Feds probe Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer and accountant – Business News
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are reportedly investigating late financier and intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant — the 2 males who took control of his property after his death and may accumulate tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from a trust holding his remaining property.
Lawyer Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn confronted years of scrutiny over their roles in Epstein’s legal and financial affairs earlier than they grew to become co-executors of his property in 2019.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Manhattan federal prosecutors have not too long ago sought emails and financial information involving the pair and have been contacting potential witnesses as half of the inquiry.
Darren Indyke, Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer, arrives for his deposition earlier than the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on March 19. AP
The probe comes after congressional investigators targeted on Indyke and Kahn’s authority over Epstein-linked bank accounts and transactions.
“Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn have not been subpoenaed or asked to speak with federal prosecutors, nor have they been told that they are the subject or target of any investigation,” an lawyer for the 2 males informed The Post in an emailed assertion.
“They are aware that the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York recently asked to speak with at least one individual who provided services to Jeffrey Epstein, but the focus and the scope of the investigation are not known to them.”
The lawyer, Daniel H. Weiner, informed The Post: “As demonstrated in the documents released pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the US Attorney’s Office did not consider Mr. Indyke or Mr. Kahn to be among Epstein’s potential co-conspirators during its previous investigation in 2018 and 2019.”
“Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn testified at length before the House Oversight Committee earlier this year, and they have given multiple depositions in civil lawsuits,” Weiner stated.
“Not a single individual has ever accused Mr. Indyke or Mr. Kahn of sexual abuse or trafficking, and they reject any suggestion that they were complicit in or in any way knowingly facilitated Mr. Epstein’s sexual abuse or trafficking – conduct that by all accounts occurred behind closed doors, in secluded locations, and at times when neither Mr. Indyke nor Mr. Kahn was present.”
“Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn are confident that any investigation will reveal that they were not involved in any of Epstein’s crimes, just as the previous investigation found.”
Senate Finance Committee investigators stated in August that each males acted as financial intermediaries for Epstein and held signatory authority or powers of lawyer over accounts at JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank.
Richard Kahn arrives for a House Oversight Committee deposition about Epstein within the Rayburn building on March 11. CQ-Roll Call, Inc by way of Getty Images
Indyke and Kahn have denied figuring out that Epstein was engaged in intercourse trafficking or knowingly serving to him commit crimes.
Prosecutors have requested witnesses in regards to the males’s involvement with Epstein-related entities and their handling of financial and legal issues involving younger ladies, in line with the Journal.
The paper beforehand reported that Indyke and Kahn have been officers of Epstein-linked entities that obscured transactions, organized money for Epstein and made funds to ladies, allegations the 2 males have denied amounted to wrongdoing.
It was not identified which doable offenses investigators are inspecting, in line with the Journal.
The renewed federal scrutiny is notable as a result of neither Indyke nor Kahn was questioned about their work for Epstein during the Manhattan investigations that led to sex-trafficking costs towards Epstein and later Ghislaine Maxwell, the Journal beforehand reported.
Earlier this yr, each males testified beneath subpoena earlier than the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers examined the federal government’s handling of the Epstein case. Kahn was deposed March 11 and Indyke, on March 19.
Asked for remark by the Journal, Kahn’s lawyer referred to his earlier denial of wrongdoing.
An lawyer for Indyke didn’t reply, whereas a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to remark.
Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender who died in federal custody in 2019. REUTERS
Senate investigators additionally stated suspicious exercise stories from JPMorgan flagged more than $1.3 billion in wire transfers by means of Epstein-related accounts. Such stories are alerts to regulators and don’t set up that a crime occurred.
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to felony solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors to interact in prostitution, receiving an 18-month county-jail sentence and later registering as a intercourse offender.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged him in 2019 with sex-trafficking conspiracy and intercourse trafficking of minors, alleging he recruited and paid underage women — some as younger as 14 — for sexual encounters and paid some victims to recruit others.
Epstein pleaded not guilty and died by suicide in jail earlier than the case went to trial, so these federal allegations have been by no means adjudicated.
