Legal disclaimer: This article is based solely on documents released in the federal EFTA (Electronic Filing and Text Archive) production, made public through litigation, supplemented by the archive's entity index. All facts are drawn from those documents. This article does not assert guilt, wrongdoing, or criminal conduct on the part of any individual. Language such as "documents indicate," "records show," and "alleged" reflects the evidentiary basis and does not constitute a legal conclusion. Minors are not identified in this reporting.
Janusz Banasiak, a Polish-born house manager who ran Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach residence for roughly twelve years, appears in 2,279 documents in the InvArchives entity index — FBI 302 interview reports, Colonial Bank statements, a criminal-defense attorney's correspondence with federal prosecutors, a grand jury subpoena log, and a 2015 amendment to Epstein's trust naming Banasiak a beneficiary.
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The record places Banasiak inside Epstein's Palm Beach property, 358 El Brillo Way, from February 2005 until 2017 — spanning the original Palm Beach Police investigation, Epstein's 2008 guilty plea, and years afterward. FBI agents interviewed him about the household at least four times across sixteen years, most recently in October 2021, two years after Epstein's death.
According to a February 2007 FBI interview conducted with Banasiak's attorney and an Assistant U.S. Attorney present, Banasiak was hired in November 2004 through a Maryland staffing firm identified as "DEA" (Domestic Employment Agency) (FBI interview, February 2, 2007). He first interviewed with Ghislaine Maxwell at a New York townhouse between Lexington and Park Avenues, then with Epstein at his Madison Avenue office, before being told the position was based in Florida (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
Banasiak began work in February 2005 as property manager of Epstein's Palm Beach residence, living in a small guest house on the property. Records show he was not given a written contract but was required to sign a confidentiality agreement, given Epstein "dealt with a lot of financial records" (FBI interview, February 2, 2007). A pay statement lists him as Employee Number 0018 in Department 10 of Epstein's household payroll (Payroll statement, April 14, 2005). By his own account in 2021, he started at an annual salary of $65,000 and received raises in subsequent years (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
Banasiak told agents he was given a household manual — he recalled it as a stapled set of pages rather than a bound book — that instructed him on how to answer the phone, prepare the house, and record messages. Much of what he learned about Epstein's preferences, he said, came directly from Maxwell, who told him what foods and flowers Epstein liked and how phone calls should be handled (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
His responsibilities, per the 2007 interview, included household and lawn maintenance, grocery shopping, and driving Epstein and his assistants. He maintained a petty cash fund — $1,500 according to the 2007 account, later described as $2,000 draws in 2021 — for day-to-day household expenditures, and was required to produce itemized reports of the spending (FBI interview, February 2, 2007).
Colonial Bank statements in the archive list a checking account held jointly by "JEFFREY E EPSTEIN OR GHISLAINE MAXWELL OR JANUSZ BANASIAK" at a branch address of 457 Madison Avenue, New York (Colonial Bank statement, April–May 2005). A separate Colonial Bank account tied to the Palm Beach property, addressed to Banasiak at 358 El Brillo Way, shows recurring ACH deposits labeled "JEFFREY EPSTEIN PAYROLL" (Colonial Bank statement). In the 2007 interview, Banasiak confirmed that the signatories on the petty-cash account, held at a Colonial Bank branch on Worth Avenue, were Epstein, Maxwell, and himself (FBI interview, February 2, 2007).
Banasiak told the FBI he first learned of the investigation into Epstein when police arrived at the Palm Beach residence with a search warrant — he was at his computer in the guest house when he saw several agents approach. He was asked to deliver the warrant paperwork to Epstein's attorney and later said he learned the specifics of the allegations against Epstein from news coverage (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
He remained employed through Epstein's 2008 guilty plea. Banasiak said he personally picked Epstein up at the airport before the court date and drove him to Palm Beach for the proceeding. After Epstein's arrest, Banasiak said staff pay was cut by ten percent — a reduction he said was never restored after Epstein completed his sentence. He considered leaving but stayed on, ultimately working at the property until 2017 (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
A Palm Beach federal grand jury subpoena log from the investigation code-named "Operation Leap Year" lists Banasiak twice by name and job title — "Janusz Banasiak (property manager)" — with subpoenas for his employment records and contact information dated December 1, 2006, and January 12, 2007 (Grand jury subpoena log).
Banasiak retained his own criminal defense attorney, Michael Salnick, whose firm corresponded directly with the U.S. Attorney's Office on his behalf. A January 2006 memo from Salnick to the government asks whether his client could retrieve his computer and related equipment ahead of a scheduled meeting (Salnick memo, January 11, 2006); a January 2007 memo from Salnick, addressed to an Assistant U.S. Attorney, references "our client: Janusz Banasiak" following a phone conversation about the matter (Salnick memo, January 19, 2007). Salnick and an Assistant U.S. Attorney were both present for Banasiak's formal FBI interview the following month.
The archive shows Banasiak was re-interviewed by federal agents well after Epstein's 2019 arrest and death, including an October 2021 session in which he was shown message pads and a household manual recovered as government exhibits and asked to identify his handwriting. In that interview, Banasiak also corrected an earlier description he had given of a "phone book" — clarifying it had a silver or metal cover rather than a black one, after he said he'd previously described it as black based on what "people" had told him about someone "trying to sell the black book" (FBI interview, October 19, 2021).
A First Amendment to the Jeffrey E. Epstein Trust, dated in 2015, lists a bequest: "I give to Janusz Banasiak, if he survives me, an amount equal to Fifty Eight Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($58,500.00)" (First Amendment to the Jeffrey E. Epstein Trust). The same amendment names other longtime members of Epstein's staff and network in adjoining, similarly worded provisions.
Taken together, the record traces a single household employee's presence across the full arc of the federal case against Epstein — hired in 2005, present for the search that opened the state investigation, subpoenaed in the ensuing federal grand jury probe, represented by his own defense counsel, still on the payroll for Epstein's 2008 plea, and interviewed by the FBI as recently as 2021 about physical evidence tied to the case. No public record in the archive indicates Banasiak was ever charged with a crime.
All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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