Dem
47
GOP
53
Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein's long-time accountant, testified before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. Executive summary: He saw nothing, knew nothing and did nothing. He is as pure as a newborn lamb.
Kahn did admit that Epstein had an enormously complicated financial infrastructure, with corporations and bank accounts all over the place, but he said that this is very common among wealthy people and not a red flag at all. Kahn also arranged at least three sham marriages to obtain visas for some of Epstein's victims to get into the U.S. Apparently arranging sham marriages is also normal business for accountants to the wealthy.
Kahn did give the Committee some leads, though. He said that the five clients who paid Epstein the most were Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steven Sinofsky, Leon Black and the Rothschilds, which is actually a family, not a person. The Committee is planning to hear some of them. It is almost inconceivable that any of them will admit to anything. Saying you don't remember is technically perjury if you do remember, but it is impossible to prove in court. Actual prosecutors don't work like this—that is, asking the kingpins to testify first. They ask people much lower on the food chain, like secretaries, chauffeurs, pilots, butlers, cleaners and others who might have seen or heard things and collect that information and then confront the guys at the top with it. If any of the people who gave Epstein money did it because he was blackmailing them with DVDs of them doing illegal things, perjury is the least of their concerns, and claiming "not to remember" anything even skirts perjury charges.
There is not likely to be any accountability until there is a Democratic attorney general who appoints a special counsel with broad subpoena powers. If there is a good suspicion that some of the crimes were committed at Epstein's New York City mansion, then NY AG Letitia James could pick up the ball and run with it. However, it is likely that most—maybe all—of the "partying" took place on Epstein's private island, precisely to make sure no state attorney general had the power to investigate it.
Not all members of the Committee were convinced. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) said: "I do not find it credible that he had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. If he was ignorant of Epstein's crimes, he was willfully ignorant of those crimes."
Next week, the committee will hear Epstein's lawyer, Darren Indyke. Together, Kahn and Indyke are the executors of Epstein's estate. Together, the two have earned millions for their work for Epstein. (V)