How Epstein tried to buy a Moroccan palace months before his death | Crime News

Behind high walls outside Marrakesh, Bin Ennakhil unfold like a private kingdom. The estate spans 4.6 hectares (11.4 acres) and has 60 marble fountains flowing into mosaic-tiled courtyards. Gold-draped halls open onto gardens lined with olive trees and more than 2,000 palms. A hammam steam spa sits under carved ceilings while an outdoor pool glistens in the Moroccan sun.

It is the kind of property that keeps its owner out of sight of the outside world.

In the summer of 2019, a wire transfer request with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s signature and dated July 4 was submitted to purchase the Moroccan palace – in a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States. Two days later, Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey sex trade and conspiracy charges.

Newly released US Justice Department documents reviewed by Al Jazeera show that in the months before that arrest, Epstein negotiated to acquire the Moroccan estate through a layered offshore structure spanning the British Virgin Islands and Liechtenstein.

But as the investigation intensified and details of Epstein’s life and crimes became public, the financial institutions that had long handled his money began to tighten their grip. The documents show banks rejecting wire transfers linked to their accounts and compliance teams escalating internal reviews. Tens of millions of dollars were sent abroad and then withdrawn.

The records suggest that a man long adept at navigating complex financial systems has begun closing those routes. A month after his arrest, he was discovered dead in US federal custody.

Epstein and Morocco

Bin Ennakhil Palace was not the first time Morocco appeared in Epstein’s orbit.

Emails investigated by French broadcaster France televisions showed that a Swedish citizen of Algerian origin, Daniel Siad, described by witnesses as a recruiter working for Epstein, already sent him a photo of a young woman in Marrakesh in July 2002. “Cute French girl in Marrakech,” read one message.

A woman later interviewed by French police said Siad “wanted me to meet girls for Epstein, to give him massages, prostitution.” She told investigators Siad showed her pictures of Moroccan girls and asked if they would appeal to Epstein. “I told him no, that he wouldn’t be interested,” she said, adding that she didn’t want “another girl to suffer”.

The exchange suggests that Morocco was part of Epstein’s international network long before the 2019 palace negotiations.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in prison under a much-criticized plea deal that shielded him from federal prosecution. For years afterward, he summed up a life of wealth and influence, moving between homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Paris, maintaining connections in finance, academia, and politics.

He largely escaped scrutiny until late 2018, when the Miami Herald newspaper published a series of investigations that revisited the 2008 plea deal and gave dozens of his accusers a voice. The reporting prompted a renewed federal investigation. By early 2019, prosecutors in New York were quietly building a new case.

A palace and an offshore financial structure

Documents reviewed by Al Jazeera show that in February 2019, five months before his arrest, negotiations were underway to buy Bin Ennakhil.

The transaction was not structured as a simple real estate purchase. Instead, emails show the deal involves the acquisition of shares in a Liechtenstein company linked to the property through a British Virgin Islands trust.

In the correspondence, the broker noted that the arrangement would “save 7% in state taxes.” The proposed buyer was identified as “The Haze Trust”, and the price under discussion was around 25 million euros ($29.5 million).

The emails were handled by Karyna Shuliak, who was described in media reports at the time as Epstein’s girlfriend and who also worked for his companies. She advanced negotiations on his behalf.

Rejected threads and new accounts

However, internal bank records reviewed by Al Jazeera show that a month later on March 13, 2019, a wire transfer was linked to “Epstein, Jeffrey E.” was marked as “Rejected” by Deutsche Bank

The documents do not specify why the deal failed. According to the Reuters news agency, Deutsche Bank was in the process of terminating accounts held by Epstein in 2019.

Around this time, Epstein turned to a new financial institution: Charles Schwab. In April 2019, it opened three accounts for Epstein-linked companies, including one for Southern Trust, an entity owned by Epstein that is trying to buy the Moroccan palace.

On June 26, 2019, Southern Trust instructed Schwab to wire about 11.15 million euros (then worth about $12.7 million) to an account in Switzerland held by Marc Leon, the Marrakesh-based broker handling the sale, according to a suspicious activity report described by Reuters.

The next day, Schwab received a call asking to reverse the transfer. The funds were due to be repaid on July 10.

Two days before his arrest, on July 4, 2019, a second wire request was submitted by Southern Trust, this time for $14.95 million. It was signed by Epstein.

According to the suspicious activity report cited by Reuters, the Southern Trust account did not contain sufficient funds at that time because the earlier $12.7 million had not yet been credited back to it.

The second transfer was canceled on 9 July 2019.

The death of Epstein

Additional documents reviewed by Al Jazeera show that federal investigators discussed a Charles Schwab account and Switzerland by late July 2019. One internal email noted that Epstein “tried to send money … to Switzerland.”

Schwab told Reuters he had concerns about attempted wires “for the purpose of property, in light of negative media surrounding Jeffrey Epstein” and concerns about him being a potential flight risk before a bail hearing.

By early July, the financial systems that had sustained Epstein’s lavish life began to close around him as transfers were flagged and the flow of funds reversed. Epstein’s financial maneuvers clashed with a legal calculation

On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey by a Crimes Against Children Task Force on charges of sex trafficking with minors from 2002 to 2005.

Investigators seized electronic devices from their homes in New York, Florida and the US Virgin Islands. According to court documents, the search of his Manhattan townhouse turned up evidence of sex trafficking and hundreds, possibly thousands, of sexually suggestive photos of girls.

Epstein asked for release on a proposed $100 million bond and offered to submit to house arrest at his Manhattan home. US District Judge Richard M Berman denied the request, ruling that he was both a danger to the community and a serious flight risk.

The palace near Marrakesh with its fountains and marble courtyards was never owned by Epstein. Instead, he was held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, a federal prison where inmates are confined to small cells behind steel doors.

Weeks later, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell. The New York medical examiner ruled the death a suicide.