LEAH

By An Old Piece Of Leather

The Jeffrey Epstein case produced over $650 million in civil settlements. Victims received compensation because the evidence of institutional complicity was so overwhelming that defendants chose nine-figure payouts over the risk of a jury seeing the full record.

Then, the Department of Justice closed the criminal investigation. Said there was nothing left to pursue. Nothing to see here. They fired the lead prosecutor, redirected the probe toward political opponents. And the firms with the deepest Epstein exposure began paying Pam Bondi’s old lobbying firm.

The Jeffrey Epstein case produced over $650 million in civil settlements. Victims received compensation because the evidence of institutional complicity was so overwhelming that defendants chose nine-figure payouts over the risk of a jury seeing the full record.

Then, the Department of Justice closed the criminal investigation. Said there was nothing left to pursue. Nothing to see here. They fired the lead prosecutor, redirected the probe toward political opponents. And the firms with the deepest Epstein exposure began paying Pam Bondi’s old lobbying firm.

Let’s follow the money.

Part 1: The Settlements

Before we follow the money forward, we need to understand the money that already changed hands. These are the major Epstein-related civil settlements, all finalized between 2019 and 2023:

The gap between those two numbers is the entire story. Civil courts found the evidence compelling enough to extract 650 Million of dollars. The criminal justice system produced a single conviction. The investigation that was supposed to bridge that gap was the one Pam Bondi’s DOJ closed in July 2025.

Sources: JPMorgan victim settlement, $290M (NPR, June 12, 2023). JPMorgan-USVI settlement, $75M (Reuters, Sept 2023). Deutsche Bank victim settlement, $75M (NPR, May 17, 2023). Leon Black-USVI settlement, $62.5M with criminal immunity (CNN, Aug 2023). USVI-Epstein estate, $105M (USVI AG Office). Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, $121M disbursed (ABC News, Aug 2021).

Part 2: The Bank

JPMorgan Chase maintained a banking relationship with Jeffrey Epstein from 1998 to 2013. This continued through his 2008 conviction, his registration as a sex offender, and well into the period when the bank’s own executives were exchanging emails with Epstein that referenced young women.

Jes Staley, the JPMorgan executive who managed Epstein’s accounts, exchanged approximately 1,200 emails with Epstein over a period of years. Some of these emails contained references to young women. Staley was subsequently fired as CEO of Barclays Bank over his Epstein ties. JPMorgan sued Staley for concealing the nature of the relationship but Staley countersued.

The evidence was damaging enough that JPMorgan chose to settle with victims for $290 million and with the U.S. Virgin Islands for an additional $75 million, rather than proceed to trial where the full documentary record would become public.

The Lobbying Filing

On April 2, 2025, JPMorgan Chase Holdings LLC registered as a new client of Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm where Pam Bondi was a partner before becoming Attorney General. The registration was filed with the Senate Office of Public Records under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

Total JPMorgan spend through Ballard Partners in 2025: $180,000. JPMorgan was not a Ballard client in 2024.

JPMorgan hired Bondi’s former firm the same spring that Bondi took control of the DOJ. Three months later, the Epstein investigation was closed. No JPMorgan executive has been criminally charged in connection with the bank’s 15-year relationship with a convicted sex trafficker.

Sources: Ballard Partners LDA filings for JPMorgan Chase Holdings LLC (6 filings, Senate Office of Public Records, lda.senate.gov). Jes Staley emails (JPMorgan v. Staley, SDNY). JPMorgan settlement (NPR, CNN, CNBC, June 2023).

Part 3: The Law Firm That Got Epstein the Deal

In 2007, the FBI had built a federal case against Jeffrey Epstein that included a 53-page indictment, more than 30 identified victims, and evidence of an organized sex trafficking operation. The case was being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Epstein’s lead defense attorney was Jay Lefkowitz, a partner at Kirkland and Ellis LLP, one of the largest and most politically connected law firms in the world.

Lefkowitz negotiated what federal judge Kenneth Marra would later call a deal that was “not only federal law but common decency.” Instead of federal trafficking charges, Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges. He received 13 months in a county jail with work-release privileges that allowed him to leave the facility for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week. The victims were not notified of the plea agreement, in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

The Acosta Connection

The federal prosecutor who approved this agreement was Alexander Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. A detail that has received relatively little attention is that Acosta was previously an associate at Kirkland and Ellis during the 1990s, the same firm where Lefkowitz was a partner. They overlapped at the firm.

Acosta later served as Trump’s Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019. He resigned in July 2019 after renewed scrutiny of the Epstein plea deal following Epstein’s arrest in New York.

The 2025 Lobbying Filings

On April 11, 2025, Kirkland and Ellis LLP registered as a new client of Ballard Partners. The quarterly lobbying disclosures filed with the Senate show:

The Q4 filing is categorized as a termination, meaning Kirkland ended its lobbying relationship with Ballard after three quarters. Additionally, a second Kirkland entity, filing on behalf of Evolve Buyer LLC and Yoda Topco LP, paid $80,000 through Ballard in Q4 2025.

Total Kirkland & Ellis spend through Ballard Partners in 2025: $900,000 across two entities. Kirkland was not a Ballard client in 2024.

The $600 Million Pledge

In April 2025, Kirkland and Ellis was one of five major law firms that collectively pledged approximately $600 million in pro bono legal work for Trump administration priorities. Kirkland’s share was reported at $125 million. The pledge came after the Trump administration had sent letters to major law firms questioning their diversity programs and threatened EEOC investigations. Following the pledge, those investigations were dropped.

The timeline: Kirkland registers with Ballard in April 2025, announces the $125 million pledge the same month, pays $820,000 in lobbying fees over three quarters, and terminates the relationship in Q4 after the Epstein investigation has been closed and the lead prosecutor has been fired.

Sources: Kirkland & Ellis LDA filings (7 filings, Senate Office of Public Records). Lefkowitz role in plea deal (Columbia Spectator, Law.com, NBC News). Acosta at Kirkland (DOJ biography, Senate confirmation documents). $600M law firm pledge (Bloomberg Law, April 2025). Kirkland $125M share (Reuters, April 2025).

Part 4: The Lobbyist on the Account

The Senate lobbying filings identify the individual lobbyists registered on each client account. For the Kirkland and Ellis account at Ballard Partners, one of the named lobbyists is Justin Sayfie.

Sayfie’s name appears on 476 total Ballard Partners lobbying filings in the Senate database. He is one of the firm’s most active lobbyists. But his background before Ballard is where the story gets layered.

The Resume

Sayfie served as Senior Policy Advisor and Chief Speechwriter to Florida Governor Jeb Bush. After the Bush administration, he was appointed Chairman of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for the Southern District of Florida by Senator Mel Martinez. In that role, his responsibility included recommending candidates for federal judgeships and U.S. Attorney positions in the Southern District, the same judicial district that handled the original Epstein federal case.

From 2018 to 2021, Sayfie served as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships under Donald Trump.

He then joined Ballard Partners, where he works alongside Brian Ballard and in the same firm where Pam Bondi was a partner before her appointment as Attorney General.

The Ethics Record

In 2015, the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Sayfie had filed inaccurate lobbying compensation reports. This is part of the public record maintained by the Florida Commission on Ethics.

The Endorsement

When Bondi was nominated for Attorney General, Sayfie publicly endorsed the appointment. He is now the registered lobbyist on the Kirkland and Ellis account at Ballard, the firm whose partner negotiated the original Epstein plea deal, at the same lobbying firm where the Attorney General who closed the investigation used to work.

Sayfie is also listed as a lobbyist on additional Ballard accounts including American Express Global Business Travel, which required DOJ antitrust approval in 2025.

Sources: Justin Sayfie LDA filings (476 filings, Senate Office of Public Records). Federal Judicial Nominating Commission (LegiStorm records). White House Fellowship Commission (Federal Register, 2018-2021). Florida Ethics Commission probable cause finding (Florida Politics, 2017). Ballard Partners biography page.

Part 5: The Other Law Firm

Simpson Thacher and Bartlett LLP is one of the oldest and most powerful corporate law firms in the United States, founded in 1884. It is consistently ranked as the number one private equity law firm in the world and serves as outside counsel to Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, KKR, and other major financial institutions.

The Apollo Connection

Simpson Thacher’s relevance to the Epstein story runs through Apollo Global Management. Apollo was founded by Leon Black, who paid Jeffrey Epstein approximately $170 million in advisory fees, according to both an internal Apollo board review ($158 million) and a subsequent Senate Finance Committee investigation (approximately $170 million, per Senator Ron Wyden’s office).

One of those payments was a $20 million fee Epstein received for advising on a trust restructuring that reportedly saved Black $600 million in taxes. Black stepped down as Apollo CEO in 2021 amid the revelations about the scope of his financial relationship with Epstein.

In August 2023, Black settled with the U.S. Virgin Islands for $62.5 million. The settlement included a clause granting Black criminal immunity, extending to his attorneys and agents. A billionaire who paid $170 million to a sex trafficker resolved his legal exposure for 37 cents on the dollar, with a guarantee that he could never be prosecuted.

The Lobbying Filings

Simpson Thacher registered not one but three separate lobbying accounts through Ballard Partners in spring 2025:

Each entity followed an identical payment pattern: $100,000 in Q1, $300,000 in Q2, and a termination filing in Q3 with no further activity. All three registered in March or April 2025 and terminated by October 2025.

Total Simpson Thacher spend through Ballard Partners in 2025: $1,200,000 across three entities. None existed in 2024, showed up in 2025, and were terminated within three quarters.

Simpson Thacher was also one of the five law firms in the $600 million pro bono pledge to the Trump administration. Like Kirkland, Simpson Thacher paid Ballard, pledged to Trump, and exited. The pattern is identical.

Simpson Thacher also represents ByteDance Ltd. in the establishment of the TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. ByteDance separately tripled its Ballard Partners lobbying spend from $200,000 in 2024 to $600,000 in 2025.

Sources: Simpson Thacher LDA filings (12 filings across 3 entities, Senate Office of Public Records). Leon Black-Epstein payments: Apollo board review, $158M (CNBC, Jan 2021); Senate Finance Committee, approx. $170M (Sen. Wyden statement). Black-USVI settlement, $62.5M + immunity (CNN, Aug 2023). $600M law firm pledge (Bloomberg Law, April 2025). Simpson Thacher-ByteDance (Simpson Thacher website, client representations).

Part 6: The DOJ Timeline

While the lobbying money was flowing through Ballard Partners, here is what was happening inside the Department of Justice:

January 2025: The Files Transfer

The Epstein co-conspirator investigation was transferred from the Southern District of New York, where the team that convicted Ghislaine Maxwell had been building cases for years, to DOJ headquarters in Washington D.C. Prosecutors at SDNY were not consulted. Survivors were not notified.

February 2025: Bondi Lies

During her confirmation process, Bondi told senators the Epstein case would be “sitting on my desk Day 1” and that she would make it a personal priority.

July 7, 2025: The Closure

The DOJ and FBI issued a joint statement declaring the Epstein investigation closed. The agencies said there was insufficient evidence to bring additional charges against any individual. This came after years of investigation, the seizure of hard drives, video surveillance footage, flight logs, financial records, and over a million pages of documents.

July 15, 2025: The Firing

One week after closing the case, the DOJ terminated Maurene Comey, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who had been the lead prosecutor on both the Epstein and Maxwell cases for nearly a decade. Comey had outstanding performance reviews and no misconduct citations. No public explanation was given for her removal.

November 2025: The Redirect

Bondi announced that Jay Clayton, Trump’s former SEC Chairman, would lead a reconstituted Epstein investigation. However, she specified that the investigation would focus on Epstein’s connections to prominent Democrats, particularly the Clinton family. This was not framed as a general criminal investigation but as a politically directed one.

January 2026: The Botched Release

The DOJ released a batch of Epstein-related documents after missing its legal deadline. The release contained catastrophic failures: 43 victims’ names were published without redaction, nude photographs of young women were included, and the redaction method was so poor that blacked-out text could be copied and pasted to reveal the content underneath.

February 2026: The Surveillance

At a congressional hearing on February 11, 2026, Bondi produced a physical binder with a tab labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History.” The DOJ had been tracking which records members of Congress accessed in the Epstein document database. Rather than investigating co-conspirators, the Department of Justice was monitoring the people asking questions about co-conspirators.

February 24, 2026: The Removal

Files related to accusations involving Donald Trump were removed from the DOJ’s Epstein document website. The FBI had been instructed to flag any records mentioning the President. A bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans, issued a subpoena for the unredacted files on March 4, 2026.

Sources: SDNY transfer (CNN, Jan 2025). Bondi confirmation testimony (Senate Judiciary Committee, Jan 2025). Case closure (DOJ/FBI joint statement, July 7, 2025). Comey firing (CNN, Variety, July 16, 2025). Clayton appointment (CNN, Nov 15, 2025). Botched release (KSAT, CBS News, NBC News, Jan-Feb 2026). Jayapal search history (CNBC, CBS, TIME, Feb 11, 2026). Trump files removed (NPR, Feb 24, 2026). Bipartisan subpoena (Senate Judiciary Committee, March 4-5, 2026).

Part 7: The Full Accounting

Here is the complete picture of Epstein-connected money flowing through Ballard Partners in 2025:

Total from Epstein-connected entities: $2,280,000. All new clients in 2025. None paid Ballard in 2024.

In addition to lobbying fees, the law firms in this accounting pledged a combined $250 million to Trump administration priorities (Kirkland $125M, Simpson Thacher’s share of the remaining $475M across four firms). And the investigation that posed the greatest legal risk to their clients and former partners was closed.

The Structural Gutting

The Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice, the unit specifically responsible for investigating corruption by public officials, was reduced from 36 prosecutors to 2 in 2025. This is the section that would have jurisdiction over any investigation into whether the pattern documented in this article constitutes official corruption.

The Number That Hasn’t Changed

After $650 million in civil settlements, after the seizure of hard drives and surveillance footage and flight logs, after the identification of at least seven co-conspirators in FBI files, after Maxwell’s lawyers claimed the DOJ had reached secret settlements with 25 men who were never prosecuted, the total number of people criminally charged as Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirators remains: one. Ghislaine Maxwell.

Everyone else walked. The investigation that might have changed that was closed by an Attorney General whose former lobbying firm collected $2.28 million from the institutions with the most to lose.

Methodology and Sources (CYA)

All lobbying data in this article was obtained directly from the Senate Office of Public Records Lobbying Disclosure Act database at lda.senate.gov. Specific searches used: Registrant “Ballard Partners” with Client fields for “JPMorgan,” “Kirkland,” and “Simpson Thacher.” Filing counts confirmed: 6 for JPMorgan, 7 for Kirkland & Ellis, 12 for Simpson Thacher.

Justin Sayfie’s lobbyist designations were confirmed through LDA filings using the Lobbyist search field (476 total filings). His background was confirmed through LegiStorm records, the Federal Register, Florida Commission on Ethics public records, and Ballard Partners’ website.

Settlement amounts are sourced from federal court filings and contemporaneous reporting by NPR, CNN, CNBC, Reuters, and ABC News. The Leon Black criminal immunity clause was reported by CNN in August 2023 based on the settlement agreement filed with the U.S. Virgin Islands court.

DOJ timeline events are sourced from official DOJ and FBI statements, congressional hearing transcripts, and contemporaneous reporting by CNN, NPR, CBS News, CNBC, TIME, and NBC News.

Ballard Partners’ 2024 and 2025 client lists and revenue figures are sourced from OpenSecrets and the firm’s own LDA filings. The revenue increase from $19.4 million (2024) to $88.1 million (2025) represents a 355% year-over-year increase, as reported by OpenSecrets.

No information in this article relies on anonymous sources, leaked documents, or unverified claims. Every data point is traceable to a public filing, court document, or official government record.

Follow the money. It always tells you who the investigation was actually protecting.

God will punish our enemies. We will arrange the meetings.

Nothing Can Stop What Is Happening

anoldpieceofleather