Darren Indyke, Epstein’s lawyer and key associate, testifying before House Oversight Committee

A lawyer who worked closely with Jeffrey Epstein for decades before becoming an executor of his estate is being questioned Thursday by the House Oversight Committee. 

Darren Indyke was perhaps Epstein’s closest associate dating back to the 1980s. He was involved in assembling Epstein’s complex web of businesses, properties and legal teams for a voluminous tangle of civil and criminal matters.

Indyke is the second of two executors of Epstein’s estate to testify before the committee behind closed doors. The other, accountant Richard Kahn, testified on March 11 that he “was not aware of the nature or extent of Epstein’s abuse of so many women until after Epstein’s death.” 

Indyke and Kahn appear on paperwork for dozens of interconnected companies that facilitated payments to survivors of Epstein’s abuse, whose attorneys have said the pair were key figures in the management of those firms. Indyke and Kahn recently settled a lawsuit accusing them of facilitating sham marriages in which foreign-born victims married Americans whom Epstein abused, for immigration purposes.

Millions of documents in the Justice Department’s Epstein files show a sophisticated network of businesses tied to Epstein.

An attorney for Indyke, Daniel Weiner, said in a statement to CBS News in January that allegations that Indyke and Kahn were complicit in Epstein’s crimes are “false.” 

“It is worth emphasizing that not a single woman has ever accused either Mr. Indyke or Mr. Kahn of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse, nor claimed at any time that she reported to them any allegation of Mr. Epstein’s abuse,” Weiner said. “Indyke and Kahn did not socialize with Mr. Epstein, and they have always rejected as categorically false any suggestion that they knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr. Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women, or that they were aware of Mr. Epstein’s actions while they provided legal and accounting services to Mr. Epstein.” 

The committee has heard from an ongoing stream of far more prominent names, but few who were as close to Epstein as Indyke. Convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions during a virtual appearance before the committee.

Former President Bill Clinton testified on Feb. 27, denying any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. His wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said she didn’t know Epstein. She said the committee should demand President Trump sit for questions “under oath as should others who are prominently featured in the files.”

Kahn initially testified that the estate reached a settlement with a woman who made abuse allegations against both Epstein and Mr. Trump. His attorney later recanted that statement, saying he could neither confirm nor deny any such settlement, following a daylong back-and-forth with Democrats who criticized what they called “inconsistent” statements.

Billionaire Les Wexner was one of Epstein’s most significant benefactors. He claimed to the committee he was “duped by a world-class con man” and knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes. 

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman, said on March 11 that Kahn was questioned about Wexner.

“He confirmed there were five clients that paid money to Epstein, and that was Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and Leon Black,” Comer told reporters. 

Comer said Black, also an investor and billionaire, would be deposed “very soon.”

The Oversight Committee had a tense meeting Wednesday evening, when Democrats walked out of a briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters that Bondi did not commit to honoring a subpoena Comer issued earlier this week. He called the session a “fake hearing,” adding that Bondi wasn’t under oath and did not give an opening statement.

“It’s outrageous, it’s infuriating and it continues this White House coverup of the Epstein files,” Garcia said. “We’re not going to take that anymore.”