Fox News Flash top headlines for Feb. 22
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
Lawyers for late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s $600 million U.S. Virgin Islands estate said liens imposed by the local attorney general have left them unable to pay the estate's bills, employees at his various properties or for legal defense from his accusers, according to a filing made public Friday.
Co-executors Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn's lawyers wrote that several payments, including for electricity and pest control, have been returned for “insufficient funds," The Miami Herald reported.
They asked the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, which imposed the criminal-activity liens, to strike the liens down or at least allow the executors to pay for the estate's administration.
The filing also said the estate is unable to pay the caretakers at his residences in Florida, New Mexico and New York and power could soon be turned off.
“The harm caused by the Government’s Lien-imposed freeze on the Estate’s account at FirstBank is no longer theoretical — it is now immediate and real,” the filing said, adding they “can no longer pay for the defense of the twenty-two lawsuits pending against the Estate arising from claims of sexual abuse by Mr. Epstein, including the forfeiture action asserted by the Government as the basis for the imposition of the Liens.”
JEFFREY EPSTEIN ESTATE WORTH $57M MORE THAN A PREVIOUS ESTIMATE: REPORT
The lien, imposed Jan. 31, was part of a civil enforcement action brought by U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George, expanded in February to name Indyke and Kahn as co-conspirators.
George alleged Indyke and Kahn conspired with Epstein to help him exploit minors and she doesn’t want either of them involved in the estate's proposed victims’ compensation fund.
She said the lawyers could try to drain the fund before making restitution with alleged victims in the Virgin Islands who were as young as 12 and explained the lien was necessary to get an inventory of the estates’ assets, The Herald reported.
George also said Epstein's lawyers tried to fraudulently get tax breaks after he started living in the Virgin Islands following his release from a Florida jail in 2009.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Epstein served 13 months with work release privileges for prostitution charges.
After a subsequent arrest on sex-trafficking charges, Epstein, 66, was found hanging in his New York City prison cell in August and was later declared dead, investigators said.
True Crime
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.
