Jeffrey Epstein’s deathbed trust fund could deprive his accusers of millions of dollars

The 66-year-old signed a will putting US$577 million in assets into a trust fund two days before he killed himself in a New York jailhouse

Estate lawyers and other experts say prying open the trust and dividing up the disgraced financier’s riches is not going to be easy and could take years

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Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein pictured in 2008. Photo: AP

Published: 2:26pm, 22 Aug 2019Updated: 10:36pm, 22 Aug 2019

Two days before his jailhouse suicide, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein signed a will putting more than US$577 million in assets into a trust fund that could make it difficult for his dozens of accusers to collect damages.

Estate lawyers and other experts say prying open the trust and dividing up the disgraced financier’s riches is not going to be easy and could take years.

“This is the last act of Epstein’s manipulation of the system, even in death,” said Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer who represents child sex abuse victims.

Epstein, 66, killed himself on August 10 in New York while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The discovery of the will with its newly created 1953 Trust, named after the year of his birth, instantly raised suspicions he did it to hide money from the many women who say he sexually abused them when they were teenagers.

A view of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre, where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. Photo: EPA

By putting his fortune in a trust, he shrouded from public view the identities of the beneficiaries, whether they be individuals, organisations or other entities. For the women trying to collect from his estate, the first order of business will be persuading a judge to pierce that veil and release the details.