In re Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein (USVI Probate)

Probate of the Epstein Estate was opened on August 15, 2019 in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, Division of St. Thomas and St. John, five days after Epstein was found dead while in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Magistrate Judge Carolyn P. Hermon-Percell issued letters testamentary to Darren K. Indyke and Richard D. Kahn on September 6, 2019, naming them Co-Executors of the Estate (EFTA02821591). Indyke had served as Epstein's longtime personal attorney and Kahn as his accountant; both are also named in their executor capacities as defendants in the parallel civil actions against the Estate.

Early in the probate, the Co-Executors filed an Expedited Motion for Establishment of a Voluntary Claims Resolution Program (the "Epstein Fund"), a court-supervised non-adversarial program for resolving sexual-abuse claims against the Estate (EFTA02821591). The Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands filed a separate civil action against the Estate, Indyke, Kahn, the 1953 Trust, and a chain of Epstein-controlled V.I. entities under the Virgin Islands Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (CICO) on January 15, 2020 (ST-20-CV-14). On January 23, 2020, the Government moved to intervene in the probate as a claimant, and on February 4, 2021 it filed an Emergency Motion to Freeze All Estate Assets and Cash on Hand (EFTA02821591). On February 26, 2021, Magistrate Judge Hermon-Percell entered orders denying the Motion to Intervene and striking the Emergency Motion to Freeze.

The Government petitioned the Superior Court for review of those orders on March 17, 2021, contending it had not been served until March 12, 2021 (EFTA02821562). The Co-Executors opposed, arguing the appeal was untimely, that the Government had lost its motion to intervene more than thirteen months earlier, and that the factual basis for the asset-freeze motion was moot (EFTA02821574). On February 4, 2022, the Superior Court issued a memorandum opinion affirming both magistrate orders, holding that the Government's CICO suit gave it adequate alternative remedies and that intervention in the probate was not warranted (EFTA02821591). The Co-Executors then moved for $112,216.90 in attorneys' fees under 5 V.I.C. § 541 as the prevailing party (EFTA02821599); the Government opposed, arguing the underlying orders were not judgments and that fee-shifting against the Territory acting as a law-enforcement agency was contrary to public policy (EFTA02821851). The fee motion was withdrawn on December 20, 2022 in conjunction with the parties' settlement of the related ST-20-CV-14 CICO action (EFTA02821963).

The probate has also been coordinated with two related cases for case-management purposes. On December 7, 2021, the Superior Court entered an order addressing whether the probate (ST-2019-PB-00080), the Government's CICO action (ST-20-CV-14), and Maxwell's indemnification action against the Estate (ST-20-CV-155) should be designated as complex and assigned to a single judge (EFTA02822335). The probate itself remains pending as the Co-Executors continue to administer the Estate, satisfy approved survivor claims through the Voluntary Claims Resolution Program, and litigate residual third-party claims.

The corpus contains a focused slice of the probate docket centered on the 2021–2022 jurisdictional dispute over the Government of the Virgin Islands' attempted intervention. Filings include the Government's March 17, 2021 Notice of Appeal and Petition for Review of the Magistrate Judge's February 26, 2021 orders (EFTA02821562); the Co-Executors' March 29, 2021 response opposing the appeal as untimely and moot (EFTA02821574); a Clerk transmittal of April 7, 2021 (EFTA02821589); and the Superior Court's February 4, 2022 published memorandum opinion (Cite as 2022 VI Super 15U) affirming the Magistrate's orders denying intervention and striking the asset-freeze motion (EFTA02821591). The corpus then captures the post-appeal fee skirmish: the Co-Executors' March 4, 2022 motion seeking $112,216.90 in attorneys' fees against the Government under 5 V.I.C. § 541 (EFTA02821599), the Government's March 17, 2022 opposition (EFTA02821851), and the Co-Executors' December 20, 2022 motion to withdraw the fee request after the parties reached a global resolution in the related CICO matter (EFTA02821963).

Several filings document the procedural integration of the probate with the related civil dockets. A December 7, 2021 Superior Court order and accompanying Notice of Entry caption all three cases together — the probate (ST-2019-PB-00080), the Government's CICO action (ST-20-CV-14), and Maxwell's indemnification action (ST-20-CV-155) — to address whether they should be designated as complex and consolidated before a single judge (EFTA02822333; EFTA02822335). The samples confirm Indyke and Kahn as the only Co-Executors throughout the relevant period, identify Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC (Christopher A. Kroblin and Marjorie Whalen) as Estate counsel of record in the V.I., and show the Government appearing through the Virgin Islands Attorney General's Office. The remaining samples (EFTA02732301, EFTA02737450, EFTA02737881, EFTA02751342, EFTA02751863, EFTA02752108, EFTA02778176, EFTA02819459, EFTA02846437) consist of June 3, 2020 Troutman Sanders correspondence and exhibits filed in S.D.N.Y. survivor actions captioned "Doe v. Indyke and Kahn," reflecting the parallel federal litigation track in which Indyke and Kahn were sued in their executor capacities.