After Oversight Committee Issues Subpoena to AG," March 17, 2026. https://mace.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-nancy-mace-issues-statement-after-oversight-committee-issues-subpoena-ag
[^4]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law: Interim Report.* House Report 105-829, 105th Congress, 2nd Session, 1998, vol. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
[^5]: Waxman, Henry A., letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 2, 2008, as reported in "U.S. officials condoned Kurdish oil deal," NBC News, July 2008. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25506968
[^6]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. *Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency,* hearing, July 26, 2023.
[^7]: "Congress creates task force to look into UAPs, COVID origins, JFK assassination, Epstein client list," The Washington Times, February 11, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/11/congress-creates-task-force-investigate-uaps-covid/
[^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Releases Records Provided by the Epstein Estate, Chairman Comer Provides Statement," September 8, 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-records-provided-by-the-epstein-estate-chairman-comer-provides-statement/ ; "US representative files discharge petition to compel release of Epstein investigation documents," JURIST, September 5, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/09/us-representative-files-discharge-petition-to-compel-release-of-epstein-investigation-documents/
[^9]: "Alex Acosta, former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's plea deal, appears before House Oversight Committee," ABC News, September 2025 (transcript released October 17, 2025). https://abcnews.com/Politics/alex-acosta-former-us-attorney-negotiated-epsteins-plea/story?id=125731737
[^10]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Chairman Comer Subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell for Deposition at Federal Prison," July 2025. https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-subpoenas-ghislaine-maxwell-for-deposition-at-federal-prison ; "House Oversight Committee rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's request for immunity," NBC News, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-oversight-committee-rejects-ghislaine-maxwells-request-immunity-rcna221773 ; "Ghislaine Maxwell pleads the Fifth, with lawyer saying she'll testify in Epstein probe if Trump grants her clemency," CBS News, February 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-house-oversight-committee-deposition-fifth-amendment/ ; Office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, "Whitehouse Demands Documents on Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to Minimum-Security Bureau of Prisons Facility," August 11, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-demands-documents-on-transfer-of-ghislaine-maxwell-to-minimum-security-bureau-of-prisons-facility
[^11]: House Oversight Committee Democrats, press release, November 12, 2025. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-oversight-committee-releases-jeffrey-epstein-email-correspondence-raising ; "House committee releases over 20,000 documents from Epstein estate," NPR, November 13, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/13/nx-s1-5607057/house-committee-releases-over-20-000-documents-from-epstein-estate
[^12]: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Oversight Committee Republicans and Democrats Hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in Contempt for Defying Lawful Subpoenas," January 21, 2026. https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-republicans-and-democrats-hold-bill-and-hillary-clinton-in-contempt-for-defying-lawful-subpoenas ; "Vote to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress passes House Oversight Committee," The Washington Post, January 21, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/21/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-epstein-contempt-congress-oversight-vote/
[^13]: "Bill Clinton defends himself at House deposition on Epstein: 'I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,'" CBS News, February 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-clinton-epstein-house-oversight-committee-deposition/ ; "Videos of Clinton depositions in Epstein investigation released," The Washington Post, March 2, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/02/bill-hillary-clinton-deposition-videos/
[^14]: "Trump fires Pam Bondi as attorney general, installs Todd Blanche as acting AG," CBS News, April 2, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pam-bondi-attorney-general/
[^15]: "House holds billionaire Leon Black in contempt of Congress over Epstein investigation," NPR, September 16, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/09/16/nx-s1-5954258/leon-black-jeffrey-epstein-contempt-congress ; "House votes to hold Leon Black in contempt of Congress over Epstein subpoenas defiance," CNBC, September 16, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/leon-black-contempt-house-epstein-subpoenas-refusal.html
[^16]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Refers Findings on Leon Black's Epstein Ties to House Oversight Committee," June 4, 2026. https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-refers-findings-on-leon-blacks-epstein-ties-to-house-oversight-committee
[^17]: U.S. House of Representatives, *Resolution Recommending That the House of Representatives Find Leon D. Black in Contempt of Congress,* House Report 119-831, September 2026. https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/119th-congress/house-report/831/1
[^18]: Black v. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, No. 1:26-cv-03084 (D.D.C., filed September 3, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74743039/black-v-house-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform/

47
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Apollo Global Management.md
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@ -11,13 +11,28 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Apollo Advisors - Apollo Advisors
- Apollo Global Management Inc - Apollo Global Management Inc
summary: "Private-equity and credit firm founded in 1990 by Leon Black and other Drexel Burnham Lambert alumni, whose co-founder's roughly 158 million dollars in payments to Jeffrey Epstein triggered an independent review, Black's 2021 resignation, and a Senate investigation." - Apollo Global Management, Inc.
summary: "Private-equity and credit firm founded in 1990 by Drexel Burnham Lambert alumni, whose co-founder Leon Black's payments to Jeffrey Epstein led to a 2021 board review, his departure, and a Senate investigation."
location: "New York, New York" location: "New York, New York"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Milbank]]"
reverse: true
role: "company counsel for the Epstein/Black review"
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 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] 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]
### Founding From Drexel ### Founding From Drexel
@ -33,16 +48,32 @@ A central part of Apollo's later growth was its relationship with the annuities
### The Epstein Scandal and the Leadership Transition ### The Epstein Scandal and the Leadership Transition
Press and investor scrutiny of Black's financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein led Apollo's board to commission an independent review by the law firm [[Dechert]], released on January 25, 2021, which documented about 158 million dollars in payments from Black to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate-planning work and reported no evidence that Black participated in Epstein's crimes. The board accepted the findings and announced governance changes and a leadership transition the same day, with Black to step down as chief executive and Marc Rowan to succeed him.[^1][^2] Press and investor scrutiny of Black's financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein led Black to request an outside review at an October 20, 2020 board meeting. The board's Conflicts Committee, three independent directors, retained the law firm [[Dechert]], with [[Milbank]] acting as Apollo's own counsel. Dechert's memorandum, dated January 22, 2021 and filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] on January 25, 2021, reported a review of more than 60,000 documents and interviews with more than twenty witnesses, including the co-founders, documented 158 million dollars in payments from Black to Epstein for tax and estate-planning work from 2012 to 2017, and reported no evidence that Black or any Apollo employee participated in Epstein's crimes. The board accepted the findings and announced governance changes and a leadership transition the same day, with Black to step down as chief executive and Marc Rowan to succeed him.[^1][^2][^4]
Black left more abruptly than planned, relinquishing the chairmanship as well on March 22, 2021, and Rowan became chief executive. Black publicly accused his co-founder Josh Harris of working to push him out, and the two men's feud played out in the financial press as Harris departed the firm. Rowan consolidated leadership and continued Apollo's expansion, while the Senate Finance Committee's investigation into Black's Epstein-linked tax planning, opened under Ranking Member [[Ron Wyden]], continued into 2026.[^2][^4] Apollo and Black had stated that the firm never did business with Epstein, and Black repeated on the day of release that "Apollo did no business with Mr. Epstein." Dechert found that Epstein's [[Financial Trust Company]] bought 263,257 shares in Apollo's March 2011 initial public offering through a directed-share program managed by the lead underwriter, that the shares passed in 2013 to a second Epstein entity, [[Southern Financial LLC]], and remained there through at least September 2019, and that Black did not recall the purchase. In the early 2000s Financial Trust Company invested in AP SHL Investors LLC and AP Technology Partners LLC, entities formed by Apollo executives to pursue deals the firm had declined, for which Apollo employees handled some operational functions such as tax returns; in 2011 it invested in [[Environmental Solutions Worldwide]] alongside Black and members of his family. Epstein unsuccessfully pitched business to Apollo executives, and Black tried at Epstein's request to introduce him to the co-founders, neither of whom hired him. Dechert described the firm's statements as substantially accurate.[^4][^5]
In 2026, after further Epstein file releases renewed attention to Black and Apollo, the firm faced securities-fraud class-action suits alleging that it had failed to disclose to shareholders the scope of Black's dealings with Epstein and the resulting risks. Apollo has said Black's relationship with Epstein was a personal matter unrelated to the firm's business, a characterization the plaintiffs dispute.[^5] Black's own estate-planning papers, released by the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] among Epstein's files, name the firm in the work Epstein was paid for. The January 14, 2014 version of the "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring," which Black's family office sent to Epstein on January 21, 2014, listed "Family Office/Apollo" and "Apollo" as the parties responsible for ascertaining the sources of "Trust Accounting Income" in Black's 2006 Trust and for calculating the amount that "should have been distributed to Leon annually and in the aggregate," both marked complete; it included the item "Confirm that John Hannan and Richard Ressler will proceed without separate counsel" among the steps toward a release and indemnification agreement for the 2006 Trust, and recorded decanting to entities labeled APO1 and APO2 as a first step toward a new "Heritage Trust."[^6][^7] A workbook titled "Apollo / Leon Black / Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) Payment Workbook / Tax Year 2013," dated March 26, 2014, is in the same releases; no reference to Epstein appears in its text.[^8] The [[Senate Finance Committee]] later reported that the 2006 trusts had been funded with Black's interests in Apollo management partnerships.[^9]
In his January 25, 2021 letter to limited partners Black also asked the board to consider cancelling the Class C share that gave the co-founders extra votes in favor of "one share, one vote," announced new directors, disclosed that Apollo had engaged [[WilmerHale]] to review its reputational-risk and corporate-citizenship practices, and pledged 200 million dollars to initiatives for women, including survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking.[^5]
Black left more abruptly than planned, relinquishing the chairmanship as well on March 22, 2021, and Rowan became chief executive. Black publicly accused his co-founder Josh Harris of working to push him out, and the two men's feud played out in the financial press as Harris departed the firm. Rowan consolidated leadership and continued Apollo's expansion, while the Senate Finance Committee's investigation into Black's Epstein-linked tax planning, opened in June 2022 while [[Ron Wyden]] chaired the committee and prompted by what it called "inconsistencies" in the Dechert report, continued into 2026.[^2][^9][^10]
The committee reported in July 2023 that the 2006 trusts at the center of Epstein's work had been funded with Black's interests in Apollo's own management partnerships, including 30.35 percent of Apollo Management III, IV, V and VI and 44 percent of four other management entities, and that Black "improperly received excess income from Apollo partnership interests held in a trust, assets he indicated to the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] he no longer owned."[^9] In March 2025 Wyden wrote that his staff had found 12 million dollars in wires from Black to Epstein that "the Apollo Board's investigation omitted or failed to identify," and that Black's attorneys had offered no explanation.[^11] Wyden's August 2026 report put Black's holdings at more than 30 million Apollo shares worth at least 4 billion dollars.[^12]
In 2026, after further Epstein file releases renewed attention to Black and Apollo, the firm faced securities-fraud class-action suits alleging that it had failed to disclose to shareholders the scope of Black's dealings with Epstein and the resulting risks. Apollo has said Black's relationship with Epstein was a personal matter unrelated to the firm's business, a characterization the plaintiffs dispute.[^13]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: "Apollo Announces Review of Significant Governance Enhancements as Part of Continued Evolution and Institutionalization of the Firm and Leadership Transition." *Apollo Global Management,* January 25, 2021. https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2021/01/apollo-announces-review-of-significant-governance-enhancements-as-part-of-continued-evolution-and-institutionalization-of-the-firm-and-leadership-transition-211534651 [^1]: "Apollo Announces Review of Significant Governance Enhancements as Part of Continued Evolution and Institutionalization of the Firm and Leadership Transition." *Apollo Global Management,* January 25, 2021. https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2021/01/apollo-announces-review-of-significant-governance-enhancements-as-part-of-continued-evolution-and-institutionalization-of-the-firm-and-leadership-transition-211534651
[^2]: "Leon Black quits Apollo months earlier than expected following Jeffrey Epstein investment scandal." *CNBC,* March 22, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/apollo-ceo-leon-black-leaves-follows-jeffrey-epstein-investment-scandal.html [^2]: "Leon Black quits Apollo months earlier than expected following Jeffrey Epstein investment scandal." *CNBC,* March 22, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/apollo-ceo-leon-black-leaves-follows-jeffrey-epstein-investment-scandal.html
[^3]: For Apollo's founding from Drexel Burnham Lambert, the Executive Life and Credit Lyonnais matter, the firm's growth and 2011 listing, and the Athene relationship and 2022 merger, see the contemporaneous business press and the firm's corporate filings. [^3]: For Apollo's founding from Drexel Burnham Lambert, the Executive Life and Credit Lyonnais matter, the firm's growth and 2011 listing, and the Athene relationship and 2022 merger, see the contemporaneous business press and the firm's corporate filings.
[^4]: "How Wall Street's Apollo got tangled up again in the Epstein files." *CNN Business,* February 21, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/business/apollo-epstein-wall-street [^4]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, "Investigation of Epstein/Black Relationship and Any Relationship Between Epstein and Apollo Global Management, Inc.," January 22, 2021, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management, Inc. Form 8-K, January 25, 2021 (accession 0001193125-21-016405), pp. 1-4, 21-22. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
[^5]: "Apollo, Leon Black sued for allegedly concealing Epstein business ties from shareholders." *Yahoo Finance / Reuters,* 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apollo-leon-black-sued-allegedly-004535212.html [^5]: 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
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00982173, DataSet 9, email from Ada Clapp, Black Family Partners, to Jeffrey Epstein, "6.7.13 Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring-updated 1.14.14," January 21, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00982173.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00583490, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring, As of January 14, 2014." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00583490.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00616944, DataSet 9, "Apollo / Leon Black / Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) Payment Workbook / Tax Year 2013," March 26, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00616944.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^10]: "How Wall Street's Apollo got tangled up again in the Epstein files." *CNN Business,* February 21, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/21/business/apollo-epstein-wall-street
[^11]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1
[^12]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, p. 13. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^13]: "Apollo, Leon Black sued for allegedly concealing Epstein business ties from shareholders." *Yahoo Finance / Reuters,* 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apollo-leon-black-sued-allegedly-004535212.html

94
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Bear Stearns.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- BearStearns
- InvestmentBank
- JeffreyEpstein
- WallStreet
- FinancialCrisis2008
- SEC
alias:
- Bear Stearns Companies
- The Bear Stearns Companies Inc.
- Bear, Stearns & Co.
summary: "New York investment bank that hired Jeffrey Epstein in 1976, parted with him in 1981 amid an SEC inquiry, handled his trades for decades, and collapsed into JPMorgan Chase in 2008."
end: 2008
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 1976
end: 1981-03-12
role: "options trader; limited partner from 1980"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Alan Greenberg]]"
reverse: true
start: 1978
end: 1993
role: "chief executive officer"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[James Cayne]]"
reverse: true
start: 1993
end: 2008-01
role: "chief executive officer"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]"
reverse: true
start: 1981
role: "St. Joe Minerals tender-offer inquiry"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Liquid Funding]]"
role: "part owner"
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. was a [[New York]] investment bank and brokerage that employed [[Jeffrey Epstein]] from 1976 until March 1981, carried his business through his own firms for the next quarter century, and collapsed in March 2008 in a rescue sale to [[JPMorgan Chase]] backed by the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]]. [[Alan Greenberg]], chief executive from 1978 to 1993 and chairman from 1985 to 2001, and [[James Cayne]], chief executive from 1993 to January 2008, were Epstein's mentors at the firm and his principal contacts there until its failure.[^1][^2]
### Epstein at the Firm, 1976 to 1981
Epstein, a former teacher of physics and mathematics at the [[Dalton School]] in Manhattan, came to Bear Stearns after tutoring the son of Greenberg while at Dalton, and was friendly with a daughter of Greenberg's. Under the mentorship of Greenberg and Cayne he rose to limited partner, a rank below full partner. Fox Business, citing former Bear executives, reported that he was named a limited partner by 1980.[^1][^3]
He resigned on March 12, 1981, the day after the [[Seagram Company|Seagram Company Ltd.]] announced a tender offer for [[St. Joe Minerals]]. The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] was investigating trading in St. Joe at Bear Stearns and other firms, had been told that Epstein had information on insider trading at Bear Stearns, and took his testimony on April 1, 1981 through the staff attorneys Jonathan Harris and Robert Blackburn. Epstein told the SEC that he had found "offensive" the way management handled a disciplinary action over a possible "Reg D" violation, a loan to his closest friend; in a 1989 deposition in a Philadelphia civil case he said he had lent about 20,000 dollars to Warren Eisenstein to buy stock. By his account, the partners Michael (Mickey) Tarnopol and Alvin Einbender questioned him around March 4 and told him on March 9 that the executive committee had weighed the loan together with earlier "carelessness" over expenses and fined him 2,500 dollars; he named Marvin Davidson as the partner who had made an "issue" of it. On expenses he testified, "There was discussion whether, in fact, I had ever put in an airline ticket for someone else and not myself and I said that it was possible, ... since my secretary handles my expenses." Asked about rumors surrounding his departure, he said, "It was having to do with an illicit affair with a secretary." The SEC questioned him on whether Cayne had inside information about St. Joe, and Epstein denied knowledge of any. Bear Stearns paid him his annual bonus of about 100,000 dollars on the way out.[^1]
The accounts of the exit conflict. Cayne said, "Jeffrey Epstein left Bear Stearns of his own volition. It was never suggested that he leave by any member of management, and management never looked into any improprieties by him." Greenberg said he could not recall. Contemporaries told Vanity Fair of internal rumors that the executive committee asked for his resignation after his two supporters, Greenberg and Cayne, were outvoted. A former Bear Stearns executive told Fox Business in 2019 that Epstein "left at our invitation ... it was very serious stuff." [[Steven Hoffenberg]] claimed that Epstein told him he had left after being discovered executing "illegal operations." The SEC never brought insider-trading charges against anyone at Bear Stearns in the St. Joe matter; several Italian and Swiss investors, including the financier [[Giuseppe Tome]], who had used his relationship with Seagram owner [[Edgar Bronfman Sr.]] to learn of the offer, were found guilty.[^1][^3]
### The Continuing Relationship
After 1981 Epstein claimed to manage money only for billionaires through his own firms, first [[International Assets Group]] and later [[J. Epstein & Co.]], and Bear Stearns remained his broker. In a 2009 verified complaint his company [[Financial Trust 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," and that "because Financial Trust was a major, long-time investor in Bear Stearns, Epstein regularly communicated directly with the most senior management." Vanity Fair listed Cayne in 2003 among Epstein's admirers.[^1][^2]
From at least 2000 to 2007 Epstein was chairman of [[Liquid Funding]] Ltd., a Bermuda company partly owned by Bear Stearns that held mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations, according to files of the offshore law firm [[Appleby]] in the [[Paradise Papers]] reported by the [[Miami Herald]], McClatchy and the [[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]]. A listed director of the company, the Austrian pension executive Marcus Klug, said, "There was neither a physical board meeting or a call between board members," and of Epstein, "I never met him."[^4]
### The 2007 Fund Collapse and the 2008 Failure
Two Bear Stearns Asset Management hedge funds, the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund and the High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, collapsed in June 2007 after heavy losses on securities backed largely by subprime mortgages. In June 2008 the SEC charged the portfolio managers [[Ralph Cioffi]] and [[Matthew Tannin]] with misleading investors about the funds' condition and redemption requests before investor losses of about 1.8 billion dollars; the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York]] indicted both men the same day. Fox Business reported that Epstein had put about 60 million dollars into the Enhanced Leverage Fund, "making him one of its largest investors," and that an investor plan to take control of the fund was put to him in the summer of 2007 and "fizzled."[^3][^5]
According to Financial Trust's later complaint, Epstein spoke with Cayne on August 6, 2007, while Financial Trust held 120,000 Bear Stearns shares in a [[Merrill Lynch]] account; Cayne told him the funds' problems were "contained to those two funds," cited a pending one billion dollar capital infusion from [[CITIC Group|China Citic Group]], and advised him to "hold tight." The complaint noted that the day after the Enhanced Fund's disintegration was announced on July 17, 2007, "Cayne and Spector commenced participating in a 10-day bridge tournament in Nashville, Tennessee." On March 10, 2008 the firm said there was "absolutely no truth to the rumors of the liquidity problems." That weekend JPMorgan Chase offered 2 dollars a share, later raised to 10 dollars, with the Federal Reserve agreeing to fund up to 30 billion dollars of Bear Stearns's less liquid assets, and Financial Trust sold its last 100,000 shares on March 17, 2008 at 3.41 dollars. Financial Trust sued Bear Stearns in the [[District Court of the Virgin Islands]] in August 2009 for fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation.[^2]
### The Grand Jury Subpoena and the Legacy Accounts
The chronological log of the 2006 to 2008 federal investigation of Epstein kept by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] lists a grand jury subpoena to Bear Stearns returnable September 4, 2007, issued in the same weeks as subpoenas to Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]], his bookkeeper [[Harry Beller]] and the model agent [[Jean-Luc Brunel]], and three weeks before the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] was signed on September 24, 2007.[^6]
When JPMorgan Chase absorbed the firm, Epstein's brokerage accounts passed with it. JPMorgan produced 728 pages of Epstein's Bear Stearns account statements covering August 2008 through March 2014, and a May 2009 due-diligence report recorded that "Bear Stearns will hold the brokerage relationship with Mr. Epstein." Emails produced in May 2023 in the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank|Virgin Islands suit against JPMorgan]] showed Bear Stearns employees involved in the Epstein relationship in the fall of 2008 and the summer of 2010, including one stating that Greenberg, by then at JPMorgan, had gone to general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] "for an exception to the felony policy" for Epstein; JPMorgan confirmed that after Epstein's 2008 plea "people from legacy Bear Stearns, including Mr. Greenberg," may have approached Cutler about the policy requiring general counsel approval to keep a felon's brokerage account, and that the decision was Cutler's.[^7][^8] On January 19, 2011, while JPMorgan's compliance staff were pressing to exit Epstein, a JPMorgan Securities employee wrote to Epstein: "Ace would love to speak to Jeffrey. Can you please call Ace at [number], or e-mail him a phone number where Jeffrey can be reached?" JPMorgan had not produced the email, describing it as outside the "negotiated scope of search," until the territory asked for it specifically; the bank said there was "no evidence that Mr. Greenberg had anything to do with Epstein's accounts at the Private Bank."[^7][^8] In July 2011 JPMorgan proposed settling Epstein's own claims against Bear Stearns for 21 million dollars.[^9]
The territory asked the court in June 2023 to compel production of the Bear Stearns anti-money-laundering group's Epstein case file, "including documents and correspondence relating to any Epstein-related subpoena received by Bear Stearns," emails between Greenberg and Epstein, and emails about Epstein between Greenberg and [[Jamie Dimon]], [[Mary Erdoes]], [[Jes Staley]] or Cutler. JPMorgan answered that "Bear Stearns did not provide banking services and ceased to exist after the transaction," that it had identified a single former Bear Stearns compliance employee as a custodian, and that the case "has never been about Epstein's trading of securities in a Bear Stearns related brokerage account."[^7][^8] JPMorgan's own July 2019 internal review, Project Jeep, had been opened with the note that "There is a highbridge angle and one dating back to Bear," and its summary grouped messages on "lawsuits and litigation involving Epstein, JPMC, Bear Stearns, Highbridge, Zwirn etc."[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair,* March 2003, as republished by the author, on Epstein's hiring through Greenberg, his limited partnership, the March 12, 1981 resignation, the April 1, 1981 SEC testimony taken by Jonathan Harris and Robert Blackburn, the 1989 Philadelphia deposition, the Tarnopol, Einbender and Davidson account, the 2,500 dollar fine, the bonus, Cayne's statement, and the St. Joe Minerals outcome. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
[^2]: Financial Trust Company, Inc. v. The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., Civil No. 2009/106 (D.V.I.), Verified Complaint dated August 5, 2009, paragraphs 2, 6 to 13, 16 to 17, 32 to 40, 50 to 53; reproduced as Exhibit 253, ECF No. 244-8 (filed July 25, 2023), in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011822/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/244-08.pdf
[^3]: Charles Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan, "The woes of Jeffrey Epstein: How he maintained Wall Street connections while downplaying child sex accusations," *Fox Business,* August 10, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/jeffrey-epstein-wall-street-connections-child-sex-trafficking
[^4]: Spencer Woodman, "Jeffrey Epstein's offshore fortune traced to Paradise Papers," *International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,* July 18, 2019, summarizing Miami Herald and McClatchy reporting on the Appleby files. https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/jeffrey-epsteins-offshore-fortune-traced-to-paradise-papers/
[^5]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 20625, SEC v. Ralph R. Cioffi and Matthew M. Tannin, Civil Action No. 08 2457 (FB) (E.D.N.Y.), June 19, 2008. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20625.htm
[^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), pp. 11, 21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^7]: 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
[^8]: 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
[^9]: 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. 391-395. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf

78
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Carbyne.md
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@ -13,19 +13,48 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Carbyne - Carbyne
- Reporty Homeland Security - Reporty Homeland Security
summary: "Carbyne is an Israeli-American emergency-communication and surveillance technology company founded in Tel Aviv as Reporty Homeland Security, into which Jeffrey Epstein quietly invested approximately one million dollars in 2015 through an arrangement brokered by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, and which has also received backing from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and has been deployed by U.S. police departments including Miami-Dade." summary: "Carbyne, founded as Reporty, is an Israeli emergency-call and surveillance technology company in which Jeffrey Epstein invested through Ehud Barak in 2015, and which Axon Enterprise bought for 625 million dollars."
location: "Tel Aviv, Israel; New York, New York" location: "Tel Aviv, Israel; New York, New York"
created: 2026-06-18 created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "about one million dollars invested in Reporty, arranged through Ehud Barak"
start: 2015
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Founders Fund]]"
reverse: true
role: "Series B investor"
fn: 3
- type: owned
with: "[[Axon Enterprise]]"
reverse: true
role: "acquired for 625 million dollars"
start: 2026-02
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Nicole Junkermann]]"
reverse: true
role: "limited partner through NJF Capital in SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership; 1.2 million dollars toward the warrant exercise"
start: 2019-03
fn: 8
- type: head_of
with: "[[Amir Elichai]]"
reverse: true
role: "founder and chief executive"
fn: 1
--- ---
Carbyne (originally incorporated as [[Reporty|Reporty Homeland Security]]) is an Israeli-American technology company that develops cloud-native emergency-communication and 911-response platforms providing real-time video, location, and data transmission from callers to emergency dispatchers. [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported in February 2026 that [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] quietly invested approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015 through an arrangement brokered by [[Ehud Barak|former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak]], after Epstein was already a registered sex offender. Carbyne has also received backing from [[Founders Fund]], the [[Peter Thiel|Peter Thiel]] venture firm, and has been deployed by U.S. police departments including the [[Miami-Dade Police Department|Miami-Dade Police Department]].[^1][^2][^3] Carbyne (originally incorporated as [[Reporty|Reporty Homeland Security]]) is an Israeli-American technology company that develops cloud-native emergency-communication and 911-response platforms providing real-time video, location, and data transmission from callers to emergency dispatchers. [[Forbes|Forbes]] reported in February 2026 that [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein]] quietly invested approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015 through an arrangement brokered by [[Ehud Barak|former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak]], after Epstein was already a registered sex offender. Carbyne has also received backing from [[Founders Fund]], the [[Peter Thiel|Peter Thiel]] venture firm, and has been deployed by U.S. police departments including the [[Miami-Dade Police Department|Miami-Dade Police Department]]. Its board included [[Pinhas Buchris]], a former commander of the Israeli signals-intelligence [[Unit 8200]]. The police-technology company [[Axon Enterprise]] agreed to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### The Epstein-Barak Investment Arrangement (2015) ### The Epstein-Barak Investment Arrangement (2015)
Forbes reported in February 2026 (Thomas Brewster) that Barak helped Epstein invest approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015, an investment that could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. The arrangement was made after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement and his subsequent [[Florida|Florida]] sex-offender registration. Barak was a key figure in the company and channeled Epstein's money into the startup. The [[Miami Herald|Miami Herald]] reported separately that Epstein secretly funded the startup subsequently used by the Miami-Dade Police Department.[^1][^2] Forbes reported in February 2026 (Thomas Brewster) that Barak helped Epstein invest approximately one million dollars in Reporty in 2015, an investment that could have grown to be worth up to one hundred million dollars. The arrangement was made after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] and his subsequent [[Florida|Florida]] sex-offender registration. Barak was a key figure in the company and channeled Epstein's money into the startup. The [[Miami Herald|Miami Herald]] reported separately that Epstein secretly funded the startup subsequently used by the Miami-Dade Police Department.[^1][^2]
Through the Barak-Epstein-Carbyne arrangement, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance-adjacent technology. Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. The company's emergency-response product integrates smartphone location, live video, and incident data into a centralized dispatcher view, and the same architecture supports population-level monitoring.[^1][^4] Through the Barak-Epstein-Carbyne arrangement, Epstein moved from social-network brokerage to direct commercial investment in surveillance-adjacent technology. Barak was the channel through which the investment was arranged. The company's emergency-response product integrates smartphone location, live video, and incident data into a centralized dispatcher view, and the same architecture supports population-level monitoring.[^1][^5]
### The Founders Fund Backing ### The Founders Fund Backing
@ -37,15 +66,44 @@ The simultaneous Epstein-Barak and Founders Fund backing of a single Israeli sur
### The Israeli Surveillance-Technology Export Context ### The Israeli Surveillance-Technology Export Context
[[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reported in July 2023 that [[Israel|Israel]]'s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories has functioned as a "laboratory" for surveillance and security technology, giving Israeli firms specialized know-how in monitoring civilian populations. The Carbyne/Reporty emergency-response platform sits within this broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, and the [[Reason|Reason]] reporting on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) documented that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria|Nigeria]], with technology reportedly tested on Palestinian populations.[^4][^5] [[Jacobin|Jacobin]] reported in July 2023 that [[Israel|Israel]]'s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories has functioned as a "laboratory" for surveillance and security technology, giving Israeli firms specialized know-how in monitoring civilian populations. The Carbyne/Reporty emergency-response platform sits within this broader Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, and the [[Reason|Reason]] reporting on Epstein's spy-industry connections (August 2025) documented that Epstein and Barak marketed Israeli surveillance technology internationally, including to [[Nigeria|Nigeria]], with technology reportedly tested on Palestinian populations.[^5][^6]
The [[Black Agenda Report|Black Agenda Report]] documented a parallel pipeline in which Israel's Gaza-tested biometric and surveillance scanners were routed into a Nigerian ports deal through [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] channels. Nigeria is documented as [[Africa|Africa]]'s largest customer of surveillance-technology contracts, spending at least 470 million dollars on AI-powered surveillance devices. The Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, of which Carbyne is a part, operates across the documented chain from Palestinian-population testing through international marketing to deployment in authoritarian and democratic states alike.[^5][^6] The [[Black Agenda Report|Black Agenda Report]] documented a parallel pipeline in which Israel's Gaza-tested biometric and surveillance scanners were routed into a Nigerian ports deal through [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] channels. Nigeria is documented as [[Africa|Africa]]'s largest customer of surveillance-technology contracts, spending at least 470 million dollars on AI-powered surveillance devices. The Israeli surveillance-technology export sector, of which Carbyne is a part, operates across the documented chain from Palestinian-population testing through international marketing to deployment in authoritarian and democratic states alike.[^6][^7]
### Board and Investors
Barak served on the board of Reporty and Carbyne and left the board in 2019, the year Epstein was arrested and died.[^1] The board also included Pinhas Buchris, who commanded Unit 8200 and later served as director general of the Israeli [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Ministry of Defense]].[^4] The investment firm of [[Nicole Junkermann]] took part in Carbyne's Series A round. Forbes reported that Carbyne's website listed her as a director until 2020; Carbyne's chief executive, [[Amir Elichai]], said that "she is not and was never a board member," attributed the listing to a mistake by the company's marketing team, and said she no longer held a stake.[^1]
### The Investment Structure and the 2019 Warrants
Epstein's stake was held through an Israeli limited partnership, SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. On February 28, 2019 the partnership's lawyer, [[Tomer Toor]] of the [[Tel Aviv]] firm Furth, Wilensky, Mizrachi, Knaani, wrote to Epstein's attorney [[Darren Indyke]] and to NJF Capital, the renamed Montilla International Corporation of Nicole Junkermann, that "At the time of the initial investment in Carbyne Ltd. (formerly Reporty Ltd.), SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership received Warrants to purchase additional 61,251 Preferred A Shares of Carbyne for an aggregate exercise price of US$ 3,500,000," and that exercising them would "increase the holdings % of SUM in Carbyne - from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis."[^8] On March 7 Toor confirmed that [[Southern Trust Company]], Epstein's Virgin Islands company, had signed the Additional Investment Agreement and "transferred its share in the investment (US$2.4mm)," and on March 11 that the full 3.6 million dollars had reached Ergo's account.[^8]
The receiving bank then asked, under what Toor called "its own anti money laundry regulations," for a list of "the controlling person(s) of each limited partner, name and his/her citizenship" and a recommendation letter from each partner's transferring bank.[^8] Epstein forwarded the request to Barak, who replied on March 11, 2019: "Jeff, That's the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes. According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks. Just kept with them as an insurance policy. We have to follow on it. On a minimal but satisfying base."[^9] On March 12 Indyke wrote to Epstein: "Not sure how to respond. I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment? Also, Tomer is asking for a bank rec letter from the transferring bank which is DB," referring to [[Deutsche Bank]]. Epstein answered "ok," and on March 14, asked whether that meant Indyke could confirm that Epstein was "the controlling person of the STC," replied, "Yes."[^10]
A month earlier, on February 18, 2019, Junkermann had written to Epstein: "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is3.9m your share, Ehud carry1.5 m and my share 2m." Epstein had written that he had "litle idea of carbyne results to date."[^11]
### The Qatar Pitch
On May 21, 2018 Epstein wrote to Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund was a Carbyne investor: "FYI trae is meeting carbyne Ehud Barak co."[^12] On January 1, 2019 Barak forwarded Carbyne's Qatar presentation, prepared by Elichai, to [[Jabor Al Thani]] with Epstein copied: "Please find attached short presentation of Carbine. Public safety company of which I'm the chairman and leading investor. We are interested in participating in the security effort for the 2022 Games. We can work through a European company of your choice and minimize Israeli profile."[^13] In a reply of January 20 quoted in the same thread, Jabor Al Thani wrote that his "security services company" wanted to begin discussions on the presentation "for the Qatar 2022 Games" and asked for help with "any anti-drone services or technologies." On February 3 Barak, signing "Ehud Barak, Carbyne, Chairman," named Elichai as contact and promised a separate email on "the anti-drone issue"; Elichai wrote, "Ehud, thanks for the intro." On February 4 Jabor Al Thani named the country manager of [[Lysys WLL]] as the Qatari contact. Epstein was shown as a recipient of the January 1, February 3, and February 4 messages.[^14]
### The Axon Acquisition
Axon Enterprise, the maker of Taser weapons and police body cameras, announced that it would acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars in cash, with the transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2026; it closed in February 2026.[^4][^15] Axon, led by its founder and chief executive [[Rick Smith]], described the purchase as "uniting cloud infrastructure and AI to redefine the 911 experience."[^15] Epstein's 2015 stake of about one million dollars was the one Forbes estimated could have grown to as much as one hundred million dollars.[^1]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/ [^1]: Brewster, Thomas. "Epstein Could Have Made $100 Million On A Secret Police Tech Investment With Ehud Barak." *Forbes,* February 10, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/02/10/epstein-police-surveillance-investments-with-ehud-barak/
[^2]: "Epstein secretly funded start-up used by Miami-Dade police." *Miami Herald,* 2020. [^2]: "Epstein secretly funded start-up used by Miami-Dade police." *Miami Herald,* 2020.
[^3]: "Founders Fund Invests in a 911 Startup Backed by Ehud Barak." *CTech (Calcalist),* documenting Peter Thiel's Founders Fund joining a Series B round in Carbyne/Reporty, the firm's first Israeli investment. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744302,00.html [^3]: "Founders Fund Invests in a 911 Startup Backed by Ehud Barak." *CTech (Calcalist),* documenting Peter Thiel's Founders Fund joining a Series B round in Carbyne/Reporty, the firm's first Israeli investment. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3744302,00.html
[^4]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/ [^4]: *Coverager,* on Axon's agreement to acquire Carbyne for 625 million dollars. https://coverager.com/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-for-625-million/ ; *CTech (Calcalist),* on the Axon acquisition. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rj4vnuokwg
[^5]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export [^5]: "Inside Jeffrey Epstein's spy industry connections." *Reason,* August 27, 2025. https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/
[^6]: "Epstein Flipped Israel's Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal." *Black Agenda Report.* For the Nigeria surveillance-technology spending, see the IDS Sussex and Punch Nigeria reporting. [^6]: "Israel Has Turned the Occupied Territories Into a Laboratory for Surveillance." *Jacobin,* July 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/07/israel-occupation-surveillance-security-state-technology-export
[^7]: "Epstein Flipped Israel's Gaza-Tested Biometric Scanners Into Nigeria Ports Deal." *Black Agenda Report.* For the Nigeria surveillance-technology spending, see the IDS Sussex and Punch Nigeria reporting.
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke, and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02632339, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Carbyne warrants," March 11, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02632339.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email exchange between Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, March 12-14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02630791, DataSet 11, email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Nicole Junkermann, February 18, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02630791.pdf
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01052344, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Peter Thiel, May 21, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01052344.pdf
[^13]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02607775, DataSet 11, email from Ehud Barak to Jabor Al Thani, copied to Jeffrey Epstein, January 1, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02607775.pdf
[^14]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02628648, DataSet 11, email thread "Qatar Presentation <> Carbyne 911," January 1 to February 4, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02628648.pdf
[^15]: Axon Enterprise. "Axon to Acquire Carbyne, Uniting Cloud Infrastructure and AI to Redefine the 911 Experience." Press release, *PR Newswire.* https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axon-to-acquire-carbyne-uniting-cloud-infrastructure-and-ai-to-redefine-the-911-experience-302604614.html

2
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/China Resources.md
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@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ In 1948 Liow & Co. was restructured and renamed China Resources, the second char
### Lippo ### Lippo
The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight described China Resources as "a Chinese Government owned company which is a joint venture partner with the Lippo Group and partner in the Lippo controlled Hong Kong Chinese Bank." In late 1992 China Resources bought 15 percent of the bank, and it "subsequently infused the failing LippoLand with tens of millions of dollars, effectively bailing the Riady family out of a precarious financial situation. Since 1993, the Lippo Group and China Resources entered into dozens of joint venture projects in the People's Republic of China."[^2] The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Committee on Government Reform]] and Oversight described China Resources as "a Chinese Government owned company which is a joint venture partner with the Lippo Group and partner in the Lippo controlled Hong Kong Chinese Bank." In late 1992 China Resources bought 15 percent of the bank, and it "subsequently infused the failing LippoLand with tens of millions of dollars, effectively bailing the Riady family out of a precarious financial situation. Since 1993, the Lippo Group and China Resources entered into dozens of joint venture projects in the People's Republic of China."[^2]
The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs called it "a company wholly-owned and operated by the PRC government" and Lippo's "principal partner on the mainland." In the spring of 1997, according to the Senate committee, [[Stephen Riady]] announced that the Hong Kong Chinese Bank would be renamed the Lippo China Resources Bank "to reflect that China Resources is now an equal partner with Lippo in the bank," and when Lippo Land, the Indonesian company building two new cities outside [[Jakarta]], faced a cash flow crisis that threatened a run on Lippo Bank, China Resources "injected tens of millions of dollars into Lippo Land and became a substantial partner in that entity as well." The committee recorded the testimony of [[Thomas Hampson]], president of Search International, that China Resources "is widely reported to be a corporate agent of economic and political espionage serving the government of China." The committee added: "Intelligence officials have confirmed in the press that the Chinese intelligence establishment is heavily involved in the operation of China Resources, and that China Resources selects overseas business partners in part on the basis of their value as potential intelligence gatherers."[^3] The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs called it "a company wholly-owned and operated by the PRC government" and Lippo's "principal partner on the mainland." In the spring of 1997, according to the Senate committee, [[Stephen Riady]] announced that the Hong Kong Chinese Bank would be renamed the Lippo China Resources Bank "to reflect that China Resources is now an equal partner with Lippo in the bank," and when Lippo Land, the Indonesian company building two new cities outside [[Jakarta]], faced a cash flow crisis that threatened a run on Lippo Bank, China Resources "injected tens of millions of dollars into Lippo Land and became a substantial partner in that entity as well." The committee recorded the testimony of [[Thomas Hampson]], president of Search International, that China Resources "is widely reported to be a corporate agent of economic and political espionage serving the government of China." The committee added: "Intelligence officials have confirmed in the press that the Chinese intelligence establishment is heavily involved in the operation of China Resources, and that China Resources selects overseas business partners in part on the basis of their value as potential intelligence gatherers."[^3]

63
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Dechert.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- Dechert
- LawFirm
- LeonBlack
- JeffreyEpstein
- Apollo
- InternalInvestigation
- ENRC
alias:
- Dechert LLP
summary: "International law firm that conducted the 2020 to 2021 Apollo board review of Leon Black's 158 million dollars in payments to Jeffrey Epstein, which a Senate committee later said missed 12 million dollars."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Apollo Global Management]]"
role: "independent counsel to the Conflicts Committee of the board"
start: 2020-10
end: 2021-01-22
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation]]"
role: "investigation counsel, through partner Neil Gerrard"
start: 2011
end: 2013
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Dechert LLP is an American-founded international law firm. In October 2020 the three-member Conflicts Committee of [[Apollo Global Management]]'s board retained it as independent counsel to investigate the relationship between Apollo co-founder [[Leon Black]] and [[Jeffrey Epstein]]; its memorandum, dated January 22, 2021, was filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] as an exhibit to Apollo's January 25, 2021 Form 8-K. The [[Senate Finance Committee]] under [[Ron Wyden]] opened its own investigation in June 2022 on the basis of "inconsistencies" in the report. In the [[United Kingdom]], the High Court found in 2022 that a former Dechert partner, [[Neil Gerrard]], had leaked a client's confidential material to the press and to the [[Serious Fraud Office]].[^1][^2][^3]
### The Apollo Investigation
Black asked for an outside review at an October 20, 2020 meeting of Apollo's board, and the Conflicts Committee engaged Dechert shortly afterward, placing, in the firm's words, "no restriction on Dechert's investigation." Over three months Dechert reviewed more than 60,000 documents collected from Black, Apollo, Black's family office [[Elysium Management]], and Black's outside counsel [[Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison]]. Apollo's own counsel for the investigation was [[Milbank]]; Paul Weiss and Milbank assisted with document collection and access to witnesses. Dechert interviewed more than twenty witnesses, including Black, current and former Apollo employees, the co-founders [[Josh Harris]] and [[Marc Rowan]], family-office staff and legal counsel. One former family-office employee declined to be interviewed.[^1][^4]
### Findings
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]
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]
### The Senate Challenge
The Senate Finance Committee stated on July 25, 2023 that its investigation "was prompted by inconsistencies in a report by the law firm Dechert LLP," and that Black's attorneys had since told the committee that the idea behind a transaction for which Black paid Epstein 20 million dollars "was in the public domain and originated with Black's other legal advisors."[^2] On March 11, 2025 Wyden wrote that committee staff had found records of 12 million dollars in wires from Black to Epstein that the Apollo board's review did not identify, bringing the total to more than 170 million dollars, and that Black's attorneys had not explained the omission. The committee's August 2026 accounting listed 5.5 million dollars in 2012 and 6.3 million in 2016, years for which the Dechert schedule showed no fee payments.[^5][^6]
### ENRC and Neil Gerrard
From 2011 to 2013 Dechert partner Neil Gerrard led an internal investigation for the mining company [[Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation]] (ENRC) into its Kazakhstan subsidiary, which became the subject of a Serious Fraud Office criminal inquiry. In a judgment handed down on May 16, 2022, Mr Justice [[David Waksman|Waksman]] of the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] found that Gerrard had recklessly breached his duties to ENRC, including by instigating leaks to the press and making unauthorised disclosures to the SFO, and that the SFO had breached its own duties in some of its contacts with him, while rejecting a claim of misfeasance in public office against SFO Director [[Richard Alderman]]. Dechert admitted one reckless breach by Gerrard during the trial and afterward said the findings described conduct "completely at odds" with the firm's values.[^3][^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, "Investigation of Epstein/Black Relationship and Any Relationship Between Epstein and Apollo Global Management, Inc.," January 22, 2021, filed as Exhibit 99.1 to Apollo Global Management, Inc. Form 8-K, January 25, 2021 (accession 0001193125-21-016405), pp. 1-4, 17-18, 21-22. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1411494/000119312521016405/d118102dex991.htm
[^2]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, "Wyden Unveils Ongoing Investigation into Private Equity Billionaire Leon Black's Tax Planning and Financial Ties with Jeffrey Epstein," July 25, 2023. https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-unveils-ongoing-investigation-into-private-equity-billionaire-leon-blacks-tax-planning-and-financial-ties-with-jeffrey-epstein
[^3]: Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd v Dechert LLP and David Neil Gerrard; Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Ltd v Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2022] EWHC 1138 (Comm), judgment of Waksman J, handed down May 16, 2022. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ENRC-v-Dechert-judgment-160521.pdf
[^4]: 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
[^5]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, March 11, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/download/wyden-letter-to-doj-treasury-fbi-on-epsteinpdf?download=1
[^6]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, p. 10 (table of wires from Black's Bank of America accounts). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^7]: Dechert LLP, "Dechert Statement in Response to Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation vs Dechert LLP vs Serious Fraud Office Judgment," May 2022. https://www.dechert.com/knowledge/announcement/2022/5/dechert-statement-in-response-to-eurasian-natural-resources-corp.html

50
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Deutsche Bank.md
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@ -12,21 +12,28 @@ tags:
alias: alias:
- Deutsche Bank AG - Deutsche Bank AG
- Deutsche Bank Trust Company of the Americas - Deutsche Bank Trust Company of the Americas
summary: "German global bank that took Jeffrey Epstein as a client in 2013 after JPMorgan dropped him, processed suspicious payments to women and alleged co-conspirators despite internal warnings, and paid a 150 million dollar New York regulatory penalty and 75 million dollars to his victims." summary: "German bank that handled Jeffrey Epstein's accounts from 2013 to 2018 after JPMorgan exited him, processed payments to women and alleged co-conspirators, and paid 225 million dollars in penalties and settlements."
location: "Frankfurt, Germany" location: "Frankfurt, Germany"
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[New York Department of Financial Services]]"
reverse: true
role: "consent order and 150 million dollar penalty"
end: 2020-07-06
fn: 1
--- ---
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial institution headquartered in [[Frankfurt]], Germany, which operates a New York branch and a trust company, Deutsche Bank Trust Company of the Americas, licensed by the [[New York Department of Financial Services]]. The bank maintained a relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and his related entities from August 2013 until December 2018, taking him on after [[JPMorgan Chase]] dropped him and ending the relationship after renewed press attention to his 2008 plea deal. In July 2020 the New York Department of Financial Services imposed a 150 million dollar penalty for compliance failures centered on the Epstein relationship, and in 2023 the bank agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle a lawsuit by his victims.[^1][^2] Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial institution headquartered in [[Frankfurt]], Germany, which operates a New York branch and a trust company, Deutsche Bank Trust Company of the Americas, licensed by the [[New York Department of Financial Services]]. The bank maintained a relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and his related entities from August 2013 until December 2018, taking him on after [[JPMorgan Chase]] dropped him and ending the relationship after renewed press attention to his 2008 plea deal. In July 2020 the New York Department of Financial Services imposed a 150 million dollar penalty for compliance failures centered on the Epstein relationship, at a time when the bank was already operating under an independent monitor imposed by a January 30, 2017 consent order, and in 2023 the bank agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle a lawsuit by his victims. No federal enforcement action has been brought against the bank over Epstein.[^1][^2][^3]
### Onboarding Epstein in 2013 ### Onboarding Epstein in 2013
In early 2013 Epstein began moving his assets to Deutsche Bank, brought in by a relationship manager who had previously serviced his accounts at a competitor bank and had joined Deutsche Bank's private wealth department in November 2012.[^1] The relationship manager told senior management that Epstein could generate millions of dollars in revenue and leads for other clients, with one internal email estimating flows of 100 to 300 million dollars over time and revenue of 2 to 4 million dollars annually.[^1] A May 5, 2013 "approval email" from a senior executive reported that the head of anti-money-laundering compliance and the general counsel for the Americas did not think the relationship required reputational-risk review, and the bank's Americas Reputational Risk Committee did not meet on the initial onboarding.[^1] In early 2013 Epstein began moving his assets to Deutsche Bank, brought in by a relationship manager who had previously serviced his accounts at a competitor bank and had joined Deutsche Bank's private wealth department in November 2012.[^1] The relationship manager told senior management that Epstein could generate millions of dollars in revenue and leads for other clients, with one internal email estimating flows of 100 to 300 million dollars over time and revenue of 2 to 4 million dollars annually.[^1] An April 2013 memorandum to the co-head of Wealth Management Americas and the division's chief operating officer disclosed Epstein's 2007 guilty plea to a prostitution charge and his 13 months in custody on an 18-month sentence.[^1] Senator [[Ron Wyden]]'s August 2026 report identified the relationship manager, "Relationship Manager-1" in the consent order, as [[Paul Morris]], who had covered Epstein's accounts at JPMorgan Chase for a decade and whom JPMorgan due-diligence reviews named as Epstein's primary contact there. In September 2013 Morris emailed co-head of wealth management [[Chip Packard]] that "Epstein sending over about $200(million) from JP, told them Friday," and Packard replied, "Great news! Congrats Paul." Morris presented Epstein at a managing directors' meeting as a "success story," describing him as a "billionaire entrepreneur" and "one of the largest brokerage clients at JP Morgan." A 2014 list of the bank's fifty largest private-banking clients placed Epstein, through [[Southern Financial LLC]], forty-seventh with 296 million dollars, the only client on the list covered by Morris. Morris has not been charged with any offense.[^3] A May 5, 2013 "approval email" from a senior executive reported that the head of anti-money-laundering compliance and the general counsel for the Americas, who chaired the reputational risk committee, did not think the relationship required reputational-risk review; the bank told the regulator it had no other record of that conversation, and the bank's Americas Reputational Risk Committee did not meet on the initial onboarding. When a compliance officer noted in October 2013 that one alleged co-conspirator had been named in a criminal case, a coordinator cleared the account by citing the approval email.[^1]
The relationship officially began on August 19, 2013, when Deutsche Bank opened brokerage accounts for Southern Trust Company Inc. and Southern Financial LLC, Epstein entities founded in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]].[^1] Over the course of the relationship, Epstein, his entities, and his associates opened and funded more than 40 accounts at the bank.[^1] The bank classified Epstein as "high-risk" and informally designated him an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, because of his connections to prominent political figures.[^1] The relationship officially began on August 19, 2013, when Deutsche Bank opened brokerage accounts for Southern Trust Company Inc. and Southern Financial LLC, Epstein entities founded in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]].[^1] Over the course of the relationship, Epstein, his entities, and his associates opened and funded more than 40 accounts at the bank.[^1] The bank classified Epstein as "high-risk" and informally designated him an "Honorary PEP," or politically exposed person, because of his connections to prominent political figures.[^1]
The relationship had been publicly preceded by allegations against Epstein dating to 2005 and by his 2008 guilty plea to a state prostitution charge, after which press reports identified several alleged co-conspirators and described a modeling operation that brought young women, often from Eastern Europe, to the United States.[^1] The relationship had been publicly preceded by allegations against Epstein dating to 2005 and by his 2008 guilty plea to a state prostitution charge, after which press reports identified several alleged co-conspirators and described a modeling operation that brought young women, often from Eastern Europe, to the [[United States]].[^1]
### Suspicious Transactions and Overridden Warnings ### Suspicious Transactions and Overridden Warnings
@ -34,17 +41,40 @@ As early as November 1, 2013, Epstein and his representatives used Deutsche Bank
Epstein's personal attorney made a total of 97 cash withdrawals from the bank's Park Avenue branch from 2013 to 2017, typically two to three times a month and each in the amount of 7,500 dollars, the bank's limit for third-party withdrawals, withdrawing in total more than 800,000 dollars on Epstein's behalf.[^1] In May 2014 the attorney asked the bank how often cash could be withdrawn without triggering an alert, and in July 2017 he broke a withdrawal exceeding 10,000 dollars over two days; bank personnel found him credible and let him continue.[^1] In a March 2017 exchange, a member of the transaction-monitoring team responded to an alert about payments to a Russian model and a Russian publicity agent by writing that "since this type of activity is normal for this client it is not deemed suspicious."[^1] Epstein's personal attorney made a total of 97 cash withdrawals from the bank's Park Avenue branch from 2013 to 2017, typically two to three times a month and each in the amount of 7,500 dollars, the bank's limit for third-party withdrawals, withdrawing in total more than 800,000 dollars on Epstein's behalf.[^1] In May 2014 the attorney asked the bank how often cash could be withdrawn without triggering an alert, and in July 2017 he broke a withdrawal exceeding 10,000 dollars over two days; bank personnel found him credible and let him continue.[^1] In a March 2017 exchange, a member of the transaction-monitoring team responded to an alert about payments to a Russian model and a Russian publicity agent by writing that "since this type of activity is normal for this client it is not deemed suspicious."[^1]
When the Americas Reputational Risk Committee considered the Epstein relationship at meetings in January 2015, it kept the relationship while imposing conditions, but those conditions were never communicated to all members of the Epstein relationship team or to the transaction-monitoring team, and a compliance officer narrowed the monitoring standard so that little changed.[^1] The consent order found the bank's fundamental failure was that, although it properly classified Epstein as high-risk, it did little to scrutinize, inquire into, or block payments to named co-conspirators and to or on behalf of young women, or to ask why Epstein used on average more than 200,000 dollars per year in cash.[^1] In January 2015 an anti-money-laundering officer escalated the relationship, citing a June 2014 appellate ruling reopening victims' challenge to Epstein's 2008 plea agreement and press reports of Epstein's relationships with "a prominent former U.S. politician and a member of a European royal family," whom the regulator did not name; a second officer's escalation memo stated that "[b]y 2011, 40 underage girls had come forward with testimony of Epstein sexually assaulting them" and that "Epstein managed to settle at least 17 lawsuits out of court." Later in January 2015 the senior executive and the relationship manager met Epstein at his New York home to ask about the allegations; the bank has no contemporaneous record of what was said.[^1]
The Americas Reputational Risk Committee met on January 30, 2015. Although bank policy required minutes, none exist; the same day a committee member emailed that the committee was "comfortable with things continuing" and that another member had "noted a number of sizable deals recently." The committee decided to "continue business as usual with Jeff Epstein" subject to three conditions, but those conditions were never communicated to all members of the Epstein relationship team or to the transaction-monitoring team, and a compliance officer read the requirement to flag "unusual" activity as meaning unusual compared with Epstein's own history, so that little changed; monitoring staff were told only to check online that the women involved were over 18. In July 2015 the committee's chairman approved higher trading limits for Epstein without a meeting after the senior executive "confirmed" there was no negative news. On January 4, 2016 an Epstein accountant asked to open an account for [[Gratitude America]], Epstein's charity, and withdrew the request when the bank asked for an external due-diligence report.[^1]
A new relationship manager, identified by Wyden as [[Stewart Oldfield]], took over by 2016 and was never told of the 2015 conditions. In May 2018 a compliance officer asked about wires to women with Eastern European surnames at a Russian bank; the accountant's written explanation was "SENT TO A FRIEND FOR TUITION FOR SCHOOL," and the relationship manager answered further questions by saying Epstein had "the flexibility to use any account they like." No further inquiry is recorded. Oldfield has not been charged with any offense.[^1][^3] From 2013 to 2015 about 140 million dollars of [[Leon Black]]'s payments to Epstein, wired from Black's accounts at [[Bank of America]], went into [[Southern Trust Company]] accounts at Deutsche Bank, and a 2015 note from Deutsche Bank bankers recorded that another 20 million dollars from Black had "hit" Epstein's accounts.[^3][^4] The consent order found the bank's fundamental failure was that, although it properly classified Epstein as high-risk, it did little to scrutinize, inquire into, or block payments to named co-conspirators and to or on behalf of young women, or to ask why Epstein used on average more than 200,000 dollars per year in cash.[^1]
### Records Produced to the Grand Jury
Deutsche Bank's Epstein records were produced to the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] under grand jury secrecy, stamped "DB-SDNY" and "CONFIDENTIAL - PURSUANT TO FED. R. CRIM. P. 6(e)," and later appeared in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases. A know-your-customer page headed "The 2013 Butterfly Trust" listed the trustee [[Erika Kellerhals]], the Virgin Islands lawyer who had testified with Epstein at the 2012 hearing on Southern Trust's tax-incentive application, with the note "(Deutsche Bank already has on file)," and set out the trust's "Current Potential Beneficiaries," among them Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]], his pilot [[Larry Visoski|Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr.]] and his lawyer [[Darren Indyke]], with other staff and associates, one of them listed at 301 East 66th Street in Manhattan; a "KYC Print" of July 15, 2019, nine days after Epstein's arrest, recorded him as the trust's grantor.[^5]
Checks of Epstein's charity Gratitude America, Ltd., account address New York, New York 10154, were drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas in 2016, including one dated August 1, 2016 for 37,500 dollars payable to [[Leon Botstein]], president of [[Bard College]], with the memo "3rd Quarterly Payment of 4."[^6] The consent order records that on January 4, 2016 an Epstein accountant withdrew a request to open an account for Gratitude America when the bank asked for an external due-diligence report.[^1]
In Leon Black's estate planning, a family-office checklist dated as of October 2, 2013 recorded "Preliminary meetings with Deutsche Bank taken" on financing against Black's art, and proposed a use agreement "between Heritage Trust and DB regarding use of art held by the Heritage Trust."[^7]
In March 2019 Epstein's Southern Trust Company wired 2.4 million dollars to exercise warrants in the Israeli emergency-response company [[Carbyne]], and [[Bank Leumi]], where the investing partnership's general partner received the funds, asked for "a recommendation letter from the transferring bank of each limited partner." On March 12, 2019 Indyke wrote to Epstein that the lawyer handling the deal was "asking for a bank rec letter from the transferring bank which is DB. I have asked Rich to find out from Stewart Oldfield at DB with whom Rich has a decent relationship if that would even be possible at this point"; on March 14 he reported that "Stewart Oldfield is trying to find out what kind of letter he can get for us."[^8]
### The DFS Penalty and Victim Settlement ### The DFS Penalty and Victim Settlement
The New York Department of Financial Services issued its consent order on July 6, 2020, finding that Deutsche Bank conducted business in an unsafe and unsound manner in violation of New York Banking Law section 44 and failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program in violation of 3 NYCRR section 116.2.[^1] The order, brought under sections 39 and 44 of the Banking Law, also addressed the bank's correspondent relationships with [[FBME Bank]] and [[Danske Bank]] Estonia, through which it cleared more than 267 billion dollars in transactions and identified hundreds of suspicious transactions.[^1] The order required Deutsche Bank to pay a penalty of 150 million dollars and credited the bank's cooperation and remediation.[^1] The New York Department of Financial Services issued its consent order on July 6, 2020, finding that Deutsche Bank conducted business in an unsafe and unsound manner in violation of New York Banking Law section 44 and failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program in violation of 3 NYCRR section 116.2.[^1] The order, brought under sections 39 and 44 of the Banking Law, also addressed the bank's correspondent relationships with [[FBME Bank]] and [[Danske Bank]] Estonia, through which it cleared more than 267 billion dollars in transactions and identified hundreds of suspicious transactions.[^1] The order required Deutsche Bank to pay a penalty of 150 million dollars within ten business days, barred it from deducting the penalty for tax purposes or seeking insurance or indemnification for it, and credited the bank's cooperation and remediation. It did not appoint a new monitor but expanded the mandate of the independent monitor already in place under the January 30, 2017 consent order. The Department agreed to take no further action against the bank for the conduct described in the order, provided the bank complied with it, while reserving the right to act on conduct the bank had not disclosed. The order stated that the regulator left the question of what Epstein's cash was used for "to the criminal authorities." It was signed for the Department by Superintendent [[Linda Lacewell]] and for the bank by general counsel [[Karen Kuder]].[^1]
The bank terminated the Epstein relationship after the [[Miami Herald]] published its November 2018 reporting on his 2008 plea deal, informing Epstein by letter on December 21, 2018 that it would no longer service his accounts.[^1] After the bank decided to offboard the accounts, a relationship manager nonetheless drafted reference letters to two other financial institutions stating that he was "unaware of any problems relating to the operation or use" of the accounts.[^1] The bank terminated the Epstein relationship after the [[Miami Herald]] published its November 2018 reporting on his 2008 plea deal, informing Epstein by letter on December 21, 2018 that it would no longer service his accounts.[^1] After the bank decided to offboard the accounts, a relationship manager nonetheless drafted reference letters to two other financial institutions stating that he was "unaware of any problems relating to the operation or use" of the accounts.[^1]
In May 2023 Deutsche Bank agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle a federal lawsuit in [[New York]] brought by a survivor identified as Jane Doe, who sought class-action status on behalf of other victims and alleged that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking and chose profit over compliance with the law.[^2] The plaintiffs were represented by [[Edwards Pottinger]] and [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], and one firm characterized the deal as among the largest sex-trafficking settlements with a bank in U.S. history; a federal judge approved it in October 2023.[^2][^3] After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Deutsche Bank retroactively filed suspicious activity reports flagging more than 250 million dollars in wires, one of them covering 1,140 wires totaling 147 million dollars from 2013 to 2019, including payments to women in Russia and Eastern Europe and to modeling agencies; according to Wyden's report the bank had filed no contemporaneous report in almost six years. Wyden's staff asked the bank in June 2026 for the deposition transcript of Morris taken in the victims' suit, and the bank's lawyers declined.[^3]
In May 2023 Deutsche Bank agreed to pay 75 million dollars to settle a federal lawsuit in [[New York]] brought by a survivor identified as Jane Doe, who sought class-action status on behalf of other victims and alleged that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking and chose profit over compliance with the law.[^2] The plaintiffs were represented by [[Edwards Pottinger]] and [[Boies Schiller Flexner]], and one firm characterized the deal as among the largest sex-trafficking settlements with a bank in U.S. history; a federal judge approved it in October 2023.[^2][^9]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
[^1]: 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 (July 6, 2020). https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank
[^1]: 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. 8, 16-58, 114-122 and signature page. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank
[^2]: "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 [^2]: "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
[^3]: "US judge approves Deutsche Bank $75 million settlement with Epstein accusers," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/business/deutsche-bank-settlement-epstein-accusers [^3]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 6-7, 9-10, 44-50, 59-61 (citing EFTA01344411, EFTA01344990, EFTA01344574, EFTA01460765 and EFTA01352796). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^4]: Letter from Senator Ron Wyden to Chairman James Comer and Ranking Member Robert Garcia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding Leon Black, June 4, 2026 (citing EFTA01376741). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_house_oversight_on_leon_black-epstein_060426.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01364303, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank know-your-customer page "The 2013 Butterfly Trust" (DB-SDNY-0054829); EFTA01372887, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank "KYC Print," July 15, 2019 (DB-SDNY-0066790). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01364303.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01372887.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check of Gratitude America, Ltd drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01071282, DataSet 9, "Checklist for Leon Black Estate Planning and Restructuring, As of October 2, 2013." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01071282.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02634615, DataSet 11, email chain "Carbyne warrants" among Tomer Toor, NJF Capital, Darren Indyke and Jeffrey Epstein, February 28 to March 14, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02634615.pdf
[^9]: "US judge approves Deutsche Bank $75 million settlement with Epstein accusers," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/business/deutsche-bank-settlement-epstein-accusers

2
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Dialog.md
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@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ The confirmed 2026 registrants, as reported by *WIRED*, spanned U.S. partisan po
Dialog's secrecy was breached twice before the 2026 leak, without producing a comprehensive membership disclosure. In April 2022 the statistician Gelman published a Dialog invitation to his Columbia University blog, describing the registration fee and format; this is the source of the published fee figure of more than 16,000 dollars. Gelman's post was a limited disclosure, naming the event and its cost but not the attendees.[^2] Dialog's secrecy was breached twice before the 2026 leak, without producing a comprehensive membership disclosure. In April 2022 the statistician Gelman published a Dialog invitation to his Columbia University blog, describing the registration fee and format; this is the source of the published fee figure of more than 16,000 dollars. Gelman's post was a limited disclosure, naming the event and its cost but not the attendees.[^2]
Earlier, a 2013 Dialog retreat invitation surfaced in the U.S. Department of Justice document release from the [[Jeffrey Epstein]] files. The invitation had been forwarded to Epstein in November 2012, placing him on the circulation list for a Dialog event, and listed roughly 130 past participants as social proof of the gathering's prestige. The document (indexed as D-23831 in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein document release]]) established that Dialog's historical invitee network overlapped with the Epstein contact network at least a year after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement. Thiel separately met with Epstein in 2014, according to records reviewed by the *New York Times*, and the 2013 invite shows the channel ran through Dialog's own circulation list.[^1][^4][^5] Earlier, a 2013 Dialog retreat invitation surfaced in the U.S. Department of Justice document release from the [[Jeffrey Epstein]] files. The invitation had been forwarded to Epstein in November 2012, placing him on the circulation list for a Dialog event, and listed roughly 130 past participants as social proof of the gathering's prestige. The document (indexed as D-23831 in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein document release]]) established that Dialog's historical invitee network overlapped with the Epstein contact network at least a year after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. Thiel separately met with Epstein in 2014, according to records reviewed by the *New York Times*, and the 2013 invite shows the channel ran through Dialog's own circulation list.[^1][^4][^5]
### The D.C. Campus ### The D.C. Campus

33
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Edge Foundation.md
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@ -14,7 +14,15 @@ alias:
- Edge - Edge
summary: "The Edge Foundation is John Brockman's nonprofit that runs Edge.org, hosts the annual Edge Question and Billionaires' Dinner, and drew a majority of its 2001 to 2017 revenue from foundations associated with Jeffrey Epstein." summary: "The Edge Foundation is John Brockman's nonprofit that runs Edge.org, hosts the annual Edge Question and Billionaires' Dinner, and drew a majority of its 2001 to 2017 revenue from foundations associated with Jeffrey Epstein."
created: 2026-06-20 created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20 updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "638,000 dollars of about 857,000 dollars in revenue, through Epstein foundations"
start: 2001
end: 2015
fn: 2
--- ---
The Edge Foundation is a New York nonprofit founded by literary agent [[John Brockman]] that operates the website [[Edge.org]], publishes the annual Edge Question, and for years hosted the Billionaires' Dinner. Foundations associated with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] provided $638,000 of nearly $857,000 in revenue the organization received between 2001 and 2017, making Epstein its dominant backer during that period.[^1][^2] The Edge Foundation is a New York nonprofit founded by literary agent [[John Brockman]] that operates the website [[Edge.org]], publishes the annual Edge Question, and for years hosted the Billionaires' Dinner. Foundations associated with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] provided $638,000 of nearly $857,000 in revenue the organization received between 2001 and 2017, making Epstein its dominant backer during that period.[^1][^2]
@ -23,9 +31,9 @@ The Edge Foundation is a New York nonprofit founded by literary agent [[John Bro
The Edge Foundation was incorporated in 1988 as an outgrowth of the Reality Club, an informal gathering of intellectuals that Brockman had convened from 1981 to 1996 in restaurants, lofts, and other venues around New York. The foundation describes its mission as promoting inquiry into scientific and intellectual ideas in the spirit of the "third culture" that Brockman set out in his 1995 book *The Third Culture*, in which scientists who write for a general public take the place of the traditional literary intellectual.[^3][^4] The Edge Foundation was incorporated in 1988 as an outgrowth of the Reality Club, an informal gathering of intellectuals that Brockman had convened from 1981 to 1996 in restaurants, lofts, and other venues around New York. The foundation describes its mission as promoting inquiry into scientific and intellectual ideas in the spirit of the "third culture" that Brockman set out in his 1995 book *The Third Culture*, in which scientists who write for a general public take the place of the traditional literary intellectual.[^3][^4]
The third-culture framing extended [[C. P. Snow]]'s 1959 lecture on the divide between literary and scientific cultures, recasting working scientists as the public intellectuals "rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives." Brockman ran the site as a program of the foundation alongside his agency [[Brockman Inc.]], with [[Katinka Matson]] listed as co-founder, and many Edge participants were also agency clients whose books the firm sold.[^4][^3] The third-culture framing extended [[C. P. Snow]]'s 1959 lecture on the divide between literary and scientific cultures, recasting working scientists as the public intellectuals "rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives." Brockman ran the site as a program of the foundation alongside his agency [[Brockman Inc.]], with [[Katinka Matson]] listed as co-founder, and many Edge participants were also agency clients whose books the firm sold.[^3][^4]
Brockman launched Edge.org in 1996 as the online successor to the Reality Club, posting long-form conversations and essays by scientists and authors. The journalist [[John Naughton]] called the site "the world's smartest website" in a 2012 *Observer* profile, a phrase the foundation has since used in its own materials. Contributors over the years included [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Steven Pinker]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Lawrence Krauss]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[Martin Nowak]], and [[George Church]].[^5][^4] Brockman launched Edge.org in 1996 as the online successor to the Reality Club, posting long-form conversations and essays by scientists and authors. The journalist [[John Naughton]] called the site "the world's smartest website" in a 2012 *Observer* profile, a phrase the foundation has since used in its own materials. Contributors over the years included [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Steven Pinker]], [[Daniel Kahneman]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Stephen Hawking]], [[Lawrence Krauss]], [[Marvin Minsky]], [[Martin Nowak]], and [[George Church]].[^4][^5]
### The Edge Question and the World Question Center ### The Edge Question and the World Question Center
@ -33,7 +41,7 @@ Beginning in 1998, Edge posed an annual question to its contributors through wha
The annual responses fed a long-running book series, with collected volumes published as *What We Believe but Cannot Prove*, *What Is Your Dangerous Idea?*, *What Have You Changed Your Mind About?*, *This Will Change Everything*, *This Explains Everything*, and *Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?*, among others. Brockman closed the annual question in 2018 after twenty editions, framing the final question as the finale of the series.[^4][^6] The annual responses fed a long-running book series, with collected volumes published as *What We Believe but Cannot Prove*, *What Is Your Dangerous Idea?*, *What Have You Changed Your Mind About?*, *This Will Change Everything*, *This Explains Everything*, and *Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?*, among others. Brockman closed the annual question in 2018 after twenty editions, framing the final question as the finale of the series.[^4][^6]
The Third Culture program ran in parallel, with Edge publishing the conversations, video, and essays that fed Brockman's edited anthologies and supplied his agency clients with a steady channel to a general readership. The foundation positioned its participants as a continuation of the figures Brockman profiled in *The Third Culture* in 1995.[^4][^3] The Third Culture program ran in parallel, with Edge publishing the conversations, video, and essays that fed Brockman's edited anthologies and supplied his agency clients with a steady channel to a general readership. The foundation positioned its participants as a continuation of the figures Brockman profiled in *The Third Culture* in 1995.[^3][^4]
### The Billionaires' Dinner ### The Billionaires' Dinner
@ -49,7 +57,17 @@ The [[Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation]] and other Epstein-controlled entities, inc
Epstein's last recorded contribution was $30,000 in 2015, after which Edge raised only several thousand dollars from a single donor over 2016 and 2017. For multiple years Epstein was effectively the foundation's sole donor, and his withdrawal after 2015 coincided with the end of the dinner series.[^1][^2] Epstein's last recorded contribution was $30,000 in 2015, after which Edge raised only several thousand dollars from a single donor over 2016 and 2017. For multiple years Epstein was effectively the foundation's sole donor, and his withdrawal after 2015 coincided with the end of the dinner series.[^1][^2]
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, the science writer [[Carl Zimmer]] asked to be removed from Edge, the author [[Naomi Wolf]] left Brockman Inc. on July 31, 2019, citing both Epstein's funding and the appearance of Sarah Kellen on the site, and [[Evgeny Morozov]] called on Brockman to close the foundation while publishing a 2013 email in which Brockman had tried to introduce him to Epstein. Photographs showing Kellen at Edge dinners were taken down. Most listed contributors did not publicly disassociate from the foundation, and the site continued to host its archived conversations.[^8][^1] After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, the science writer [[Carl Zimmer]] asked to be removed from Edge, the author [[Naomi Wolf]] left Brockman Inc. on July 31, 2019, citing both Epstein's funding and the appearance of Sarah Kellen on the site, and [[Evgeny Morozov]] called on Brockman to close the foundation while publishing a 2013 email in which Brockman had tried to introduce him to Epstein. Photographs showing Kellen at Edge dinners were taken down. Most listed contributors did not publicly disassociate from the foundation, and the site continued to host its archived conversations.[^1][^8]
### Tax Filings and the Collapse
The Edge Foundation files with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as Edge Foundation Inc., employer identification number 13-3528667, in care of Brockman Inc. at 260 Fifth Avenue, New York. Its filings report total contributions of 50,000 dollars in 2011, none in 2012, 50,000 dollars in 2013, 50,000 dollars in 2014 and 130,000 dollars in 2015, the year of Epstein's last recorded 30,000 dollar gift and the last Billionaires' Dinner, and no contributions in any year from 2019 to 2023. In 2023 it reported total assets of 73,610 dollars and revenue of 6,202 dollars. NPR reported in 2026 that Edge.org appeared to have ceased publication in 2023.[^9][^10]
An IRS filing of Epstein's [[C.O.U.Q. Foundation]] records a 50,000 dollar gift to Edge in 2007, months after *[[The New York Times]]* questioned whether prosecutors had given Epstein preferential treatment over allegations involving underage girls. Edge published Epstein's own answer to its 2008 question, "What have you changed your mind about?" Epstein foundation pages claimed support for Edge through at least 2014, which could not be matched to tax filings, and his contributor profile stayed on the site into 2019, months after the *[[Miami Herald]]* series. The geneticist George Church lists the Edge Foundation among his affiliations ("2005-present; science communication") on the same disclosure page that lists the "Epstein Foundation St. Thomas, VI" as a funder for 2005 to 2007.[^11][^12]
### A Club for Clients
The MIT cosmologist [[Alan Guth]], a Brockman client, told NPR that he understood Edge primarily as a vehicle for Brockman and as a club for his clients, whom Brockman called "Edgies," and that Brockman arranged a meeting at which Epstein was to consider funding Guth's projects; Epstein declined. The physicist [[Seth Lloyd]] met Epstein at a 2004 Brockman dinner. The Edge contributors Lawrence Krauss and [[Frank Wilczek]] attended Epstein's 2006 gravity conference in the Virgin Islands, and Krauss's Arizona State institute later took Epstein money; Edge contributors Church and Martin Nowak received Epstein-brokered gifts at Harvard. Epstein's foundation's 30 million dollar claim for Nowak's program, repeated in Brockman's 2013 email to Evgeny Morozov, compares with the 6.5 million dollars Harvard recorded.[^10][^11][^13]
### Footnotes ### Footnotes
@ -61,3 +79,8 @@ After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, the science writer [[Carl Zimmer]] asked to be
[^6]: Brockman, John. *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution.* Simon & Schuster, 1995. [^6]: Brockman, John. *The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution.* Simon & Schuster, 1995.
[^7]: "The Edge 'Billionaires' Dinner'" event pages, Edge.org, on the 1999 start of the dinner at the TED conference, the attendee mix, and Brockman's naming of the event. https://www.edge.org/events/edge-dinners [^7]: "The Edge 'Billionaires' Dinner'" event pages, Edge.org, on the 1999 start of the dinner at the TED conference, the attendee mix, and Brockman's naming of the event. https://www.edge.org/events/edge-dinners
[^8]: "Edge Foundation President May Have Been Jeffrey Epstein's Connection to Intellectual Elite," *InsideHook,* 2019, on the gatekeeper role, the 2013 Morozov email, and the 2019 reckoning. https://www.insidehook.com/culture/edge-foundation-president-may-have-been-jeffrey-epsteins-connection-to-intellectual-elite [^8]: "Edge Foundation President May Have Been Jeffrey Epstein's Connection to Intellectual Elite," *InsideHook,* 2019, on the gatekeeper role, the 2013 Morozov email, and the 2019 reckoning. https://www.insidehook.com/culture/edge-foundation-president-may-have-been-jeffrey-epsteins-connection-to-intellectual-elite
[^9]: "Edge Foundation Inc," EIN 13-3528667, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Form 990-PF data for tax years 2011 to 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133528667
[^10]: Neuman, Scott, and Ava Berger. "Epstein paid for a conference of top scientists in 2006. His motives are now clear," *NPR,* March 9, 2026, on Guth's account of Edge and "Edgies," the 2006 conference attendees, and Edge's apparent end of publication in 2023. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5721150/epstein-scientists-physics-virgin-islands-conference
[^11]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the 2007 C.O.U.Q. gift, Epstein's 2008 Edge answer, the unverified later claims, the profile's removal, and Lloyd's 2004 meeting. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^12]: Church, George M. "George M. Church's Tech Transfer, Advisory Roles, and Funding Sources," Church Lab, Harvard Medical School, accessed September 25, 2026. https://arep.med.harvard.edu/t
[^13]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard OGC and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3, 5, 13. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208

102
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Financial Trust Company.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- VirginIslands
- FinancialTrustCompany
- ShellCompany
- TaxHaven
- BearStearns
- TowersFinancial
alias:
- Financial Trust Company, Inc.
- Financial Trust Co.
- The Financial Trust Company
- TFTC
- FTC (Epstein)
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's St. Thomas money-management company, incorporated in 1998, which held Virgin Islands tax exemptions from 1999, a large Bear Stearns stake, and was accused of receiving Towers Financial proceeds."
start: 1998-11-06
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 1998-11-06
end: 2019-08-10
role: "sole shareholder"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "president and chief executive officer"
fn: 4
- type: represented
with: "[[Troutman Sanders]]"
reverse: true
start: 2016-06
end: 2020-05
fn: 11
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Financial Trust Company, Inc. was a [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] corporation owned and run by [[Jeffrey Epstein]], incorporated on [[St. Thomas]] in November 1998 to provide "financial counseling and investment advice" and to serve as trustee or fiduciary for clients. It received territorial tax exemptions from 1999, held a block of [[Bear Stearns]] stock through the firm's 2008 collapse, bought shares in the 2011 initial public offering of [[Apollo Global Management]], and reported 212 million dollars in assets on its last public balance sheet in 2012. Epstein's successor entity, [[Southern Trust Company]], took over its role in the territory's tax-incentive program from 2013. Investors in [[Towers Financial Corporation]] and [[Steven Hoffenberg]] alleged in two federal suits that the company was capitalized with money taken from the Towers Ponzi scheme; both suits ended within weeks of filing.[^1][^2][^3]
### Incorporation
The Articles of Incorporation of Financial Trust Company, Inc. were executed on November 6, 1998 and stamped received by the Office of the [[Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands]] the same day. The corporation's principal office was listed at 41-42 Kongens Gade, St. Thomas, with the attorney Paul Hoffman as resident agent, and the articles were signed by three incorporators before Hoffman as notary. The stated purposes were "to provide financial counseling and investment advice to clients both within and without the United States Virgin Islands, including serving as trustee and/or fiduciary for such clients and others," together with a general clause permitting any commercial, industrial, agricultural, marketing, transportation or service activity. The articles provided for perpetual existence and "unlimited" indebtedness.[^1]
The articles do not name Epstein. Epstein's own 2009 verified complaint against Bear Stearns described him as "the president, a director, and the sole shareholder of Financial Trust," and a 2018 investor complaint sued him "in his capacity as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Financial Trust Company." The same 2018 complaint described the company as "a hedge fund formed under the laws of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1996," a date that differs from the 1998 articles Epstein's lawyers filed in response. The Virgin Islands government, in its 2022 complaint against the estate, gave the incorporation date as November 6, 1998 and stated that the company "had assets of $212 million when it publicly filed its last balance sheet in 2012."[^2][^3][^4]
### Tax Exemptions From 1999
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]
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]
### Bear Stearns Holdings
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]
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 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 Towers Financial Allegations
On May 27, 2016, Steven Hoffenberg, the former chief executive of Towers Financial Corporation, sued Epstein and "The Financial Trust Company" in the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]], individually and as self-described "constructive trustee of the Noteholders and Bondholders of Towers Financial Corporation." Epstein and the company were represented by Bennet J. Moskowitz of [[Troutman Sanders]], who wrote to Judge [[Richard J. Sullivan]] on June 28, 2016 seeking dismissal with prejudice on the grounds that Hoffenberg lacked standing, that every claim was time-barred, that he was barred by in pari delicto, and that he failed to state a claim. Hoffenberg withdrew the complaint with prejudice by letter of July 1, 2016, and Sullivan dismissed the case on July 5, 2016.[^11][^12]
On August 20, 2018, two Towers noteholders, Marvin Gerber and Kalma Koenig, filed a putative class action against Epstein and Financial Trust. Their complaint alleged that Epstein used proceeds of the Towers scheme "to start his own company, Defendant TFTC," and attached an affidavit Hoffenberg swore on August 17, 2018 stating that "Epstein used the monies he misappropriated and earned from his illegal trading activities and used them as start-up capital for his corporations, including The Financial Trust Company." Moskowitz moved to dismiss with prejudice on September 14, 2018, filing the 1998 Financial Trust articles among his exhibits, and the case was terminated on October 5, 2018. Epstein's lawyers called the action "Hoffenberg's rehashing of several of his prior lawsuits aimed at harassing" Epstein and his businesses; Epstein was never charged in connection with Towers.[^3][^4][^13]
A draft of the Troutman Sanders 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 Judge [[Robert W. 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, Towers' chief executive from 1975 to 1993, hired Epstein "as a consultant back in 1987," and quoted Hoffenberg's counsel telling Sweet on December 5, 2013 that "Mr. Epstein is a critical player here. ... and he's [Epstein] not a victim." It cited the 2003 *Vanity Fair* account of Hoffenberg's claim to an Illinois grand jury in 1993 that Epstein "came up with the idea" of financing takeover bids through Towers' purchase of two Illinois insurers and was the "technician" executing the schemes. The draft noted that "Defendants have never been found guilty of any wrongdoing related to Hoffenberg's fraud."[^14]
After Epstein's death, a civil suit by a plaintiff identified only as "VE," No. 1:19-cv-07625 (S.D.N.Y.), named Financial Trust Company, Inc. as a defendant alongside the estate's co-executors [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]], [[Nine East 71st Street Corporation]] and NES, LLC; Charles L. Glover of Troutman Sanders appeared for all of them in May 2020.[^15]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Articles of Incorporation of Financial Trust Company, Inc., executed November 6, 1998, with Consent of Agent for Service of Process (Paul Hoffman), received by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands November 6, 1998; filed as Exhibit N to the Declaration of Bennet J. Moskowitz, Gerber v. The Financial Trust Company, No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 16-14 (September 14, 2018), pp. 2 to 8. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.14.pdf
[^2]: Financial Trust Company, Inc. v. The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., Civil No. 2009/106 (D.V.I.), Verified Complaint dated August 5, 2009, paragraphs 1 to 53 and verification; reproduced as Exhibit 253, ECF No. 244-8 (filed July 25, 2023), in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011822/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/244-08.pdf
[^3]: 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 11 to 12, 32, 53 to 54, and Exhibit B, Affidavit of Steven J. Hoffenberg sworn August 17, 2018, ECF No. 7-2, paragraphs 12 and 18. https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Gerber-v-The-Financial-Trust-Co-complaint.pdf
[^4]: 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 139 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 p. 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
[^5]: Suzanne Carlson, "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks," *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020, reproduced as Exhibit 36, ECF No. 158-36 (filed May 23, 2023), in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
[^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 signed by Albert Bryan. 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]: Charles Gasparino and Lydia Moynihan, "The woes of Jeffrey Epstein: How he maintained Wall Street connections while downplaying child sex accusations," *Fox Business,* August 10, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/jeffrey-epstein-wall-street-connections-child-sex-trafficking
[^8]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 20625, SEC v. Ralph R. Cioffi and Matthew M. Tannin, Civil Action No. 08 2457 (FB) (E.D.N.Y.), June 19, 2008. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20625.htm
[^9]: 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
[^10]: 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, 11. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^11]: Letter of Bennet J. Moskowitz, Troutman Sanders LLP, 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 (S.D.N.Y.). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.7.pdf
[^12]: Hoffenberg v. Epstein, No. 1:16-cv-03989 (RJS) (S.D.N.Y.), docket (complaint filed May 27, 2016; terminated July 5, 2016), 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
[^13]: 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); 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, quoting the defendants' response. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7698990/gerber-v-the-financial-trust-company/ ; https://www.inquirer.com/business/jeffrey-epstein-hoffenberg-trump-clinton-20190711.html
[^14]: 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
[^15]: 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

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- GratitudeAmerica
- PrivateFoundation
- VirginIslands
- LeonBlack
- DeutscheBank
- Philanthropy
alias:
- Gratitude America, Ltd.
- Gratitude America Ltd
- Gratitude America, Ltd
- Gratitude America, Inc.
summary: "Jeffrey Epstein's St. Thomas private foundation, recognized by the IRS in 2012, which took 10 million dollars from Leon Black in 2015 and paid Bard president Leon Botstein 150,000 dollars in 2016."
start: 2012
location: "St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands"
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "resignation reported to Deutsche Bank by his accountant in January 2016"
end: 2016-01
fn: 2
- type: funded
with: "[[Leon Botstein]]"
role: "quarterly payments of 37,500 dollars for a one-year advisory board term"
start: 2016
end: 2016
fn: 11
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Gratitude America, Ltd. is a tax-exempt private foundation in [[St. Thomas]], [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], described by the [[New York State Department of Financial Services]] as "Mr. Epstein's private charity." The [[Internal Revenue Service]] recognized it in September 2012, four years after [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s Florida guilty plea, and its filings are addressed in care of the St. Thomas lawyer [[Erika Kellerhals]]. It reported almost no assets until 2015, when it received 10,003,000 dollars in contributions, 10 million of them from [[Leon Black]]. In 2016 it paid [[Leon Botstein]], president of [[Bard College]], 37,500 dollars a quarter from an account at [[Deutsche Bank]] Trust Company Americas, and it still reported about 8.2 million dollars in assets in its filing for 2022.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### Formation and Filings
The foundation's IRS record lists it as Gratitude America Ltd, employer identification number 66-0789697, a section 501(c)(3) private foundation with a ruling date of September 2012, at 9053 Estate Thomas, Suite 101, St. Thomas, in care of Erika Kellerhals. Its Form 990-PF returns for 2012, 2013 and 2014 reported revenue and assets of one dollar. For 2015 it reported gross contributions of 10,003,000 dollars, total revenue of 10,007,332 dollars, expenses of 768 dollars and year-end assets of 10,006,564 dollars. For 2019, the year of Epstein's death, it reported revenue of 242,470 dollars, mostly investment income and capital gains, grants of 110,000 dollars and assets of 8,184,284 dollars; its returns for 2020 through 2022 each reported assets of 8,175,884 dollars and no grants.[^1]
Kellerhals testified with Epstein at the November 2012 [[Economic Development Commission]] hearing on the tax-incentive application of [[Southern Trust Company]], and was a trustee of Epstein's Butterfly Trust; in September 2012 Epstein paid Southern Trust's 5,000 dollar application fee by wire from [[JPMorgan Chase]] to Kellerhals Ferguson LLP.[^5][^6][^7] The [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]], in its 2022 complaint against Epstein's estate, listed "Gratitude America, Inc." among the entities of which [[Darren Indyke]] or [[Richard Kahn]], "frequently both," were officers or directors.[^8]
### The Black Donation
The review of Black's dealings with Epstein that the law firm [[Dechert]] prepared for [[Apollo Global Management]] in January 2021 found that "Black also made a $10 million donation to Gratitude America in October 2015, which was a charitable organization affiliated with Epstein," and that Black "felt comfortable making this donation because he understood that Epstein was a strong proponent of scientific innovation." Dechert also found an August 21, 2015 letter from Gratitude America thanking Black for a 5 million dollar donation, confirmed in an email from Epstein to Black, but "did not find any document prepared by Black or the Family Office confirming this donation or any bank record reflecting such payment."[^3] *[[BuzzFeed News]]* reported in 2019 that the foundation's 2015 IRS filing showed a 10 million dollar transfer from a company called BV70, which shared an address with Black's family investment office; BV70 LLC was also the entity through which Black lent Epstein 30.5 million dollars in 2017.[^3][^9] In the same year Black was paying Southern Trust 30 million dollars for tax and estate advice.[^3]
### Deutsche Bank and the Botstein Checks
On January 4, 2016 an accountant for Epstein asked Deutsche Bank to open a brokerage account for Gratitude America. When the bank's reputational risk committee ordered an external due-diligence report on Epstein, the accountant "informed the Bank of Mr. Epstein's resignation from Gratitude America and withdrew the request to open the account. As a result, no due diligence report was run on Mr. Epstein."[^2]
Checks of "Gratitude America, Ltd," with an account address in New York, New York 10154, were drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas during 2016 and were later produced by the bank to the federal grand jury in New York. One, dated August 1, 2016, paid 37,500 dollars to Leon Botstein, with the memo "Leon Botstein, Bard College, 30 Campus Road, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504, 3rd Quarterly Payment of 4."[^4] Bard confirmed in May 2023 that Botstein received 150,000 dollars from the foundation in 2016 for a one-year term on its advisory board "as an expert in music," and said he gave the full amount to Bard the same year as part of a one million dollar gift. Botstein said, "I didn't benefit personally at all," and that he had not recalled the payments when earlier asked about Epstein's gifts because "the contract was signed by someone else."[^10][^11]
### 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]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Internal Revenue Service, Form 990-PF data for Gratitude America Ltd, EIN 66-0789697, tax years 2012 to 2022, and IRS Business Master File record (ruling date September 2012; in care of Erika Kellerhals, 9053 Estate Thomas Suite 101, St. Thomas), as indexed by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/660789697
[^2]: 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), para. 44. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/enforcement_discipline/ea20200706_deutsche_bank
[^3]: Dechert LLP, Memorandum to the Apollo Conflicts Committee, "Investigation of Epstein/Black Relationship and Any Relationship Between Epstein and Apollo Global Management, Inc.," January 22, 2021, pp. 16-19 and note 4, 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
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01348714, DataSet 10, check of Gratitude America, Ltd drawn on Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas to Leon Botstein, August 1, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348714.pdf
[^5]: 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 157 to 176; 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). 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
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01364303, DataSet 10, Deutsche Bank know-your-customer page "The 2013 Butterfly Trust" (DB-SDNY-0054829). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01364303.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01580553, DataSet 10, memorandum from Harry Beller to JPMorgan wire desk, September 21, 2012 (JPM-SDNY-00059908). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01580553.pdf
[^8]: 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), paragraph 80; reproduced as ECF No. 1-1 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). 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]: 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
[^10]: Scott Jaschik, "Leon Botstein received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein," *Inside Higher Ed,* May 18, 2023. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/18/leon-botstein-received-150000-jeffrey-epstein
[^11]: Victor Feldman, "Bard's Botstein Received $150,000 from Jeffrey Epstein Charity But Promptly Donated it to the College, School Confirms," *The Daily Catch,* May 18, 2023. https://www.thedailycatch.org/articles/bards-botstein-received-150000-from-epstein-charity-but-promptly-donated-it-to-the-college-school-confirms/
[^12]: 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
[^13]: 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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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Hong Kong Chinese Bank.md
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@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ The Hong Kong Chinese Bank was a bank in [[Hong Kong]] in which the family of [[
### The Worthen Exchange ### The Worthen Exchange
The Stephens and Riady families had formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in Hong Kong in 1978 and both bought into Worthen in 1983. [[James Riady]] and [[John Huang]] stayed in Little Rock until about 1987, when, according to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, "the Riadys sold their shares of Worthen Bank and focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco." The committee explained the exchange in a footnote sourced to the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and [[C. Joseph Giroir]]: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." The failed securities dealer was [[Bevill, Bresler and Schulman]].[^1] The Stephens and Riady families had formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in Hong Kong in 1978 and both bought into Worthen in 1983. [[James Riady]] and [[John Huang]] stayed in Little Rock until about 1987, when, according to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], "the Riadys sold their shares of Worthen Bank and focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco." The committee explained the exchange in a footnote sourced to the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and [[C. Joseph Giroir]]: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." The failed securities dealer was [[Bevill, Bresler and Schulman]].[^1]
### China Resources ### China Resources

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---
category: "Private Organization"
tags:
- Organization
- JeffreyEpstein
- InternationalAssetsGroup
- AssetRecovery
- TowersFinancial
- Finance
alias:
- International Assets Group Inc.
- I.A.G.
- IAG (Epstein)
- Intercontinental Assets Group
- Intercontinental Asset Group
summary: "Consulting company Jeffrey Epstein ran from his Manhattan apartment after leaving Bear Stearns in 1981, described as recovering stolen money for the wealthy, and his vehicle when he joined Towers Financial."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman of the board"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
International Assets Group Inc. (I.A.G.) was the consulting company [[Jeffrey Epstein]] operated out of his apartment in [[New York]] after leaving [[Bear Stearns]] in 1981 and before forming [[J. Epstein & Co.]] Epstein described its business as recovering money stolen from wealthy clients or governments. It was the firm he represented when [[Steven Hoffenberg]] engaged him as a consultant to [[Towers Financial Corporation]] around 1987, and a 1987 Towers press release on the attempted takeover of [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] identified Epstein as its chairman.[^1][^2][^3]
### Name
The company appears under three spellings. Vanity Fair's 2003 investigation called it "International Assets Group Inc. (I.A.G.)." A 2018 federal complaint by Towers investors and the sworn affidavit of Steven Hoffenberg attached to it use the same form, "International Assets Group Inc." The 1987 Towers press release quoted by CBS News gave "Intercontinental Asset Group," and later secondary accounts use "Intercontinental Assets Group." No incorporation record for any of the three forms has been published.[^1][^2][^3]
### Business
Vanity Fair reported that Epstein ran I.A.G. "out of his apartment in the Solo building on East 66th Street in New York." Friends who knew him in the early 1980s recalled that he described himself as a "bounty hunter," "recovering lost or stolen money for the government or for very rich people." Though he later claimed to manage money only for billionaires, in a 1989 deposition he testified that he "spent 80 percent of his time helping people recover stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers." He also sold risky, tax-sheltered oil and gas investments to smaller investors.[^1]
A suit by Michael Stroll, the former head of [[Williams Electronics]], showed that in 1982 I.A.G. received 450,000 dollars from Stroll, which Epstein put into oil. Stroll asked for the money back in 1984 and by 1988 had received 10,000 dollars. Stroll lost the case after Epstein told the court, among other things, that the 10,000 dollar check was payment for a horse he had bought from Stroll. "My net worth never exceeded four and a half million dollars," Stroll said.[^1]
### Hoffenberg, Leese and Mitchell
Epstein met Steven Hoffenberg in London in the 1980s. Hoffenberg said the two were introduced by [[Douglas Leese]], whom Vanity Fair described as a defense contractor; Epstein said the introduction was made by [[John Mitchell]], the former attorney general.[^1] In his August 17, 2018 affidavit Hoffenberg swore that when they met, "Epstein was running his own consulting company, International Assets Group Inc. out of his [[New York City]] apartment," and that around 1987 he hired Epstein "as an associate and expert to consult with TFC and me."[^2]
A Towers press release on the proposed 1987 Pan Am acquisition stated: "Jeffrey Epstein, chairman of the board of directors of Intercontinental Asset Group, is a financial advisor who has been familiar with Pan Am for approximately six years. Epstein serves as an advisor to Towers/United's management with respect to the proposed transaction." Towers attempted to use 3 million dollars from its insurance holding company, [[United Diversified Corporation]], to finance the bid. A 1991 suit by the [[Illinois Department of Insurance]] listed "a series of checks payable to Jeff Epstein or Jeff Epstein & Co. totaling $215,000" among improper disbursements from the United Fire and United Diversified accounts; Epstein was not a defendant.[^3]
Hoffenberg later swore that Epstein used money taken in the Towers scheme "as start-up capital for his corporations, including [[Financial Trust Company|The Financial Trust Company]]," the St. Thomas company Epstein incorporated in 1998. Epstein denied any dealings with the Towers insurers and was never charged; Vanity Fair noted that much of Hoffenberg's testimony in his criminal case "has proven to be false."[^1][^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Vicky Ward, "The Talented Mr. Epstein," *Vanity Fair,* March 2003, as republished by the author, on I.A.G. and the Solo building apartment, the "bounty hunter" description, the 1989 deposition, the oil and gas deals, the Stroll suit, the Leese and Mitchell accounts, Epstein's denial of dealings with the insurers, and the reliability of Hoffenberg's testimony. https://vickyward.com/article/the-talented-mr-epstein/
[^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), paragraph 21, and Exhibit B, Affidavit of Steven J. Hoffenberg sworn August 17, 2018, ECF No. 7-2, paragraphs 5, 6 and 18. https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Gerber-v-The-Financial-Trust-Co-complaint.pdf
[^3]: Brian Pascus, "Jeffrey Epstein worked at Towers Financial with Steven Hoffenberg, who committed Ponzi scheme crimes," *CBS News,* August 13, 2019, quoting the 1987 Towers press release and the 1991 Illinois Department of Insurance complaint. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-worked-at-towers-financial-with-stephen-hoffenberg-who-committed-ponzi-scheme-crimes/

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