By Andrew Hay
Oct 21 (Reuters) - New Mexico has filed a civil lawsuit to block payments from Jeffrey Epstein's estate to the late sex offender's lawyer and accountant, and to recover damages for survivors of his alleged sexual abuse, the state's top law enforcement official said on Wednesday.
The suit is the first law enforcement action against Epstein's longtime personal attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn, according to New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez.
The lawsuit alleges Indyke
and Kahn facilitated, financed, and concealed Epstein's sex trafficking operation, including at his ranch 30 miles south of New Mexico's capital Santa Fe. They are co-executors of Epstein's estate, valued at $107 million, and respectively eligible for bequests of $50 million and $25 million from it, according to the complaint.
Daniel Weiner, a lawyer representing Indyke and Kahn, rejected allegations the two "knowingly" facilitated Epstein's abuse of women, saying the crimes took place "behind closed doors, in secluded locations" when neither was present.
The suit will test whether authorities are able to pin down allegations that a network of people and financial arrangements helped sustain and conceal Epstein's operations.
“Jeffrey Epstein did not operate alone, and his death does not end the pursuit of accountability for the people who helped make his crimes possible,” Torrez said at a press conference in Albuquerque. He was joined by two survivors of Epstein's alleged abuse, Julia Molchanova and Anouska De Georgiou.
Indyke and Kahn have already been named in civil lawsuits against the Epstein estate, including a complaint last month seeking damages for people pictured in the late financier's collection of child sexual abuse material.
"Not a single woman has ever accused Mr. Indyke or Mr. Kahn of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse," Weiner said in a statement, adding that the New Mexico attorney general's office had made no effort to interview the men before filing the lawsuit.
New Mexico's civil action comes after the Democratic-run state in February reopened an investigation into activities at Epstein's Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, where he is accused of abusing women and girls for nearly three decades.
Eight months into the probe, New Mexico has yet to file any criminal charges.
The state has sued the US Department of Justice for access to unredacted files on Epstein, accusing the Trump administration of stonewalling its investigation.
The DOJ said it provided some files but was prevented from handing over most material due to privacy protections.
Molchanova and De Georgiou, both prominent survivors of Epstein's sex trafficking network, applauded the New Mexico lawsuit to stop Indyke and Kahn profiting any further from the late sex-offender's estate.
"Accountability cannot end with Epstein and Maxwell, it must extend to those who knowingly made their abuse possible, especially those who stand to profit from it," said De Georgiou, a key witness at the trial of Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking of a minor and related conspiracy.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage, Aurora Ellis and David Gregorio)
