Karp Advised Epstein on Fight Over Plea Deal Months Before Death

Paul Weiss leader Brad Karp helped Jeffrey Epstein protect his plea deal on sex trafficking charges against legal attacks in the months before the disgraced financier died in jail, recently released emails show.

Karp reviewed a 2019 draft court filing arguing that the decade-old plea deal should not be reopened, according to documents released by the Justice Department. Epstein’s lawyers later made that argument as they sought to intervene in a suit filed in Florida by two unnamed women who alleged they were trafficked by Epstein as minors.

“The draft motion is in great shape. It’s overwhelmingly persuasive. Truly,” Karp wrote in a March 3, 2019 email to Epstein, according to the DOJ documents. “I particularly liked the argument that the ‘victims’ lied in wait and sat on their rights for their strategic advantage, knowing you were in prison, before they came forward,” Karp wrote.

Epstein minutes later forwarded Karp’s remarks to members of his personal legal team: Kathy Ruemmler, the Goldman Sachs lawyer who was then co-chair of Latham & Watkins’ white-collar defense group, as well as attorneys Martin Weinberg and Darren Indyke. Weinberg was part of the legal team that filed a motion in July 2019 in the Florida case, arguing the plea deal—a “non-prosecution agreement"—could not be reopened.

“Mr. Epstein, to his detriment, served his sentence and a year of community control, registered as a sex offender, and made substantial financial payments, including to Petitioners, to settle numerous civil claims to comply with his obligations under the NPA,” Epstein’s lawyers wrote in the court filing. “Only after they had utilized the NPA to their advantage in securing their own substantial monetary settlements from Mr. Epstein did Petitioners resurrect their CVRA lawsuit. Petitioners made a deliberate decision to choose one lawsuit over the other,” it said.

The emails show Karp, the longtime Paul Weiss leader whose firm has repeatedly tamped down his relationship with Epstein, was actively involved in reviewing Epstein’s legal strategy amid public criticism of the deal and renewed calls to prosecute the hedge fund mogul. Karp and Paul Weiss maintain that Karp had limited interaction with Epstein, which sprung from Karp’s work representing Apollo Global Management boss Leon Black in a fee dispute with Epstein.

Karp and a Paul Weiss representative did not respond to emails and calls requesting comments. “The firm was adverse to Epstein, and at no point did Paul Weiss or Brad Karp ever represent him,” the firm said in a previous statement.

Weinberg declined to comment, citing-attorney client privilege.

A series of Miami Herald reports beginning in November 2018 honed in on widespread accusations of sex trafficking by Epstein, who allegedly used employees to bring local teen girls to his South Florida home for sex and paid victims to recruit new targets. It also detailed the circumstances around the 2008 plea deal, which allowed the well-connected financier to avoid the most serious charges and serve a year in jail, where he was allowed to spend at least half the day in his own office, six days of the week, according to the Miami Herald.

The Florida lawsuit was filed in July 2008 to challenge the plea deal and dragged on for more than a decade until Epstein died in a New York jail in August 2019, while facing federal conspiracy and trafficking charges. The plaintiffs argued that prosecutors kept them in the dark about the deal and misled them about the terms.

Epstein’s legal team filed a motion dated July 8, 2019 after the Justice Department requested an extension in March. The lawyers cited a 2016 case, U.S. v Fokker Services, arguing that courts cannot reject non-prosecution agreements simply because they do not agree with the terms.

“Wish there was a different case name than ‘Fokker,” but we can’t have everything,” Karp wrote to Epstein in the March 2019 email. “In all seriousness, I don’t see a credible counter to our arguments. The case law is totally stacked in favor of our position.”

The email chain started weeks earlier, when Epstein reached out to Karp on Feb. 22, writing “if your buddy Kraft needs local palm rep. let me know.” The note appears to be a reference to Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner and Karp client, who around the time was charged with soliciting sex at a Palm Beach, Florida massage parlor.

John Havens, former president of Citibank, also was charged in the sting operation.

“Havens, just called and needs immediate help,” Karp wrote to Epstein. “Who’s the best lawyer you can think of to help.”

Epstein replied about 30 minutes later: “they re talking right now.”

On March 2, 2019, Karp wrote to Epstein: “I =ope you’re staying calm. le= me know what I can do to help.” A federal judge ruled less than two weeks earlier that prosecutors violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by “concealing” the deal with Epstein. The ruling signaled that the judge could axe or reopen the deal.

Epstein replied: “your judgment and friendship. i m thinking that the defense team should sign a direct response to the=editorial. . thoughts?”

Karp responded: “Yes, that would be helpful. I would love to see and comment on a draft.”