Epstein's Excursions: DOJ Files Reveal New Details of Hamptons Ties

Those were among the new details to emerge from three million Epstein files — many of which are partially redacted — that the U.S. Department of Justice recently released to comply with a federal law enacted in response to public outrage over the handling of the case.

“I arrived and staying with friends tonight at 700 Meadow Lane, apparently someone saw u (sic) and Leon Black or someone nextdoor,” a redacted email author wrote to Epstein’s account on Aug. 22, 2010. “Pure coincidence they mentioned your name, they don’t know that I know you.”

The owner of that Billionaires Lane address in Southampton, known as Mylestone at Meadow Lane, was also anonymous — shielded by a limited liability company called Meerkat LLC that owned the property, which sold for a $112.5 million in 2023 — Behind The Hedges reported. Black is just one of many big names linked to Epstein.

Epstein, a 66-year-old registered sex offender after he pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution from minor girls, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019, authorities said, while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of girls over the years. Epstein’s many high-powered friends over the years have included President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton as well as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, who last month became the first British royal arrested in nearly 400 years when he was charged with suspicion of misconduct following an investigation into his involvement with Epstein.

In 2022, a woman had filed a lawsuit alleging she was raped in 2002 by Black, a former-CEO of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management who is reportedly worth $9 billion and also owns a home on Meadow Lane. Cheri Pierson had filed the lawsuit, named Epstein as a codefendant for introducing them and alleged Black raped her in Epstein’s Manhattan home — but she lated dropped the lawsuit. Black’s name appears in more than 8,000 files in the DOJ’s Epstein files database, often for more mundane reasons, such as Epstein planning visits for family birthday parties and Epstein helping the Black family with a real estate transaction.

Among those Hamptons mentions was an itinerary for a Sept. 3, 2011 jaunt titled “Hamptons Trip” in which Epstein took a helicopter from the West Side Heliport to East Hampton Airport, had lunch in Sag Harbor and visited both Black and Jes Staley, a former JPMorgan Chase executive and Southampton homeowner who is accused of helping cover up sex trafficking for Epstein, the bank alleged in a 2023 lawsuit. The bank is seeking to hold Staley personally liable for any financial penalties that JPMorgan may have to pay in two related cases. It is also seeking to force Staley to pay back wages he earned during the time he allegedly was aware of the abuse and “personally observed” Epstein’s behavior on multiple occasions. Staley purchased 181 Murray Place in Southampton in 2021 for $13.2 million, property records show. His name appears in the Epstein files nearly 8,000 times.

The new Epstein files are not the first time his trips to the area have come out, but are far more detailed. As Dan’s Papers reported, a Norwegian cosmetics heiress who denies being Epstein’s ex-girlfriend was among people who traveled with him to the Hamptons on his jet dubbed the Lolita Express, records show. Details of the multimillionaire alleged sex trafficker’s East End excursions previously emerged from flight records reviewed by Dan’s Papers and the Manhattan federal sex trafficking conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who recruited and groomed teenage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Among the prior revelations in testimony and records were that Epstein traveled to the Hamptons with heiress Celina Midelfart and his science advisor, neurosurgeon Melanie Walker, who reportedly helped introduce Epstein to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world’s fifth-richest man.

Some of the newly released local details involve people with Hamptons ties and not Epstein’s trips to the area. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, a Jericho native who owns a home in Bridgehampton, has rebuffed calls to resign after the Epstein files revealed his took his wife and kids to Epstein’s private island. The Jericho High School graduate bought his 40-acre Bridgehampton estate for $15 million in 2003. Trump has downplayed Lutnick’s ties to Epstein and maintained his support for Lutnick, who appears in the files 140 times.

And as Dan’s Papers has reported, Water Mill homeowner Richard Kahn was Epstein’s accountant for two decades and is co-executor of the late wealthy financier and convicted pedophile’s estate along with Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime attorney who is originally from Glen Cove. The two men recently settled a 2024 lawsuit with Epstein’s victims for $35 million. Khan and his wife, Lisa, who also own an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, purchased their Water Mill home for $1.5 million in 2016, property records show.

Kahn’s name appears in the Epstein files more than 53,000 times and Indyke more than 18,000 times. Authorities in the U.S. Virgin Islands — where Epstein owned a private island at the center of many of the allegations — accused Kahn and Indyke of being Epstein’s co-captains, which their attorneys deny.

“Neither Mr. Indyke nor Mr. Kahn had any involvement in any misconduct by Mr. Epstein of any kind, at any time,” the lawyers said in a statement in which they “categorically reject the allegations of misconduct.”

Most of the Epstein files’ local ties that have emerged to date do not involve any allegations of criminal activity. But there was one person who reported to the FBI allegations that an Amagansett woman was a recruiter for Epstein. The tipster’s allegations appeared to hinge on “inappropriate” images of young people that the woman posted on social media combined with the woman being in photos with Epstein. No charges were filed against the woman.