Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant, Richard Kahn, told Congress he never witnessed any abuse or trafficking during his decade-long service, a claim directly contradicted by victim lawsuits that allege he built the financial infrastructure enabling Epstein’s crimes. His deposition, part of a broader congressional investigation, reveals the ongoing challenge of holding enablers accountable.
The man who managed Jeffrey Epstein’s vast fortune for over a decade told lawmakers he saw nothing illegal. Richard Kahn, in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee, asserted he never observed sexual abuse or trafficking and never received complaints about such activities, according to his prepared remarks. His testimony, however, stands in stark contrast to allegations from Epstein’s victims that Kahn and other associates constructed the complex financial systems that funded the financier’s illegal enterprise.
Kahn, who served as Epstein’s in-house accountant starting in the mid-2000s until the financier’s death in 2019, described his relationship as strictly professional. “While Epstein was alive, I never observed any sexual abuse or trafficking of women and never received a complaint either by one of Epstein’s victims or anyone else of such abuse or trafficking,” he stated. He further argued that Epstein’s financial practices, including cash withdrawals and payments to individuals, were “completely standard practice” and that he did not interpret them as “red flags for abuse or trafficking.”
His denial extends to Epstein’s 2006 arrest in Florida for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Kahn said Epstein told him the arrest was a “mistake” and that the girls were not underage—a claim Kahn said he believed at the time. “Had I known the truth, I would have quit work immediately,” he remarked, adding that he only learned the full extent of Epstein’s abuse after the financier’s death in 2019. “It pains me to think, and I deeply regret, that I may have unknowingly assisted Epstein in any way.”
Despite Kahn’s expression of regret, victims have long alleged that he was far from a passive bystander. A class-action lawsuit filed against Epstein’s estate described Kahn and the financier’s longtime attorney, Darren Indyke, as “personally essential” to Epstein’s operations. The complaint alleged they helped structure offshore bank accounts, manage cash withdrawals, and create a “complex financial infrastructure created to simply facilitate the illegal sex-trafficking venture.” The suit also claimed they assisted in facilitating at least three “sham marriages” to secure immigration status for Epstein’s victims.
Last month, Kahn and Indyke agreed to settle that lawsuit for at least $25 million without admitting any wrongdoing. The settlement, which must still be approved by a federal judge, will be paid from Epstein’s trust rather than by the men directly. The estate’s value has plummeted from as much as $650 million after Epstein’s death to approximately $127 million as of last October, largely due to settlements with victims.
The congressional investigation into Kahn and Indyke gained urgency after a 2025 report in The Wall Street Journal revealed neither man had ever been interviewed by law enforcement during the original investigations into Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Five Democratic Senators on the Finance Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, calling the omission “inexcusable” and demanding answers. “A failure of this magnitude cannot be attributed to simple oversight or misunderstanding,” the senators stated in their official letter.
That lapse in the original investigation adds a layer of controversy to Kahn’s current testimony. Lawmakers are now seeking to understand how Epstein’s financial empire operated and whether other enablers escaped scrutiny. Kahn himself received over $10 million from Epstein between 2011 and 2019, and Epstein’s will originally earmarked an additional $25 million for him. These financial ties underscore the deep, mutually beneficial relationship that victims say facilitated the abuse.
The House Oversight Committee’s turn to Epstein’s inner circle—including figures like retail billionaire Leslie Wexner and the Clintons, whose depositions were released earlier—has so far yielded little new information about the core of Epstein’s crimes. But the Kahn and Indyke depositions could prove more fruitful, potentially exposing the mechanics of the shell companies and bank accounts that shrouded Epstein’s spending and compensation for victims. The committee has not yet released a recording of Kahn’s deposition, but its contents may inform future legislative or legal actions.
Historically, the pursuit of Epstein’s enablers has been fraught with challenges. After Epstein’s 2006 arrest, a controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2008 allowed him to serve just 13 months in jail with extensive work release. His 2019 death in a New York jail cell, ruled a suicide, left many questions unanswered and many associates uncharged. The current congressional probe represents a renewed effort to hold accountable those who, like Kahn, operated in the gray area between legitimate business and criminal complicity.
Kahn’s claim of ignorance is a familiar defense from those who served powerful predators. It forces a critical examination of what an accountant, lawyer, or assistant is truly expected to see. When cash payments to young women become routine, when “gifts” are disbursed without clear purpose, and when a boss hints at legal troubles being mere “mistakes,” does willful blindness become culpability? The $25 million settlement, while not an admission, reflects a legal consensus that the financial machinery Kahn helped maintain was integral to Epstein’s trafficking venture.
As the investigation continues, the central question remains: how many other Richard Kahns operate within the networks of powerful predators, their ledgers and legal documents key to sustaining abuse? The answer may determine whether true accountability extends beyond the grave for Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
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