Denise George, the area’s attorney general, said Wednesday that the estate will pay $105 million (NZ$166 million) in cash plus half the proceeds from the sale of Little St James, a private island where Epstein lived and reportedly committed many crimes.
The settlement includes the return of more than $80 million in tax breaks fraudulently obtained by one of Epstein’s companies, Southern Trust Co, to fuel its criminal activities, George said.
Daniel Weiner, an estate attorney, said there was no admission of liability, and the estate’s executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, denied wrongdoing.
Indyke and Kahn were longtime business advisors to Epstein.
“The settlement is consistent with the intent and practice of the co-executors since their appointment to those roles — to resolve claims related to any misconduct by Jeffrey Epstein in a manner that is sensitive to those harmed,” Weiner said.
A separate restitution fund for Epstein victims paid out more than $121 million to about 135 plaintiffs.
‘PERFECT HIDEAWAY’
Epstein, a registered sex offender, committed suicide in August 2019 at a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Five months later, George sued the estate for civil fines and asset forfeiture.
She said Epstein kept a computerized database to track girls and young women who could be trafficked to Little St James, which he bought in 1998 as what George described as the “perfect hideout” to rape, assault and torture them. abuse.
George also said that Epstein bought nearby Great St. James in 2016 to prevent people from watching him and victims escaping there.
Epstein had also been accused of sexual assault at his homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and Palm Beach, Florida.
His former associate, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, is appealing against her conviction and 20 years in prison for enabling Epstein’s abuse of girls.
The government’s share of the proceeds from the sale of Little St James will go towards counseling and other services for victims of sexual abuse.