New Mexico has filed a civil lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's longtime lawyer and accountant, accusing the two men of helping finance and conceal Epstein's sex trafficking at his remote Zorro Ranch property in Stanley, N.M.
The lawsuit against Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, who serve as co-executors of Epstein's estate, was filed Wednesday in federal court in New Mexico. The suit alleges Indyke, as Epstein's personal lawyer, arranged payments to victims that left them indebted to Epstein. Kahn, as his accountant, monitored the spending of victims and even prepared tax returns for some, the lawsuit says.
The complaint alleges that several Jane Does, including minors, were abused at the ranch. The lawsuit says new information about Indyke and Kahn came to light after the Epstein files were released last year and this year.
The men control the assets in the estate and could receive some proceeds if there is money left over. The lawsuit seeks to strip the men of their gains from their association with Epstein and ensure assets from the estate are distributed to victims. The suit also asks the court to prevent the men from making distributions from the estate while the case moves forward.
The two men denied any involvement in -- or knowledge of -- Epstein's sexual abuse or trafficking, and described the New Mexico lawsuit's allegations as "categorically false" and the lawsuit as "baseless." Daniel Weiner, a lawyer for Indyke, said both men have cooperated with all investigations, but New Mexico's attorney general's office didn't reach out to them for information before filing its lawsuit.
Indyke and Kahn "are confident that they will prevail on the claims asserted against them," Weiner said.
Lawyers for the men have previously said the cash withdrawals were authorized and reviewed by banks, and the estate's assets have gone to resolve claims and pay taxes or operational expenses.
Indyke and Kahn handled banking and legal matters for Epstein and the women in his orbit, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.
Indyke and Kahn began working for Epstein before he pleaded guilty in Florida to procuring a minor for prostitution, and they continued working for him until the very end. The two men could collect as much as $75 million under a trust Epstein set up before his death, the lawsuit says -- $50 million for Indyke and $25 million for Kahn.
The estate, which was valued at about $578 million shortly after he died, has been depleted to just over $107 million, according to the lawsuit.
The suit, which was brought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, alleges Indyke and Kahn helped Epstein obtain cash he used to pay girls and young women and helped conceal his abuse through a web of corporate entities and bank accounts.
It accuses Indyke of deliberately structuring cash withdrawals just below the $10,000 federal reporting threshold and cites a 2017 email in which Kahn wrote about the "latest batch of medical expenses for girls."
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also investigating the two men. The prosecutors have been scheduling interviews with potential witnesses in recent months and have requested documents about their dealings with the men.
Neither man was questioned about their work for Epstein in 2019 and 2020, when federal prosecutors in Manhattan were investigating Epstein and Maxwell on sex-trafficking charges, the Journal reported last year.
The New Mexico suit says Indyke received more than $16 million from Epstein and related entities between 2011 and 2019. The complaint says Epstein helped Indyke buy homes in New Jersey and Florida, paid for fertility treatment for him and his wife and gave him $7 million in loans that were never repaid.
Kahn received more than $10 million over the same period, the lawsuit says. His firm was paid $4.9 million from Epstein's JPMorgan accounts between roughly 2005 and 2013, according to the complaint.