Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / From Power Broker to Liability: The Unraveling of Brad Karp After Epstein Revelations

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From Power Broker to Liability: The Unraveling of Brad Karp After Epstein Revelations · The Epstein Chronicles

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein continues to reach
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out from the grave and drag people down, and one
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of those people that's been dragged below the surface is
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hotshot lawyer Brad Karp, who was the boss man over
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at Paul Weiss, one of the biggest and most prestigious
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white shoe law firms in the United States. And after
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the Epstein files, or at least some of them, were released,
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Brad carbon his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has come back
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to haunt them. So today we have a very long
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article from the Financial Times talking about the downfall of
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Brad Karp and how all of this came into play.
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So let's dive in and see what they have for us.
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Headline Apollo Paul Weiss and Epstein. How a star client
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brought down a big law boss. This article was authored
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by A. Wiggins and James Fontanella Cohn and Susie Ring.
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As the American legal system closed in on him in
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the final months of his life, Jeffrey Epstein shared or
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ira mark with a confidant. You will smile, But the
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US attorney is named bj Epstein sent in an email
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to Brad Karp, one of New York's best paid and
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most highly regarded lawyers. Epstein's comment was likely a reference
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to US Department of Justice lawyer you Young Jin Pack,
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who represented the government after its earlier plea deal with
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Epstein was ruled illegal. Yeah, you know the NPA that
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I'm always raling about that the DOJ could end tomorrow
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if they wanted to that one. They refuse to do it, though.
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They refuse to end that NPA because it gives them
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protection and it gives them an out. Well, look, these
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guys are protected. We can't go after them. But if
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the DOJ meant business, they don't, they would get rid
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of the NPA yesterday. But for that to happen, we'd
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have to be governed by people that were actually serious.
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Karp did not officially represent Epstein, but was informally supporting them.
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Love it, Karp replied on March fifth, twenty nineteen. Yeah,
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I love it, man. I love defending my child molesting buddy.
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Hell of a guy. Can't wait to go over to
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Jeffy's house and have some tea. It was one of
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more than thirty emails that Carp sent Epstein in the
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four months after The Miami Herald published testimony from women
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who said Epstein's sexual abuse when they were as young
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as fourteen had shattered their lives. In those emails, Karp
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called Epstein my friend and said he'd love to see
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them again. These people don't care, Brad Carp the rest
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of them. The only issue they have is being called
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onto the carpet. And if you notice, that's the only
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time that they even begin to show any kind of
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remorse or fake remorse. Oh, I'm so sorry. I should
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have never associated with them. No idea, you had, every
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idea you didn't care. And that goes for guys like
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Brad Karp too. Now, look, I'm not saying Brad Karp
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was abusing anybody, but he was enabling Jeffrey Epstein, and
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he was certainly helping him out. And you can't even
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fall back on the defense that, Oh, well, i'm a lawyer,
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this is what I do. Was he your client? Did
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he pay a retainer? Oh, none of that happened. Cool,
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So he was your friend and you were giving him advice,
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got it? Carp brand Paul Weiss, one of the US's
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biggest and most prestigious white shoe law firms. He had
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just won a coveted Attorney of the Year title, for
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which he made a speech saying the firm's lawyers were
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committed to doing the right thing. He praised earlier generations
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at Paul Weiss, who saw the law as a noble profession,
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not as a commercial enterprise. Oh stop it, that's all
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it is to any of you. Whi's a noble profession.
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As I charged fourteen hundred bucks an hour, I wonder
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how many indigent clients mister carp has. I'm guessing not
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too many, but sure tell me some more. That it's
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all love of the game. But a close reading of
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the hundreds of entries in the doj Epstein files and
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the conversations with people with knowledge of the firm revealed
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just how far he was willing to go for his
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most important client, Apollo Global Management. KARPS need to please
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the private capital group and it's then leader, Leon Black,
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entangled him in a relationship with Epstein that lasted until
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months before the pedophile's death in August of twenty nineteen.
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And when you have a client like Apollo Global that's
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paying you literally millions of dollars on retainer. There's nothing
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you're not going to do for them. You're going to
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walk the line, right and who cares if girls were abused?
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Who gives a shit? I got to make sure my
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client's good. Mister carp Is made clear that he regrets
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his interaction with Epstein. Paul Weis disagrees with the portrayal
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of much of the information specif to our firm. The
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law firm told the Ft in response to questions for
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this article, Karp declined to comment privately. He has told
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those close to him that he was not friends with
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Epstein and he was keeping them on side because Black
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had wanted them to. I could see that. I could
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definitely see that. But it doesn't make it any better.
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You're an adult, dude, Okay, nobody's forcing you to do this.
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Leon Black doesn't have that kind of power over you.
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You're already richer than God. But sure, let me bend
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over backwards for Leon Black and Jeffrey Epstein. How does
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that make sense to anybody out there? And it's another
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reason why I don't care about these people and their reputations.
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They had the whole ass world given to them, all
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these people, and they squandered it, and now you want
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me to care about their reputation because they got nailed
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as being a friend of Jeffrey Epstein and in some
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cases a lot worse. Sorry, you got the wrong guy.
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Much more concerned about the girls who were abused and
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about the rest of us who were stolen from I
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instructed Brad to engage directly with Epstein on my behalf
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on various matters, including thee negotiations, beginning in twenty thirteen
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and continuing until twenty nineteen. Black told the FT at
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all times Brad provided wise and effective counsel. It would
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cost Karp the job that he held for eighteen years.
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There is nothing new in the release documents, Apollo said.
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It said the law firm Deckert had conducted a thorough
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and independent investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein matter more than
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five years ago and had full, unfedtered access to all
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communications and any other material that they requested. Well, we
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know that's a bunch of bs in that longly on
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Black article that we did. Recently, we broke it all down,
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all the different things that weren't reported, how Deckert was
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negligent when it comes to their investigation, and how it
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was all by design. Cart became chair of Paul Weiss
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in two thousand and eight, when it was best known
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for its elite litigation practice. By the early two thousands,
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he had realized that if he wanted the position itself
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among the top ranks of global law firms, it needed
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exposure to private equity, which was then at the beginning
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of a decade long boom, and the way to get
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that back then, of course, Apollo Global. Nobody did it better, right,
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Leon Black, Josh Harris, Mark Rowan, all dudes that were
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highly thought of at the time and guys that were
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well positioned to do exactly what Paul Weiss wanted. Apollo
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was Paul Weiss's solution, and the relationship transformed the law firm.
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Paul Weiss gross revenue surged from six hundred and sixty
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five million in two thousand and nine to more than
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three point twenty five billion in twenty twenty five. According
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to a person familiar with the matter, Carp's pay surged two,
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propelling him into an elite group of lawyers who made
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tens of millions of dollars annually. Apollo paid the firm
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more than two hundred million in a year in order
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of magnitude, more in fees than most other clients. Now
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think about that for a minute. Leon Black or Apollo,
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I should say, paid two hundred million dollars to the
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whole law firm of Paul Weiss. Now think about how
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much money that Leon Black gave to Jeffrey Epstein personally,
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and it shows you just how crazy that number is.
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Apollo's growing importance to the firm provoke criticism from some
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internally who felt Paul Weiss was becoming too heavily exposed
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to the private capital group. Look, at that time, nobody
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ever thought Apollo was going anywhere. Everybody thought that Apollo
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was forever. And look, they still are. It's not like
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Apollo's gone, not like they've folded, not like they've been
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raided and had all their u that seized. They're still
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active and they're still one of the biggest in the game.
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And at the time it had to seem smart to
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hit your wagon to Apollo. Karp took the view that
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he had to stay very close to the founders of
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Apollo to make sure Apollo wouldn't leave. A person who
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knows him said, staying close to Apollo meant becoming entangled
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in Black's complex personal life. Black is sometimes referred to
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in the Epstein Files as mister Big, the nickname of
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the Wall Street financier character in the TV series Sex
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and the City. No idea never watch that show, so
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I have no idea who the reference is referring to,
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but we'll roll with it. Epstein was also involved in
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having known Black since the nineties. By twenty sixteen, however,
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the relationship between the two financiers was in trouble. Black
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was fighting with Epstein over how much money the Apollo
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founder owed for services that included trust and a stay, planning,
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tacked issues, and philanthropy, and had asked Karp to deal
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with Epstein on his behalf. And for Karp, all he
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saw was dollar signs. Right, oh shit, hell ya, I'll middleman,
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this what's my cut? How much am I getting? Over
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the years, Carp and Epstein discussed Black's fees at length.
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Black ultimately paid Epstein one hundred and fifty eight million,
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and this is the reason Paul Weiss was cited for
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the firm's contact with Epstein, saying that it was retained
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by Leon Black, then the CEO of the firm's longtime
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client Apollo to negotiate a series of feed disputes with
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Jeffrey Epstein that span several years. So Karp was eating
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out of both sides of the bowl. Not only was
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he friendly with Leon Black, he was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein,
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and he helped negotiate this gigantic payout that Epstein ended
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up getting. And if you think that was all for
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tax advice, if that was all for estate planning, you
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probably believe that there's a such thing as mermaids and
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that a sasquatch is about to come out of the
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forest and kidnap you, because that's how ridiculous it is.
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But Karp and Epstein discussed other things too. That included
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a woman called Guzelle Ganieva, and she was a Russian
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formal model with whom Black had an extramarital affair and
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who by twenty fifteen was seeking money from the billionaire
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private equity Titan and threatening to go public about their relationship,
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according to documents in the DJ files. And what was
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so crazy about this situation with Leon Black His wife
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was super sick while he was doing this, And I
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just can't even imagine, Like when my girlfriend had breast cancer.
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The last thing I was thinking about is stepping out
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and meeting other women, Like, where are your priorities? Dude?
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And look, I get it, everybody has needs and shit, right,
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go to the bathroom, handle your business and be done
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with it. But for these people, it's about others. It's
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not just the pleasure. It's not just oh, I want
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to have relations. It's about power. It's about domination. And
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when you're talking about a dude like Leon Black, from
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what we've heard, sure seems to fit the mold. When
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Epstein suggested getting the Manhattan District Attorney involved, Karp made
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the call. When Epstein suggested getting Gnieva's visa revoked, Karp said,
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we'll work on this. When Epstein asked whether Karp and
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his colleagues could have Ganieva arrested, Karp replied, his strong
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belief is that the answer is yes. He said this
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was especially so because the referral would come from a
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former senior prosecutor who Paul Weiss had recently hired. Oh
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isn't that great? Nothing like using your connections with SDNY
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or insert district here to arrest people. All on behalf
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of Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black. These are straight up
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mafia tactics, but when they're performed by people like Karp
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and Jeffrey Epstein, it's just considered shrud business. Right. It
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was Paul Weiss that hired the private investigation firm Nardello
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in company on Black's behalf to Surveiller and Karp, who
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asked Epstein in July of twenty fifteen where Ganieva stayed
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when she was in New York and whether he knew
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her social Security number. Three times in eight days. In
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August of twenty fifteen and again in October, Black met
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Ganieva at an upscale New York restaurant. Using Nardello. He
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recorded their conversations. Karp sent the transcript to Epstein. In
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one Black told Ganieva, as long as you behave, I'll
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pay you one hundred thousand a month every month for
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the next twelve years. What I'm trying to do for
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you is also to get a mechanism, and I think
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my lawyers have one. Nardello was hired to provide investigative
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support and connection with an extortion attempt. The investigation firm
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said in the course of that engagement, no one at
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Nardello had any contact or communication with Epstein, nor did
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the firm know that mister Black's council was sharing its
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work product with them. I mean, I guess, I guess
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we'll just have to believe that, but kind of hard
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to believe. No. Seems to me that that's a very
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large bridge to cross. Karp later asked a colleague whether
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Paul Weiss could help Black with an escrow fund to
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make monthly payments to an individual. The DOJ files show
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they don't say whether the request was related to Ganieva.
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The firm's policy was not to do so. However, days later,
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Karp told Epstein he had sought reconsideration from city groups
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two top executives, again without naming Ghanieva, but in the
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end they deferred the compliance. Ghanieva rejected any allegation of
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extortion and told the ft nothing about my interactions with
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Leon Black was consensual, and the truth will come out.
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I never sought money from him, she added. Any suggestion
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that I pursued him his money or acted voluntarily is false.
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So look, at this point, I believe Ganiheva, and I
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believe that there's more here than is being let on.
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Black made his final payment to Epstein in twenty seventeen,
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according to a report from the law firm Decker, which
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investigated Black's Apollo links to the pedophile. The deckerd report
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did not mention surveillance, private investigators or Ganieva. The carb
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Epstein relationship continued, and that's what I was talking about originally.
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The Deckert report garbage. Anytime you hear about that, just
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discard it. The findings were trash. That same year, the
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pair exchanged a set of cryptic messages after Karp was
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scheduled to visit Epstein's house. Epstein email Karp to say, sorry,
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I spooked you. I think very low risk, very low
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if any thanks. Krp replied, I really appreciate you always
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being straight with me on many, many, many things. But
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I'd never considered myself. That really got me thinking, I
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appreciate your friendship. Epstein reassured Carp. I think that is
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now a catch all word for anyone who likes women.
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So no worries. It's not clear what the word was.
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Karp replied, I worry when I have nothing to worry
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about my friend. Oh, I guess you did have something
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to worry about, didn't you, mister Carp. Some of the
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exchanges display an offensive humor. When Epstein, apparently questioning whether
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an unnamed woman was being truthful about the signing of
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a contract, asked, did she also say she was a virgin?
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Karp told Epstein, you're feisty tonight. Karp appears to have
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been willing to push the boundaries of confidentiality rules to
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meet Epstein's request. In September of twenty fifteen, Karp sent
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Epstein an email that appeared to contain login details intended
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to be used by the law firm. The email read
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user p Weiss password Apple. Sixty five April of twenty eighteen,
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Epstein asked him for a copy of a document related
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to a stock cell. I'm going to send that to you,
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Karp replied, but please don't let them know that I
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shared it. It's supposed to be strictly confidential. Black spokesperson
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told the FT that Black had instructed Karp to share
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the document. He also said Epstein embellished, exaggerated, and lied
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in his communications. Black wanted Karp to remain in contact
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with Epstein into twenty nineteen because the feed dispute continued,
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and because tax and estate matters and transitioning information can
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take years. The spokesman said, yeah, right. He wanted to
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stay in contact because he was being tugged along and
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Epstein had a bunch of dirt on him, so he
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had to make sure that the lines of communication remained open. Right.
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In his October twenty eighteen speech to accept the New
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York Law Journal's Attorney of the Year award, Carp celebrated
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Paul Weiss's virtues. It's such a privileged to lead a
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law firm who's professionals are wholly committed, reflexively committed to
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doing the right thing, the courageous thing, a law firm
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that's willing to stand up for the rule of law,
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Carp said. The following month, the Miami Herald published its
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Epstein investigation. By then, Black had cut off communications. The
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damage was already done, and even though they tried to
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hide it, eventually it was all going to come out,
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and boy did it. In the messages that they exchanged
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after that, Epstein and Karp offered comfort and advice to
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each other. In December, Epstein told Karp, in relation to
18:36
something unspecified hurts that this is taking a physical toll
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on you. Not worth it. Carp replied, thanks, my friend,
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I hear you just an awful, relentless stretch. Oh poor guys,
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can you imagine what those girls were going through. I
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don't give a damn about Brad Karp or Jeffrey Epstein.
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After a US federal judge ruled that Epstein's two thousand
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and seven p D, which had let him avoid federal charges,
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illegal in February of twenty nineteen, Karp told Epstein, hope
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you're staying calm. Let me know what I can do
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to help your judgment and friendship. Epstein replied. Karp turned
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to Epstein for recommendations for a lawyer. When former City
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Group president John Havens was ensnared in a Florida prostitution
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crackdown in February of twenty nineteen, Havens told FT, I
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had never met Epstein, I never spoke with Epstein, and
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I never asked or knew that Karp spoke to Epstein.
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I got legal references from other people and did not
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use the lawyer Karp referred me to. Charges against Havens
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were ultimately dropped. A month later, when Epstein was under
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renewed threat of legal action and wanted the firm of
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private investigators, it was Karp who recommended Nardello and the
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same organization Paul Weiss had previously hired on Black's behalf
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In twenty nineteen, unbeknounced to mister Nardello a firm client
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recommended that Epstein contact them about providing assistance with anticipated
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civil litigation. The investigative firm said, Epstein reached out, but
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mister Nardello declined to help, and they had no further contact.
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I'm sure they had no contact or was it it
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was back channel contact. I'm guessing it was back channel contact.
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By the time that the DOJ published the Epstein files
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this year, Karp had already lost to shine in parts
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of New York legal community because of his capitulation to
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the Trump administration. When US President Donald Trump issued potentially
20:36
damaging executive orders targeting Paul Weiss and others last year,
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it was a test of the law firm's identity. Other
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firms successfully fought back in court. Some of Paul Weis's
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litigators would have liked to do the same, but it
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was clear within Paul Weiss that it was not in
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Apollo's interest for the firm to be in conflict with
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the administration. Any implication not Apollo in any way weighed
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in or attempted to influence our decision making with respect
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to the executive order is completely false, Paul White said,
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Does anyone really believe this Carp dude? Just another scumbag
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with revisionist history. Carp agreed to provide forty million dollars
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of unpaid work for Trump back causes. The order was
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dropped soon after other large law firms struck similar deals.
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You couldn't imagine a greater chilling effect on the rest
21:31
of the profession than Karp's deal, the head of a
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large law firm set at the time. The episode prompted
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speculation about Karp's future. He weathered it, reinforcing his reputation
21:43
internally as a stabilizing figure. But when the DOJ published
21:48
three million pages from the Epstein finals in late January,
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some clients began signaling concerns about reputational risk from Karp's relationship.
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Within days, a small group of partners started preparing a
22:01
contingency plan to replace Karp, before agreeing that he should
22:05
be removed as chair. He remains a partner, so he
22:08
had to step down, but he still works for the firm.
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Keep that in mind. As the drama unfolded, some partners
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express frustration that Karp had not stepped aside earlier. Some
22:18
believed that he should leave the firm entirely. Still, some
22:21
in the firm's litigation business, where Carp made his name,
22:24
thought he should not have had to step down as
22:27
chair at all. Others viewed his removal as chair as
22:31
a proportionate response, given that he had not been accused
22:34
of breaking the law. Some partners were told he was
22:38
being allowed to remain in the firm out of what
22:40
one referred to as humanity. He had worked there for
22:44
more than forty years since his days as a summer associate.
22:48
Star deal maker. Scott Barshay has since been installed as chair.
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He's less close to Apollo than others at the firm,
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since he advises on public AIMEE rather than private equity
22:59
deal making, and he's less inclined than Karp to present
23:02
the firm as a force for good in the world.
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He's not named in the Epstein files, Well, that's a
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fucking achievement in itself at this point. If you're in
23:12
the financial sector and your name is not in the
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Epstein files, I think that's success for you, and I
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think the same goes for these law firms. Right, how
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many of these big shot lawyers are caught up of Karp?
23:27
One partner said at the time of his departure, his
23:29
chair people used to like him, partly because he is
23:32
charming and charismatic. But everyone is so annoyed about this. Look.
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I don't doubt it. Imagine being a partner, I'd be
23:40
pissed too. And when it comes to guys like Carp,
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there's gonna be many more following suit. And I think
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as more comes out and more emails are gone through
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and more connections are made, you're gonna see this kind
23:54
of exodus from other big shots. We've already seen Catherine
23:58
Rummler end up leaving her posts at Goldman Sachs, big
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time lawyer, and now we have mister Karp as well,
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And in my opinion, he most certainly won't be the last.
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All Right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
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All the information that goes with this episode can be
24:13
found in the description box.