Woman Pleads Guilty in $750K Epstein Fund Fraud
Woman Pleads Guilty in $750K Epstein Fund Fraud
The News
A Florida woman has pleaded guilty to falsifying records she used to claim $750,000 from a fund set up to compensate people sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.
Jennifer Percival entered the plea Monday in federal court in New York.
The money came out of a $290 million settlement fund financed by JPMorgan Chase for Epstein's victims — so every fraudulent dollar paid out was a dollar unavailable to real ones.
What She Admitted
Percival altered a rejection letter so it looked like an approval from the Epstein estate fund, then used the doctored paperwork in her application for the payout.
After investigators closed in, she handed fabricated emails to her own lawyer in an attempt to win a deferred prosecution deal.
She arrived at the plea hearing with a restitution check for $776,031.
Timeline
Percival submitted a claim to the JPMorgan Chase fund for Epstein victims, backed by a document she had altered from a rejection into an apparent approval by the Epstein estate fund. She was paid $750,000.
Percival provided fabricated emails to her own attorney while seeking a deferred prosecution agreement rather than charges.
She pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to falsifying records, and produced a $776,031 restitution check at the hearing.
Reactions
Percival's guilty plea is itself the admission: she acknowledged in open court that the records behind her claim were falsified.
Her defense is expected to argue for leniency at sentencing, pointing to her career in disability research.
Two questions went unanswered in open court and remain publicly unresolved: whether Percival was ever actually an Epstein victim, and why the Epstein estate fund rejected her application in the first place. Court records do not say.
What's Next
No sentencing date has been set. Percival remains free until that hearing.
Federal sentencing guidelines point to roughly three to four years. A judge is not bound by them and can go above or below.
The restitution check she brought to court covers the $750,000 payout plus additional money, which her lawyers will almost certainly cite as a reason to sentence her lightly.
More
The $290 million JPMorgan Chase fund was created to pay people Epstein sexually abused. Claims are processed on paperwork, not trials — which is exactly the pressure point a forged approval letter exploits.
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