Judge is asked to untangle fight over Jeffrey Epstein’s fortune

Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise N. George declared in court filings Tuesday that she is at an impasse with the estate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and asked that a Superior Court judge intervene and end the protection of the late sex offender’s associates.

“We do not believe any further progress can be made without the court’s intervention,” George wrote in a status update filed Tuesday that detailed what the attorney general felt is deliberate foot-dragging by the Epstein estate on creation of a victims compensation fund and making witnesses available to local investigators.

George earlier this year brought a civil enforcement action against the Epstein estate, later adding and labeling as co-conspirators two longtime Epstein attorneys — Richard Kahn and Darren K. Indyke — who in his will updated shortly before his jail cell death by apparent suicide last Aug. 10 were named executors of the estate. The attorney general also filed liens against Epstein estate assets, making it difficult for the estate to pay employees and bills and to sell assets that could ostensibly be used to compensate Epstein’s victims.

For the past month, the Epstein estate and the attorney general have been negotiating a deal to have the liens lifted in exchange for trade-offs. These included: the appointment of Marci Hamilton, a noted advocate for victims of child sex-abuse, to the administration of the compensation fund; the setting aside of $50 million for victims who might opt out of the voluntary compensation fund to pursue separate litigation; and a pledge that no victim would have to release claims against a third party in exchange for receiving compensation.

In documents filed in support of her motion, George included emails from lawyers for the estate that insist victims forfeit their right to sue others connected to the estate — including property managers, pilots, household servants, drivers and recruiters of underage girls — as a condition of receiving a piece of Epstein’s fortune.

The parties also differ on whether compensated victims must relinquish the right to sue outside third parties — friends and associates of the multimillionaire. The estate appeared to be moving away from a demand that victims sign a confidentiality agreement as a prerequisite to receiving any funds.

Among third parties alleged to have participated in sexual misconduct is Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, whose ties with Epstein date back to the 1990s. He has denied any inappropriate behavior but was relieved of royal duties last November after a disastrous television interview in which he showed no empathy for the victims and offered no explanation for why he was photographed with a woman who said she was forced by Epstein to have sex with the prince three times.

Intervention by the Superior Court is needed, George argued, because the estate has not negotiated in good faith.

“The estate complains of mounting litigation costs but has prolonged discussions with the government over more than four weeks,” she wrote.

It’s unclear how quickly the court will move on the request for intervention.

In recent weeks, the settlement of the Epstein estate has been hit by two surprise events. First, longtime Epstein associate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who hasn’t been seen publicly since last summer, filed a claim against the estate asking that it continue paying her legal bills as Epstein had done before his death and that it cover the costs of her maintaining a lifestyle-in-hiding because of threats against her life. Around the same time, an anonymous employee filed a claim saying she too had been a victim and seeking compensation.

And in a troubling new development, one of the most visible Epstein accusers, Virginia Giuffre, who was Virginia Roberts at the time of the abuse, tweeted a photo of herself Monday at an Australian hospital, where she had checked in with symptoms of coronavirus.

“I’m so scared right now, having trouble breathing, fever & cough. Getting tested for COVID-19 praying it’s not positive,” she tweeted.

As of Tuesday evening in the United States, she provided no update on her status.

This story has been updated to correct the last name of Denise George, attorney general for the U.S. Virgin Islands.