The Dictatorship
As Epstein’s longtime lawyer testifies, questions remain about what he knew
The second of Jeffrey Epstein’s two estate executors is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. And after the other executor’s testimony last week raised serious questions about who knew what about Epstein’s abuse and when, the committee’s transcribed interview of Darren Indyke could be explosive.
Indyke served as the de facto in-house counsel to Epstein for decades and will appear in Washington, D.C., on March 19, just a week after Richard Kahn was deposed before the same group of lawmakers.
Kahn worked for Epstein for more than a decade as one of his New York-based accountants before becoming one of two co-executors of his estate upon his 2019 death.
In his opening statement, Kahn insisted that he never witnessed any sexual abuse or trafficking of women and additionally “never received a complaint — either by one of Epstein’s victims or anyone else — of such abuse or trafficking.” He also said that he never saw any minors in Epstein’s presence.
By the end of the deposition, however, at least some members of the committee, including ranking Democrat Robert Garcia, questioned Kahn’s blanket assertion that he never knew about or suspected Epstein of sexual misconduct with girls or women.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s massive sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without the consistent payments and services of his long-time accountant Richard Kahn,” Garcia said in a statement. “It’s not credible that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s activities, and his testimony today only raises more questions.”
MS NOW is unaware of any allegations that Kahn or Indyke participated in or witnessed any sexual abuse committed by Epstein.
And a lawyer for the estate, Daniel Weiner, told MS NOW in a statement, “Both Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn reject as categorically false the suggestion that they knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr. Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women, or that they were aware of that abuse while they provided professional services for him.”
But given the statements provided by certain alleged victims of Epstein and other witnesses to federal law enforcement, Indyke could have an even tougher time convincing Congress that he was ignorant of Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minor girls and women.
Those statements, which were made during FBI interviews and are included in memos known as “302s” and are found on the Justice Department’s website, have not been verified by MS NOW and are largely uncorroborated.
According to prepared remarks obtained by MS NOW, Indyke told the committee in his opening statement that he “had no knowledge whatsoever of Jeffrey Epstein’s wrongdoings.
“Had I known that he was abusing or trafficking women,” Indyke said, “I would have quit working for him at once and severed all ties to him.”
He added that both he and Kahn have made “extensive efforts … to address the wrongs committed by Mr. Epstein during his lifetime,” including distributing millions of dollars from Epstein’s estate to victims.
James Marsh, an attorney representing multiple survivors, said in a statement that Indyke’s “claimed ignorance … is deeply troubling.”
“His testimony only underscores how much still remains hidden about the vast network of enablers that allowed these crimes to persist for decades,” Marsh added. “Survivors — and the American people — deserve the full undistorted truth about who knew what.”
Several witnesses told federal investigators that Indyke either told them not to talk to law enforcement if questioned about their relationships with Epstein, or was someone Epstein had them directly deal with when it came to personal situations like their schooling or their immigration status.
In July 2019, just days after Epstein’s arrest, federal law enforcement interviewed a Polish ex-model who worked for Epstein as a traveling assistant between 2005 and 2006. She told the FBI and federal prosecutors that in fall 2005, Epstein shared with her that there was an ongoing investigation, that it had “something to do with visas” and that investigators were asking about her parents. According to the documents, she added that Indyke then called her into his office and “told her not to talk to law enforcement.”
That same woman spoke again to the FBI and prosecutors roughly two months later. She mentioned that Epstein encouraged her to seek Indyke’s assistance with her immigration status but that Indyke was unable to help. She reiterated that Indyke had directed her to contact him if she ever needed help and “never talk to the police.” According to the documents, she told investigators this interaction made her think something was “off.”
A second woman who talked to federal law enforcement about Indyke is known only as “Jane,” the pseudonym she used when she testified at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial.
According to a memo of her September 2019 interview with the FBI, Jane met Epstein and Maxwell in 1994, when she attended a summer program at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Jane told the FBI that when she returned to her hometown of Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein offered her mentorship and scholarship opportunities, only for him and Maxwell to begin sexually abusing her soon after. In her senior year of high school and with Epstein’s urging, she moved to New York City to attend a private performing arts-focused school and lived in an apartment that Epstein paid for.
Jane said she stopped communicating with Epstein and Maxwell in 2001, which angered him. He called her in anger, screaming about how ungrateful she was — and she said she also received a call from Indyke, who told her she owed Epstein $10,000 because Epstein had cosigned for her apartment.
According to documents, Jane also remembered that she would meet with Indyke to discuss paperwork that had to do with her schooling.
In the case of another woman, a foreign-born aspiring model interviewed by federal law enforcement had alleged sexual abuse by Epstein between roughly 2004 and 2007. During a February 2020 interview, she told the FBI that when Epstein told her in 2006 that he had been arrested, he didn’t share any of the details but gave her two instructions: Do not introduce him to anyone new for massages, and to call Indyke if she was contacted by law enforcement.
According to the documents, there were additional witnesses whose statements strongly suggested that Indyke could have — or should have — known that Epstein was involved in unlawful activity.
Lance Calloway served as Epstein’s personal chef between 2006 and 2009, the period when Epstein was under investigation by Florida federal prosecutors. It was also during this time that Epstein negotiated a nonprosecution agreement to serve just 13 months in jail, including home release, after pleading guilty to two state prostitution-related crimes.
When interviewed by the FBI and federal prosecutors in September 2020Calloway told them that in approximately 2008, he learned that Epstein was under investigation while he was living on Little St. James, the Caribbean island Epstein owned. At about that time, Indyke instructed Calloway that if he was approached with something, he should “not accept it because he could be getting served.”
Nearly a year earlier, in October 2019, the FBI interviewed an employee of Deutsche Bank’s asset and wealth management division who led its transaction monitoring team. She told the FBI that through a review of Epstein’s bank accounts, she observed that he was distributing payments directly to “women, who appeared to be models of legal age,” though she did not specify how she knew that. She also noticed that Indyke himself withdrew $7,500 in cash each week.
A now-settled lawsuit filed by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands against Indyke and Kahn, as executors of Epstein’s estate, among others, similarly alleged that between 2014 and 2016, Indyke cashed almost 45 separate checks, each in the amount of $7,500 and at a pace of two or three each month, from a single account belonging to Epstein. Although the lawsuit does not name the bank, it specifies that $7,500 was that bank’s limit for third-party withdrawals from any account.
The FBI interview documents from the Deutsche Bank’s employee show that she had filed a suspicious-activity information form on Indyke himself after witnessing the withdrawals.
That lawsuit also alleged that between June 2018 and February 2019, almost 100 individual withdrawals of $1,000 were made from one of Epstein’s bank accounts from an ATM that is a short walk from Indyke’s law office. The lawsuit did not specifically allege that Indyke personally made those withdrawals.
Julianne McShane contributed to this report.
Lisa Rubin is MS NOW’s senior legal reporter and a former litigator.
Madeleine Bimonte is a journalist with MS NOW, based in New York.
Sydney Reynolds is a senior assignment editor for MS NOW
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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