Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D.), now running for governor of the Virgin Islands, again distanced herself from Jeffrey Epstein at a debate this week, and called the saga over her former friend and constituent “a very difficult chapter in Virgin Islands history.” But Plaskett’s continued ties to Epstein’s longtime legal fixer and other Epstein associates suggest she’s yet to close the book on the dead pedophile.
Erika Kellerhals, a former Epstein lawyer who oversaw his network of shell companies and allegedly pressured Virgin Island officials to waive Epstein’s sex offender registration requirements, contributed $3,500, the federal maximum, to Plaskett’s gubernatorial campaign on April 13, records show. Kellerhals’s husband, her law firm partner, Greg Ferguson, his wife, and Sebastiano Cassinelli, a Virgin Islands businessman who solicited political donations from Epstein, also gave maximum amounts to Plaskett’s congressional campaign.
Those donations, which made up roughly one-third of Plaskett’s fundraising haul last quarter, could renew questions for the former Trump impeachment manager as she runs for governor of the U.S. territory. Plaskett—who, despite being a nonvoting delegate in Congress, was a Trump impeachment manager in 2021 and sits on the powerful House Ways & Means committee, where she can vote—transferred nearly all of her congressional war chest to her gubernatorial campaign on April 16 and has faced scrutiny for soliciting campaign contributions from Epstein and for misrepresenting the nature of their relationship. She narrowly avoided congressional censure in November after revelations that she exchanged text messages with Epstein during a February 2019 House hearing and asked questions based on his prompts.
Though Plaskett has repeatedly insisted she was never friends with Epstein, Plaskett called him “a friend” in a February 2019 text message and provided Epstein nonpublic information about Virgin Islands legislation, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Their relationship resurfaced during Monday’s gubernatorial debate, when a moderator asked Plaskett, “Why did you change the nature of your relationship with Epstein?” Plaskett again denied they were friends, calling the Epstein scandal “a very difficult chapter in Virgin Islands history.”
Plaskett’s ties to Kellerhals are particularly eye-catching given that Kellerhals has been at the center of congressional investigations and several lawsuits over Epstein’s crimes.
Kellerhals was central to the Plaskett-Epstein relationship. Kellerhals introduced Plaskett, her former law firm employee, to Epstein in 2014 as a “potential donor” to her campaign, and arranged several meetings between the duo, the last occurring on May 14, 2019, just weeks before Epstein was arrested in New Jersey for trafficking underage girls to his Virgin Islands home.
Kellerhals also served as an intermediary to handle Epstein and his friends’ donations to Plaskett, emails show.
In July 2016, Kellerhals gave Epstein instructions on how to submit $5,400 donations from himself and several employees to Plaskett’s campaign.
“The checks can be made out to Virgin Islands for Plaskett and can be mailed to my office,” Kellerhals told Epstein, according to an email released by the Department of Justice.
Kellerhals, who has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, helped organize a 2018 fundraiser for Plaskett at former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s home, to which Epstein was invited. Plaskett visited Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in September 2018 to solicit a $30,000 contribution to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
According to an Oct. 19, 2018, email, Epstein instructed Plaskett to have Kellerhals provide him “guidance on how to make a DCCC donation while also giving Stacey credit for funds.”
As she managed Plaskett’s political rise, Kellerhals helped Epstein out of legal and business jams.
In a March 28, 2019, email, Kellerhals told Epstein that the appointment of Virgin Islands attorney general Denise George was “good news for us with respect to the registration issues,” suggesting she believed George would approve a waiver to relax his sex offender registration requirements. George ultimately denied the request and later told the FBI that she was pressured by Kellerhals to go easy on Epstein, according to notes from the 2023 interview.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution, was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died in a Manhattan jail the following month. Epstein bequeathed $2 million to Kellerhals in his will. Kellerhals and her law firm have represented his estate since then in various lawsuits filed by Epstein’s victims.
An anonymous Epstein victim alleged in a lawsuit filed last month that Kellerhals provided “services related to Epstein’s trafficking operation,” including organizing shell companies and managing real estate transactions involving his island and New York City mansion. Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) has asked the Treasury Department to turn over “suspicious activity reports” involving Kellerhals and Epstein’s banking transactions.
In 2016, Kellerhals made a “straw purchase” of a second island for Epstein that he used as a “barrier” to “enable his criminal conduct” at his primary residence on Little St. James Island, according to a 2020 lawsuit the Virgin Islands attorney general filed against the Epstein estate.
Kellerhals also sought a 90 percent tax break for Epstein’s shell company, Southern Trust, claiming in a 2012 affidavit that the company conducted biomedical research. The Virgin Islands attorney general later concluded that claim was “false.” Epstein’s estate, represented by Kellerhals, ultimately agreed to pay the territory $105 million as part of a legal settlement in 2022.
Kellerhals also facilitated Epstein donations to a political committee led by Sebastiano Cassinelli, a Virgin Islands businessman and political operative who contributed $3,500 to Plaskett. According to emails, Kellerhals asked Epstein in 2014 to donate to Cassinelli’s political nonprofit, VIBT Inc., in order to help gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Mapp against his opponent. Epstein agreed. Cassinelli solicited $10,000 from Epstein in December 2014 to support Mapp’s inaugural committee, emails show. Epstein authorized the donation from his shell company, Southern Trust.
Kellerhals sought another $75,000 contribution to VIBT Inc. in November 2018 to help former governor Albert Bryan. Epstein made the donation, banking records show.
Plaskett, who has not disclosed donors to her gubernatorial campaign, did not respond to a request for comment. Kellerhals did not respond to a request for comment.
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