All posts tagged: Epsteins

‘Seriously the best boss ever’: inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant | Jeffrey Epstein

‘Seriously the best boss ever’: inside the world of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant | Jeffrey Epstein

Published by Sam Flores

Jonathan Whitcomb, attorney for Lesley Groff, 5 June 2020 “She did not know.” Lesley Groff, longtime executive assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, has always claimed she knew nothing of his crimes. Complicity requires knowledge. To be legally complicit in a crime, you have to know you are helping to commit it. To be morally complicit, the bar is lower. You don’t even have to play an active part. To have knowledge of the crime and do nothing is enough. But how do we know what someone knows? I think of all the times I’ve closed my eyes or shut down a thought or turned away from something wrong, large or small, a planet-level ecological harm or a sub-fiver theft in the supermarket right in front of me. Surely, I say to myself, someone else will do something. It’s not my fault or my responsibility; I am too inconsequential to make a difference here. Somewhere in the course of those thoughts, I decide not to let the knowledge of what I’ve seen or heard or inferred take …

“We should have taken more pictures”: Ferrell opens “SNL” finale as Epstein’s ghost

“We should have taken more pictures”: Ferrell opens “SNL” finale as Epstein’s ghost

Published by Sam Flores

“Saturday Night Live” saved their best cold open for last. The sketch show’s season finale started off with the standard opportunity for James Austin Johnson to show off his Donald Trump impersonation, but once his octogenarian Trump fell asleep on the Resolute Desk, things took a weird, Dickensian turn. Host Will Ferrell showed up as the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein, complete with quarter-zip and chains. “I thought you were dead,” Austin’s Trump said. “I am, remember? I killed myself, wink,” Ferrell’s Epstein replied. Trump caught Epstein up on his tanking approval rating (“Call me when it hits 17,” he said). Epstein reciprocated with a report on “heaven.” “It’s really, really hot,” he said.  “Mahjong every Wednesday with Stalin and John Wayne Gacy… I just wrote for the Kevin Hart roast. Got some zingers in there.” Epstein then offered a glimpse into the future of several current and former members of the administration. Kristi Noem was shown selling handheld vacuums on a home shopping network while Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth were hawking products on their …

Was Jeffrey Epstein’s Copy of a Modernist Painting Sold on eBay?

Was Jeffrey Epstein’s Copy of a Modernist Painting Sold on eBay?

Published by José Betancourt

An eBay seller claimed to have Jeffrey Epstein‘s reproduction of a painting by Kees van Dongen, a Dutch painter who became a part of the Fauvist movement in France during the early 20th century. The work in question, it should be noted, was not a bona fide van Dongen. It was a print based on a ca. 1905 painting called Femme Fatale, which sold at Christie’s in 2004 for $5.94 million. At the time, Christie’s touted the work for demonstrating “in uncompromising fashion the artist’s penchant for exploiting shock value, here taken to an unprecedented extreme.” The painting depicts a green-faced woman with one breast spilling out from her shirt. Related Articles Epstein owned a giclée print of the van Dongen painting and hung it above his desk in his Upper East Side townhouse. And while this may not be a true van Dongen, Epstein appears to have held a fascination with the artist. A set of files related to the convicted sex offender by the Justice Department earlier this year include a document related …

Melania Trump Makes Rare Address to Nation, Denying She Is “Epstein’s Victim”

Melania Trump Makes Rare Address to Nation, Denying She Is “Epstein’s Victim”

Published by Sam Flores

In a rare public address from the White House this afternoon, first lady Melania Trump denied having any connection to Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes, saying, “I am not Epstein’s victim” and “Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump.” “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island,” she told reporters. The first lady rebuked the “fake images and statements” regarding her and the convicted sex offender that, she said, “have been circulating on social media for years now.” The first time she “crossed paths with Epstein,” she said, was in 2000 at an event she attended with the now president. “At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings,” the first lady said. It was not clear what prompted Thursday’s remarks to the press or what specific images and statements she was referring to. Last August she threatened Hunter …

A Detailed Timeline of Jeffrey Epstein’s Death

A Detailed Timeline of Jeffrey Epstein’s Death

Published by Sam Flores

But now members of the House of Representatives’ main investigative body, the Oversight Committee, hope Noel can provide clarity around what exactly happened during those fateful hours. Ahead of her interview, here’s everything we currently know about the night Epstein died, piecing together news reports, documents released by the DOJ, court records, and video footage from the few working cameras in the SHU. July 6, 2019 — Jeffrey Epstein is arrested on federal sex trafficking charges at Teterboro Airport and brought to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. July 7 — Epstein is assigned to the prison’s Special Housing Unit (SHU) due to the intense media interest in the case and his notoriety within the prison. July 8 —Epstein pleads not guilty to sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. July 18 — A federal judge denies Epstein bail. On July 6, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and brought to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty Images. July 23 — …

Justice in fragments: Epstein’s shredded records resurface

Justice in fragments: Epstein’s shredded records resurface

Published by Sam Flores

In a new chapter of the Jeffrey Epstein saga, law enforcement sources tell The Miami Herald that bags of shredded documents tied to the disgraced financier were found at a New York jail shortly after his death, raising fresh legal and transparency questions about one of the most controversial criminal cases of the past decade. According to reporting from the Herald, these materials were discovered during a cleanup or document review process in the days after Epstein’s August 2019 death in federal custody, and they have drawn scrutiny from advocates and investigators who say they may relate to evidence that has never been fully disclosed. Epstein, the wealthy financier convicted of procuring minors for prostitution and charged in a broader sex trafficking conspiracy, died by suicide in a federal detention center while awaiting trial on new charges. In the years since, the Herald has led investigative efforts to unseal tens of thousands of court documents related to his crimes, prompting the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandates broad public release of files …

As New Mexico Investigates, Questions Are Raised About Epstein’s Links to the Powerful

As New Mexico Investigates, Questions Are Raised About Epstein’s Links to the Powerful

Published by Sam Flores

STANLEY, New Mexico, March 21 (Reuters) – As police for the first time search Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch for evidence of any abuse he ⁠may ⁠have committed at the Old West-themed hideaway, attention has focused on the powerful former ⁠politicians in the state who continued to meet and receive campaign donations from Epstein long after he became a registered sex offender.    Epstein’s relationships with state Democratic Party leaders, including two former governors and a ​state attorney general, and the institutional failings that may have allowed the convicted sex offender to perpetrate abuse at the ranch are under investigation by a New Mexico state “truth commission” – the first of its kind in the country.  Zorro Ranch, where Epstein spent about two months a year, was alleged to be ‌a hub in his sex trafficking of children that stretched between the ‌U.S. Virgin Islands, New York and Florida, according to a 2020 letter from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office and numerous documents among the millions recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice.  Epstein spent relatively little to establish …

Epstein’s former lawyer denies knowledge of sex offender’s crimes : NPR

Epstein’s former lawyer denies knowledge of sex offender’s crimes : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Darren Indyke, Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer, arrives for his deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption toggle caption Jose Luis Magana/AP Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime personal attorney testified Thursday before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition that he had “no knowledge whatsoever” of Epstein’s crimes against women and girls. Darren Indyke, one of several witnesses called before the committee including former President Bill Clinton and Ghislaine Maxwell, worked for Epstein for more than two decades until the sex offender’s death in 2019. He is widely considered part of Epstein’s inner circle, along with the disgraced financier’s former accountant Richard Kahn. Kahn also testified before the committee last week that he was “not aware” of the sex offender’s crimes. “My complete lack of involvement in that misconduct is a matter of record: not a single woman has ever accused me of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she or anyone else reported to me any allegation …