Epstein's accountant tells Congress he saw no signs of abuse—but admits he stayed on after learning of sex offense conviction
Richard Kahn testified under congressional subpoena that his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was purely professional—meeting roughly every three weeks, primarily at 457 Madison Avenue or Epstein's townhouse, to manage accounting, bookkeeping, insurance, property expenditures, and later investments. He described a structured office operation involving key figures including Ghislaine Maxwell (who functioned as Epstein's chief of staff), attorney Darren Endyke, accountant Harry Beller, and executive assistant Leslie Groff. Kahn stated he never socialized with Epstein, never attended parties, and never saw minors or any improper conduct in Epstein's presence.
The most consequential admission in Kahn's testimony was that he learned of Epstein's 2008 Florida arrest and sex offense conviction—including the fact that Epstein had been with a minor—and nonetheless chose to continue working for him. Kahn said Epstein told him it was "a mistake" that "would never happen again," and that he believed him, a decision he now describes as deeply regrettable. He cited the 2008 financial crisis and family responsibilities as factors in his choice to stay, noting that all staff also received a 10% pay cut during Epstein's incarceration.
On the financial structures, Kahn defended the use of LLCs and corporate entities as standard practice for wealthy individuals, saying he had no role in setting them up and saw nothing suspicious. He acknowledged tracking gifts to women and men but characterized these as a small fraction of overall spending and not red flags. He also noted that unexplained cash expenditures were reported as gifts on Epstein's gift tax returns.
Kahn's post-death role as co-executor was significant: he described establishing the Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund, which resolved claims from over 130 women with no cap on recovery and no estate decision-making over individual awards, as well as settling approximately 60 additional victim claims separately. He testified that it was only after Epstein's death that he fully understood the scale of Epstein's abuse.
Key concerns raised by the deposition include: Kahn's decision to remain employed after the 2008 conviction; the question of whether financial tracking of gifts and unexplained expenditures should have prompted greater scrutiny; the nature of Ghislaine Maxwell's operational role managing properties, accounts, and staff; and the broader question of whether Epstein's professional support network—wittingly or unwittingly—enabled his crimes. Kahn repeatedly denied any awareness of abuse and acknowledged only that he "may have unknowingly assisted" Epstein.
Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein's outside accountant from 2005 until Epstein's death, testified under subpoena that his role was strictly financial and that he never witnessed abuse or trafficking. He acknowledged knowing about Epstein's 2008 sex offense conviction but chose to remain employed, citing the financial crisis and family obligations. After Epstein's death, Kahn became co-executor and helped establish a victims' compensation fund that settled claims from over 130 women.
I unfortunately and regrettably trusted Epstein that this would never happened again and I decided to stay working for him.
in the years that I provided outside accounting and bookkeeping services for Jeffrey Epstein, I was not aware of the terrible and unforgivable things that he did to women and girls.
My relationship with Epstein was strictly on a professional level. We did not interact socially and I never attended any of his parties or his social functions.
While Epstein was alive, I never observed any sexual abuse or trafficking of women and never received a complaint either by one of Epstein's victims or anyone else of such abuse or trafficking.
I believed him at the time and never saw what appeared to be a minor in his presence.
Had I learned of any of his horrific behavior, I would have quit work immediately.
in the work that I performed on behalf of Epstein or his companies, I did not see anything that suggested to me that Epstein was abusing or trafficking women or otherwise acting unlawfully.
I worked with other accountants and bookkeepers to track spending on Epstein's properties and other assets, and in the few years before Epstein's death, I also tracked his investments.
With homes in the Virgin Islands, New York, Palm Beach, Paris, and New Mexico, and with several planes and a helicopter, Epstein had substantial yearly expenditures and a large staff.
We tracked the expenditures as meticulously as possible including gifts by Epstein to women and men. The gifts represent a very small fraction of Epstein spending. I did not see them as red flags for abuse or trafficking.
some media sources have reported that Epstein used corporate structures and cash to conceal his identity and hide his sexual abuse and trafficking.
The use of limited liability companies by wealthy individuals to hold assets such as real estate or major assets like airplanes and helicopters is completely standard practice.
I had no role in setting up any of Epstein's companies, but did not view them as improper or suspicious.
Where backup was missing, we treated cash and other expenditures as gifts by Epstein and reported them, when appropriate, on Epstein's gift tax returns.
We also settled nearly 60 claims by Epstein's victims.
I was not aware of the nature or extent of Epstein's abuse of so many women until after Epstein's death.
I went to Syracuse University and graduated with an accounting degree.
I later obtained a master's degree in taxation from Pace University, maybe late 90s, 99.
After college, I worked for three public accounting firms: Coopers and Librand, Richard Eisner and Company, and KNHN.
I interviewed for a job with Epstein in October of 2005 and started employment about two weeks later.
I found out about 30 minutes before the interview that I was going to be interviewing with Jeffrey Epstein.
My first interview with Epstein was at his townhouse and lasted about 10 minutes.
In the 30 minutes before the interview, I saw one article about him — I think it was the International Man of Mystery article.
I understood that he was providing financial tax and estate planning to clients.
I believe Epstein invested with Mort Zuckerman in Radar magazine.
There was another investment in a company by the name of Seed Media Group, which I believe originally was doing scientific analytics and then maybe pivoted into a magazine.
Mr. Epstein and I never socialized. I did not have a personal relationship with Epstein, and my dealings with Epstein were quite infrequent.
I would typically meet with him about every three weeks for anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, our conversations were 90% regarding the questions I brought in regarding his accounting and financial situation.
80% of my communication with Epstein was on email, and I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I called Epstein — it was always him calling me.
I believe that Epstein was incarcerated in, I believe, June of 2008. For the period of time 2005 to 2008, those meetings were at our office at 457 Madison Avenue.
I worked from October 2005 through the date that Epstein was incarcerated, and then I continued to serve as co-executor.
I believe I spoke with him or communicated via email or phone in the three or four days prior to his arrest on July 6th.
We were discussing his pursuit of a property in Morocco in our last communication before his arrest.
Epstein was looking to purchase a property in Morocco and was giving me instructions on what amount of money to wire to his real estate representative based on what I believe was a purchase of a home in Morocco.
I never visited Epstein in 2019 or 2008.
My presumption would be it would be within two or three weeks of his arrest, but I can't specify a date.
my meetings with epstein were as i said earlier usually every three weeks
i was handling a lot of things on behalf of epstein at the time so i typically would come into a meeting with a list of you know 30 to 50 questions looking to get answers
Those were usually directives I received from Epstein.
I believe that after Epstein's death, I was asked if I would take on the role as co-executor and co-trustee.
I believe I signed the documents maybe 10 to 15 days after his death.
I was not aware of any investigations, nor was I aware of the fact that Epstein was arrested. I found out about Epstein's legal problems when we had a discussion in 2008.
Epstein said he wanted to talk with me and mentioned that he was having legal problems in Florida.
he was with a woman that turned out to be a minor and that he was going to be charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution.
his sentence was rather light. I believe he served 13 months, of which he was allowed to leave the county jail six days a week for 12 hours a day.
everyone that continued working for him received a pay cut of, I believe, 10%.
because Epstein was incarcerated, the amount of work that we all had had diminished probably by about 30 or 40 percent
I believe my salary was $180,000 or somewhere in the $180,000 range. It could have been $185,000 or $190,000.
I without a doubt question leaving him and in hindsight I regret that I relied on Epstein's word that this would never happen again
Leon Black, I believe, was the fifth client who paid fees.
we were in the middle of a financial crisis and I had a family to support so I made the wrong decision in staying for him
I later learned as co-executor that Epstein continued to abuse hundreds of minors and adults.
No, I never suspected any of that.
Before his 2008 conviction, I never saw minors in the presence of Epstein. On my visits every three weeks when Epstein was in town, occasionally I saw assistants, but I never saw anything that looked improper.
no woman has ever come to me and said that she was in danger, that she was being sexually abused or sexually trafficked.
I never saw minors in Epstein's presence. Period.
Richard Kahn learned that Epstein was required to register as a sex offender from Epstein's attorney, Darren Endyke, around the time of Epstein's release from jail.
As a registered sex offender, Epstein was required to provide a list of all of his phone numbers, transportation (planes, cars), and properties.
Richard Kahn first met Ghislaine Maxwell within the first two months of working for Epstein, likely at the office.
Ghislaine Maxwell was a signatory on Epstein's bank accounts and would sign checks after reviewing invoices from Epstein's properties.
Maxwell's role in Epstein's day-to-day operations ended sometime in the 2009 to 2010 range, though Kahn was never informed why.
Kahn was not paid by Maxwell for the financial organizational work he performed for her and felt his work was not appreciated.
Kahn was aware of office chatter suggesting Epstein and Maxwell had a romantic relationship at one point, but could not confirm it with confidence.
Kahn saw Maxwell at the same cadence as Epstein, approximately every two to three weeks, and communicated with her primarily by email or in-person, rarely by phone.
Maxwell never tried to introduce Kahn to any women or girls, and never asked Kahn to introduce her to any women or girls.
Kahn's last communication with Maxwell was probably sometime in the 2010 range, with no substantive emails or conversations thereafter.
Kahn does not recall Maxwell being involved in Epstein's investment activities (stocks and bonds); her role was primarily managing properties, assets, airplanes, and vehicles.
Maxwell interacted with Epstein's pilots and property managers to ensure properties met Epstein's standards, and initiated purchasing processes when needed.
There were six to ten employees in Epstein's office in the pre-2009-2010 timeframe, and each had their own individual relationship and communications with Epstein.
Kahn's own involvement with Epstein covered properties, construction projects, planes, and later investments, and meetings at 457 were more one-on-one with Epstein.
The group meetings were typically myself, Darren Endyke, Bella Klein, Harry Beller, Emad Hanner, I believe it's H-A-N-N-A. Our IT person, I believe at the time it was William Murphy. Leslie Groff.
Darren Endyke was Mr. Epstein's primary attorney
she uh kept the quickbooks file for Epstein. She handled his checks. She handled his credit cards. She handled his petty cash She paid bills on behalf of Epstein personally as well as many other entities
My role would be reviewing checks from properties, bills that came in, dealing with property managers, reviewing his investments, dealing with Epstein's insurance, for himself and for his employees, his health insurance, his dental insurance, his property insurance, his aviation insurance, his life insurance.
Mr. Beller's role was specific to Epstein's investments in stocks and bonds and derivatives. Mr. Beller provided the accounting for Epstein for his personal investments as well as his clients.
Ahmad Hanna was like a project controller. So, you know, he would focus on big projects and really interface with the employees.
Epstein was doing a lot of construction on his island, Little St. James, and they set up, I guess, what you call a thatch plant where they were making cement live on the property.
Epstein must have hired 30, 40 people at the time, and he was involved dealing with the construction manager and making sure that the costs were in line and setting up budgets and timelines for the start to the finish of that project.
the first entity that I worked for was New York Strategy Group
New York Strategy Group was an entity that provided accounting, bookkeeping, and legal services for Epstein.
I believe it was dissolved around 2012.
the two entities that followed after New York Strategy Group were HBRK Associates, which I was part of, and that was the accounting of bookkeeping services. And the next entity was, I believe, DKI PLLC, which was the legal entity that was run by Darren Endyke.
HB is Harry Beller. RK is Richard Kahn.
epstein had an office at 457 madison from the time i started up until the time he was incarcerated
how often would he come to the office about every three weeks
Maxwell had a desk there, and there was one more desk. I believe the woman's name was Helen Kim, who sat at that desk.
Leslie Groff, who was Epstein's executive assistant, had her own office, and that was right outside of Epstein's office.
She might have been an assistant to Maxwell. I don't recall her specific role, but we didn't really overlap, so I'm not sure.
New York Strategy Group was dissolved, I believe, in 2012, but it stopped operations whereby it employed staff, I believe, the last year was 2008.
2009 was the first year that both HBRK and DKI PLLC began to employ staff.
I was asked if I would be okay, along with Harry Beller, in setting up an entity that we owned.
I believe Epstein said, you know, you guys are going to form a company. Why don't you pick a name? So I believe we decided not Epstein or Endike.
when HBRK started, we were still working at 457 Madison. At the time, 2009, Epstein was incarcerated and the rent was very high.
I believe we continued working at 157 Madison until around May or June of 2010.
both HBRK and DKI PLLC worked out of an apartment building at 301 East 66th Street.
the two apartments were 10B and 10F.
HBRK's apartment was a one-bedroom apartment which had a living room, dining room, and three desks were set up.
It was a residential space that was converted into an office So at the time we were working there there was no one living there
the 457 Madison rent, I think it was $40,000 or $50,000 a month.
Epstein was affiliated with 301. I know he had access to about 10 to 12 apartments.
301 East 66th Street was a co-op that tried to convert to a condo and I guess I'd call it a failed conversion
On an annual basis, we would prepare a budget for the salaries, for the operating expenses, rent, the office supplies, whatever cost we thought we would incur for the year, and we would bill Epstein, and he would usually pay our services for one year in advance.
I didn't see anything out of the ordinary
Richard Kahn saw Epstein every three weeks and never saw anything unusual
Richard Kahn never witnessed Epstein receive a massage from any woman or girl
Richard Kahn never witnessed Epstein have sexual contact of any kind with a young woman or girl
Epstein never discussed sexual acts or massages with Richard Kahn
The only places Kahn ever met Epstein were at the office at 457 Madison or his townhouse
There was never any women present in my meetings with Epstein
Kahn received employee information including date of birth when handing out employment packages to new employees
In New York State, minors are required to have working papers from either school or parents
Kahn never saw working papers in New York and therefore knew there were no minors working for Epstein on his payroll
Epstein made a gift to a minor who Kahn believed was a family friend of Epstein's, reported on gift tax returns
The gift to the minor consisted of American Express gift cards valued in the $10,000 to $15,000 range
Richard Kahn denied ever having sexual contact with any young woman or girl introduced to him by Epstein or Maxwell
Richard Kahn denied ever receiving massages from any young woman or girl brought to him by Epstein or Maxwell
Kahn testified he first became aware of Epstein's arrest in Florida through a conversation with Epstein in 2008
Kahn believes Epstein was incarcerated on June 30th, 2000
Epstein was arrested on July 23rd, 2006
Kahn stated the email does not explicitly reference Epstein's arrest and he does not recall what the 'challenging week' referred to
Epstein referred to Kahn and others from New York Strategy Group as accountants and bookkeepers
When Harry Beller left working for Epstein in May 2014, Kahn began making asset summaries for Epstein
The asset summaries Kahn prepared included only liquid assets such as stocks, bonds, loans receivable, and private company investments, but never Epstein's homes
Epstein had hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks, bonds, and investments
Epstein's Form 706 estate tax return showed somewhere between $500 and $600 million in assets
Kahn chose to serve as co-executor of Epstein's estate because he believed he knew Epstein's assets best
Kahn did not prepare any tax returns for Epstein; Epstein used outside accountants
Epstein earned fees from his clients for financial tax and estate planning.
Epstein made investments, so he had interest, dividends, made real estate investments so he had passive income.
During the period of Kahn's employment, Epstein had somewhere between five and ten clients.
Approximately five prospective clients spoke with Epstein but never paid fees, and approximately five clients paid fees over the years.
The confidentiality agreements do not contain an exception for responses to a congressional committee.
The first client that paid fees that I'm aware of is Les Wexner.
The next clients that paid fees was either Glenn Dubin individually or his entity, Highbridge Capital.
The next client was an individual named Steven Sanofsky.
I believe Rothschild paid fees — maybe Arianna Rothschild or one of her affiliated entities.
Kahn was not involved in working with Epstein or anyone from New York Strategy Group on the Les Wexner account and had no interface with Les Wexner.
Glenn Dubin paid Epstein income in connection with the sale of Highbridge Capital, somewhere between $15 and $25 million.
Epstein advised on the sale of Highbridge Capital to J.P. Morgan.
Epstein provided tax estate planning and financial consulting work to Leon Black.
Leon Black paid Epstein somewhere in the range of $150 million.
Leon Black had a family office that was very understaffed when Epstein first started working with him, and Epstein helped Black staff up a proper sized family office.
Epstein did a lot of work with Leon Black regarding his TRA, which I believe is a tax receivable asset.
Epstein and Kahn reviewed the structure of how Leon Black held his planes and the expenses for his planes and boat.
The majority of meetings with Leon Black revolved around estate planning, producing a book including all of Mr. Black's assets, running through different scenarios based on where Apollo stock was and how that would impact his estate.
Kahn began working for Epstein in October of 2005 and was never involved on the Les Wexner account.
Harry Beller was working there at the time and was handling all of the trusts and investments on the Wexner account.
The relationship between Epstein and Wexner ended around the time of Epstein's incarceration in 2008.
Steven Sanofsky used to work at Microsoft, based on press reports Kahn saw in the last six months to a year.
Epstein was doing estate planning on behalf of Ariana Rothschild, and Kahn attended a few meetings with Ms. Rothschild's team along with some of Epstein's staff.
Steven Sanofsky paid Epstein $5 million.
Ariana Rothschild paid Epstein $20 or $25 million.
Kahn is not aware of any payments made to secure better treatment for Epstein either in prison or on work release.
When Epstein had office hours in Florida, he was required to have a guard or someone present either in his office or outside his office, and Epstein may have been responsible to pay for that.
Epstein had I believe 10 to 12 apartments at 301 East 66th Street
I believe Sarah Kellen had an apartment I believe Nadia Marcinkova had an apartment I believe at one point in time Svetlana had an apartment I believe at one point in time an employee of Eva Dubin maybe a housekeeper had an apartment
I believe two of the pilots had apartments. I believe that Lynn, his housekeeper from 9071st Street, had an apartment.
I don't believe he owned those apartments
on a few of the apartments, Epstein paid rent
on the remainder of the apartments, Epstein was billed annually, and he would pay for the operating expenses of those apartments
he covered the cost of housing for the people who occupied those units
I believe Jen Kalin and Karina Shulak paid rent at one point in time.
I think at one point in time, John Luke had an apartment. He paid rent.
the individuals that paid rent paid rent directly to the management company the rent didn't come to Epstein
I believe Epstein's New York entity, NES LLC, paid the costs of the apartments at 301 East 66th Street.
the individuals that stayed at Epstein's apartments were receiving a benefit from Epstein because he was paying the expenses
it was my job to assemble the information for Epstein's gift tax returns, and I needed to make sure that I knew who was living in the apartment and for what period of time so that that could be properly reported on Epstein's gift tax returns
Lynn and Jojo were Epstein's housekeeper and driver for 90 71st Street.
I believe Jean-Luc was a friend of Epstein's.
I believe that Epstein was paying for his brother's apartment
I don't recall. I wasn't that familiar with that at the time.
Mark Epstein's first wife and Epstein was providing apartments for his kids possibly
sarah kelly nadia marsenkova svetlana i don't recall her last name it's with a p
I believe Sue Hamlin had an apartment at one point in time.
I do know that none of those women were minors.
Some of the women that were mentioned were assistants that worked for Epstein.
I never looked and viewed at Epstein's assistants and made judgment on their looks.
When asked whether he would classify any of the women connected to Epstein in the building as unattractive, Richard Kahn answered yes.
An email from Kahn to Epstein dated July 28th, 2006 referencing 'a challenging week' suggests Kahn knew of Epstein's arrest in 2006, contradicting his testimony that he learned of it in 2008
Mr. Kahn has signed confidentiality agreements that may bar disclosure of client names.
to the extent any of my questions today elicit the identity of any actual or potential Epstein survivors that those names and any information from which they could be identified are fully redacted prior to any public release of the transcript
Did you ever become aware of Jeffrey Epstein paying for the attorneys who represented victims in the Florida case?
Host pursued questioning about whether women connected to Epstein living in the building were generally perceived as attractive, implying possible awareness of a pattern of selecting women based on appearance.
Richard Kahn understood Ghislaine Maxwell to be the equivalent of Epstein's chief of staff and 'number two at Epstein.'
the bill would come to me by OSA Properties. I would review the bill. Epstein would approve it and Bella Klein would make the payment.
On January 7, 2026, the Committee voted to approve a motion directing the Chairman to authorize and issue a subpoena to you for a deposition.
On January 23, 2026, Chairman Comer issued a subpoena for Mr. Kahn to appear today for a deposition in furtherance of the Committee's investigation into the actions and investigations of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell.
One of the first things my co-executor and I did was set up the Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund, which resolved claims by over 130 women in a confidential manner without limits as to their recovery and without any decision-making by the estate.
Darren Endyke would ask Richard Kahn whether Epstein had purchased or sold any cars, in order to update Epstein's registered sex offender disclosure list.
While Epstein was incarcerated, Maxwell asked Kahn to help organize her finances, including her assets, investments, brokerage accounts, cash, insurances, and payroll, sometimes during his working day and sometimes after work.
Kahn told Epstein he no longer wanted to do work for Maxwell, and Epstein agreed, saying 'great, don't do work for Maxwell.'
From the minority's perspective, your client is under an obligation pursuant to subpoena to respond to all of our questions today.
I am going to ask the court reporter to mark as exhibit B an email thread between yourself and Leslie Groff dated November 7th, 2014.
Richard Kahn was required to obtain date of birth for women connected to Epstein for either employment records or for gift tax returns.
“Epstein told me that his 2006 arrest was a mistake, that he did not know the woman was underage, and that nothing like that would happen again.”
“I may have unknowingly assisted Epstein in any way.”
“Epstein then told me that it was a mistake, that he was with this minor, and that it would never happen again.”
“great, don't do work for Maxwell”
“I know it has been a challenging week. I support you 100%. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know.”
“can you please send me latest breakdown of apartments for, I wrote alts, but it means apartments for 301. Thanks.”
“I was required to obtain their date of birth for either employment records or for gift tax returns.”
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