Jeffrey Epstein had two key aides - why do they still control his money and secrets?

## Summary
Jeffrey Epstein had two key aides - why do they still control his money and secrets? 1 hour ago Share Save Chi Chi Izundu , Olivia Davies and Will Dahlgreen , BBC News Investigations Share Save BBC Jeffrey Epstein appointed two men to be executors of his estate - his accountant Richard Kahn and lawyer Darren Indyke When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives. US Department of Justice Kahn asked staff at Epstein's New York mansion to remove items from a safe, according to the FBI Kahn, and Epstein's long-serving lawyer Darren Indyke, are the sole executors of Epstein's estate, controlling all his wealth and possessions. Indyke and Kahn have denied any wrongdoing in their interactions with Epstein and are not facing any criminal charges. "No judge in any court anywhere has ever found that Mr Indyke or Mr Kahn committed any wrongdoing of any kind," Daniel Weiner, Indyke's lawyer, told BBC News. "Not a single woman has ever accused either man of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr Epstein's abuse," he added. In addition to their forthcoming testimony, as co-executors of Epstein's estate, Indyke and Kahn have provided the House Oversight Committee with "thousands of pages of documents, photographs and other materials" in response to subpoenas, according to Indyke's lawyer.

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Jeffrey Epstein had two key aides - why do they still control his money and secrets?
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Chi Chi Izundu
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Olivia Davies
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Jeffrey Epstein appointed two men to be executors of his estate - his accountant Richard Kahn and lawyer Darren Indyke
When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives.
But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items. And when they returned with a new one, the safe had been emptied while they were gone - according to FBI documents.
Richard Kahn, Epstein's accountant and bookkeeper since 2005, had told the mansion's staff to pack two suitcases with the contents of the safe and deliver them to his home, agents wrote.
After the FBI spoke to Kahn's then lawyer, Kahn agreed to hand over the suitcases untouched, but he did not want agents coming to his house and declined to say who had told him to remove the items.
However, a source close to the investigation into Epstein told us that he was not aware of Kahn ever being interviewed or investigated in relation to the paedophile financier's criminal investigation.
Kahn's current lawyer told BBC News that his client had fully co-operated with the FBI's requests.
US Department of Justice
Kahn asked staff at Epstein's New York mansion to remove items from a safe, according to the FBI
Kahn, and Epstein's long-serving lawyer Darren Indyke, are the sole executors of Epstein's estate, controlling all his wealth and possessions.
Although hardly household names, the pair now hold control over compensation owed to survivors and the secrets contained in the documents still held by the Epstein estate - which, upon request, have been released to the House Oversight Committee.
As part of its investigation into Epstein's network, a congressional committee has subpoenaed - summoned - the pair to testify. Kahn is appearing on Wednesday, while Indyke is due to testify on Thursday 19 March.
We have spoken to people associated with investigations linked to disgraced Epstein, looked through papers from multiple court cases, and analysed the most recent material released in the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice - to try to uncover more about the role the two men are alleged to have played in Epstein's life and continue to play after his death.
Epstein appointed Indyke and Kahn as co-executors in August 2019, just two days before he died in jail awaiting trial for sex-trafficking minors. He revised his will to transfer all his wealth into a trust named after the year of his birth, which the lawyer and accountant would administer.
In their role as executors, Indyke and Kahn have agreed compensation packages paid to survivors and included conditions that prevented survivors who accepted funds from taking further legal action against them personally. Other claims are still outstanding.
As beneficiaries of the trust, the men could also be paid tens of millions of dollars each from whatever remains when the claims are settled.
The value of Epstein's estate remains unclear. But it was estimated at roughly $635m (£475m) at the time of his death, according to Edwards Henderson, a law firm that represents many of the survivors.
One of the women Epstein abused, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC that Indyke and Kahn had questions to answer about what they knew about his "enterprise".
"Jeffrey was just one human. There's no way that he would have been able to keep up with all this on his own," she said. "We always say, follow the money, right? If you follow the money, you can understand a lot about how this operation ran."
Court filings claim that, either Indyke and Kahn - but often both of them - "had signatory authority over virtually all of the accounts held by Epstein", which meant they were authorised to make transactions.
They also helped to run multiple Epstein corporations - some of which, it is alleged in court filings, existed solely for the purpose of his sex-trafficking operation. Kahn's lawyer told us "there is no basis for such claims" and that Epstein's businesses didn't operate to shield his activities; "virtually all of them were tax-filing entities whose ownership was never hidden".
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Richard Kahn (l) and Darren Indyke (r) have rarely been photographed in public
The pair allegedly received millions in fees and loans from Epstein, paid off survivors and even facilitated coerced marriages for women trafficked from abroad to allow them to stay in the US, according to documents filed in court.
One lawsuit alleges that no-one except Ghislaine Maxwell - a former British socialite and now convicted associate of Epstein - was "as essential and central to Epstein's operation" as Indyke and Khan.
US Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the House Oversight Com

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items.
- The value of Epstein's estate remains unclear.

### Implications
- Jeffrey Epstein had two key aides - why do they still control his money and secrets? 1 hour ago Share Save Chi Chi Izundu , Olivia Davies and Will Dahlgreen , BBC News Investigations Share Save BBC Jeffrey Epstein appointed two men to be executors of his estate - his accountant Richard Kahn and lawyer Darren Indyke When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives.
- But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items.
- He revised his will to transfer all his wealth into a trust named after the year of his birth, which the lawyer and accountant would administer.
- As beneficiaries of the trust, the men could also be paid tens of millions of dollars each from whatever remains when the claims are settled.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers epstein, kahn, indyke topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2481.