Two Long Islanders who are the executors of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s $634 million estate used a New York-based immigration attorney while forcing marriages on some of the late financier’s alleged international sex trafficking ring victims, federal authorities say.
Denise George, the U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands — where Epstein’s secluded so-called Pedophile Island is located — filed papers Feb. 10 in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands naming Richard Kahn, an accountant from Water Mill, and Darren Indyke, an attorney from Glen Cove, with being “indispensable captains” in the criminal enterprise.
“Indyke and Kahn participated with Epstein in coercing his sex trafficking victims, in at least three cases, to enter into arranged and forced marriages in order to obtain immigration status for the foreign women so that they could continue to be available to Epstein for his abuse — a doubly deep assault on their will and dignity,” George, whose office first sued the estate last year, alleged in court documents. “The victims … understood that there would be consequences, including serious reputational and bodily harm, if they refused to enter a marriage or attempted to end it. In each instance, Indyke and Kahn knowingly facilitated the fraudulent and coerced marriages, performing and securing the legal and accounting work involved.”
Epstein, a 66-year-old registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from minor girls, killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of girls over the years. Epstein’s many high-powered friends over the years have included former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton as well as Prince Andrew.
Kahn’s ties to Epstein’s organizations date back years, nonprofit records show. The accountant was listed as treasurer of The COUQ Foundation dating back to 2009 and as president of Gratitude America Ltd. since 2015, tax records show. Khan and his wife, Lisa, who also own an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, purchased their Water Mill home for $1.5 million in 2016, property records show.
Indyke, who reportedly worked for Epstein for more than 20 years before being tasked with handling the estate, graduated from Glen Cove High School in 1982, the Press has reported.
The pair’s involvement in the Epstein scheme grew with time.
“Kahn and Indyke organized, controlled, and directed almost every aspect of the Epstein Enterprise,” authorities alleged. “They were officers in virtually every corporate entity that Epstein created to fund and conceal his activities.”
Also among George’s new claims in her amended lawsuit against the estate, the 76-page complaint alleged Kahn and Indyke “directed, approved, enabled, and justified millions of dollars in payments that fueled the Epstein Enterprise’s sex trafficking, including payments to women who were forced to have sex with Epstein and/or recruited others to be victimized.” Authorities likened it to a sex trafficking pyramid scheme.
Cash was central to the operation.
“Indyke and Kahn obtained large and frequent stocks of cash for Epstein which, based on public knowledge, would have funded Epstein’s cash payments for ‘massages’ — code for forced sex,” authorities alleged.
For instance, about $12,000 per month for eight months was withdrawn in 97 $1,000 increments from an Epstein account at an ATM that is a short walk from Indyke’s law office from June 2018 to February 2019, the suit alleged. “Euros for safe” was the notation in some of 11 checks totaling $126,000 that Indyke wrote from the same account and in some cases, he made large cash withdrawals, such as cashing a check for $100,000 in 2018, according to investigators.
“Payments from this account, for which Indyke had signatory authority, totaling over $2,500,000 were made to dozens of women with Eastern European surnames, purportedly for hotel expenses, tuition, and rent, and to, again, the immigration lawyer in New York who was involved in one or more forced marriages arranged among Epstein’s victims to secure victims’ immigration status,” authorities added.
The claims are likely to further slow disbursement of funds to Epstein’s victims.
“Neither Mr. Indyke nor Mr. Kahn had any involvement in any misconduct by Mr. Epstein of any kind, at any time,” the executors’ lawyers said in a statement. “It is enormously regrettable that the Attorney General chose to level false allegations and to unfairly malign the co-executors’ reputation without any proof or factual basis.”
Related Story: Glen Cove-native Executor of Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate Accused of Complicity
Related Story: Second Long Island Native Tied to Jeffrey Epstein
Related Story: Long Island Native Tapped To Handle Epstein’s Will
Sign up for Long Island Press’ email newsletters here. Sign up for home delivery of Long Island Press here. Sign up for discounts by becoming a Long Island Press community partner here.
