Richard Kahn, who was Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant, testified for roughly six hours on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee as part of its probe into Epstein and maintained he never saw or knew about any wrongdoing.
"[I]n the years that I provided outside accounting and bookkeeping services for Jeffrey Epstein, I was not aware of the terrible and unforgivable things that he did to women and girls," Khan said in his opening statement to the committee, which his attorneys shared with NBC News.
Committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., said Kahn named five people who paid Epstein, “and that was Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and Leon Black.”
Comer noted that the committee previously questioned Wexner and that Black will be deposed “very soon.” No one named by Kahn has been accused by the authorities of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Asked about Kahn’s comments today, a spokesperson for Black pointed to a law firm’s report from 2021 that referenced Black’s payments to Epstein.
“As has been documented in the independent Dechert Report, an investigation which Mr. Black asked for, it indicated that he paid Epstein for tax and estate planning work and he had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity,” Whit Clay said in an email.
Devon Spurgeon, a spokesperson for Dubin, denied that he had ever paid Epstein, adding that Dubin “was not a client of his in any way.” Spurgeon said Epstein was an investor and client of Dubin’s, and that Dubin, “has never, never, ever paid anything.”
Sinofsky declined to comment. Representatives for Wexner and the Rothschilds did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., described Kahn as a “fixer” and said Epstein’s crimes were deeply intertwined with his own finances. He said Kahn’s name appeared on shell companies used to move money, including payments tied to tuition and victims, but he did not provide details on the allegations.
Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., said Epstein’s trafficking operation “would not have been possible without Richard Kahn.” Walkinshaw said he does not find it credible that Kahn had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, arguing that if Kahn was unaware, he was “willfully ignorant.”
In his opening statement, Kahn told the committee that he was aware of Epstein's 2006 arrest for soliciting a minor, but said Epstein had told him it "was a mistake" and "that he did not know the woman was underage, and that nothing like that would happen again."
"I believed him at the time and never saw what appeared to be a minor in his presence," the statement said.
Kahn also said he never saw any red flags that would indicate Epstein was trafficking women.
"With homes in the Virgin Islands, New York, Palm Beach, Paris, and New Mexico, and with several planes and a helicopter, Epstein had substantial yearly expenditures and a large staff," he said. "We tracked the expenditures as meticulously as possible, including gifts by Epstein to women and men" which were a "small fraction" of his spending.
Kahn also said he didn't see the large amount of LLCs Epstein was involved with as a red flag either, because they're "standard practice" for the rich.
He said he agreed to serve as co-executor of Epstein's estate because he thought his knowledge of his finances left him in a strong position to help his victims. He said he and his co-executor Darren Indyke, who's scheduled to be deposed by the committee next week, set up a fund for victims which has resolved claims from over 130 women and had settled another "nearly 60 claims by Epstein victims."
The victims' fund, which has since shuttered, paid out over $120 million. People who accepted money from the fund were barred from filing separate suits against the estate, but were not prevented from sharing information with law enforcement agencies or sharing their stories publicly.
Subramanyam also told reporters that a “person who was an accuser of Donald Trump was given a settlement by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate,” citing Kahn’s testimony.
Attorneys for Kahn declined comment Thursday.
Comer, meanwhile, told reporters that Kahn testified to never having seen transactions involving Trump or his family with Epstein.
Trump has not been accused by authorities and has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
