Matthew Goldstein
Two days before he killed himself in a federal jail, Jeffrey Epstein signed a document that gave away much of his once-vast estate, a total of $US100 million ($142 million), to his girlfriend at the time.
In the document, the registered sex offender said he had contemplated marrying his girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, and wanted to give her his 33-carat diamond ring.
A copy of the 32-page document – called the 1953 Trust – was included in the roughly 3 million pages of investigative files about Epstein that the Justice Department released last Friday.
It is unclear how much Shuliak and the other 40 people mentioned as potential beneficiaries will receive from his estate, which has shrunk considerably over the past seven years after paying taxes, restitution to victims and hefty lawyers’ fees.
The trust, named after the year Epstein was born, has never been made public before.
The document called for Shuliak, 36, to get a total of $US100 million, which included a $US50 million annuity to be set up for her benefit. It also provided for her to get much of his property, though the estate has sold most of his residences.
The other two main beneficiaries listed in the trust are Epstein’s long-time personal lawyer, Darren Indyke, and his in-house accountant, Richard Kahn. The trust provided for Indyke to get $US50 million and for Kahn to get $US25 million. Both men are co-executors of Epstein’s estate.
Shuliak, a native of Belarus, appears frequently by name in the documents released by the Justice Department. The filings show she had known Epstein since at least 2012. Epstein helped pay for her to go to dental school. She is believed to be living in New York City.
A lawyer for Shuliak, who is the last person Epstein called when he was in jail before authorities said he killed himself, was not immediately available for comment.
Daniel Weiner, a lawyer for the estate, said neither Indyke nor Kahn, nor any of the beneficiaries, “will receive any money from that estate unless and until all creditors and claims on the estate have first been satisfied in full, including claims for compensation made by women who suffered abuse at Mr Epstein’s hands”.
Estate could be worth more
At the time of his death, Epstein’s estate was valued at around $US600 million. A recent court filing valued the estate at $120 million. But the estate could be worth more because several venture capital investments are still valued at the amount they were at the time of his death in 2019.
A handful of the 40 names in the trust are redacted in the Justice Department file. But some of the other intended beneficiaries whose names are unredacted included his brother Mark Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on federal charges that she conspired with Epstein to sexually abuse teenage girls.
The document said each of them should receive $US10 million. He also intended to leave $US5 million to Martin Nowak, a Harvard University maths professor, with whom Epstein was friendly for years.
Nowak, whose name was misspelled in the document, did not return an email request seeking comment.
Mark Epstein has said he was unaware he had been named as a beneficiary. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Most of the people named as beneficiaries were people who had worked for Jeffrey Epstein. Notably, the document made no provision for the more than 200 teenage girls and young women whom Epstein is believed to have abused.
But after Epstein’s death, Indyke and Kahn set up a restitution fund that paid out $US121 million to victims. The estate also paid out $US49 million in settlements to victims.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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