Ex-Lawyer to Jeffrey Epstein's Business and Others Hire Counsel Amid Ongoing Criminal Probe
Darren Indyke, a longtime corporate attorney for Jeffrey Epstein, has hired criminal defense attorney Marc Agnifilo to represent him, as employees and others who have been associated with the disgraced financier have sought out legal counsel amid an ongoing investigation into Epstein’s affairs.
August 16, 2019 at 02:29 PM
7 minute read
Darren Indyke, a longtime corporate attorney for Jeffrey Epstein, has hired criminal defense attorney Marc Agnifilo to represent him, as employees and others who have been associated with the disgraced financier have sought out legal counsel amid an ongoing investigation into Epstein’s affairs.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s employees and other people in his orbit have turned to Maurice Sercarz, of the New York firm Sercarz & Riopelle. Michael Bachner of Bachner & Associates has been retained to represent Lesley Groff, who long served as an assistant to Epstein and coordinated travel arrangements on his behalf.
Agnifilo, a partner with Brafman & Associates, declined to comment on his representation of Indyke. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney and former assistant district attorney in Manhattan. Agnifilo’s online biography states that he specializes “in sensitive and high-profile matters” and that he generally handles “high-stakes” criminal cases including, among other subjects, “securities, mail, wire, insurance and bankruptcy fraud, money laundering.”
Sercarz’ practice “is focused primarily on criminal trials and appeals including public corruption, securities fraud, environmental and organized crime cases,” according to his online biography. Among his clients have been judges, lawyers, members of law enforcement and public figures.
Bachner, who concentrates his practice on white collar criminal defense and securities litigation, also served as an assistant district Attorney in the rackets bureau of the Manhattan DA’s office before entering private practice in 1988.
No one has been publicly identified by law enforcement authorities as a possible co-conspirator in an alleged underage sex ring that federal prosecutors say Epstein ran out of his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. But persons with knowledge of his business dealings could be potential witnesses in the investigations.
Before he died Aug. 10 of an apparent suicide, Epstein had tried to set up a fund to cover the legal costs of employees in the event that they might contacted by law enforcement as a result of their relationship with the 66-year-old money manager, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
The identities of employees who had hired counsel were not clear, and Sercarz declined to comment on the case or the existence of the fund.
The logistics of defending those associated with Epstein are still being worked out among a number of lawyers, who have been sharing information on an ad hoc basis, said persons familiar with the matter. But there was not yet any formal joint defense agreement, although there have been informal conversations and discussions about what material may be covered by attorney work-product privilege.
Yahoo Finance earlier this week detailed the ties between Indyke, a graduate of Cornell Law School, and Epstein’s business dealings. The story cited reporting from The New York Times that he and another attorney, Jeffrey Schantz, had hired criminal defense lawyers, in a sign that they were bracing for government scrutiny of Epstein’s companies.
It was not clear who was representing Schantz, and neither he nor Indyke could be reached for comment.
The moves came as Justice Department officials are vowing to push ahead with a sex trafficking and conspiracy investigation that was expected to focus on Epstein’s inner circle and former associates. CNBC reported Monday that L Brands CEO Les Wexner, whose wealth Epstein had managed, has been turning over documents to investigators, claiming that Epstein had stolen from him.
Speaking Monday at a law enforcement conference in New Orleans, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said the criminal case would proceed against anyone who may have enabled Epstein’s behavior and warned that any co-conspirators would be in the DOJ’s cross hairs.
“Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,” he said in the remarks. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice, and we will ensure they get it.”
Geoffrey Berman, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, has said that Epstein’s death presented “yet another hurdle” to obtaining justice for the victims, but he confirmed that his office was continuing its probe of people linked to the financier.
“To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment—which included a conspiracy count—remains ongoing,” he said Aug. 10 in a press release.
So far, no other defendants have been charged, and the criminal case against Epstein is closed following his death last weekend.
Epstein was arrested in June at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the public-corruption unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to federal prosecutors, Epstein paid girls as young as 14 years old to perform nude or semi-nude massages and to recruit others to his ever-expanding network of illicit activity. Often, they said, the encounters would result in sex or with Epstein masturbating or molesting his victims.
The indictment, unsealed June 8, cited unnamed employees of Epstein who set up “appointments” with underage girls on his behalf. For instance, one person in New York, identified in the indictment as Employee-2, would call victims before Epstein traveled to Florida to make sure the encounters were set up when he arrived, the filing alleged.
A tranche of previously sealed documents, released Aug. 9 by order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, also provided new details about Epstein’s alleged connections and how his associates helped him recruit more young women and girls.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a probe into Epstein’s death, and the Office of the Inspector General, the DOJ’s internal watchdog, has launched its own investigation into how such a high-profile defendant could have been allowed to kill himself in federal custody.
Epstein, who pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and conspiracy charges was awaiting trial next year from Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan when he was found unresponsive in his cell early Aug. 10. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
MCC’s warden, Lamine N’Diaye, who has been reassigned in the wake of Epstein’s death, told a Manhattan federal judge that the DOJ investigations included a previous incident July 23, when Epstein was found with on the floor of his cell with neck injuries, in what jail officials at the time were treating as a suicide attempt.
Epstein had been placed on suicide watch following the July 23 incident, but was later removed at the request of his attorneys, according to reports. Two jail staffers have been placed on leave, and FCI Otisville Warden James Petrucci has replaced N’Diaye as acting warden.
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