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Deposition Transcripts · Segments · #9770
id
9770
deposition id
15
segment index
10
speaker
Page 11
start seconds
end seconds
text
If I knew then what I know now about who Epstein really was, I never would have accepted an initial meeting with him. It was a mistake to deal with him, and I regret it. But many people assume that, given everything we know now about Epstein, everyone who dealt with him before his 2019 indictment must have known everything then. In my case, that assumption is completely wrong. When Epstein cold-called me at my law firm in July of 2014, I had never heard of him and knew nothing about him. He told me that he was working with Bill Gates to set up a large donor-advised fund and that he and Mr. Gates were looking for someone to quarterback the myriad legal issues involved in establishing and administering this fund. Though that donor-advised fund ultimately did not materialize, within weeks Epstein referred another important client which did retain me and which I represented until I left my law firm in 2020. Epstein was already a primary advisor to that client, a role he maintained throughout my time in private practice, and I had substantial dealings with him as a result. He also referred other clients to me. And even though I wasn't his lawyer, he sought my advice from time to time, as many people do. I was friendly with him in that context, and I dealt with him in my ordinary course -- casually, informally, and sometimes irreverently. Shortly after meeting Epstein, I came to understand that he had pleaded guilty 6 years earlier to two prostitution-related offenses, including solicitation of a minor for prostitution, and had received a non-prosecution agreement from the Department of Justice. I learned from him that he had received an 18-month sentence, of which he served 13 months, much of that time on work release. Epstein told me that, while a small number of the women he had solicited for prostitution turned out to be under the age of consent, he had not known that any of them were underage. Epstein appeared to be quite open about the conduct leading to his conviction, or so he led