Jeffrey Epstein’s Pilots Are Subpoenaed in Sex Trafficking Case

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-pilots.html

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As part of an expanding investigation in the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein, federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are trying to determine who traveled on the financier’s private planes in recent years, three people with knowledge of the matter have said.

Shortly after Mr. Epstein’s arrest on July 6, prosecutors in Manhattan issued federal grand jury subpoenas to two of his longtime pilots, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the inquiry.

The subpoenas sought passenger lists, flight logs and the personal notes the pilots had maintained, going back as far as they have records, the people said.

“They’re looking for flight logs, passenger manifests and anything that indicates who was on the plane,” one of the people said.

The two pilots, David Rodgers and Larry Visoski, have cooperated with the inquiry, the people said. At least one of the men has provided all of the material in his possession to the prosecutors in the case, from the office of the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, two of the people said.

Spokesmen for the prosecutor’s office and for the F.B.I. declined to comment. Lawyers for the two pilots would not discuss the subpoenas, which were first reported in The Wall Street Journal.

Among the crimes that the subpoena said were under investigation were violations of the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport a person across state lines for the purposes of prostitution, one of the people said. The indictment charging Mr. Epstein with sex trafficking and conspiracy does not include violations of the Mann Act, suggesting prosecutors could be considering additional charges.

This week, the United States attorney’s office made it clear in court documents that the investigation into his activities was continuing and involved other “uncharged individuals.”

Though the subpoenas directed the pilots to appear before a federal grand jury in Manhattan last Monday, the prosecutors have yet to interview the men or to have them testify, and, so far, have only sought documents, the person said.

Mr. Epstein was arrested shortly after his private jet touched down at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, having brought him to New York from Paris.

Prosecutors have said he and his employees recruited and paid dozens of adolescent girls to engage in sex acts with him in the early 2000s at his mansions in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla. He pleaded not guilty and remains in jail awaiting trial after a judge denied him bail.

Mr. Epstein’s social circle over the years included several celebrities and politicians, among them President Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain. He was also close to Leslie H. Wexner, the head of L Brands, for whom he was a longtime financial adviser. All these men have denied wrongdoing and have said they did not know about Mr. Epstein’s sexual relationships with minors.

Mr. Epstein was first accused in 2005 of sexually abusing teenage girls in Palm Beach, but he reached a lenient plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Miami who were investigating those allegations.

Several adolescent girls from a local high school who were 16 or younger had told the police Mr. Epstein engaged in various sex acts with them after asking them to give him massages while naked or topless, according to a summary of the police investigation.

Under the Florida plea agreement, Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty in state court to two prostitution charges and ended up serving 13 months in a local jail. He was allowed to leave for 12 hours a day, six a days week, ostensibly to work. Several of his accusers later filed civil suits.

One focus of the current investigation has been Mr. Epstein’s private jets, which he used to travel between his palatial homes in Florida and New York, as well as to his private island in the United States Virgin Islands, his sprawling ranch in New Mexico and his house in Paris.

One of the planes was nicknamed the “The Lolita Express,” Mr. Epstein’s accusers have said, because he often invited very young-looking women to entertain guests on trips. One woman claimed in a civil suit and later told The Miami Herald that when she was a minor in 2000, Mr. Epstein brought her aboard one of his jets to be sexually exploited by his friends. The suit was settled in 2017.

The two pilots who were subpoenaed have flown for Mr. Epstein for years.

In 2009, Mr. Visoski said in a deposition that the passenger list often included prominent politicians, academics and Hollywood celebrities. Among them, he recalled, were the actor Kevin Spacey and the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. (Prosecutors have not accused either of them of wrongdoing.)

Mr. Visoski said Mr. Clinton had flown on the plane 10 or 20 times, and recalled one flight, for example, when the former president was accompanied by four Secret Service agents.

“On a case where President Clinton would be on board, we would put a little extra catering on board or do that little extra T.L.C. to the aircraft,” Mr. Visoski testified.

Alain Delaqueriere contributed research.