Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein signed a will two days before he committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell, leaving behind a $577m (£476m) fortune.
Court papers published in the New York Post show that all of the 66-year-old former hedge fund manager’s assets, which include $56m (£46.2m) in cash, are held in his 1953 Trust, named after the year he was born.
His list of holdings also includes a collection of “Aviation Assets, Automobiles and Boats,’’ worth $18,551,700 and “fine arts, antiques, collectibles, valuables”. The New York Post describes the art collection as “sex-drenched”.
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The will, filed with court officials in the US Virgin Islands, was witnessed by two Brooklyn lawyers, including Mariel A. Colon Miro — the colourful attorney who recently represented drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo’’ Guzman.
The court papers contain no details on the trust’s listed beneficiaries. Epstein’s closest next of kin was his brother, Mark, he would only have a claim to his brother’s holdings in the absence of a will.
Several of Epstein's alleged victims have already filed lawsuits against his estate, and The Guardian reports that “several attorneys vowed to go after his assets” on behalf of their clients.
“Give his entire estate to his victims. It is the only justice they can get and they deserve it,” lawyer Lisa Bloom wrote in an email to the newspaper. “And on behalf of the Epstein victims I represent, I intend to fight for it.”
However, winning such a civil action will be challenging without a guilty verdict in a criminal court. “He wasn't deposed, and now he's not available to defend himself,” former federal prosecutor Kerry Lawrence told NPR.
“Any restitution that they might have sought for victims or forfeiture of assets in connection with the prosecution all effectively disappear.”
