The Moscow Murders and More

Highbridge Capital Management was a major New York hedge fund founded by Glenn Dubin and Henry Swieca that had grown into one of the most successful alternative-asset managers on Wall Street by the early 2000s. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase acquired a majority stake in Highbridge, which was managing roughly $7 billion at the time, giving the bank a much larger foothold in the rapidly expanding hedge-fund business. The deal became important to the Epstein story because Jeffrey Epstein was not simply an outside observer. Records from later litigation showed that he helped connect JPMorgan executive Jes Staley with Dubin and played...

Highbridge Capital Management was a major New York hedge fund founded by Glenn Dubin and Henry Swieca that had grown into one of the most successful alternative-asset managers on Wall Street by the early 2000s. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase acquired a majority stake in Highbridge, which was managing roughly $7 billion at the time, giving the bank a much larger foothold in the rapidly expanding hedge-fund business. The deal became important to the Epstein story because Jeffrey Epstein was not simply an outside observer. Records from later litigation showed that he helped connect JPMorgan executive Jes Staley with Dubin and played...

Ghislaine Maxwell bought the secluded 156-acre New Hampshire estate known as “Tucked Away” for about $1.1 million in December 2019, roughly seven months before the FBI arrested her there. Newly released Justice Department records showed that Swiss banking giant UBS transferred nearly $8 million from an account tied to a trust associated with Maxwell shortly before the purchase, with the money then moving through a series of trusts and financial institutions before reaching the entity that bought the property. Maxwell used the alias “Janet Marshall” during the transaction and surrounded herself with private security at the estate as federal investigators closed in.<br...

The legal fight over Bryan Kohberger’s alibi became one of the more prolonged pretrial disputes in the Idaho murders case, stretching across multiple filings, deadlines and arguments over exactly what the defense was required to disclose. Prosecutors repeatedly pressed Kohberger’s attorneys for a more specific alibi, while the defense maintained that he had been out driving alone during the early morning hours when the killings occurred and later supplemented that account with references to his habit of taking nighttime drives and looking at the stars. The state argued that the notice was too vague to function as a mean...

In the Bryan Kohberger case (CR29-22-2805), Kohberger's defense team has filed a motion to strike the state's intent to seek the death penalty. The defense argues that the prosecution failed to present the aggravating factors to a neutral fact-finder, a critical step in capital punishment cases. Additionally, the defense raised multiple challenges, including claims that Idaho's death penalty laws are unconstitutionally vague and do not align with contemporary standards of decency. They are contesting each aggravating factor cited by the prosecution, aiming to remove the death penalty from the table before the trial begins. A hearing for this...

Judge Steven Hippler rejected Bryan Kohberger’s effort to use his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis as a basis for removing the death penalty from the case, ruling that the defense had not established that autism should receive the same constitutional protection the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized for intellectual disability. Kohberger’s attorneys had argued that his diagnosis reduced his culpability, undermined the deterrent and retributive purposes of capital punishment and increased the risk of an unreliable death sentence. Hippler disagreed, finding no established national consensus prohibiting the execution of people with autism and concluding that the defense had not...

Early in the University of Idaho murder investigation, Moscow Police repeatedly described the killings as a “targeted attack,” which led to confusion over exactly what investigators believed had been targeted. The issue became more muddled on November 30, 2022, after the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office said the killer had specifically looked at the King Road residence and that one or more of the occupants were “undoubtedly targeted.” Moscow Police quickly walked that back, calling it a miscommunication and clarifying that detectives did not actually know whether the house itself or any particular victim had been specifically targeted. The department stressed that investigat...

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Day two of Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing focused heavily on prosecutors’ effort to connect Robinson to the Utah Valley University campus and to the physical evidence recovered after Charlie Kirk was shot. Investigators introduced additional surveillance footage they said showed Robinson moving around UVU before and after the shooting, while the State also turned to forensic evidence recovered along the alleged escape route. A screwdriver found on top of the Losee Center and a towel recovered from a wooded area near the rifle became major points of testimony. The State Bureau of Investigation introduced an FBI laboratory report concluding that...

Katie Phang is opposing Attorney General Todd Blanche’s request to partially stay a September 16 enforcement order requiring the Justice Department to begin reviewing and producing foreign-language materials potentially covered by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Phang’s filing argues that Blanche has already ignored the underlying June 25 preliminary injunction for nearly three months, including a July 2 compliance deadline, and is now trying to stop enforcement only days before a new September 24 deadline. Her attorneys argue the stay should be denied for several reasons: Blanche allegedly failed to confer with opposing counsel before filing the motion, the enforcement order itself is n...

Katie Phang is opposing Attorney General Todd Blanche’s request to partially stay a September 16 enforcement order requiring the Justice Department to begin reviewing and producing foreign-language materials potentially covered by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Phang’s filing argues that Blanche has already ignored the underlying June 25 preliminary injunction for nearly three months, including a July 2 compliance deadline, and is now trying to stop enforcement only days before a new September 24 deadline. Her attorneys argue the stay should be denied for several reasons: Blanche allegedly failed to confer with opposing counsel before filing the motion, the enforcement order itself is n...

An unsealed defense memo raised questions about whether Bryan Kohberger fully understood the consequences of pleading guilty to the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. According to the filing, members of Kohberger’s defense team had concerns about whether he was thinking rationally and comprehending what he was agreeing to when he accepted the deal that removed the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas and four consecutive life sentences. The memo became public as Kohberger pursued post-conviction relief, arguing that his plea was not knowing and voluntary and that he had been pressured into ad...

Newly released records show that Jeffrey Epstein cultivated a surprisingly deep relationship with the emerging cryptocurrency world years after his 2008 conviction, positioning himself as an investor, connector and adviser while Bitcoin and other digital assets were still in their infancy. The records detail his dealings with crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce, who introduced Epstein to early investment opportunities, including Coinbase, and show Epstein discussing Bitcoin with figures such as Peter Thiel and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Epstein ultimately put millions of dollars into crypto-related ventures and maintained relationships with people at the center of the industry, while also using those...

Newly released records show that Jeffrey Epstein cultivated a surprisingly deep relationship with the emerging cryptocurrency world years after his 2008 conviction, positioning himself as an investor, connector and adviser while Bitcoin and other digital assets were still in their infancy. The records detail his dealings with crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce, who introduced Epstein to early investment opportunities, including Coinbase, and show Epstein discussing Bitcoin with figures such as Peter Thiel and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Epstein ultimately put millions of dollars into crypto-related ventures and maintained relationships with people at the center of the industry, while also using those...

Epstein survivors say the financial consequences of the abuse have continued long after their encounters with Jeffrey Epstein ended, affecting their ability to work, obtain medical treatment and maintain financial stability. Survivors described paying significant out-of-pocket costs for therapy, physical rehabilitation and other health care while also losing income because of trauma, advocacy work or difficulty finding employment after publicly identifying themselves with the case. Some received compensation through Epstein-related settlements or mental-health funds, but the amounts varied widely, and survivors said those payments did not necessarily cover years of medical expenses, lost wages and disrupted careers....

In the early hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students—Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—were brutally stabbed to death in a rental house near campus in Moscow, Idaho. The crime scene was particularly disturbing: there were no signs of forced entry, and two surviving roommates were left unharmed in the same house. The case immediately drew national attention due to the shocking nature of the murders and the lack of suspects in the early days. A months-long investigation led law enforcement to Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. criminology student at Washington State Univ...

In the early hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students—Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—were brutally stabbed to death in a rental house near campus in Moscow, Idaho. The crime scene was particularly disturbing: there were no signs of forced entry, and two surviving roommates were left unharmed in the same house. The case immediately drew national attention due to the shocking nature of the murders and the lack of suspects in the early days. A months-long investigation led law enforcement to Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. criminology student at Washington State Univ...

Bryan Kohberger’s defense asked the court to dismiss the indictment against him by attacking the way the grand jury proceedings were handled, arguing that prosecutors had presented the case in a manner that deprived him of a fair and lawful charging process. The defense raised multiple complaints about the evidence and instructions given to grand jurors, including claims that prosecutors had presented inadmissible or misleading material, failed to properly explain the legal standards the jurors were supposed to apply and allowed the grand jury to return an indictment without an adequate showing of probable cause. Kohberger’s attorneys argu...

In the Kohberger case, the court ordered the grand jury witness list sealed from public view, keeping the identities of the people who testified before the grand jury confidential. The order was consistent with the secrecy that generally surrounds grand jury proceedings, where prosecutors present evidence privately to determine whether there is probable cause to return an indictment. By sealing the witness list, the court prevented the names of those witnesses from becoming part of the publicly accessible case record while the prosecution moved forward against Kohberger.The sealing order also limited the public’s ability to re...

Bryan Kohberger’s capital murder trial had been indefinitely postponed after he waived his right to a speedy trial less than two months before the proceedings were scheduled to begin. Kohberger had originally been set to go to trial on Oct. 2, 2023, in the killings of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. His lead public defender, Anne Taylor, told the court that the defense did not have enough time to adequately prepare for a case involving an enormous amount of evidence and the possibility of the death penalty. Judge John Judge repeatedly confirmed th...