The financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein executed a new will just two days before he was found dead in his New York City jail cell this month, according to probate documents obtained by NBC News.
The documents, a petition for probate of the will and an enumeration of the estate’s total property, were filed Thursday in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home. Two witnesses signed affidavits declaring that Epstein “signed it willingly” and that he was “of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence” at the time.
The estate details wealth of $577,672,654 — $18,551,700 more than Epstein told a judge he had when he unsuccessfully sought bail last month on federal sex trafficking charges. The new property listing includes an entry for that amount described as “aviation assets, automobiles and boats.”
The final amount of the estate remains undetermined, as it lists “fine arts, antiques, collectibles, valuables & other personal property” yet to be appraised, without subtracting any potential debts and claims that aren’t yet known.
Epstein had a brother, Mark Epstein, who the will notes would have inherited the estate had Jeffrey Epstein died not having a will.
But the new leaves nothing to Mark Epstein — instead, it bequeaths everything to a trust that probate documents indicate was created on 8 August same day the will was signed. Nothing is known about the trust, although its name, The 1953 Trust, could refer to the year Epstein was born.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, New York City on Saturday, 10th August 2019, from an apparent suicide. A coroner’s report found multiple fractures in his neckbone. However, his death is listed as pending by the New York chief examiner who conducted the autopsy.
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