- Attorneys with knowledge of the sex-trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein say the financier’s fortune could be destroyed by legal costs.
- Attorneys with knowledge of the case told The Washington Post that legal costs and lawsuits stemming from the charges could cost Epstein more than $1 billion.
- Prosecutors could seize Epstein’s assets, defense lawyers could cost millions, and lawsuits from alleged victims could exceed $1 billion, attorneys said.
- Epstein was long referred to online as a billionaire, but Forbes debunked the theory last week, suggesting that he was more likely to be a millionaire, though his actual worth is still a mystery.
Financier Jeffrey Epstein’s millions of dollars could be up for grabs in his sex trafficking case, attorneys with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post.
Epstein was charged on July 8 with sex trafficking and conspiracy. In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Epstein molested girls as young as 14 in a sex trafficking operation that ran from at least 2002 to 2005. Epstein has pleaded not guilty.
Attorneys with knowledge of the case told The Post that legal costs and lawsuits stemming from the charges could cost Epstein more than $1 billion — in costs that may have already hit his bank accounts.
On Friday, prosecutors claimed that Epstein wired $350,000 to two potential witnesses of his alleged sex abuse, after The Miami Herald published an extensive report on Epstein’s previous plea deal with the US Attorney’s Office in Miami, according to The New York Times.
Read more: 5 things you need to know about the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case
In a bail hearing on Monday, Epstein offered up his $77 million Manhattan townhouse, as well as a private jet, for collateral in hopes of being released from jail as he awaits trial. The judge in the trial, Judge Richard M. Berman, postponed Epstein’s bail hearing to Thursday.
In addition to seeking prison time in Epstein’s case, federal prosecutors have indicated that they will aim to seize the Upper East Side home, according to The Post.
His defense attorneys are likely to cost Epstein millions more, and lawsuits from alleged victims could exceed $1 billion.
“With aggressive lawyering for the victims, Mr. Epstein’s realistic financial exposure for criminal restitution in federal court is likely to exceed $500 million, and the exposure in state court to exceed a billion,” Paul Cassell, a former federal judge and a lawyer for one of Epstein’s alleged victims, told The Post. “It’s easy to foresee 160 victims in this case and possibly more.”
Epstein was long referred to online as a billionaire, but Forbes debunked the theory last week, suggesting that he was more likely to be a millionaire, though his actual worth is still a mystery.
- Read more:
- New Mexico authorities are focusing on Jeffrey Epstein’s Santa Fe ranch, which could also spark changes to state sex offender laws
- The former prime minister of Israel defended his business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein: ‘You expect me to have noticed?’
- ‘I just grabbed the vibrator and threw it at his head’: Former model says she escaped Epstein in 2004 after she was told he was ‘in charge of Victoria’s Secret’
- Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s press machine: How the financier tried to rehab his image post-conviction with donations and pay-for-play journalism
Follow INSIDER on Twitter.
