Text extracted via OCR from the original document. May contain errors from the scanning process.
11/17/2010
business address 69 Mercer Street, New
York, NY 10012, business phone
and cellular phone
number
, was interviewed at his design studio at the
above listed location. After being advised of the identity of the
interviewing agent, and the nature of the interview, COUTURIER
provided the following information:
COUTURIER first met JEFFREY EPSTEIN sometime between
1985-1988 and he was introduced to EPSTEIN by YSABEL GOLDSMITH. At
that time, EPSTEIN was looking for a designer to decorate his place
located at 9 East 71st Street, Manhattan, NY. COUTURIER was
interviewed for the job but EPSTEIN did not hire him on that
occasion.
COUTURIER and EPSTEIN travel in the same social circles
and there is a lot of gossip surrounding EPSTEIN. The talk is
mostly about how much he enjoys the company of young girls and
women. COUTURIER stated that EPSTEIN always made him feel
uncomfortable and strange when he was around him so COUTURIER was
friendly and courteous to him but does not consider EPSTEIN his
friend.
There is no doubt that EPSTEIN is very intelligent and
can carry a conversation about any subject but there is something
about him that is weird and off-putting. He is incredibly wealthy
and COUTURIER believes that most people around him do not talk too
much about him because that type of wealth usually buys power.
Although people might have information about EPSTEIN they might be
reluctant to talk; it is easier to excuse his bad behavior or turn
a blind eye to it.
COUTURIER stated that about six or seven months ago a
woman by the name of
, who is EPSTEIN's assistant,
called him and asked if he would consider taking on the challenge
of decorating EPSTEIN's place in Manhattan and if he would also
consider decorating his place in the US Virgin Islands (USVI).
COUTURIER advised these are just two of the homes he currently owns
but EPSTEIN also has an apartment in Paris, France and a huge ranch
somewhere in the Midwest in the U.S.
COUTURIER stated that by this time, he had heard of
EPSTEIN's incarceration and thought that EPSTEIN had "paid his debt
to society" and maybe things had changed with him so he went into
the meeting trying to be objective. EPSTEIN also stated that to be
honest, he would be making a lot of money if he took the project.
The first meeting took place sometime in April or May
2010 and
, EPSTEIN's assistant, showed him the overall
plans of the USVI house. Although EPSTEIN was supposed to attend
the meeting he could not make it so
handled it.
Ten days later, EPSTEIN,
, and his other assistant
LAST NAME UNKNOWN (LNU) all flew from Palm Beach, FL to the
house on the USVI after the initial meeting.
Sometime in June 2010, COUTURIER and EPSTEIN plus his
assistants, flew to the USVI on EPSTEIN's private plane. They took
it from Palm Beach to the island and stayed there for a day and a
half. EPSTEIN was very excited and appeared to be like a kid with
a new toy. COUTURIER recalls that EPSTEIN kept the house very cold
EFTA00108876
and his bedroom was white but had no lights in the room, it was
dark and very austere. The focal point of the room was an enormous
bed.
EPSTEIN also showed him another room in which he wanted
to place four beds and wanted to have it decorated in a very
colorful palette for his girls. EPSTEIN told COUTURIER him that he
does not have any friends and that he does not really like people.
EPSTEIN stated that he has girls coming to spend time with him in
the island. EPSTEIN then lamented that "the girls" are only
interested in Facebook and MySpace and that he wanted the space in
this bedroom to be comfortable and have access to the Internet as
they were online so much. COUTURIER did not ask how old these
girls were or anything about them. He did not ask him any personal
questions.
COUTURIER stated that on the flight back he grew
increasingly uncomfortable. Although he did not see any of the
young girls that EPSTEIN was talking about he was not sure if he
could do this job for him. COUTURIER added that every time he met
with EPSTEIN he had his assistants there who are all very
attractive young women and others unknown to him but all appeared
to be over the age of 18.
EPSTEIN also showed COUTURIER his home on 71th street in
Manhattan, NY as he wanted him to decorate that place also.
COUTURIER showed him a massage room where he had photographs
("artistic renditions" according to COUTURIER) of young women in
the nude, ranging from age 15 through 20 all hanging from the walls
of this massage room. COUTURIER did not ask him any questions
about this room and moved on to the rest of the house.
COUTURIER then came back to New York and started out
drawing plans and although he did not have a contract, EPSTEIN did
give him a check for $50,000.00 as a deposit for his services.
COUTURIER stated that his plans went back and forth
between his offices and EPSTEIN's people but EPSTEIN never seemed
happy. COUTURIER sent some of his associates back to the USVI to
take measurements and adjust his plans and EPSTEIN was pleased in
some aspects but was still highly critical.
COUTURIER then decided that this was not the right job
for him. COUTURIER stated that in the back of his mind, he wanted
to have "a way out" should he decide that he could not work with
EPSTEIN which was why he did not have a formal contract signed.
EPSTEIN was very difficult to work with and COUTURIER found that
EPSTEIN had not changed his pattern of behavior obviously if he was
having the home in the USVI decorated for girls to stay with him.
This did not sit well with COUTURIER. He then wrote EPSTEIN a note
apologizing for not being able to take on this job. COUTURIER
stated that he could not just drop everything or any of his
projects whenever EPSTEIN wanted him at the site (USVI). EPSTEIN
was very persistent but COUTURIER was firm in his decision.
In July 2010, EPSTEIN tried to sue him for his deposit
and he has many attorneys at his disposal who are very aggressive.
COUTURIER's attorney stated that if they decided to litigate this
case, it was going to be a long process. COUTURIER decided to
settle and returned $15,000.00 to EPSTEIN to save himself the
hassle of litigation.
COUTURIER stated that EPSTEIN and
were a couple but
EFTA00108877
had broken up. At one point COUTURIER had spoken to
about her break-up with EPSTEIN. She told him, "I have seen him do
horrific things" but did not elaborate.
is still his
assistant and they are on friendly terms. COUTURIER stated he
believed that
although very pretty, was now too old for
EPSTEIN even though she is in her 30s.
COUTURIER stated there are people in New York who are
outraged about EPSTEIN's lenient sentence for his sex trafficking
charges. One person who has followed the story and written about
JEFFREY COUTURIER is
, writer for "The Beast"
online newspaper, phone number
.
also wrote an article for "Vanity Fair" on child prostitution but
the article met with much resistance.
COUTURIER concluded by saying that although this would
job would have generated a lot of income for his company, he simply
could not do it and although he tried to remain objective, his
conscience would not let him continue this project.
COUTURIER provided the following information regarding
JEFFREY EPSTEIN's contacts:
ASSISTANTS:
1
(Palm Beach)
BRICE LNU
(USVI)
(USVI)
(Butler in NY)
DARREN INDYKE
(Attorney)
RICH KAHN
(Accountant)
COUTURIER also provided the following information for
New York Residence:
9 East 71st Street
New York, NY
Palm Beach Residence:
Palm Beach, FL 33480
EFTA00108878
EFTA00108879