Epstein’s estate seeks experts to pay victims
To compensate the dozens of women who have accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, his estate will try to develop a plan with the lawyer who devised restitution programs for several highprofile disasters and scandals.
The estate on Thursday asked a U.S. Virgin Islands judge for permission to establish a voluntary resolution program for the late sex offender’s accusers. The judge is overseeing the administration of Epstein’s $577 million estate.
The program, if approved, would be developed with the help of Kenneth Feinberg, who has overseen the payment of tens of billions of dollars in claims to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, the BP oil spill and an ignition problem with vehicles from General Motors.
In a statement, the estate’s executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, said the proposed program would provide Epstein’s accusers “the opportunity to obtain appropriate compensation and to be heard and treated with compassion, dignity and respect.”
But lawyers for some women have expressed distrust of the process, saying the plan was presented to a judge without being discussed with the plaintiffs. And at least one woman already intends to bypass any compensation program.
A lawyer for the woman, Jennifer Araoz, who said she was recruited to give massages to Epstein when she was 14 and raped by him a year later, has no intention of discontinuing her lawsuit against the estate.
“Each victim, however, must make an individual decision as to how to best pursue legal remedies for their injuries,” said the lawyer, Daniel Kaiser. “Jennifer has decided that the best legal course of action for her is her court action filed in New York state court.”
A compensation program could have benefits for the accusers. It would most likely be faster and cheaper than litigating their claims against Epstein, who killed himself in August at the Manhattan Correctional Center after his arrest on federal sextrafficking charges. A compensation program could also minimize the possibility of the estate being hit with large jury awards in individual cases, which could deplete the assets available to compensate other accusers.
Unlike a trial, a compensation program would be confidential, and keep the details of the accusers’ claims out of public view. But it would also limit outside evaluation of the handling of the claims process, and would prevent the release of other information about Epstein that could be uncovered during litigation.
The restitution program would be administered by Jordana Feldman, a lawyer who worked closely with Feinberg on the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and who, until this week, was the deputy special master of that fund.
The executors filed Epstein’s will, which was drawn up just days before he died, with a court in the Virgin Islands, where Epstein was a legal resident. His assets, which include homes, planes, artwork, financial assets and two private islands off St. Thomas, were placed in a trust.