Two executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, who were also advisers to the convicted sex offender, are accused of wiring millions of dollars into a trust they are tied to almost a year after the billionaire’s suicide in a Manhattan prison cell.
Attorney Darren Indyke and the estate’s accountant Richard Kahn allegedly wired $13 million from the estate to Butterfly Trust in April 2020, according to court filings from the U.S Virgin Islands, the New York Times reported.
The alleged $13 million payout to the trust — established by Epstein in 2013 — also occurred around the same time another investment firm with which the deceased billionaire had ties was liquidated, according to court filings cited by the Times. “Indyke, Kahn, and their spouses were the ultimate beneficiaries for two of the three trusts,” the filing read.
U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denis George’s office is requesting that a U.S. Virgin Island judge order Epstein’s estate to submit to discovery to investigate the estate’s handling of assets and see if any other similar transactions occurred.
The alleged payments to the two advisers also occurred around the same time George’s office had filed another lawsuit against the estate, the Times noted.
Epstein’s estate is now worth $185 million, after being valued at around $600 million at the time of Epstein’s suicide, due to $121 million in settlement payouts to the victim’s families and hundreds of millions in federal taxes, according to the Times. The court filing alleges that the estate has lost 75 percent of its value in two years.
Daniel Weiner, the attorney for Epstein’s estate, told the Times that Indyke and Kahn “categorically reject the baseless assertions of wrongdoing made against them.” The attorney also mentioned that the two executors had nothing to do with the $13 million wire payment, the newspaper noted.
“The 2013 Butterfly Trust mentioned in today’s filing by Ms. George has nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Epstein’s estate or any funds available to it,” Weiner added.
Epstein owned a private island on U.S Virgin Island territory where he carried out many of his horrific abuses.
Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June for her role in aiding the billionaire in his abuse of teenage girls.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.