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!["Jeffrey](http://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/fa08a66ba5da49ecabd032e805430001/960x0.jpg?fit=scale")
Jeffrey Epstein in 2013.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP, File
Topline: Executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate locked horns with U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general Denise George in court Tuesday, alleging that George is delaying Epstein’s victims from receiving compensation, while George alleged the estate is trying to protect its own assets.
- The Tuesday court hearing was the latest twist in the battle over Epstein’s assets: George filed a lawsuit in federal court in January to stop Epstein’s estate from distributing assets to a victims’ fund, arguing that Epstein’s two private islands should be forfeited and the courts should oversee the victims’ fund, not lawyers handpicked by Epstein before his death.
- Attorney Bennet Moskowitz, who represents Epstein’s estate, claimed in Manhattan’s federal court that George’s lawsuit is blocking the compensation fund from paying Epstein’s accusers, as well as funding the estate’s continued operation.
- George released a statement Tuesday saying she “has opposed the approval of the fund as currently proposed because it lacks fairness, accountability, impartiality and sensitivity to victims at a level they deserve” and arguing the fund should be designed and approved by the courts, with input from victims.
- George also made public on Tuesday a letter from her to a Virgin Islands attorney representing Epstein’s estate, which says the $200,000 paid monthly to the estate’s administrator, along with $1.7 million paid to an attorney for two months of work, was “excessive” and “disproportionate” based on “the anticipated number of victims.”
- George also amended the lawsuit she filed last month to add Epstein’s Virgin Islands-based Southern Trust Co. as a co-defendant for allegedly being used to conceal activity from Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and underage girls.
- Also added to the lawsuit as co-defendants: Epstein executors Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, who George says may have been parties to the late financier’s alleged illegal activities.
Crucial quote: “Victims who have not yet come forward or who may not wish to use the fund must be supported and protected, with funds for counseling and for their claims, too,” said George in her statement. “Pursuant to my responsibility to the laws of the Virgin Islands, there must be full accountability, not only of the Estate, but those who participated in, facilitated, and covered up Epstein’s crimes.”
Big number: $577 million. That’s how much Epstein’s estate is valued at, according to George’s latest court filing. The value is based on Epstein’s real estate holdings in the Virgin Islands, New York, Florida, New Mexico and Paris, France, along with cash, fixed income, hedge fund assets and “planes, boats, and automobiles.”
Key background: Tuesday’s court action followed the lawsuit filed by George on January 15 that accused Epstein of trafficking hundreds of women and girls to his private island in the Virgin Islands. Since Epstein is deceased, the suit was filed against his estate, with prosecutors seeking the forfeiture of Little St. James and a second island owned by Epstein (named Great St. James), in addition to the dissolution of shell companies they say were fronts for his alleged sex trafficking ring. Indyke and Kahn were named as Epstein’s estate executors two days before the financier and registered sex offender died by suicide in a Manhattan prison cell.
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Jeffrey Epstein in 2013.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement via AP, File
Topline: Executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate locked horns with U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general Denise George in court Tuesday, alleging that George is delaying Epstein’s victims from receiving compensation, while George alleged the estate is trying to protect its own assets.
- The Tuesday court hearing was the latest twist in the battle over Epstein’s assets: George filed a lawsuit in federal court in January to stop Epstein’s estate from distributing assets to a victims’ fund, arguing that Epstein’s two private islands should be forfeited and the courts should oversee the victims’ fund, not lawyers handpicked by Epstein before his death.
- Attorney Bennet Moskowitz, who represents Epstein’s estate, claimed in Manhattan’s federal court that George’s lawsuit is blocking the compensation fund from paying Epstein’s accusers, as well as funding the estate’s continued operation.
- George released a statement Tuesday saying she “has opposed the approval of the fund as currently proposed because it lacks fairness, accountability, impartiality and sensitivity to victims at a level they deserve” and arguing the fund should be designed and approved by the courts, with input from victims.
- George also made public on Tuesday a letter from her to a Virgin Islands attorney representing Epstein’s estate, which says the $200,000 paid monthly to the estate’s administrator, along with $1.7 million paid to an attorney for two months of work, was “excessive” and “disproportionate” based on “the anticipated number of victims.”
- George also amended the lawsuit she filed last month to add Epstein’s Virgin Islands-based Southern Trust Co. as a co-defendant for allegedly being used to conceal activity from Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and underage girls.
- Also added to the lawsuit as co-defendants: Epstein executors Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, who George says may have been parties to the late financier’s alleged illegal activities.
Crucial quote: “Victims who have not yet come forward or who may not wish to use the fund must be supported and protected, with funds for counseling and for their claims, too,” said George in her statement. “Pursuant to my responsibility to the laws of the Virgin Islands, there must be full accountability, not only of the Estate, but those who participated in, facilitated, and covered up Epstein’s crimes.”
Big number: $577 million. That’s how much Epstein’s estate is valued at, according to George’s latest court filing. The value is based on Epstein’s real estate holdings in the Virgin Islands, New York, Florida, New Mexico and Paris, France, along with cash, fixed income, hedge fund assets and “planes, boats, and automobiles.”
Key background: Tuesday’s court action followed the lawsuit filed by George on January 15 that accused Epstein of trafficking hundreds of women and girls to his private island in the Virgin Islands. Since Epstein is deceased, the suit was filed against his estate, with prosecutors seeking the forfeiture of Little St. James and a second island owned by Epstein (named Great St. James), in addition to the dissolution of shell companies they say were fronts for his alleged sex trafficking ring. Indyke and Kahn were named as Epstein’s estate executors two days before the financier and registered sex offender died by suicide in a Manhattan prison cell.