The two executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate — both longtime advisers to the late financier — could receive millions of dollars in payouts long after his death, U.S. Virgin Islands authorities said in a legal filing Friday.
The payouts to the executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, are linked to the Butterfly Trust, an investment vehicle Mr. Epstein had founded in 2013, according to the filing by attorneys from Denise George, Attorney General for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The court filing by Virgin Island authorities raised questions about the multimillion-dollar transfer of a trust originally established by Mr. Epstein to various trusts that would benefit the executors.
The money transfer happened nearly a year after Mr. Epstein committed suicide in his Manhattan prison cell and after Mrs. George’s office sued Mr. Epstein’s estate.
The Butterfly Trust initially received a $13 million transfer in April 2020 following the liquidation of another investment fund in which Mr. Epstein had a stake, according to the filing. Some of that money was re-transferred several months later to three newly created entities — two of which listed Mr. Indyke, Mr. Kahn and their spouses as the beneficiaries, the filing said.
Ms. George and her attorneys asked a Virgin Islands judge to order the estate to file discovery requests to ensure that other assets of the estate have not been transferred to “enrich” the executors.
“The government discovered that significant funds kept secret from the government were being transferred on behalf of the co-executors in an apparent effort to enrich themselves and protect these assets from recovery,” the filing said.
The filing said the executors also failed to disclose several million dollars in loans they received from Mr. Epstein.
Mr. Indyke was Mr. Epstein’s personal attorney and Mr. Kahn was an internal auditor. Daniel Weiner, an estate attorney, said the executors “categorically reject the baseless allegations of misconduct against them” and said they never received $13 million.
He added: “The 2013 Butterfly Trust mentioned in today’s application by Ms. George has nothing to do with Mr. Epstein’s estate or any available funds.”
The U.S. Virgin Islands sued Mr Epstein’s estate in January 2020 to recover at least $80 million in tax breaks that local authorities claim his Southern Trust company received through deception and fraud. Ms. George has argued that US territory was being tricked into granting lucrative tax breaks that allowed Mr. Epstein to use his private island residence there as a place to sexually abuse teenage girls and young women.
The Butterfly Trust had been used by Mr. Epstein to make payments to some of the people who helped him recruit and care for teenage girls for abuse, according to New York banking regulators.
Mr. Epstein’s estate, estimated at approximately $600 million at the time of his death, is now worth less than $185 million after paying $121 million in settlements to more than 135 victims and nearly $200 million in federal taxes. .
