STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island is referenced hundreds of times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, establishing connections between the borough and the millionaire financier whose sexual abuse of young girls and interactions with rich and powerful people has been at the center of the national discourse.
The documents, which were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act on Jan. 30, include more than three million pages, alongside more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, related to the actions of Epstein and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The files have been made publicly available on the Department of Justice website, which includes a search feature that allows users to comb through the files for references to specific names, words or phrases.
As of Feb. 13, there were 230 documents, totaling thousands of pages, that included at least one reference to Staten Island. An earlier search of the database returned 233 documents referencing Staten Island, but three appear to have been removed in recent days.
References range from innocuous mentions, like a package mailed to a borough address to sexually-charged conversations with a young woman with Staten Island ties who Epstein housed at his Manhattan apartment.
Here’s a look at some of the references to Staten Island included in the Epstein files.
Housing young woman with Staten Island ties
In September 2013, Epstein exchanged numerous emails with a young woman staying with a foster family on Staten Island while attending college in Manhattan.
Epstein asked if the young woman would like to stay in his guest apartment for a few weeks, where she could walk to school as opposed to commuting from Staten Island, while she attempted to secure housing in the college’s dormitories.
The young woman took him up on that offer, moving into the guest apartment and thanking him. In the subsequent days, Epstein offered to provide food and amenities to improve the young woman’s stay, even sending flowers and chocolates to the apartment.
The email correspondence quickly escalated to become sexual in nature, with Epstein writing a month later, “I didn;t get to see your new underwear,” to which the woman replied, “Well, not anymore!! Have a look at the photos I’ve sent to you! Thank you so much for such a lovely present from Paris!”
In a follow-up email, Epstein wrote “You’re supposed to respond , come over and I will show you,” to which the woman said “Well, so maybe you should send me a list with responses to your questions so that next time I would know how to respond properly to your questions ;).”
Roughly an hour later, he responded, “jeffrey .. hello response would you like to see my underwear? jeffrey . would you like some coffee [redacted], wouldn’t you prefer to spank me.?”
Tax attorney from Staten Island
Erika Kellerhals, who served as Epstein’s U.S. Virgin Islands tax attorney, appears in nearly 4,000 documents in the Epstein library on the Justice Department’s website.
Kellerhals appears to hail from Staten Island, with several documents listing her primary address and voter registration to the borough.
Previous reporting from the Advance/SILive.com indicates that Kellerhals graduated from St. Joseph by the Sea High School in 1992 and served as Miss Hibernia in the Staten Island St. Patrick’s Parade in 1997.
Documents show that Kellerhals was involved in the formation and maintenance of some of Epstein’s companies and foundations in the Virgin Islands, but there is no indication that she was involved in, or had any knowledge of, Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes.
Additionally, there is no indication that she was criminally charged in any Epstein-related matter, no documentation of a social or personal relationship outside of their business dealings and no flight logs or guest lists that indicate she was a member of his social circle.
All documented connections between Kellerhals and Epstein are professional and transactional in nature and focused exclusively on tax and corporate advice related to his Virgin Island entities.
Autopsy connection
A digitally recorded sworn statement from the medical examiner who conducted Epstein’s autopsy reveals that the examiner had previously worked on Staten Island.
The medical examiner, whose name is redacted, was asked how many autopsies they had conducted throughout their career and how many of those autopsies resulted in the conclusion of suicide, to which they responded “I don’t have an exact number, but I will say that there were an awful lot of suicides in Staten Island where I worked, and in Dane County. So, I’ve done plenty. Certainly more than a hundred, probably several hundred.”
Package sent to Staten Island
A FedEx invoice dated Dec. 16, 2002 shows that Epstein sent a package weighing roughly two pounds to someone on Staten Island.
While the exact address is redacted, the invoice notes that the delivery address was on Staten Island and located somewhere within the 10301 ZIP code.
Going to Staten Island?
On June 7, 2016, Epstein sent an email to a redacted recipient that read, “are you going to staten island today/ ::)”
It’s unclear whether Epstein himself was also planning to visit Staten Island.