Jeffrey Epstein signed US$577 million will two days before killing himself in jail
- Document opens new legal front in battle over financier’s fortune as multiple women sue his estate claiming Epstein sexually abused them
- Acting chief of US Bureau of Prisons removed from post after Epstein’s death
Jeffrey Epstein signed a will just two days before he killed himself in the Manhattan federal jail, new court records show, opening a new legal front in what could be a years-long battle over the financier’s fortune.
Court papers filed last week in the US Virgin Islands list no details of beneficiaries but put the estate at more than US$577 million, including more than US$56 million in cash.
The existence of the will, first reported by the New York Post, raised new questions about Epstein’s final days inside the Metropolitan Correctional Centre, where he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
His signing of the document foreshadowed his August 10 suicide, a jailhouse death that has prompted multiple federal inquiries and cast a harsh light on staffing shortages at the Manhattan facility.
US Attorney General William Barr on Monday shook up the leadership at the federal Bureau of Prisons, removing its acting chief, Hugh Hurwitz. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, a veteran of the bureau, will return to the agency to serve as its director, Barr said. He named another former agency official, Thomas Kane, to serve as her deputy.
Prosecutors moved the same day to dismiss the indictment against Epstein but have said they are considering charging others with facilitating his alleged abuse of dozens of girls.
The filing of the will, meanwhile, had been closely followed by lawyers representing women who claim they were sexually abused by Epstein when they were teenagers and recruited into his residences to provide him massages.
Several lawyers vowed to go after his assets even if the will had named beneficiaries, as Epstein’s death means there will be no trial on the criminal charges against him. One woman filed suit against the estate last week, claiming Epstein repeatedly raped her when she was a teenager.
Over 400 sex abuse lawsuits filed in New York
“Give his entire estate to his victims. It is the only justice they can get,” one of those lawyers, Lisa Bloom, wrote in an email. “And they deserve it. And on behalf of the Epstein victims I represent, I intend to fight for it.”
Former federal prosecutor David S. Weinstein, who is now in private practice in Miami but not involved in the Epstein case, said states and US territories have certain time frames within which to make a claim against someone’s estate.
“There are certainly going to be a lot of lawyers involved,” Weinstein said. “It’s not going to be over any time soon.”
A hedge fund manager who hobnobbed with the rich and famous, Epstein owned a Caribbean island, homes in Paris and New York, a New Mexico ranch and a fleet of high-price cars.
Additional reporting by Reuters
