House Oversignt Committee va REUTERS
Congress is set to depose a "key member of Jeffrey Epstein's inner circle," according to ABC News: Darren Idyke, who served as the late sex trafficker's attorney for many years, executed his will and helped him avoid legal scrutiny for decades.
The House Oversight Committee will depose Indyke on Thursday, as it works to determine how his decades-long spree of sex crimes was able to operate. Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn have each been credited with helping Epstein manage legal troubles, though they both deny any wrongdoing and knowledge of their client's crimes. Neither has, to date, been charged in relation to their connection with Epstein.
"As Epstein for years attempted to avoid scrutiny while orchestrating a notorious sex trafficking operation, Indyke -- together with accountant Richard Kahn -- allegedly helped him navigate legal issues and formed part of the financier's inner circle," ABC News explained. "Indyke allegedly helped facilitate at least three sham marriages between Epstein's victims and withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash for Epstein, according to one lawsuit, and attested to Epstein's character when he faced legal scrutiny."
Indyke and Kahn were named co-executors of Epstein's estate, based on a will signed two days before his death. As part of the will, the attorney was left $50 million, while the accountant received $25 million. The two men also previously agreed to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by several Epstein victims, which accused them of "facilitation, participation, and concealment of Epstein's illegal conduct."
"Knowing that they would earn millions of dollars in exchange for facilitating Epstein's sex abuse and trafficking, Indyke and Kahn chose money and power over following the law," the suit alleged. "The Epstein Enterprise would not have existed for the duration it did and at its scope and scale, without the collaboration and support of others. No one, except perhaps Ghislaine Maxwell, was as essential and central to Epstein's operation as these Defendants."
"Neither Mr. Indyke nor Mr. Kahn socialized with Mr. Epstein, and both men reject 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 his actions while they provided professional services to him," an attorney representing the two men told ABC last year.
While insisting on his limited interactions with Epstein, jail records indicated that Indyke visited Epstein frequently in jail after he secured a plea deal in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2008. The lawyer was also involved in arranging that notoriously lax work-release deal that let Epstein leave his confinement 16 hours a day. Indyke also claimed to have received considerable emotional and financial support from Epstein while providing a character witness statement.
"Although Jeffrey was adamant that we owed him nothing, Jeffrey honored us by agreeing to be the godfather of our children," Indyke wrote.