With disgraced financier, pedophile and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein dominating headlines once again, it’s a good time to take a look back at what’s become of his estate.
Epstein allegedly died of suicide while incarcerated awaiting trial for sex trafficking and was worth roughly $600 million at the time of his death. He attempted to shield his fortune by placing the entirety into trust for the benefit of his brother Mark two days before his death. This gambit was, unsurprisingly, doomed from the start, as lawyers for Epstein’s creditors and his numerous victims were easily able to defeat the obvious sham transaction.
By early 2025, the once $600 million fortune had dwindled to under $40 million. The roughly $170 million in settlements paid out to the over 200 women and girls who were the victims of his abuse represents the biggest and most publicized hit; however, it’s closely followed by the $105 million paid to settle racketeering charges brought by the Virgin Islands.
These charges alleged Epstein had created a network of shell companies, charitable organizations and individuals that participated in and conspired with him in a decades-long pattern of criminal activity tied to the alleged sex trafficking of minor girls and young women. The government also contended that one of Epstein’s U.S. Virgin Islands-based businesses, Southern Trust Company, misrepresented the nature of its work to fraudulently obtain more than $73 million in tax incentives. Once you factor in what were likely huge attorney fees to unravel all this mess, as well as paying back the more traditional creditors that any wealthy person’s estate could have, $600 million dries up awfully quickly.
However, that’s not the end of the story, as the Epstein estate received some good news in the form of a huge tax refund in early 2025. In 2020, the estate preemptively paid about $190 million in taxes on the pending liquidation of Epstein’s assets. However, the items realized much less value than anticipated. For instance, Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, listed at almost $90 million, eventually sold for $51 million. As such, the estate was entitled to a $112 million refund on the overages paid, bringing the coffers back up to an estimated $150 million. Once all of the remaining claims against the estate are settled (most already have); any funds left will be transferred to a (legitimate) trust and distributed to the beneficiaries of said trust.
The identities of those beneficiaries are not known and do not need to be made public; however, Epstein’s co-executors—longtime lawyer Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Khan—are also the co-trustees of the trust, so they look most likely to benefit, alongside Epstein’s girlfriend Karyna Shuliak and his aforementioned brother Mark.
That Indyke and Khan, who are accused of facilitating Epstein’s crimes over several decades, stand to potentially benefit so greatly from the estate is a bit of a tough pill to swallow. However, the one remaining silver lining is that among the remaining claims that must be settled before the funds go into trust is an open Manhattan federal lawsuit against Indyke and Khan for allegedly “aiding and abetting” Epstein.
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