Jeffrey Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019, but the legal consequences of his life have continued to expand.
Now, more than seven years after his death, another lawsuit is putting two of the men closest to Epstein back at the centre of the legal reckoning: Darren Indyke, his longtime attorney, and Richard Kahn, his longtime accountant.
The case matters for an unusually simple reason.
The man who accumulated the fortune is dead.
The people fighting over what remains of that fortune are not.
And the estate is getting smaller.
A new proposed class action filed in federal court in Manhattan by two women alleges that Epstein possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material depicting them and potentially many other victims. The lawsuit seeks at least $6 million on behalf of more than 40 people and asks the court to establish a process to identify and notify other people whose images may be contained in Epstein's seized files.
Indyke and Kahn are named because they are the co-executors of Epstein's estate.
That distinction is important.
The lawsuit does not establish that either man committed sexual abuse. Both have previously denied knowing about Epstein's crimes while working for him.
But the new litigation raises a broader question:
How much responsibility can follow the people who managed an abusive financier's money and affairs — even after the financier himself is gone?
The estate is no longer what it was
When Epstein died, his estate was worth roughly $500 million to $600 million, according to testimony from Kahn.
Today, substantially less remains.
Recent reporting puts the estate's assets at approximately $107.6 million, after years of settlements, legal expenses and other obligations. The estate has already paid tens of millions of dollars to survivors, while continuing to spend heavily on lawyers and other professional services.
That creates a financial race.
Every new successful claim potentially reduces what remains for other claimants, creditors and beneficiaries.
And Indyke and Kahn themselves are not merely administrators standing outside the litigation.
They have personally been named in lawsuits accusing them of helping facilitate or conceal Epstein's activities.
That creates an unusual conflict between their role as estate representatives and their own legal interests.
Indyke and Kahn have repeatedly denied knowing
Both men have publicly rejected the suggestion that they knew about Epstein's criminal conduct.
During congressional depositions released in March, Indyke said he had no knowledge of Epstein's wrongdoing.
Kahn similarly testified that he never witnessed sexual abuse or trafficking and said Epstein had reassured him, when Epstein faced an earlier sex-crime case, that the incident would not happen again.
Their lawyers have also stressed an important point:
Neither man has been accused by a woman of personally sexually abusing her.
That is different from allegations that their professional services may have helped Epstein operate his financial and legal affairs.
Those are separate questions.
And the courts will ultimately have to determine what evidence supports each allegation.
But their proximity to Epstein is impossible to ignore
Indyke was not a peripheral employee.
He worked for Epstein beginning in 1996 and became one of his closest professional advisers.
Kahn began working as Epstein's accountant in 2005.
Their responsibilities gave them access to different parts of Epstein's financial world.
After Epstein's death, they also became responsible for administering his estate.
And Epstein's own estate planning demonstrates how close they were to him financially.
According to congressional testimony reported by CNN, Epstein's trust provided for $50 million for Indyke and $25 million for Kahn.
Kahn explained that he believed the money reflected the enormous amount of work required to administer the estate.
That explanation is now relevant for another reason.
If litigation ultimately determines that either man has liability connected to Epstein's conduct, questions about payments to them could become part of the fight over the estate's remaining assets.
There has already been a major settlement
This isn't the first time survivors have sued Indyke and Kahn.
In February 2026, they agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by survivors for at least $25 million, without admitting wrongdoing.
The agreement provided that the settlement would be paid from Epstein's remaining estate rather than directly from Indyke and Kahn.
That arrangement illustrates the unusual nature of the Epstein estate.
The estate is simultaneously:
- compensating survivors;
- defending claims;
- paying legal and administrative expenses;
- liquidating or managing investments;
- and potentially facing new lawsuits.
Every dollar spent on one obligation can affect the amount available for another.
And the litigation may continue for years.
The newest lawsuit goes somewhere different
The September lawsuit is particularly significant because it attempts to expand the category of people seeking compensation.
Earlier cases have largely focused on women who alleged that Epstein sexually abused or trafficked them.
The new lawsuit focuses on people who allegedly appeared in child sexual abuse material that Epstein possessed or allegedly created, obtained or distributed.
The plaintiffs say federal investigators recovered extensive material from Epstein's properties, including material involving minors.
One plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, alleges that Epstein obtained partially nude photographs of her when she was around 12.
Another plaintiff, identified as "Amy," alleges that images of her remain in circulation.
The plaintiffs are asking not only for financial damages but also for a court-supervised effort to identify people depicted in Epstein's collection and notify them.
That could make the case considerably larger than the initial number of plaintiffs.
The money may not be the most important part
At first glance, a $6 million lawsuit against an estate that once contained hundreds of millions of dollars sounds primarily financial.
But the requested identification process could be more consequential.
The plaintiffs argue that people depicted in Epstein's collection may not even know that their images were found among the material seized by investigators.
That creates a second layer of harm.
Someone could have been victimized decades ago and still have no idea that images connected to them exist in an investigative archive.
The plaintiffs are asking for a system through which those people can potentially be identified and informed.
That changes the case from a simple compensation dispute into a fight over what happens to the evidence of Epstein's alleged crimes.
The estate's shrinking value makes the timing important
The estate has already distributed substantial amounts to survivors.
The estate's compensation programme previously paid approximately $125 million to eligible applicants before winding down in 2021, according to testimony reported by CNN.
Since then, additional settlements and lawsuits have continued.
At the same time, the estate has ongoing legal and administrative expenses.
One recent estimate puts annual professional expenses at roughly $10 million to $15 million.
That creates a mathematical problem.
The longer the estate remains open, the more money can be consumed by administration and litigation.
But closing the estate too quickly could potentially leave unresolved claims without access to whatever assets remain.
That is why the newest lawsuit could delay final settlement.
And there are still assets worth fighting over
The estate isn't simply a bank account that is gradually being emptied.
Some investments have potentially increased substantially in value.
According to testimony reported in connection with the estate, Epstein invested approximately $40 million in two funds operated by Valar Ventures in 2015 and 2016. Those investments were estimated at roughly $172 million at the time of testimony, although the eventual amount recovered by the estate remains uncertain.
So there is still potentially significant money on the table.
The question is who ultimately gets it.
Victims.
Creditors.
Tax authorities.
Lawyers.
Estate administrators.
Charities or other beneficiaries.
And individuals named in Epstein's estate planning documents.
The legal system has to determine the order and legitimacy of those competing claims.
The uncomfortable question about the advisers
This is where the Epstein story becomes bigger than Epstein himself.
A criminal enterprise — when one exists — rarely operates through one person's actions alone.
There are accountants.
Lawyers.
Companies.
Banks.
Employees.
Property managers.
Assistants.
Business partners.
And institutions that may interact with the central figure without fully understanding, or choosing to investigate, what is happening around them.
But proximity alone is not proof of participation.
That distinction is crucial in the case of Indyke and Kahn.
The current lawsuits contain allegations.
Their congressional testimony contains denials.
Previous litigation has produced settlements without admissions of wrongdoing.
Those facts have to be kept separate.
The question for a court is not whether they were close to Epstein.
They clearly were.
The question is what they knew, when they knew it, what they did with that knowledge and whether their conduct created legal liability.
Epstein's death did not end the accountability process
In some ways, his death made the legal process harder.
There can be no criminal trial in which Epstein personally answers questions about his conduct.
There can be no cross-examination of him about the people around him.
There can be no direct challenge to his explanations.
Instead, survivors and investigators are left with documents, financial records, testimony, photographs, electronic evidence and the accounts of people who worked around him.
That makes the estate an important legal battleground.
Money can still be recovered.
Documents can still be examined.
Claims can still be tested.
And people who say they were harmed can still bring cases.
The new lawsuit shows that the process is nowhere near finished.
The bigger Epstein question
The Epstein scandal has always involved two different questions.
The first is obvious:
What did Jeffrey Epstein do?
The second is harder:
Who else knew, enabled, facilitated, ignored or benefited from the system surrounding him?
The second question cannot be answered simply by listing everyone who knew Epstein.
Association is not complicity.
Employment is not automatically participation.
And being named in a lawsuit is not a finding of liability.
But neither should professional proximity automatically end the inquiry.
That is why Indyke and Kahn remain significant figures in the continuing litigation.
They were trusted professionals inside Epstein's financial and legal world.
They now have responsibility for administering what remains of that world.
And they are simultaneously defending themselves against allegations arising from it.
The estate may eventually close. The questions won't.
Jeffrey Epstein's fortune can eventually be distributed.
Properties can be sold.
Investments can be liquidated.
Settlements can be signed.
Claims can be dismissed or resolved.
Eventually, an estate administrator will ask a court to close the books.
But the deeper question is harder to close.
How should the law deal with the professional infrastructure surrounding someone accused of abusing vulnerable people for years?
That question reaches far beyond Epstein.
It concerns lawyers, accountants, banks, companies and institutions that operate around wealthy and powerful individuals.
The law cannot punish people merely because they were nearby.
But it can examine what they knew, what they did and whether their actions crossed legal boundaries.
That is what the latest lawsuit now puts back on the table.
Epstein is gone.
His money is disappearing.
But the legal architecture built around his empire is still being dismantled — one lawsuit at a time.
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