Epstein estate to pay $35 million to settle sex abuse claims

Two of the late financier’s top aides join the settlement to finally resolve claims from at least 40 women

The estate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay up to $35 million to settle a class-action lawsuit, according to a court filing from Thursday.

The suit accused two of the financier’s advisers of aiding and abetting his sex trafficking of young women and teenage girls. 

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2024 against Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, both of whom served for years as Epstein’s personal lawyer and accountant, respectively.

Boies Schiller Flexner, the law firm representing Epstein’s alleged victims, announced the settlement in a filing in a federal court in Manhattan. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Epstein’s estate would also be joined as a defendant in the case.

The settlement, reached with Indyke and Kahn, aims to “finally, and forever” resolve claims from victims who say they were “sexually assaulted or abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein between January 1, 1995, and through August 10, 2019,” the date of his death in prison.

Indyke and Kahn, who have not been accused of abusing women or witnessing any such abuse, have denied all liability to Epstein’s victims and agreed to the settlement terms without admitting wrongdoing.

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“Because they did nothing wrong, the co-executors were prepared to fight the claims against them through to trial, but agreed to mediate and settle this lawsuit in order to achieve finality as to any potential claims against the Epstein Estate,” NBC quoted their lawyer Daniel H. Weiner as saying.

The proposed agreement, which requires approval from a federal judge in New York to become final, provides for a total payout of $35 million to the group – estimated by their attorney to include at least 40 eligible women – or $25 million if fewer than 40 qualify.

The payout follows a prior distribution of $121 million to 136 claimants through the Epstein Victims Compensation Program, as well as a subsequent $48 million settlement covering 59 victims.

The release of the Epstein files has sparked a wave of resignations worldwide. The fallout hit hardest in the UK, where three senior officials in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government stepped down and King Charles’s brother Andrew lost his titles.