NEW YORK — Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion was sold for approximately $51 million to an undisclosed buyer on Tuesday, an attorney for the estate said.
Funds from the sale will be transferred to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program so new claims can be issued, Dan Weiner said in a statement to CNN.
The independent administrator of the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program (EVCP), Jordy Feldman, suspended claim payouts from the program on February 4 when she said the estate was too low on cash to support it.
Meanwhile, an attorney for Epstein’s estate said proceeds from the sale of his $50 million Manhattan townhouse will be used to replenish a compensation fund for victims of the late millionaire’s physical and sexual abuse.
George said in a prepared statement that her “worst fears have been realized” when the estate claimed it was low on cash.
“The estate has found its way to pay for lawyers, landscaping and helicopter fees, but not the brave women who have stepped forward to participate in the compensation fund,” she said. “It is, unconscionably, another promise made and broken by Epstein and now, his estate.”
The program is designed to provide victims seeking compensation with an alternative to civil litigation. To date, the program has received more than 150 claims and has paid out over $50 million to eligible claimants, according to Feldman.
Under the program’s protocol, the estate agreed to “pay all eligible claims based on the administrator’s determination” and represented that sufficient assets and liquidity existed, Feldman said. When the available funds for claim payments fall below a designated threshold amount, the estate is required to promptly replenish the funds.
When cash ran short, Feldman said compensation offers from the program would be suspended until after the March 25 claims filing deadline, or until such time she can be certain eligible claims will be “timely and fully funded and paid.”
George’s office filed the emergency motion with the Probate Court requesting it suspend all payments and sales of assets by the co-executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, “so that steps can be taken to preserve and protect the estate’s assets and prevent an event like this from recurring.”
Judge’s ruling
In her order denying George’s motion, Magistrate Judge Carolyn Hermon-Percell referred back to Feb. 4, 2020, when “the Court held a hearing on various motions in this case, including the Government’s Motion to Intervene filed on January 23, 2020.”
Hermon-Percell said she considered arguments and “denied the Motion to Intervene without prejudice. Therefore, because the Government is not a party to this action and is not permitted to intervene, the Government does not have standing to move the Court to freeze the Estate’s assets and all its cash on hand.”
Attorney Gordon Rhea, who is representing co-executor Kahn in the litigation over Epstein’s estate, said in a statement that “the Co-Executors completed the sale of the Estate’s townhouse at 9 E. 71st Street” on Tuesday.
He added that at the co-executor’s direction, “funds from the sale are being transferred to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program in order to allow that Program to resume issuing new claims determinations. With the ongoing oversight of the USVI Court, the Co-Executors continue to engage in the orderly administration of the Estate.”
George, in a prepared statement, noted that her office “welcomes news that the Victim’s Compensation Fund may resume its work after the disruption created by the Estate when, without prior notice, it failed to make its financial commitment to the Fund.”
“After the Government filed its Emergency Motion to Freeze the Estate’s Assets, the Estate was directed by the Court to ensure that all proceeds from the sale of Estate assets be placed in Estate accounts subject to liens imposed by the Virgin Islands Government, an important safeguard,’ George said. “The Attorney General’s Office will continue to work to ensure that the Estate’s assets are not wasted or used improperly but maintained to compensate claims by victims and the Government.”
Pending civil lawsuit
The attorney general is also pursuing an ongoing civil action against the estate, which claims Epstein and his employees used the Virgin Islands to hide assets and reap millions in illegal tax breaks, which funded sex trafficking of girls and women to his various properties in the Virgin Islands, New York, Florida, Paris, and New Mexico.
Attorneys for the estate filed a motion to dismiss George’s complaint on March 17, 2020, which remains pending.
George, in Feburary, filed a motion to amend the complaint, which seeks to add Indyke and Kahn as defendants, and claims they were active in orchestrating Epstein’s criminal enterprise for years. The motion also seeks to add the so-called “tree entities” — Cypress, Inc., Maple, Inc., and Laurel, Inc. — which George claims Epstein’s attorneys used to evade property taxes for his various mansions.
Rhea addressed the allegations against Indyke and Khan in his statement noting “it is enormously regrettable that the Co-Executors’ reputations have been unfairly maligned by the factual inaccuracies and erroneous conclusions contained in the proposed second amended complaint.
“The Co-Executors categorically reject the Government’s allegations of misconduct regarding their purported roles in the so-called ‘Epstein Enterprise.’ The facts are clear: neither Mr. Indyke nor Mr. Kahn had any involvement in any misconduct by Mr. Epstein of any kind, at any time,” Rhea said.
On Wednesday, Christopher Kroblin, the attorney for Epstein’s estate, filed a response to George’s motion, saying that the defendants do not oppose amending the complaint, but they do intend to file a motion to dismiss it.
“The proposed claims are part of the Government’s concerted effort to frustrate the Co-Executors’ ongoing orderly administration of the Epstein Estate,” Kroblin wrote.
He added that rather than fight George’s motion, “Defendants believe it most efficient to permit the amendment and for the Court to consider a new consolidated motion to dismiss all of the claims together.”