Disgraced Financier Jeffrey Epstein Prepared New Will Two Days Before Committing Suicide in Prison
According to court documents filed in the Virgin Islands in 2019, Jeffrey Epstein prepared and signed a new will two days before he killed himself with a bedsheet hung to his bunk bed inside the prison on August 10, 2019. The disgraced financier was a multi-millionaire who left behind more than $500 million fortune.
The court papers revealed the convicted sex offender mentioned no beneficiaries in his redrafted will, which was valued at more than $577 million, including more than $56 million in cash. He primarily worked for Wexner's (for more than a decade) as a personal money manager and business adviser, minting hundreds of millions, reported CBS News.
The late financier was arrested on July 6, 2019, for allegedly committing sexual crimes against young girls, particularly in their teens, and procuring them to have sexual relations with his influential clients with the help of his close associate and girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. He killed himself while awaiting a trial inside the Manhattan jail.
The New York Post first reported the court documents obtained by ABC News regarding his redrafted 11-page will two days before his death. The sex molester owned two islands, including the infamous "Pedophile Island" dubbed by the locals. He told his executors to "pay from my estate all expenses of my last illness, my funeral and burial expenses."
However, he entrusted a trust called the 1953 Trust. A city estate lawyer told The Post, "It's done that way for privacy reasons. It's [a] pretty boilerplate. It's what we call a 'pour-over will,' which means everything pours over to a trust."
Meanwhile, a source who was asked to be anonymous discussed the timing of Epstein's redrafted will, "What is more unusual is the date, the fact that all of this was done just days before he died. He could have thought, 'I need to get my ducks in a row.'"
The obtained 21-page court filings included his will, a copy of Epstein's death certificate dated August 11, 2019, a day after he committed suicide, and lists "Immediate Cause: Pending Further Study." The city Medical Examiner's Office declared he killed himself, and consequently, Manhattan federal prosecutors requested the judge to dismiss the case.
"Because Jeffrey Epstein, the defendant, died while this case was pending, and therefore before a final judgment was issued, the indictment must be dismissed under the rule of abatement," wrote Judge Richard Berman, overseeing the criminal case. The federal prosecutors also informed his "identified victims" of his death and the final court decision.
A man named Mariel Colon Miro was among the last few people who saw Epstein alive before suicide. He was convicted of drug smuggling and murder, and he witnessed the disgraced financier sign his redrafted will. Another person with him at the time was New York lawyer Gulnora Tali.
