Handlers of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein closed a deal to sell his Manhattan townhouse for nearly $50 million, according to court documents.
Attorney Bennet Moskowitz said the Epstein victims’ compensation fund was replenished by the sale of the Manhattan mansion at 9 E. 71st Street, New York Post reported on Wednesday.
“We just sold the townhouse for proceeds of a little under $50 million,” Moskowitz said.
Lawyers for the estate said they hope to sell Epstein’s Palm Beach property for more than $20 million. The convicted sex offender also owned homes in New Mexico and Paris, though Moskowitz said those entities are not on the market because they are “difficult” properties.
An administrator of the victims’ compensation fund said in February the program was temporarily suspended, adding they were working to secure “additional liquidity” to continue the program. The fund will begin dolling payouts again on March 25.
EPSTEIN VICTIMS COMPENSATION FUND TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED
The Manhattan townhouse is about 28,000 square feet and spans seven stories. Entry doors are made from oak, and other elements of the home include imported French limestone with carvings, sculptural figures, and ornamental ironwork.
Epstein paid $20 million for the townhouse in 1998, a source told the Wall Street Journal. His home reportedly came on the market for $88 million in July 2020, and the price was later lowered to $65 million before the most recent deal.
Billionaire retail tycoon Leslie Wexner, who was once a close associate to Epstein, previously owned the home.
Epstein, who registered as a sex offender as part of a nonprosecution agreement more than a decade ago, was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. An indictment alleged that he sexually exploited dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, among other locations, between 2002 and 2005, and perhaps beyond.
Epstein was found dead at the age of 66 in his Manhattan prison cell in August 2019, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime friend and on-again, off-again girlfriend, was arrested in early July and charged with conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls, as well as perjury in depositions regarding Epstein. The British socialite has said that she “vigorously denies the charges” and pleaded not guilty. She was denied bail, and her trial is set for this year.
Since Epstein’s death, hundreds of victims have applied for the compensation fund in hopes of compensation over alleged past sexual injustices tied to him.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Moskowitz but did not immediately receive a response.
