House Republican seeks documents from Epstein estate

WASHINGTON – Days before US House lawmakers return to Washington after a six-week summer break, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier, seeking documents for the committee’s review of the federal government’s investigation.

In the subpoena, Representative James Comer demanded financial records, Epstein’s will, video recordings from his many residences, and calendar entries detailing his meetings and dinners with famous people.

Some of that information has already been released.

Mr Comer also requested the now infamous “birthday book”, a leather-bound collection of tributes from Epstein’s friends compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate, to celebrate his 50th birthday.

President Donald Trump has

denied signing a note for the book or providing a drawing

, and he sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation after it reported on his contributions to the book.

In July, months after Attorney-General Pam Bondi promised new revelations in the case, the Justice Department and the FBI concluded that their investigation had ended without the long-sought “client list” for Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking.

That triggered outrage from some of Mr Trump’s most ardent supporters, who said they smelled a cover-up, even if they did not agree on who was involved or why. Most lawyers involved with the case have said there is no client list.

Mr Comer, a staunch ally of Mr Trump, was also forced to send a subpoena to the government seeking more documents, after several Republicans joined Democrats in voting to approve it at a subcommittee meeting in July.

The subpoena to the executors of Epstein’s estate represents the first significant move to expand the House investigation beyond the so-called Epstein Files gathered by federal authorities.

If the estate complies with the subpoena, it could bring a greater understanding of how Epstein amassed his wealth, which totaled about US$600 million (S$771 million) at the time of his death in 2019.

Mr Comer, who oversaw a years-long investigation into former President Joe Biden that never led to a promised impeachment, is under mounting pressure to appear to be pushing for maximum transparency on the Epstein matter.

The top Democrat on the panel said last week that the “overwhelming majority” of the 33,295 pages of documents that the Justice Department turned over to Congress after an earlier subpoena from Mr Comer had already been in the public sphere.

In the new subpoena, Mr Comer wrote that “recent reporting indicates the estate of Mr Epstein has access to documents relevant to the Committee’s investigation, including the alleged ‘birthday book’ prepared for Mr Epstein by Ms Maxwell”.

Mr Comer gave the estate a Sept 8 deadline to comply with the subpoena.

He also said the committee planned to interview Mr Alexander Acosta, the former US attorney for the Southern District of Florida who oversaw a controversial non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007.

House Republicans, who left Washington early for summer recess to avoid having to vote on the Epstein files, face a potential floor vote on the matter almost immediately upon their return.

The summer break did little more than kick the can down the road: The vote still threatens to force Republicans to choose between crossing Mr Trump, who has asked that the world move on from the Epstein matter, and angering their right-wing supporters who are still demanding the release of the material.

A lawyer for the Epstein estate, Mr Daniel H. Weiner, said that it was reviewing the new subpoena and that the estate’s co-executors, Mr Darren Indyke and Mr Richard Kahn, intend to comply with “all lawful process in this matter, and that includes the Committee’s subpoena”.

Mr Indyke and Mr Kahn are also two of Epstein’s loyal lieutenants: Mr Indyke was Epstein’s longtime personal lawyer and Mr Kahn was an in-house accountant for Epstein’s businesses. Both are in line to become beneficiaries of the estate, which has more than US$200 million in cash, investments and other assets.

The estate has already produced some of the documents requested by the committee in connection with litigation brought by sexual abuse victims and the government of the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein maintained a residence for nearly two decades.

During that litigation, the estate produced some of the daily calendar entries for Epstein that showed him holding regular meetings with prominent people, politicians and wealthy businesspeople. But the request by Congress is far more comprehensive.

If the estate produces nondisclosure agreements that Epstein and his associates entered into, it could be relevant to revealing information about the small number of wealthy clients he had. The request for information about bank accounts and financial transactions could also answer questions about how Epstein financed his decades-long sex trafficking operation.

But some of the document requests omitted important details or requested information already in the public domain. The flight logs for his plane and so-called black book of names and addresses has long been public.

Epstein’s will was made public shortly after his death.

But the committee failed to also ask for a critical component – a secret trust document – that lists the names of the dozens of potential beneficiaries of his estate.

The committee also asked for records of several of Epstein’s companies but failed to include the two Virgin Islands-based companies that generated most of his wealth. NYTIMES