Epstein victims to begin filing claims through compensation fund
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Dozens of victims who claim they were sexually abused by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will be able to file claims through a victim's compensation fund starting Thursday.
The independent claims program is an alternative route to litigation and separate from Epstein's Estate, allowing victims-- many of whom were minors when the alleged abuse took place and have expired their statute of limitations-- a chance at monetary compensation.
“This Program provides victims of Jeffrey Epstein the opportunity to be heard outside the glare of public courtroom proceedings, and to receive acknowledgment by an independent third party as to the legitimacy of their experience and the long-term suffering it has wrought,” Jordan Feldman, cofounder of the fund, said in a statement.
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JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S ALLEGED 'SPY' TIES UNDER FRESH SCRUTINY IN NEW BOOK
“Treating victims with dignity and respect and providing them with appropriate compensation is central to our work with the Program, even as we recognize that no amount of money will erase the years of pain these victims have endured.”
Feldman-- who was also the former deputy special master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund-- will be in charge of vetting claims and issuing awards based on her discretion from the pool of $634 million linked to Epstein's estate.
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The victims who opt in to the program voluntarily and are allocated funds will sign a release agreeing not to pursue any further litigation against Epstein's estate.
Details of the victims compensation fund were haggled over since November when attorneys for Epstein's estate executors first filed a request for the alternative to avoid the mounting lawsuits against the convicted pedophile, who was found hanging in his jail cell from an apparent suicide in August.
Attorneys representing over 70 of his victims as well as the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands were all apart of negotiations over the fund for months, before it was approved earlier in June.
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At the time of his death, Epstein, 66, was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Prosecutors alleged Epstein paid girls as young as 14 years old hundreds of dollars in cash for massages before molesting them at his homes in New York and Palm Beach, Fla., from 2002 through 2005.