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 and public federal court records. 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.
Reid Weingarten, a prominent Washington white-collar defense attorney with the firm Steptoe & Johnson, is a named entity in the InvArchives repository's entity index, which logs 1,431 mentions of his name across the archive's document set — an automated tally of appearances in the collection rather than a verified count of distinct records. The documents show Weingarten stood before a federal magistrate in Manhattan on July 8, 2019, as Jeffrey Epstein's lead defense counsel at his arraignment on sex-trafficking charges — but the archive's email traffic indicates the two men had been in direct personal contact for at least seven years before that court date.
A transcript from the Southern District of New York records the moment defense counsel identified themselves to Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman on the afternoon of Epstein's arrest: "Good afternoon, your Honor. For Jeffrey Epstein, Reid Weingarten from the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson," followed by Boston attorney Martin Weinberg, appearing pro hac vice, and New York attorney Marc Fernich (SDNY Arraignment Transcript, July 8, 2019). The case, United States v. Jeffrey Epstein, 19 Cr. 490 (RMB), charged Epstein with one count of sex-trafficking conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking of children, both felonies under 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1591.
The SDNY criminal docket lists Weingarten alongside three other Steptoe & Johnson attorneys — James L. Brochin, Michael Campion Miller, and Michael Gerard Scavelli — as retained, lead counsel of record for Epstein, together with Fernich and Weinberg (SDNY Criminal Docket, 1:19-cr-00490-RMB). The docket shows the case was assigned to Judge Richard M. Berman, filed July 2, 2019, and terminated August 29, 2019, nineteen days after Epstein's death in federal custody on August 10, 2019. It also records a related appellate docket number, 19-2221, opened in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Archive correspondence places Weingarten in contact with Epstein's office years before the SDNY case existed. In February 2012, Epstein's longtime scheduling assistant, Lesley Groff, emailed Weingarten under the subject line "Jeffrey Epstein/Roy Black/Reid Weingarten" to arrange a meeting: "HI Reid...I checked in with Roy and he cannot do morning on March 2nd...what would ideally work for you?" (Email: Groff to Weingarten re: Epstein/Roy Black meeting, Feb. 22, 2012). Earlier messages in the same chain show Epstein directing Groff to "set up reid and roy in miami, the 2 march late afternoon," and Weingarten replying that he wanted the meeting "as early as both Roy and Jeffrey can do it," noting he had to fly back to New York that night. A follow-up message confirmed the appointment: "Your appointment with Jeffrey and Roy Black has been set for Friday March 2nd at 2pm at Roy's office," listing the Miami address of Roy Black, the attorney who represented Epstein in the state's 2006–2008 investigation (Email: Groff to Weingarten, meeting confirmed, Feb. 22, 2012). The documents do not specify the subject matter of the March 2012 meeting, which fell during a period when Epstein faced ongoing civil litigation from accusers in federal court in Florida.
By late 2017, records show Weingarten and Epstein corresponding directly and informally, years before Weingarten's court appearance. A November 2017 email exchange, sent from Weingarten's BlackBerry, moves between short personal exchanges and commentary on the day's political news. Over the course of two days, Weingarten wrote "Bannon won...tax code fucks rich people" and, separately, "Trump is going to fire mueller and republicans on hill won't do a thing," while also mentioning in passing that he had "just landed in San Fran" and would call once he was settled (Email chain: Weingarten–Epstein, Nov. 1–2, 2017). A December 2017 message shows Weingarten forwarding Epstein a Law360 "MVP" profile of himself published by his firm's public-relations staff — a note from a colleague told Weingarten his firm had submitted seven MVP nominations that year and he was the only one selected — which Epstein in turn forwarded to an associate with the comment "he is willing to be trustee. lets see after the holiday" (Email: Law360 MVP profile forwarded, Dec. 22, 2017).
In January 2018, Weingarten wrote to Epstein asking him to "[t]ry to make the bannon meet happen with me there," an apparent reference to Trump adviser Steve Bannon. The exchange continued over several days, with Epstein replying "Any bannin feedback" and Weingarten answering "Waiting to hear...what time is he coming to you," before Weingarten later asked "Am I seeing you today?" (Email: Weingarten to Epstein re: "bannon meet," Jan. 7–8, 2018). A month later, an entry in Epstein's daily schedule for February 13, 2018 lists a "7:45am BREAKFAST w/Reid Weingarten" the same morning as a separately listed "1:00pm Appt w/Steve Bannon" (Epstein daily schedule, Feb. 13, 2018). The documents do not establish that Weingarten attended the afternoon appointment; they show only that both entries appear on the same day's calendar, alongside other unrelated meetings listed for that day.
Taken together, the archive's documents establish a relationship between Weingarten and Epstein that predates, by roughly seven years, the criminal case in which Weingarten is publicly known to have represented him. The federal docket and arraignment transcript confirm Weingarten's formal role as lead defense counsel in 2019. The earlier email record — an introduction through Roy Black's office in 2012, and informal, non-legal correspondence in 2017 and 2018 — indicates the two men maintained direct personal contact well before Epstein's arrest, though the archive does not include documents describing the substance or full history of their relationship in the intervening years.
Reid Weingarten has not been charged with any wrongdoing in connection with his representation of Epstein. Attorney-client representation, including in high-profile federal criminal matters, is a routine and lawful professional function.
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