Chiaki Hayashi** signed her name as guarantor on official Japanese government documents sponsoring Jeffrey Epstein's 2015 visit to Japan — and the seized DOJ files show exactly how her company was pulled into his network.
Eleven documents in the federal archive, spanning April 2015, show Hayashi in her role as Co-founder and Representative Director of Loftwork Inc. agreeing to cover Epstein's travel expenses and guarantee his compliance with Japanese law. The paperwork was processed through the Consul-General of Japan in New York while Epstein's own assistant coordinated the logistics by email.
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Letters of Guarantee Signed for Epstein
Document vol00009-efta00306024-pdf, a formal Letter of Guarantee dated April 23, 2015 and addressed to the Consul-General of Japan in New York, names Hayashi directly. She is identified as "Co-founder and Representative Director, Loftwork Inc." and listed as the guarantor accepting responsibility for expenses during Epstein's stay in Japan, return travel costs, and compliance with Japanese laws.
A second letter, document vol00009-efta00296396-pdf, dated April 21, 2015, extends the same guarantee to cover Epstein's Russian-national assistant, whose occupation is listed as "Executive Assistant to Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, CEO of Southern Trust Company, Inc." Hayashi's signature and date of birth — August 8, 1971 — appear on both letters.
The stated business rationale on each letter reads: "Loftwork Inc. will discuss collaboration with Mr. Epstein and his company on supporting the US startups in launching in Japan and bringing Japanese startups to the US."
Lesley Groff Coordinates the Paperwork
The visa process did not happen in isolation. A chain of emails preserved in document vol00009-efta00348906-pdf shows Lesley Groff, Epstein's longtime personal assistant and later a cooperating witness, personally managing the visa applications from New York.
In an April 23, 2015 message, Groff wrote to Mika Tanaka Nakano — Loftwork's Global Division contact handling the guarantor documentation in Tokyo: "Since we are mentioning Ms. Chiaki Hayashi as our guarantor and the inviting person, we need to put her nationality and immigration status in the application form."
The email thread, also captured in document vol00010-efta02080423-pdf, shows Tanaka Nakano confirming Hayashi's status to Groff: "Chiaki Hayashi is a Japanese national. As for her immigration status, is it for US? If so, she doesn't have any visa or green card for US."
Groff used Jeffrey Epstein's personal FedEx account — number 1144-2081-6 — to ship the visa documents between Tokyo and New York, according to the same email chain.
Multiple Assistants Included in the Application
The visa applications covered more than Epstein alone. Document vol00009-efta00348935-pdf, an April 23, 2015 email from Tanaka Nakano to Groff, references a zip file of individual visa applications prepared for multiple travelers — including an assistant named "Karyna," whose application required Hayashi's corporate seal and guarantee.
Karyna Shuliak, a Ukrainian national who later appeared as a beneficiary of Epstein's $120 million offshore trust structure, is identified in the archive as one of the assistants traveling with Epstein to Japan that spring.
Document vol00009-efta00348902-pdf records Groff pressing Tanaka Nakano for separate letters for each traveler, citing the high rejection rate at Japanese consulates and the advice of a specialist visa agency engaged for the trip.
Loftwork and the Startup Collaboration Cover
Loftwork Inc. is a Tokyo-based creative platform and startup incubator co-founded by Hayashi. The company's Global Division, led by Tanaka Nakano, served as the operational contact point for Epstein's Japan arrangements.
The business framing on the Letters of Guarantee — US-Japan startup bridging — matches the kind of legitimate-seeming venture that appeared throughout Epstein's international network. Documents in related files show Epstein was simultaneously in contact with Joi Ito, the former director of the MIT Media Lab, whose own emails with Epstein from January 2015 appear in the same document volume.
The 11 documents do not indicate whether the Japan trip took place as planned or whether any business collaboration was formalized. What the records establish is that Hayashi agreed, on behalf of Loftwork Inc., to serve as the legal guarantor for Epstein and at least two of his assistants to enter Japan.
What the Documents Show
The archive files establish a clear sequence: Epstein's team initiated the Japan visa process in April 2015, Loftwork's Global Division prepared the guarantor paperwork, and Hayashi signed the Letters of Guarantee in her capacity as the company's co-founder and representative director.
The use of a corporate seal, multiple letters, and a specialist visa agency — coordinated through Epstein's personal accounts — reflects the kind of institutional scaffolding that appeared across his international travel arrangements in the years before his 2019 arrest.
All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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This analysis references publicly released documents from the Epstein case archive. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law. Language such as “documents indicate” reflects what appears in source materials, not conclusions of guilt. Readers are encouraged to review the cited source documents directly.