Financier’s new will 2 days before suicide

JEFFREY Epstein signed a new will two days before he killed himself. The paedophile set up a secretive trust on August 8 and named his brother Mark as sole potential heir.

Epstein’s will put the value of his estate at $577million (£458million) and it was filed in the US Virgin Islands – where Epstein owned two private islands – to avoid scrutiny.

Two days later, on August 10, Epstein was found hanged in his cell in a New York prison.

The new will is likely to complicate dozens of lawsuits expected to be filed against his estate.

There are no details about beneficiaries as the trust, called the 1953 Trust, after the year Epstein was born, does not have to disclose them. A lawyer said the trust was set up that way for ‘privacy reasons’. Assets include Epstein’s New York mansion, listed as worth $55million. He had $56million in cash and $194million in hedge funds and investments.

His Caribbean islands Great St James and Little St James are listed as worth $ 63million and $22million, and his cars boats and aircraft $18million. His antiques and other valuables, including a painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress that hung inside his New York mansion, are still being assessed.

Three more women are suing Epstein’s estate, claiming they were recruited to provide massages for the financier and then sexually abused.

Two of the women say they were 17, at the time, the third was 20. It brings the number of civil cases against the estate since his suicide to at least five.