Closing Epstein fund sends up to $125M to over 135 individuals
NEW YORK — A fund set up to provide money to victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein announced Monday that it has largely completed its work after agreeing to deliver nearly $125 million to over 135 individuals.
The announcement came from Jordana Feldman, the administrator of the Epstein Victims Compensation Program, which since late June of last year has operated independently of Epstein’s estate.
Jail officials said Epstein, 66, killed himself in August 2019 in a Manhattan lockup a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Dozens of women have alleged that Epstein for decades had sexually abused teenage girls and women, often by turning mansion massages into sexual assaults.
Feldman said 92% of 150 eligible applicants accepted what was offered by the fund, which received 225 claims, far more than the roughly 100 or so claims that were expected based on the number of women who had sued and spoken to lawyers.
Payouts were generally processed and paid within two to three months after claimants shared their experiences in confidential meetings, according to a release from the fund.
Feldman, who declined to provide demographics on claimants, said she met individually with over 200 fund applicants and tried to put them at ease at the outset by saying nothing would be recorded, leading them to “kind of relax their shoulders a little bit.”
Criminal probes continue into Epstein and those who might have aided his sex crimes since the 1990s. His ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges and awaits a November trial in Manhattan federal court.
The fund was designed as an alternative to lawsuits, which can take years to proceed to a payout.
Awards were not formulaic but instead resulted from a study of numerous factors, including the victim’s age, severity of abuse, frequency and impact of abuse, the extent of collaboration and the general credibility of the claim, Feldman said.
Western wildfires: Thick smoke that held down winds and temperatures in the zone of the largest single wildfire in California history cleared Monday from scenic forestlands, allowing firefighting aircraft to rejoin the battle to contain the massive Dixie Fire.
The newly clear skies will allow more than two dozen helicopters and two air tankers that have been grounded to fly again and make it safer for ground crews to maneuver.
“With this kind of weather, fire activity will pick up. But the good thing is we can get aircraft up,” said fire spokesman Ryan Bain.
Winds were not expected to reach the ferocious speeds that helped the blaze explode in size last week. But they were still a concern for firefighters working in unprecedented conditions to protect thousands of threatened homes and businesses.
Fueled by powerful gusts and bone-dry vegetation, the fire incinerated much of the small community of Greenville last Wednesday and Thursday.
At least 627 homes and other structures had been destroyed by Monday and another 14,000 buildings were still threatened in the northern Sierra Nevada.
Evictions moratorium: A federal judge who declared the earlier nationwide moratorium on evictions illegal was deeply skeptical Monday of the Biden administration’s new order, but said she may lack the power to do anything about it.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich promised a decision soon in an effort by Alabama landlords to block the moratorium imposed last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which it said was based on the spread of COVID-19’S delta variant.
Friedrich suggested the administration was engaged in legal “gamesmanship” to buy time for the distribution of $45 billion in rental assistance money. But, citing a ruling by the appellate court above her, she also asked a lawyer for the landlords, “Why are my hands not tied?”
Friedrich, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled in May that the CDC lacked authority under federal law to order a pause on evictions. But she put her ruling on hold while the case was appealed, allowing the moratorium to remain in place through the end of July.
Belarus sanctions: President Joe Biden on Monday said the United States is levying new sanctions against Belarus, marking the first anniversary of Alexander Lukashenko’s election as president in an election the U.S. and other nations and bodies in the international community have said was fraught with irregularities.
In announcing the sanctions, the White House also noted the forced landing of a European airliner traveling through Belarus’ airspace in order to arrest a prominent opposition journalist aboard.
Among those the Treasury Department cites in the new sanctions are Belaruskali OAO, which is one of Belarus’ largest state-owned enterprises and a source of wealth for the regime; the Belarusian National Olympic Committee; and 15 private companies, including the prominent Belarusian bank Absolutbank, that have ties to the Lukashenko regime.
The White House sanctions came as Britain announced new measures meant to target trade with Belarusian state-owned companies, government finance and aviation.
Canada reopens to US: Canada lifted its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit on Monday while the United States is maintaining similar restrictions for Canadians.
U.S. citizens and legal residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 within three days to get across one of the world’s longest and busiest land borders, and Canadian officials warn they won’t sacrifice safety for shorter border waits. Travelers also must fill out a detailed application on the arrivecan app before crossing.
The U.s.-canada border has been closed to nonessential travel since March 2020 to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The United States has said it will extend its closure to all Canadians making nonessential trips until at least Aug. 21, which also applies to the southern border with Mexico.
Mexico to ask for more vaccines: Mexico will ask the United States to send at least 3.5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccine as the country faces a third wave of infections, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday.
The president said he planned to discuss a transfer of vaccine with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
In June, the U.S. donated 1.3 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Mexico.