Jeffrey Epstein's sports ties
The Washington Commanders
The New York Times account of Insys Therapeutics narrates almost incomprehensible evil.
Here’s some of what reportedly happened:
Insys sold strong fentanyl spray, called Subsys, that was only FDA approved for a limited number of cancer patients.
Instead of targeting oncologists (for approved applications), Insys targeted pain doctors–especially those who prescribe huge numbers of opioids.
They charged absurd amounts, for instance $19,000 per month per patient.
They bribed some of those doctors, with “speaking fees,” to use their product.
The company hired a stripper as a Subsys salesperson, and another employee reportedly saw her give a key doctor a lap dance.
They psyched up salespeople with an in-house rap video talking about the cash value of “titration,” in other words, getting doctors to prescribe ever-higher doses, which increases both the amount Insys can charge and the likelihood of addiction.
They executed a fraudulent scheme to get insurance companies to pay for it all.
This all happened well after it was clear the opioid epidemic was costing hundreds of thousands of American lives. As such, the company has become almost synonymous with evil, and the focus of the second half of an Alex Gibney documentary called “The Crime of the Century.” Insys is also depicted in the Netflix show Pain Hustlers, where Andy Garcia plays the billionaire founder of Insys, John Kapoor.
Kapoor was sentenced to more than five years for his various crimes, but served only two and was released in June 2023.
What interests me today: what lawyer would want to represent John Kapoor? Not someone who expects to win! Not someone who expects to look good in public. This is a job for someone who wants to get paid, right?
John Kapoor was represented by Beth Wilkinson, a legal legend, but one whose story is a little more tangled up with Jeffrey Epstein, Dan Snyder, and the NFL than was immediately obvious.
Wilkinson went to Princeton and then the University of Virginia Law School. She was a JAG Captain as an assistant for intelligence and special operations in the office of the Army’s general counsel, and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida to assist with the use of classified information in the prosecution of Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega. (Note: a lot of people in this Epstein story have intelligence connections, in this paragraph including Wilkinson and Manuel Noriega.) She won the Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award twice—once for prosecuting narcoterrorist Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera and again for being part of the team that prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
In the private sector, Wilkinson worked at Latham & Watkins, then for Fannie Mae before, in 2009, becoming a partner at Paul Weiss, which was run by Brad Karp from 2008 to 2026. Karp stepped down as chair of the firm after his extensive emails with Jeffrey Epstein were revealed.
Did Epstein know Snyder? The Epstein files show that in 2009, a Palm Beach realtor emailed Jeffrey Epstein: “I am very thankful for all that you have done for me over the years. I will try and contact Mr. Dan Snyder today, should you have a good number for me to reach him at this would be helpful.”
Wilkinson made news when the Federal Trade Commission brought Wilkinson in to help in a Google antitrust case that ultimately fizzled. She represented a cavalcade of deep-pocketed clients including Microsoft, Facebook, Pfizer, MLB, Kynetic and Michael Rubin.
According to a good 2020 New York Times story by James B. Stewart, Paul Morris was Epstein’s longtime banker:
“RELATIONSHIP MANAGER-1,” who brought Mr. Epstein into Deutsche Bank, is Paul Morris, who had previously helped manage the Epstein account at JPMorgan. Despite Mr. Epstein’s conviction in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor and widespread press coverage of his involvement with underage girls, Mr. Morris in 2013 introduced Mr. Epstein to his Deutsche Bank bosses as “a potential client who could generate millions of dollars of revenue as well as leads for other lucrative clients to the bank,” according to the consent order.
And, evidently, Morris was also Snyder’s banker? The Epstein file includes a 2015 “business review” from Deutsche Bank’s Paul Morris and Stewart Oldfield. The business review notes “Strategic lending dialog starting with Dan Snyder (boat loan, stadium financing, rates hedging)” and “Expecting to start DPM mandate with Dan Snyder for $25mm, growing within a year Q2 investments -- additional focus Structured products — more direct dialog with clients based on SMO’s expertise CROCI Blackstone Total Alternatives Other Activities Investment Banking/Asset Management introductions — Structured Credit Sales (3), Risk Factors.” DPM likely means “discretionary portfolio management.”
Also in 2015, attorney Kathy Ruemmler—who is currently leaving her job at JP Morgan because of her extensive Epstein ties—was emailing Epstein about Wilkinson’s equity in an unnamed firm: “Look at the equity share proposal. Walsh is a junior partner=at PW. Libeler is the head of litigation at Siemens and your typical=litigator who had no clients at Kirkland. Seems to me that it should=be: Beth - 60/Kathy - 50/Eric 30/Alex - 20/Brian - 10.”
Epstein, a whiz with math but not his keyboard, replied: “the numbers are silly why monthly and no= annually, m as i said on my call rroughtly million annual,Q=A0 shares should equal 100 not 150 / =C20 so beth 45 ccath y 40 . eric 8 walsh 5 brian 2”
In 2016, Wilkinson emailed Ruemmler about a guy named David Bernick she found “one of the most arrogant and difficult people you can imagine.” Wilkinson emailed Ruemmler that she heard Bernick was going to Paul Weiss. Ruemmler forwarded the email straight to Epstein—perhaps because he was close to the head of Paul Weiss, Brad Karp?
A number of 2016 emails in the Epstein files coordinate the guest list for Deutsche Bank’s swanky VIP arts event in London called Frieze London. The guest list includes Leon Black, Jeffrey Epstein, and Dan Snyder.
In 2016, Wilkinson co-founded the firm Wilkinson Stekloff.
In 2018, Wilkinson represented supreme court appointee Bret Kavanaugh when his Supreme Court nomination was also derailed because of allegations from Christine Blasey Ford.
In 2018, Epstein brainstormed with then Arizona State professor Lawrence Krauss about how best to negotiate with the university after sexual misconduct allegations. Epstein’s suggestion: “Beth Wilkinson represented Kavanaugh. Her name will strike some fear.”
A July 16, 2020 email evidently between government attorneys: “And in the more trivial category, I just got an inquiry from a TMZ reporter who’s says there’s a rumor that Redskins owner Dan Snyder is about to be arrested in connection with the Epstein/Maxwell investigation!”
That very same day, with an investigative Washington Post story allegedly brewing, Dan Snyder hired Wilkinson to investigate claims of sexual harassment and assorted workplace misconduct at the team that has once been called the Washington Redskins, is now called the Washington Commanders, but then called the Washington Football Team.
Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Tisha Thompson report that Dan Snyder has a habit of making threats. “Cradling a drink in one hand, he tells members of his inner circle about the dirt he has accumulated on fellow owners, coaches, executives, even his own employees -- all the stuff he’s learned from other sources, including private investigative firms. He never says exactly what he knows, only that in his 23 years as owner of the Washington Commanders, he knows a lot. And that in the zero-sum world of billionaires, this is how you survive. Snyder recently told a close associate that he has gathered enough secrets to ‘blow up’ several NFL owners, the league office and even commissioner Roger Goodell. ‘They can’t f--- with me,’ he has said privately …”
Which sounds a little like Epstein.
That’s not the only time Wilkinson worked for the NFL. The very first accomplishment in the biography on her current website is “a victory for the NFL and its 32 member teams in one of the largest antitrust class action lawsuits in the country,” which is called “a complete victory for the NFL.”
For a long time, Snyder refused to sell his NFL team.
In 2022, the District of Columbia sued the NFL, Goodell, and Snyder, as ESPN reported “for allegedly colluding to deceive fans and district residents about the league’s investigation into the team’s toxic workplace culture and allegations of sexual assault in an effort to maintain a strong fan base and to increase profits.”
The course of Defendants’ conduct suggests the NFL was never serious about overseeing a thorough and complete investigation into Snyder and the Team’s misconduct. As the investigation progressed, the NFL received routine updates from Wilkinson’s investigators. Weeks after Goodell was first personally briefed by Wilkinson, during the heart of the investigation into Snyder’s pervasive misconduct, the NFL approved a waiver of League rules to let Snyder buy out three minority owners and gain 100% ownership control of the Team. Finally, the NFL refused to release Wilkinson’s detailed findings after a lengthy investigation (an arrangement negotiated directly with Snyder).
That case remains active; last November a district court judge sent the case back to D.C. Superior Court to be litigated on its merits.
Some sports fans are simply happy that since this suit was filed, Snyder has left the NFL, and the country—reportedly he lives in London now.
But when Snyder finally sold, he sold … to another group with Epstein ties. That group is led by longtime NBA billionaire Josh Harris, who–as a former Drexel Burnham and Apollo Global executive–is in the Epstein files more than 500 times.
This is the current Commanders ownership group as described on the team’s website:
There are all kinds of rabbit holes to go down on that list. Some of them ring a bell.
