Transcription
Jeffrey Epstein's accountant, Richard Khan, the money man, the man who coordinated payments, finances, purchases, managed his estate. He was in the hot seat, grilled by the House Oversight Committee on what exactly he did and what did he know about regarding the deceased sex offender. We're going to get into his responses. We're also going to get into the responses from lawmakers, try to understand what information he shared, as well as what the Epstein files reveal about him. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.
Now, as we're talking Epstein's money, man, let me tell you something. If you owe the IRS more than $25,000 in back taxes, you're going to want to listen up. Does the thought of your back taxes keep you up at night wondering if the IRS is about to levy your bank account or garnish your paycheck? That is where Tax Hardship Center comes in. This is the number one tax relief firm in the nation with an A+ rating that has settled hundreds of millions in tax debt for people just like you. Don't call the IRS yourself and poke the bear. Don't do that. The experts at Tax Hardship Center can find out where you stand without you even lifting a finger. And they will lay out a plan to fight for the best possible resolution. You can even start your free no obligation consultation right from your phone. So if you owe back taxes, go to taxhardshipcenter.com/taxhelp now or call 877-644-6939 right now and let them show you a way out.
In the years that I provided outside accounting and bookkeeping services for Jeffrey Epstein, I was not aware of the terrible and unforgivable things that he did to women and girls. My relationship with Epstein was strictly on a professional level. That is the theme of a big day on Capitol Hill that happened yesterday. Jeffrey Epstein's moneyman testified in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Richard Khan. You want to talk about a name that appears over and over and over again in the Epstein files? Epstein's accountant, worked with him since 2005, seemingly managed his financial affairs, handled wire transfers, signed checks, taxes, distributed money on Epstein's behalf. Richard Khan, you type that in, appears over 50,000 times in the Epstein library on the DOJ website. Now, this is somebody that the committee obviously wanted to interview because they always say follow the money. What is the connective tissue?
Now, to give you an idea, this is the guy whose name came up when we discussed Epstein having secret storage units. Remember, we had that whole discussion. Did Epstein purposely direct all these materials to the storage units so they weren't on his property? So, if authorities were going to search his properties, they couldn't find these things. We actually did a full sidebar episode on what appeared to be in one of those properties. But how about this? Richard Khan apparently sending this note to Epstein in 2012. It says, "We had a lot of excess equipment, furnishings, and supplies at 301 in trying to preserve as much usable stuff left behind, such as computers, supplies, etc. I will need some time to get rid of it. If you do not care where the stuff ends up, let me know." And apps can be ready sooner. Like apartments can be ready sooner. I assume that's what it means. How about this? Regarding items in what seems to be the Palm Beach Island garage sent from Khan to Epstein 2015. Yanush would like to review with you as he believes some items such as old computers once wiped can be discarded.
Now, Khan told the committee in his reportedly 7-hour deposition, that despite being Epstein's accountant, working with this guy for years, serving as the co-executive of his estate, I mean, ABC News reported that Epstein was going to pay this guy $25 million, that Khan said, quote, he was not aware of the nature or extent of Epstein's abuse of so many women until after Epstein's death. Apparently told the committee in his opening statement, "Had I learned of any of his horrific behavior, I would have quit work immediately. We tracked the expenditures as meticulously as possible, including gifts by Epstein to women and men. The gifts represent a very small fraction of Epstein spending. I did not see them as red flags for abuse or trafficking." And he emphasized he quote did not see anything that suggested to me that Epstein was abusing or trafficking women or otherwise acting unlawfully. While Epstein was alive, I never observed any sexual abuse or trafficking of women and never received a complaint either by one of Epstein's victims or anyone else of such abuse or trafficking. But he did admit the following and I think this is key. However, it pains me to think and I deeply regret that I may have unknowingly assisted Epstein in any way.
Now, one of the key moments of his testimony, and we don't have the full transcript or the videos of his testimony, at least at the time of this recording, but it comes from what the oversight committee chairman, James Comer, told the media told reporters, quote, he confirmed, meaning Khan, confirmed there were five clients that paid money to Epstein, and that was Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steve Sonowski, the Rothschilds, and Leon Black. We've already deposed Wexner, and we're going to be deposing Leon Black very soon. These were people that made significant transactions. So what Khan said is he was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax adviser and a financial planner. So these were the five people that transferred significant sums of money to Epstein. Now again to be clear, just because if they did financial work with him or had financial transactions with him doesn't mean that they participated in any criminality or had any knowledge of any criminality. Although I'll circle back to those names in just a minute.
By the way, regarding President Donald Trump, who we've talked about a lot, we also know that his name appeared in the Epstein files, most notably in a collection of uncorroborated allegations of sexual abuse. Comer said that Khan, quote, had never seen any type of transaction to Trump or anyone in his family. However, I will tell you, Representative Suzie Lee said to reporters that Khan told the committee that the Epstein estate did reach a financial settlement with someone who had made accusations that were related to Donald Trump. Oh, and he also said that it came out former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had financial dealings with Epstein.
Now, you go back to Richard Khan. Okay, back to potential legal liability. I have to go to what Representative Robert Garcia said after Khan's deposition. Quote, "Epstein's massive sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without the consistent payments and services of his longtime accountant." He said that Khan made some important admissions. Quote, "He helped facilitate a fake marriage between two women connected to Epstein, admitted to impersonating Epstein in communication with Banks, and confirmed Epstein spoke about Donald Trump a lot. It's not credible that he had no knowledge of Epstein's activities and his testimony today only raises more questions." So, is he suggesting that Khan wasn't telling the truth? That Khan committed perjury? That he engaged in fraud related crimes, banking crimes?
By the way, I should tell you that CBS has reported that Khan and Epstein's lawyer Darren Indkike actually settled a lawsuit regarding fake marriages where you had foreign-born victims of Epstein would marry American-born victims. And this was all for purposes of skirting the immigration system. What about this statement from Representative James Comer today? We've heard from Mr. Khan a lot of inability to recall, inability to recall emails, text messages he was involved in. If he was ignorant of Mr. Epstein's crimes. He was willfully ignorant. Willfully is a key legal term there. So obviously his testimony is raising a lot of questions, right?
You go back to some of the emails in the Epstein files that reference Khan. When you hear about what the analysis is of his testimony, I just want to read to you some emails. So for example, look at this one. This is an email from Khan to Epstein, November 2017. "Bella sent me the latest batch of medical bills for girls. Just wanted to confirm that you do not want to see these and that Bella should pay all medical once girls confirm for accuracy." The response back from Jeffrey Epstein, "Bleaching is not acceptable. Sorry, pay it, but it's out of hand."
Now, we did a whole episode on Epstein arranging or seemingly arranging for medical appointments and procedures and treatments for the females in his life and the secret network of doctors who were providing him services and access to him. But how about this? You have this communication where Khan is seemingly explaining the purpose of certain wire transfers, including payment sent to a friend for tuition for school. School, school, right? Anytime you talk about school with Jeffrey Epstein, you always have to think about how young were these females in his life, right? So CNN claims you have this email here that shows he's arranging a $3,500 tuition payment for a model. You look at this one about paying for an Airbnb. Epstein writes to Khan, "How did we send the Airbnb money receipt?" Khan seemingly responds, "I signed up to send from my PayPal account, so your name was not involved. They authorized charge, but not yet confirmed from landlord as they have 24 hours." Interesting. Why is there a need to make sure Epstein's name is not there? There could be a number of reasons, but just got to call it out.
Also, you remember that mention of girls? There seems to be a lot of reference to girls in emails that are connected to Khan. So, how about this one? There was an email that was sent to Khan in 2017. "Hi, Rich. I believe Jeffrey bought US Open tickets for the girls, but I have not seen any request for payment." We don't know who these girls are. This back and forth regarding girls and their cable boxes being taken out. Khan is part of that. You have this exchange regarding lottery tickets where Khan seemingly writes to Epstein in 2016. "Okay. Now up to 1.5 mm maybe Mega Millions will buy ticks today for girls Woody too meaning maybe Woody Allen any others please advise thanks."
This email from Epstein's purported secret girlfriend or associate Karina Shuliaak, who we've talked about on the show before, we dedicated a full episode to her, to Richard Khan 2016. This seems to be regarding maid services. "Just to clarify Bianca is doing only the girls apartments no laundry no cleaning supply guest apartments are still on tests on Leo. I just spoke with Bella, so she knows already. Thank you." Also, look, it's kind of hard to connect a lot of this or put into context, but I'll just give this to you. So, for example, you have this 2011 email from Epstein to Khan. "Rich, please wire Nadia 10K." I don't know who Nadia is. I don't know the context or the purpose of that payment, but again, whenever you talk about Jeffrey Epstein and females and money, got to mention it.
By the way, with that idea of keeping Epstein's name out of things, just look at this correspondence from March 2019. So, this is just months before Epstein would be arrested on federal sex trafficking charges. His lawyer Darren Indik writes, "Please see attached the filed certificate of formation and draft operating agreement for Truth Robot LLC. Thanks." Epstein writes back, "Can't have my name." Indik writes back, "We'll delete and have Rich." So, I'm assuming that's Mr. Khan signed as treasurer of Southern Financial LLC.
By the way, I have to mention this, too. The BBC reported that Khan at one point, when you're wondering what his role was, had asked Jeffrey Epstein's staff to pack up suitcases with the contents of Epstein's safe from his New York mansion and deliver it to his home. This is according to who appear to be federal agents. And apparently the FBI, there was evidence that they had spoken to Khan's lawyer and that Khan had agreed to turn over the suitcases, but apparently he didn't want agents coming to his home and that he wouldn't reveal who told him to remove this stuff from the safe. So just interesting to think about.
And it should also be noted that after Epstein died, Khan and Indik were the ones who were managing the settlements that were paid out from the Epstein Victim's Compensation Fund to the victims. So you're talking a payout of over $121 million to more than 135 survivors. Now that doesn't mean they had knowledge of what Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell were seemingly up to because this is after the fact, but just want to note what their role was after Epstein's death and after the allegations asserted against him.
By the way, Indik's lawyer Daniel Winer said in a statement to CBS after it was announced that Khan and Indik were subpoenaed for testimony. By the way, I think Indik is going to appear for testimony next week. Quote, "It is worth emphasizing that not a single woman has ever accused either Mr. Indik or Mr. Khan of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr. Epstein's abuse. Indik did not socialize with Mr. Epstein, and they have always rejected as categorically false any suggestion that they knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr. Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women or that they were aware of Mr. Epstein's actions while they provided legal and accounting services to Mr. Epstein."
But right now, I want to go back to those big names that Richard Khan seemingly called out to the committee. Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner, former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black, former Microsoft Windows division president Steven Sonowski, hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin, the Rothschilds, the big banking family. These are names that we have already heard about a lot so far.
So, for example, Epstein apparently controlled Wexner's finances, controlled his assets for years as his financial advisor. He was even granted power of attorney at one point, which allowed him to seemingly make all sorts of decisions involving Wexner, his family, his properties, his money. Wexner has claimed that Epstein expertly conned him out of millions of dollars, and that's allegedly how he acquired much of his wealth. Wexner released a three-page statement ahead of his deposition to that committee, saying he was pleased to testify and saying, "I was never a participant nor co-conspirator in any of Epstein's illegal activities. To my enormous embarrassment and regret, I, like many others, was duped by a world-class con man. I cannot undo that part of my personal history, even as I regret ever having met him."
And again, his actual testimony in front of the committee brought a lot of interesting moments, but maybe none more memorable than this. >> Answer the question. >> Okay. I'm sure we all appreciate the stories. We're just trying to to answer the questions they actually wanted the answers, but that's very helpful. Thank you. >> I I hope it is as an example. I wouldn't I I didn't have the idea to inventory furniture or valuables and it's like how can you have all silverware in your house and I didn't count forks and spoons and it's like Jeff said so people could be walking out with forks and spoons. Gee, that's a good idea. We ought to have an inventory. But then there was a I hired a lady to be like the house manager who had run the US embassy in Rome and she said, "Yeah, I I know how to do this." And I said, and I said, "Well, why don't we keep inventories of stuff?" And she said, "Yeah, I could do that." So, she did that as that's kind of a puny example, but I wouldn't have had the idea. But then all the things were inventoried. That wasn't work for me or Jeffrey. It was just regularly done. >> Answer another question. Five words. Okay. >> Yeah. Kind of tough to hear, but that's when his counsel, his lawyer seemingly said, "I will effing kill you if you answer another question with more than five words." Okay. Wexner laughed. I explained it at the time. You could say that looks quite nefarious, but any lawyer is not going to want their client to say more under oath than they have to.
Leon Black. Now, we've talked about him before. The investor, former CEO of Apollo Global Management. Black reportedly left Apollo, by the way, in 2021 after a lot of questions came up about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, saying it was for health reasons, though, but you do wonder if it's related to Epstein. Now, not only are there communications involving the two, like this one. "Leon Black will come see J tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. He may want breakfast. Please be prepared." But there are also allegations that Black is a rapist. You have this email. "Got a call from victim woman who said that she heard about lawsuit against Black. Victim said Black raped her around 20 years ago, 2001 or 2002 in Epstein's townhouse. Victim described it felt pain on massage table with head on floor and legs on his shoulders. Excruciating."
Steven Sonowski. You see these communications in the Epstein files between Epstein and this former Microsoft division president. According to Japan Times, Sonowski had turned to Epstein on how to leave Microsoft at one point and even shared or allegedly shared non-public information with Epstein and also this separation agreement. There seemed to kind of be an element of trust there because Epstein wrote him in this 2013 email chain. "Today's price is higher mutual dates. You can't take money and then say I will disparage you in a year. August 18th is a vesting day." Sonowski writing back in part, "Everyone is human. As long as it is one way, since there is no way I'm going to sue for this stuff, I want the SEC filing to make them look petty. Not me."
Glenn Dubin, hedge fund manager, billionaire. Now, Glenn Dubin is a name that we've talked about before. Okay? He was mentioned in these documents. There are communications between him and Epstein. And you may recall that at one point in time, renowned Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre had claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker, had ordered her to give Glenn Dubin a massage, which according to her meant sex. Dubin denied the allegations, by the way. Oh, and I should also tell you that Dubin's reported wife, Eva Anderson Dubin, this doctor, this founder of Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai. I mean, we just talked about her a lot in a previous episode of Sidebar because apparently not only was she a former flame of Epstein and allegedly provided him very special medical services, right, access to doctors, medical appointments, and not only for him, but to others as well at the institution. But there was also an allegation that she was soliciting Epstein for money.
So, look, Khan seemingly confirms there is a money trail or transactions with these kinds of individuals, and that is significant. It doesn't necessarily mean that they were involved in criminality. It doesn't necessarily mean that they had knowledge of criminality, but there was a connection here. And I've always wondered, is Richard Khan potentially going to be that connective tissue? And I will tell you also next week's going to be interesting if Indik, you know, Epstein's former lawyer does in fact sit down for a deposition. What will he have to say? Although I do wonder if there are attorney-client privilege issues that can limit his testimony in a certain way. We shall see. But again, another aspect to the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein saga.
It's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock. We got Sidebar episodes up there, too. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.