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At the centre of the case is Darren Indyke, the predator’s longtime lawyer, and Richard Kahn, who was his longtime accountant.

As a result of Epstein’s request, the two became co-executors of his estate after the sex offender’s 2019 death.

According to the allegations in the complaint, Epstein and the entities he controlled paid Indyke more than $16 million and Kahn more than $10 million between 2011 and 2019.

• This equates to more than $26 million between the two professional advisers.

• The survivors allege that the sums went beyond ordinary professional compensation. Earlier litigation by the US Virgin Islands government similarly alleged that the payments were greater than could reasonably be attributed to their professional services.

• As well, the women allege that Epstein provided the two men with loans that remained unpaid and paid for their personal expenses such as fertility treatment, healthcare and their children’s education.

According to the case, Epstein’s relationship with the two allegedly extended into their personal finances.

After the predator died in 2019, Indyke and Kahn became responsible for administering his fortune and dealing with claims brought by the women who had been abused by him.

They were also among the beneficiaries of the money manager’s 1953 Trust, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.

At the end of the day, this meant they potentially stood to benefit from whatever remained of Epstein’s fortune after claims against the estate were resolved.

The duo had been paid millions by Epstein to finance property in places such as a Palm Beach, Florida, and New York City.

The lawsuit is now asking the court to examine whether Indyke and Kahn were professional advisers to Epstein or if their own conduct crossed the line into legally actionable participation in the system that enabled his abuse.

The allegations against the two men are serious:

• It describes Indyke, who is now a real estate agent, as a de facto legal and financial manager of Epstein’s operation. It alleges that he managed bank accounts, facilitated financial transactions, funded facilities where women were abused and advised Epstein on financial and legal matters connected to the operation.

• It also alleges that Indyke withdrew $7,500 in cash from Deutsche Bank on 97 occasions.

• The complaint says the withdrawals were deliberately kept below reporting thresholds and alleges that the money was stored in his office before being supplied to Epstein.

When a bank compliance officer questioned payments to women with Russian or Eastern European names, the complaint alleges that Kahn explained one payment as being for a friend’s tuition.

Moreover, the plaintiffs contend that these financial arrangements were part of the machinery that powered Epstein’s sexual abuse.

Indyke and Kahn have denied knowingly participating in Epstein’s sexual abuse. Their position has been that neither man was accused of committing or witnessing sexual abuse and that no victim told them about Epstein’s conduct at the time.

But if they were solely Epstein’s lawyer and accountant, why was the financial relationship extensive?

The lawsuit is being brought under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act, a 2026 amendment which reopened a temporary window allowing survivors of qualifying older acts to bring civil claims against not only perpetrators but alleged enablers.

The plaintiffs are asking whether these two of the men built, maintained and ultimately inherited a position of control over Epstein’s infrastructure should also be held financially responsible for what it enabled.

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In my opinion, that’s because she is more like The Wicked Witch of the West, except most witches are more sympathetic.

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Here's why:

While discrediting a dead survivor in front of congressional lawmakers, she cited the fact that she was Barack Obama’s White House counsel and, later, the chief legal officer of Goldman Sachs.

• As the congressional oversight committee heard, Ruemmler is not a random Epstein associate.

• She will even tell you herself she’s an expert on sex trafficking. But I believe she’s one who doesn’t understand the current legislation.

• When asked by lawmakers whether she believed Virginia Giuffre, the prominent Epstein survivor, Ruemmler answered, “I don’t know.”

• She added: “If she says that she was, I don’t have a reason to doubt that. However, there were allegations that she made that were, I believed based on my experience as a former prosecutor and as a defense counsel, that were of such a nature that they were ‑‑ they lacked inherent credibility.”

  

Sky and Amanda Roberts, Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, said in a statement to CNN: “The only person who lacks credibility is Kathy Ruemmler, who is trying to get people to believe she didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein was actively engaged in sex trafficking.”

“To attempt to cast doubt on Virginia, whose bravery was the reason so many other survivors stepped forward, resulting in more than 50 people from having to step down from their positions of power, is reprehensible,” the statement said. “She should be ashamed of herself.”

Because Kathy Ruemmler isn’t like other girls

This is just my opinion, but imagine the mental gymnastics you would go have to go through in 2026 to attack the credentials of Giuffre over Epstein.

The lawyer knew he was a sex offender the whole time she knew the disgraced money maker.

• Like many of the others before the committee, Ruemmler said Epstein manipulated her.

• She said she did not understand, even as a former prosecutor, the full extent of his crimes. But then she says with her full chest that Virginia was a not credible witness?

• Moreover, she said her relationship with Epstein was professional. We know that because she was far too old for him. She's now aged 55, I'm 52, so don't accuse me ageism. It is just a fact.

• She has also acknowledged that, in hindsight, some of her emails look extraordinarily insensitive.

In my opinion, the emails are more insensitive than a colonoscopy or an old-school cervical screening.

Regardless, I think their communications where she sometimes referred to him as “Uncle” are worthy of review.

In this email I found today, I learned that in August 2015, Ruemmler told Epstein she was driving to New York. She planned to stop at a rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Her concern was not the traffic. It was the actual people at the service stations.

She wrote that she would observe people who were “at least 100 pounds overweight”, have a “mild panic attack” and then decide not to eat another bite of food for the rest of her life because she was afraid of ending up like them.

Because Ruemmler apparently had a complicated relationship with the concept of other people's body weight. But as a plus-size woman myself, I must say I might have a fat ass, but you’ll never find me conversing with a pervert.

Epstein’s response to her emails was: drive to me and I’ll feed you.

She replied: “Great.”

This is such an extraordinarily revealing little piece of correspondence.

It is a tiny glimpse of the person behind the impressive career. A fattist, someone who may hold prejudices or treat people unfairly because they are overweight.

It was such a risk for someone like her to engage with a criminal such as Epstein. Because Ruemmler was a lawyer who had occupied one of the most powerful legal positions in the United States.

All those years of study, grind and expertise, and now she finds herself publicly explaining emails with Epstein, some that I would describe as ridiculous.

What makes the correspondence harder to explain is that Ruemmler likely knew Epstein was a convicted sex offender while their relationship continued. Yet she is still conflicted about the truth of some victims.

Kathy isn't like other girls. Still.

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The mansion at Crayton Road was purchased on March 30, 2026, by the Daniel M. Groff Revocable Trust, putting the mansion in the ownership of Daniel Ike Groff, the husband of Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, Lesley Groff.

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom luxury property sits in one of Naples’ most expensive and desirable areas.

This transaction was recorded on April 1, and the public records show the buyer as Daniel Ike Groff’s revocable trust.

Moreover,Florida is not just another state in the Epstein story.

Palm Beach was where the first major police investigation into the money manager’s sexual abuse began and stalled, where the first victims came forward and where Epstein ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to offences involving a minor.

For about a year, Epstein was also imprisoned at the Palm Beach stockade.

That history makes the Groffs’ Florida connection worth examining — particularly because Lesley has recently been back in the spotlight.

• The personal assistant worked for Epstein for 20 years and was interrogated in June by Congress about what she knew of his criminal activities.

• Lesley has denied knowing about his sexual abuse and has not been charged with any crime.

• Daniel Ike Groff is a securities trader and was a founding partner of Tourmaline Partners. Public records continue to connect the Groffs to New Canaan, Connecticut — including a Florida company formed in February 2026 that lists their $6million New Canaan address.

And that raises a question: what do Naples residents know about the person behind the $5.85 million purchase?

I’ve approached local officials and a Florida organisation working in the sex-trafficking space for comment.

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There is no suggestion that Ike Groff has committed any crime, and buying property in Naples is not evidence of wrongdoing.

But after years of Epstein revelations — and with Florida bearing such a significant part of that history — the arrival of a person so closely connected to Epstein’s former inner circle raises questions.

I’ve followed this case closely from the beginning — and I knew the murderer before the murders — so I’ll continue to do so. My Mushroom Murder Trial Podcast is a useful companion to this coverage.

The historical and investigative records show the Giuffre marriage involved years of domestic turmoil, alleged coercive control and claims of physical abuse.

Jeffrey Epstein Hyper Focus

Once Watched by Epstein's Hidden Cameras: What Giuffre Saw Next Was "Triggering"

Trigger warning: self-harm…

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a month ago · 214 likes · 5 comments · Lisa Tait

But it didn’t stop Virginia’s estranged husband from positioning himself as her self-appointed saviour.

In my opinion, Robert Giuffre was well out of his league. Maybe that’s why he married her just 10 days after their first meeting in northern Thailand.

But he steadfastly saw himself as a hero in her story, according to one American law enforcement officer.

These are the words of former Colorado Detective Sgt Dale King and are his account of a brutal incident between the couple in March 2015:

“I heard the story from [Robbie] so many times I could probably recite it in my sleep backwards … how he met [Virginia] and how he saved her … I think we heard that probably every time we went there,” says King.

“[Robbie] stopped me outside the sheriff’s office, and he’s trying to convince me that I have to let him get back home so he can protect [Virginia]. ‘What if something happens to her?’ Like you’re gonna go there to protect her? That’s funny. I mean, hell, you’re her biggest threat right now.”

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According to the police report, Virginia told officers she had been choked and hit by Robert and a whitish-clear fluid mixed with blood was leaking from her ear, which police thought could’ve been cerebral spinal fluid, a sign of severe head trauma.

The officers also seized a handgun, 34 bullets and Robbie’s six-centimetre knife.

This incident, according to the official report, unfolded while their three young children were in the house and involved animal abuse.

When Virginia met Robert in Thailand in 2002, she was a teenager trying to break away from Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of abuse.

She had made that decision before meeting the man who would become her husband.

Virginia knew a massage course promised to her years before was her way out of the Epstein nightmare.

Because she felt it in her bones she’d never come back to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell from the moment they asked her to have their baby.

The “escape” narrative was something the Epstein survivor originally used to describe how she met Robert, marrying him shortly after and moving to Australia.

For years, public accounts portrayed him as the person who pulled her away from Epstein’s circle.

But the reality was much different to what we saw in media interviews.

The couple said their initial meeting at a Thai boxing match was a case of love at first sight.

The phrase Sheila is an old Australian slang term for a female. While it was once a common equivalent to "bloke" (meaning man), the word is now considered very dated, and many modern Australians find it old-fashioned or mildly offensive.

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(Editor: If someone called me a Sheila, I’d bite their head off)

Three days later, Robbie proposed to Virginia and they ran away together to Sydney after a few final weeks in south-east Asia.

But one thing that caught my attention was the groom’s insistence that his 19-year-old bride call Epstein and quit the sex ring. As though a victim of human trafficking has any agency.

In the years since, Virginia credited Robert with helping her escape the trauma of her past.

On Instagram in 2023, she shared: "21 years ago, this amazing man rescued me from Epstein & Maxwell's clutches. I thank God every day for putting this beautiful man in my life. I love you, Robbie G.!"

As we know now, reports have alleged that Robert subjected Virginia to domestic violence over many years, including a violent dispute last year in Western Australia.

But she left behind substantial written records of the last few months of her life.

These documented accounts are from her perspective and allege abuse and coercive control.

They are not about a white knight - in my opinion, they are the details of a nightmare.

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After fleeing an ill-fated January 2025 family holiday, Virginia Giuffre was staying in hotels across Perth.

Her husband, Robert Giuffre, had in the meantime succeeded in obtaining a protection order against his wife of more than 20 years which meant she could not see him or their two youngest children for six months.

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The Epstein whistleblower eventually made her way to her country property in the Western Australian wheatbelt region where she planned to recuperate from the injuries she alleged were inflicted by her estranged spouse.

But as soon as she arrived at her dark-brick home, family members say Virginia experienced a series of disruptions affecting her phone, internet, insurance and utilities, such as electricity.

The semi-rural farm was located in Neergabby, about an hour north from Perth.

• Virginia realised she had no access to any of her home utility accounts.

• In the weeks after arriving at the property, Virginia’s world appeared to shrink. First came the loss of her access to communications and utilities. Then social media accounts. Later, her private health insurance had been stopped.

• Even the policy ensuring the protection on her home no longer listed her as an account holder. Her American family said these problems left her increasingly disconnected from the outside world.

According to The Age & SMH Investigates: Virginia podcast:

“Not long after she moved here full time, things started to go wrong. This is her brother, Sky:

Virginia’s electricity and phone and all that was cut off at one point, and her internet at the ranch, we couldn’t even touch base with her. It scared the hell out of us.

Virginia suddenly found herself locked out of many of her social media

And she went to the police and told them that she was locked out of like her Facebook accounts. She had to create new passwords. That’s how she used to talk to us is through Messenger.

In Virginia’s diary notes from that time, given to us by her family, she talked about the impact of losing access to her Telstra (phone) account.

“I’m unable to receive or make calls or texts, so I can no longer be in contact with my mental and physical health providers, any constables and lawyers, including family and friends.”

When Virginia had to go to hospital, she found out her health insurance had stopped.

(Her carer) Cheryl said that when a pipe burst at the house, she contacted the insurance company, but Virginia’s name had been removed.”

From Virginia I The Age & SMH Investigates: Virginia | Ep 4: The final chapter, 1 Aug 2026

This isolation was not only emotional, but also physical. Living on the Wheatbelt property, Virginia was hours from Perth, relying heavily on phones and the internet to stay connected with family across the globe and to manage ongoing medical and legal issues.

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Losing those lifelines made the remoteness of her much-loved property even more acute.

The practical consequences were accompanied by an emotional toll. Every new obstacle meant another problem to solve at a time when Virginia was already coping with physical injuries, legal proceedings and separation from her children.

According to the podcast: “Her diary notes also reveal Virginia fretted about security. She wanted access to the CCTV system at the farm.

He needs to sign over the security and door keypad information to me so I can pay my bills and keep everything safe, as I do not want him on my property. Robert has the only access to the video recording at the ranch. I do not want to be watched by him.

I used to be watched by Epstein’s hidden cameras, so it is extremely triggering for me. He refused to give me the ability to access the video. It is part of the control I have had to endure.”

From Virginia I The Age & SMH Investigates: Virginia | Ep 4: The final chapter, 1 Aug 2026

It was at her farm that Virginia took her last breaths on April 25, 2025. The 41-year-old mother-of-three died from suicide.

Domestic violence expert Heather Douglas said there were approximately 15 female suicides a week in Australia and research showed a quarter to a half of these women have experienced domestic violence.

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But as we know now some of these claims weren't conspiratorial, several were actual facts. For example, Epstein did indeed have close links throughout the global intelligence network and he did own a creepy ranch in New Mexico.

Over the years, there's been speculation about the predator, blackmail, billionaires, presidents, princes, secret meetings and hidden networks. Most of these claims can to a degree be supported by evidence.

But buried inside the millions of pages from the Epstein Files Transparency Act was a truth I wasn’t expecting.

Earlier this week, I found a conversation Epstein had with a Bitcoin entrepreneur about designer babies and human cloning.

The emails I found were from 2018 and the sender was Bryan Bishop, a Bitcoin developer and software engineer, who was interested in human embryo genetic engineering.

Designer baby enthusiast Bryan Bishop

He was sending Epstein a presentation outlining what Mr Bishop called “a designer baby and human cloning company.”

This July and August 2018 discussion wasn’t about whether this technology might exist one day, it was about how to fund it, how to structure it and securing the “absolute anonymity” of everyone involved.

“We can't publicly identify who these are or their parents or benefactors, it would brand the child as (essentially, and sadly) a freak for life in the media. So I had always assumed the investor would need absolute anonymity, for these kinds of products,” Mr Bishop said.

The bottom line of these emails (see below) was determining whether Epstein wanted to bankroll the project.

Epstein’s Reply

For me, there was one sentence which almost jumped off the page. It was the predator’s response: “I have no issue with investing the problem is only if i am seen to lead.”

These emails do document that the money manager was discussing the possibility of financing a venture involving human germline genetic engineering while wanting to remain out of public view.

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Then It Gets Stranger

As the emails continue, Bishop discusses more anonymity—not just for investors, but for parents and even for any future children.

He argues that privacy would be essential because genetically engineered children could face stigma.

Bishop also suggests that the project could operate under the banner of his existing work, offering what he describes as “a sufficient level of deniability.”

Epstein’s response was: “i cant program but iam not bad at structuring :)”

Then There Was a Meeting

Epstein’s Calendar records show a scheduled meeting titled: Designer babies (Bryan Bishop).

The agenda reportedly included:

• finance;

• privacy;

• structure;

• project goals;

• timelines.

None of this proves the venture ever existed beyond the planning stage, but it does show that the conversations progressed beyond a single email.

Where this Went

For many years, stories have circulated that Epstein was fascinated by eugenics. As well as this:

• Scientists who met him described conversations about genetics, IQ, transhumanism and even his ambition to spread his own DNA.

• These emails show Epstein discussing a concrete proposal involving human embryo genetic engineering with someone actively trying to commercialise the technology.

• While there is no documentary evidence in the released files that Epstein funded the project, the predator was interested in the project.

One thing I know about him is that he always had a scheme or 10 in the fire.

Meanwhile, I also found an email (see below) from January 2019, where an irate Epstein said he had “no current children.”

I contacted Mr Bishop for comment but I have not as yet received a statement.

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The 69-year-old former head of Barclays bank appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee in a closed-door interview.

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Democratic members of the committee were frustrated by his appearance, and noted it was punctuated by mistruths.

• "Staley is not being ‌truthful and is flat-out lying," said U.S. Representative Robert Garcia of California, who noted the banker was not being asked questions under oath.

• “He ⁠is claiming that he has no friendship with Epstein, which is ridiculous," he added.

• “What’s happening right now is a good reason why all of these interviews need to be under oath, and we need honest questions. So Staley is clearly, in our opinion, just not being truthful and flat out lying.”

• “He added, “This is someone who chose to work with a person that he knew had been convicted already of sex crimes.”

House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters Staley was “very close friends with Mr. Epstein” and “defended Epstein time and time again in front of JP Morgan, regardless of all the red flags to keep him as a client.”

Staley, once one of Wall Street’s most influential bankers after more than three decades at JPMorgan Chase and later as CEO of Barclays, was questioned extensively about his long-running relationship with the convicted sex offender.

During the interview, Staley insisted he was not a close friend of Epstein, despite previously uncovered evidence showing they exchanged more than 1,000 emails over many years.

Committee members challenged his account, pointing to messages in which Staley described Epstein as “family” and referred to their relationship as “profound.”

According to reports, Staley said he could not recall many of the emails, one which thanked the predator for helping his daughter with her university selection (see below).

Staley resigned from Barclays in 2021 after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority investigated whether he had misrepresented the nature of his relationship with Epstein.

He later lost an appeal against a lifetime ban from holding senior roles in the UK financial sector and forfeited millions of pounds in bonuses after regulators concluded he had misled them.

During earlier legal proceedings, Staley acknowledged a “consensual” sexual encounter with an Epstein employee but has consistently denied participating in or knowing about Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes.

He has never been criminally charged.

The congressional interview forms part of a broader House Oversight investigation into Epstein’s associates and the institutions that maintained relationships with him despite mounting warning signs.

As well as this, lawmakers are also scrutinising Barclays itself.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi have demanded that the bank explain how Staley became chief executive despite his longstanding ties to Epstein and why its internal review failed to uncover the full extent of the relationship.

• Barclays has responded that it relied on information Staley provided at the time and only later discovered evidence showing he had misled the bank.

• In a letter sent privately to Barclays’s chair, Nigel Higgins, Warren said it was “deeply unclear how Barclays, supposedly investigating Staley’s connection to Epstein, failed to uncover this decades-long relationship”. The questions were also sent on behalf of Representatives Khanna and Krishnamoorthi.

• Ms Warren gave Barclays two weeks to respond to the questions about how it handled information on the links between its former chief executive and Epstein.

Staley’s connections to Epstein have also generated litigation in the United States. JPMorgan previously sued him in an effort to recover losses arising from Epstein-related settlements, although the dispute was later resolved confidentially.

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The latest tranche of Department of Justice documents tells a more complicated story.

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Shuliak was acting as Epstein’s intermediary, handling sensitive medical arrangements, coordinating personal affairs with longtime aide Lesley Groff, managing financial transfers to her family in Belarus and even helping organise the preservation of Epstein’s sperm.

These documents offer an unusual look at the woman Epstein trusted more than almost anyone else in his final decade.

Karyna Shuliak - The woman who answered Epstein’s last call

• The money manager’s final telephone call before his death in a Manhattan jail on August 10, 2019, was to Shuliak.

• The two had been in a relationship for about nine years. While he publicly described her as a “friend” on medical paperwork, she occupied a far more significant place in his private life.

• His final will, signed just two days before his death, left Shuliak an extraordinary inheritance. According to probate records, Shuliak was to receive his New York townhouse, Little Saint James and Great Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, his Paris apartment, 48 loose diamonds and a nearly 33-carat diamond ring that Epstein described as having been given to her “in contemplation of marriage.”

• In other news, I found out today Epstein’s sperm is “missing.” The child sex predator kept his swimmers in a cryobank years before he died — but its current whereabouts are unknown.

• According to The New York Times, his secretions were deposited with the California Cryobank before 2012, and he signed a new contract in 2016, with files showing emails he received notifying him of an upcoming renewal payment.

Were Epstein and Shuliak Planning To Have Children?

Among the most unusual documents are emails from 2016 concerning sperm preservation.

On April 5, 2016, Shuliak emailed Epstein after making enquiries with a fertility clinic.

“To freeze sperm you would need a prescription from a doctor... Then you would have to come to the center directly to do the procedure,” she wrote.

A month later, Epstein emailed associate Harry Fisch asking: “harry i want to bank some sperm, where do I go? prescription?”

Fisch referred him to California Cryobank in New York and later, he instructed Shuliak: “get all the paperwork etc.”

She then forwarded detailed client deposit forms to Lesley Groff, writing: “Jeffrey asked for you to fill out all the forms attached below please.”

The paperwork included consent forms, infectious disease testing information and a semen storage information packet from California Cryobank.

Another email from March 2017 shows an order shipped to Karyna Shuliak for a YO Sperm Test, a home fertility testing kit marketed for use with smartphones.

These emails suggest that discussions about Epstein’s fertility extended well beyond a single enquiry.

Karyna Shuliak Was More Than A Girlfriend

Other files show Epstein helping secure her immigration status, funding her education at Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine and leveraging influential contacts to assist her professional career.

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He also worked to obtain her U.S. permanent residency, with immigration paperwork prepared by New York attorney Mehmet Arda Beşkardeş.

The relationship also involved significant financial support. Epstein even bought her a cat.

Records indicate he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses for Shuliak, while emails show money flowing to her family in Belarus.

Between 2013 and 2016, at least US$80,000 was transferred to her parents.

The newly released records identify the recipient of earlier redacted transfers as her father, Fedor Shuliak. Additional emails show Epstein instructing accountant Richard Kahn to wire money to Shuliak’s mother and later arranging medical follow-up care for her through physician Eva Andersson-Dubin.

Shuliak’s parents also travelled to the United States several times to visit Epstein, with emails showing staff arranging airport pickups and itineraries. He also financed her mother’s cancer treatment in America.

A relationship marked by disputes

Private correspondence revealed a relationship that swung between affection and emotional strain.

In one exchange, Epstein complained there were “not enough kisses, not enough time, not enough sex.”

Shuliak replied that he had “absolutely ruined” her day.

When Epstein criticised her commitment to dental school, telling her she was “not the front lines in a war where people are dying,” she answered: “Each minute I am struggling to not cry.”

The messages also reveal tensions over Epstein’s relationships with other women.

He wrote: “There are always women around... if they will make you jealous or anxious, it will be a problem.”

The final years of the relationship with Karyna Shuliak

By 2019, Shuliak had become one of the most trusted figures in Epstein’s inner circle.

The money manager listed her as his emergency contact and she managed personal tasks on his behalf.

She communicated directly with Lesley Groff about confidential matters.

The newly released files suggest something more significant: she was his closest personal confidante during the final years of his life, entrusted with his healthcare, finances, family affairs and, perhaps most revealingly, his plans for a future that he apparently still believed he would have.

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But they left the gathering unimpressed and one survivor, Annie Farmer, said Todd Blanche’s “evasiveness felt like a deliberate attempt to claim the Attorney General’s office is powerless in this matter.”

“By passing the buck once again, he is leaving survivors trapped in the same endless loop of searching for answers and receiving none.”

Survivor Marijke Chartouni said:

“When institutions fail to address the concerns of sexual abuse victims, the betrayal comes at a much higher price... survivors [are] implicitly and explicitly told that victimization was their fault, that their trauma didn’t deserve recognition, and that their recovery wasn’t worth institutional investment.”

Danielle Bensky said after speaking with Blanche, he “treated the meeting as a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation.”

She said he “offered no credible plan to investigate and pursue accountability beyond Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell” and urged senators to reject his nomination as attorney general.”

Ms Bensky said survivors spent months requesting a meeting with senior Justice Department officials before political pressure forced one at the last minute.

• Despite being reluctant to seek new prosecutions, Blanche said he encouraged survivors to bring any new evidence to the FBI and maintained the Justice Department would pursue anyone if sufficient evidence existed.

• But he also conceded that he could not promise the charges many survivors have sought for years.

  Ms Farmer said in a statement that Todd Blanche was “abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors.”

“Specifically, he would not commit to an inquiry into why my sister Maria Farmer’s 1996 report went uninvestigated; he refused to release documents related to internal discussions about charging Epstein that would provide important clarification about previous errors, and his explanations for his nine-hour interview with Ghislaine Maxwell and her subsequent transfer to a less secure facility were wholly dissatisfactory and contrived.”

Against that backdrop, Blanche acknowledged the gulf between what survivors wanted and what he could promise.

“It wasn’t all cordial, because there’s something that they want that I don’t think I can give them, which is some form of justice,” Blanche told CNN after the 30-minute meeting at the Justice Department.

The meeting took place after Senator Thom Tillis made it a condition of supporting Blanche’s Attorney-General confirmation, following months of requests from Epstein survivors to meet with senior Justice Department officials.

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Department of Justice emails reveal details about New York lawyer Arda Beskardes and his role in obtaining a green card for Epstein’s longtime girlfriend, the Belarusian dentist Karyna Shuliak. She was the sex predator’s partner during the final years of his life and was named as a major beneficiary in his will after his death.

Beskardes was representing Epstein on immigration matters, while he also worked in senior international student and scholar advising roles at the City University of New York, giving him extensive experience with U.S. immigration processes.

According to a House Oversight Democrats report, Beskardes may also have facilitated “an illusory marriage between Epstein’s then-girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, and one of Epstein’s victims, apparently to provide Shuliak a legal basis to continue residing in the United States.”

The report continues: “In a personal statement provided to Epstein’s estate, the survivor explained how Epstein forced her into the marriage and that she was ‘shocked to learn after the ceremony that Karyna’s deportation hearing was going to happen just a few days later.’”

According to bank records produced to the Congressional Oversight Committee, Epstein paid Beskardes for immigration work on 12 separate occasions between 2014 and 2018, totalling nearly $50,000.

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Arda Beskardes represented Jeffrey Epstein in immigration matters

Emails released in the justice department files show him corresponding with the convicted sex offender and his staff about immigration paperwork.

One August 2013 exchange cited in the Oversight report includes the lawyer telling Epstein that they should discuss “the marriage” as soon as possible.

Shuliak subsequently married an American woman in October 2013, received a green card, became a U.S. citizen in 2018, and later divorced. Le Monde later reported on the arrangement.

Other emails show Epstein’s office arranging appointments with Beskardes and referring to him teaching at a university before returning Epstein’s calls.

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The lawyer also appeared in subsequent U.S. Virgin Islands litigation involving Epstein’s estate. Alongside his private legal practice, he worked as an international student immigration adviser while representing Epstein between 2013 and 2018.

According to his professional profile, his work at the City University of New York (CUNY) included overseeing the Council of International Student and Scholar Advisers and helping administer F- and J-visa policies across CUNY campuses.

One 2017 email released in the Epstein files (below) shows Beskardes responding to an approved petition for a non-immigrant worker.

Non-Immigrant Worker Visa from the Epstein Files

The House Oversight Democrats report states: “Epstein guided some of them through the process of arranging fraudulent marriages and acquiring U.S. visas.”

“These visas, often obtained under false pretenses, were then exploited by Epstein and his associates as a means to keep women under their control and within the trafficking network. Epstein appears to have connected some women in this network to wealthy and powerful men.”

The emails released in the Epstein files suggest Beskardes handled recurring immigration matters for Epstein over several years. The correspondence also suggests the two men were on friendly terms, as seen in the text exchange below.

The House Oversight Democrats report also cites immigration work involving other women and Epstein-linked businesses, including SLK Designs, a company formerly owned by Epstein co-conspirator Sarah Kellen.

In that exchange, Epstein’s longtime lawyer Darren Indyke forwarded a letter from Beskardes to a redacted recipient stating they were attempting to find an interior designer willing to sign a letter that would improve the chances of a visa being approved.

The email chain concerns efforts to obtain supporting documentation from an interior designer to strengthen a visa petition connected to a South African woman and an interior design business.

A separate email from August 2014 shows Beskardes communicating directly with Epstein and Shuliak regarding a missing cheque and a banking matter.

His email signature identifies him as an attorney admitted in New York and Tennessee and lists his Manhattan law office.

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Authorities are ducking and weaving from questions about the lead up to the death of Jeffrey Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre.

• Calls for a coronial inquest have provoked a fierce backlash from people with a deeply personal stake in how her final months are remembered.

• At the same time, it remains to be seen if there is a political appetite for a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances leading up to her passing.

• While 16 family violence experts have called for such an inquiry, the idea was met with outrage by some at the core of this tragedy.

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  Because something ugly happened at the end of Virginia’s life, and the picture we have been given is unclear.

Authorities are on edge, fearing they will be called out for abandoning the world’s most high-profile sex trafficking activist.

In the months before she died, a court-sanctioned protection order was made against Virginia. In part, it stopped her from seeing her two younger children, and, in my opinion, it killed her.

In a swipe of a pen, the might of Western Australia’s judicial system was weaponised against the mum-of-three.

• Following complaints from her American family, an internal review is now underway by police examining officers’ interactions with Virginia.

• I’ve sent the WA Police Media Unit two emails with questions and called twice about this examination and have not had a response.

• But no amount of political spin will get the department out of explaining this tragedy involving a vulnerable woman and the experiences of others like her. At the same time, there is a separate investigation underway by detectives acting on behalf of the WA coroner.

  

  

The SMH on the weekend launched a podcast and an accompanying feature about the end of Virginia’s life.

The reporting shines a light on the days after the Giuffres’ catastrophic argument on January 9-10, 2025.

“Virginia Giuffre is hiding from her husband, Robbie Giuffre, … (She) texts her sister-in-law in the United States. She’s safe in a Perth hotel, she says, “so it would be difficult for him to find me,” it reads.

She had told her US-based family that Robbie had assaulted her on a family holiday. In the days afterwards, as she moved from hotel to hotel, she documented her injuries and made plans to protect herself.

The woman who looked the son of a queen in the eye and didn't flinch felt hunted and vulnerable.

The SMH reports: Robbie (her husband) and Virginia had different versions of what happened that final night they’d spent together at a luxury holiday rental on Geographe Bay. In her version, Robbie wanted sex, but Virginia – recovering from a spinal operation in November and a serious urinary tract infection – said no.

“It got physical, got violent,” said her brother Sky Roberts. He said Virginia told them Robbie punched her in the face and put her in a martial arts position, a sort of stranglehold, cracking her sternum and causing her to pass out.

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Good Weekend can’t confirm the cracked sternum as they can’t access Virginia’s medical records.

Just before 3pm the next day, local police from Busselton attended the holiday rental and interviewed Virginia. They advised her to go to the local hospital.

On the next morning from a Perth hotel, Virginia was texting her American family and nutting out a plan to keep safe:

“We’re getting our ducks in order, and we are figuring this out day by day.”

“The police are coming to the hotel and they’re gonna go talk to Rob and hopefully he’s [taken] away [from] me please.” She also mentions her next step: “I go to court today to put a permanent [restraining order] on him.”

But a few hours later, her estranged husband Robbie Giuffre was walking up the steps of the Perth Magistrates Court, just several city blocks away. He submitted a seven-page form and had a 15-minute hearing with the magistrate. He feared Virginia, he said, and she’d been violent on a recent family holiday.

What the magistrate didn’t know was that, just hours earlier, he’d come off a 72-hour restraining order served on him by police. When he walked out of court that morning, Robbie had secured an interim family violence restraining order against him.”

Was Virginia’s mental health crisis and suicide a reflection of the institutional indifference she faced? Is it the tragic ending to what was a nightmarish existence marred by decades of abuse, pain and chronic illness?

Because the online trolls would see her on television with her shining blonde hair, sparkling eyes and fierce intellect, and accuse her of lying. You never can tell what someone is going through by watching them on tv.

And so the campaign for an inquest is now at a tipping point. Bring it on, I say. Because the people who are against it are due for a shake-up.

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But six Epstein survivors have told CNN that account simply isn’t true. They say they met Groff repeatedly, received cash payments from her, discussed their ages with her, and relied on her to arrange travel. Their accounts directly contradict key parts of Groff’s testimony.

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Over the years of covering this case, I've also communicated with a woman not featured in the story who also believed Groff was a part of her abuse in New York. Because these survivors’ voices deserve to be at the centre of this story.

After spending just a couple of minutes searching the thousands of Epstein emails released by the Department of Justice, I found numerous examples of Groff personally arranging money, entertainment, and logistics for women connected to Epstein.

This email shows Groff discussing an envelope containing cash. In the exchange she identifies the recipient simply as a “masseuse” while explaining that part of the money had already been spent before the remainder was delivered.

Several survivors told CNN they routinely collected cash from Groff in white envelopes.

Marina Lacerda recalled Groff personally handing her hundreds of dollars while Epstein was away. Another survivor said collecting envelopes of cash from Groff became a regular part of life inside Epstein’s operation.

Other emails show Groff arranging Broadway tickets, Radio City Music Hall performances, The Lion King, Harry Potter and other outings for young women associated with Epstein.

While executive assistants often organise travel, tickets and payments, these paint a picture of someone deeply involved in the management of Epstein’s personal world—precisely the issue Congress was attempting to understand.

Several women told CNN Groff knew exactly who they were because she arranged flights, handled identification documents, discussed their ages and personally paid them.

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Sharlene Rochard said Groff had access to her passport information. Another anonymous survivor said she helped her complete her first passport application.

Ms Lacerda said Groff asked detailed questions about new girls, including how old they were.

The University of Texas graduate, through her attorney Michael Bachner, continues to stand by her congressional testimony and has offered no further comment.

CNN's story is significant because six survivors have now publicly challenged the credibility of her testimony.

If only we had the complete record.

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But when he did, Epstein’s emails were often transactional—arranging meetings, requesting nude photos or discussing business.

But this email exchange from August 9, 2010, after his release from a Palm Beach jail, shows the collapse of one of his closest personal relationships.

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The exchange between Epstein and coconspirator Nadia Marcinkova charts the end of their relationship, which she believed was built on promises, loyalty and disappointment.

It also contains allegations that offer an intimate portrait of how Epstein allegedly treated the women who had once been closest to him.

“I stood by you” Nadia Marcinkova

Marcinkova’s email reminds Epstein that she remained loyal throughout his criminal case.

“I participated in your life... I stood by you for years of legal battles and jail time,” she wrote.

The former model says she never betrayed him, never spoke badly about him and believed no one loved or trusted him more than she did.

In my opinion, Epstein was discarding Marcinkova for another of his young victims and she knew it. The convicted sex offender cycled through favourite girls and women right up until he died.

Her emails comes with a list of promises which she says were never fulfilled by her ex.

According to Marcinkova, Epstein promised her:

• a baby

• time alone together

• real estate opportunities

• an apartment in Prague

• a castle in Slovakia

• a house in Florida

• cars

• an aeroplane

Instead, she writes that he ignored her birthdays, publicly embarrassed her, lavished expensive gifts on other women and ultimately treated her as “just another name in the line” of his girlfriends.

Another revealing section concerns Epstein’s alleged treatment of former girlfriends.

Marcinkova writes: “I don’t want to have a friendship with you that you have with all your ex-girlfriends.”

She then describes what she says she witnessed over the years: “...listening to you mock them, share intimate details about them, not respect their privacy, parade your new girls in front of them, lie to them about their partners’ affairs, embarrass them when they ask you for help...”

Marcinkova believed Epstein was someone who enjoyed humiliating former partners long after the relationships ended—through gossip, manipulation and public embarrassment.

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Epstein’s response to Nadia Marcinkova

Rather than responding point by point to Marcinkova’s accusations, the sex offender attempts reconciliation.

“I love you and would like to stay friends.”

He thanked her for standing by him and he understood her disappointed came “from a place of hurt.”

Epstein apologises for not responding sooner but does not directly address her specific allegations about broken promises or how she says he treated other women.

Instead, he offers friendship and says he will always be there for her.

What these exchanges show is that relationships inside Epstein's circle were blurred, emotionally complex, and shaped by unequal power dynamics that extended well beyond his Florida criminal conviction.

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“I thought these girls would go against me. Or they would have said, ‘Oh, John knew it.’ But I didn’t.”

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Juan Alessi wasn’t merely a witness to the Epstein scandal.

He was present for one of the key…

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The Epstein survivor lived at her rural property in the town of Neergabby with her carer, Cheryl Myers, whom she had hired after suffering a neck injury.

• Robert remained at the “marital home” near the beach i…

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An intense commitment to costume parties. Renaissance fairs. Elaborate outfits. The sort of playful, flamboyant self-expression that suggests a family comfortable standing out rather…

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Accounts from staffers described as “travelling assistants” detailed far more than sexual abuse. It was a picture of their young lives shaped by the creation of dependency through the abuser’s sur…

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Another question is now emerging in the Supreme Court of Western Australia: what happened to the Epstein survivor’s money?

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A bitter legal battle unfolding in Perth has rais…

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Every journalist has a story that stays with them. Mine is the death in 1995 of a teenage girl named Bree Jones, whose passing still remains an official mystery.

Long before I had heard of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine…

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While she denies any wrongdoing, Lesley Groff was in Washington, DC, to face a taste of accountability.

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As the 58-year-old was held upright by her husband Ike Groff and…

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