18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 4, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com ly visited New York and were due to receive a gift from him via Groff, noted in an email from Groff to him: “She is going to stop by here tomorrow with Dillon [sic] (I’m so excited to meet her little girl!) to receive her very nice gift from you!” The move to Carmel Valley came possibly in 2011, when Epstein again helped out the family by loaning money so they could purchase their home near Bernardus Lodge. In an email from Kahn to Epstein in September 2011, the business manager tells Epstein that “sophie and hakim” are borrowing $50,000 from “jee,” referring to Epstein, and another $250,000 from a family member and that the couple was funding the remainder of the $700,000 purchase price. Kahn told Epstein there was a mortgage balance of $550,936. “[H]akim wanted me to communicate to you his thankfulness and please let him know how he can return the favor,” Kahn wrote. Five months later, in February 2012, there’s an email exchange between Epstein and Sophie that begins with Epstein telling her he’ll be in Los Angeles several days later. “Ahhhh! Might you come up to Carmel Valley or near there? Xo,” Sophie responded. Epstein simply says, “no, long beach.” “Can you please please come see me,” she responded. “Long beach to Monterey airport is a short 40 min flight and I am 14 minutes from airport. I can meet you there or even better, [bring] you back to the house for you to see. Gilbert won’t be there (he’ll be in LA) and Dylan’s in school until 3PM. Please please!!Xo.” He replied, “no time, how is the house sale going.” It’s not known if Epstein ever visited the Carmel Valley house that he helped them purchase. A few weeks later, Sophie exchanged emails with Groff about a missing vitamin shipment Sophie had sent to Epstein in New York. On May 14, 2012, Gilbert sent money via wire transfer to Epstein’s J.P. Morgan account in the amount of $550,936. There’s no mention of what it was for, but it closely matches the amount the Hakims needed to close on the Carmel Valley house. Soon after he wrote a letter to Epstein, as evidenced by an email from Groff to Gilbert on June 4: “I did receive the letter you wrote to JE and left it on his desk…no way he could miss it. Just wanted you to know!” Gilbert shows up in the files again in an email from Groff to him a year later: “Jeffrey says you are coming to NY for a visit and is asking what time you arrive on May 6th....can you let me know?!” In just one of many examples found in the files of Epstein’s reach into the upper echelons of business and society, Epstein recommended Sophie’s health and wellness services to Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, a French banker who is now CEO of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, in an email dated Oct. 17, 2013. The files show Epstein and de Rothschild communicated between 2013 and 2019 on business and personal matters. (A spokesperson for de Rothschild told Reuters recently that she had no knowledge of Epstein’s conduct and she “unequivocally condemns his behavior and the crimes which he committed.”) In his email to de Rothschild, Epstein suggested Sophie could come spend two to three weeks with the baroness to develop a personal health program. “Funny enough,” Epstein told her, Sophie is the great-great-granddaughter of the American business partner of de Rothschild’s great-grandfather. In 2014, Epstein gave encouragement to Sophie, as referenced in an email Sophie sent to him, with the subject line “Smiles.” The sender was redacted, but the content of the email falls in line with Sophie’s wellness business. (She currently lists a business name, The Best You Yet, on her LinkedIn account. “I help my clients have more energy, lose weight, sleep better and look more vibrant,” according to her profile.) “It seems hard to believe that a week ago today we spoke, as so much has happened since then. Your belief in me, and persistent generosity and caring never ceases to amaze me and make me feel so good. I have felt so alive and probably the best that I have in months since we talked,” the email states. “I hadn’t realized how worried and hopeless I was feeling about finances and how I was going to get my business off the ground… “All of the sudden so many people are asking for my help and ordering supplements like crazy,” she said. “I don’t know what it is about you that always has such a profound effect on me, my life and how I feel about myself. You set things in motion for me, just by being in connection with me. I hope you understand that I am not talking about money. Of course that is an aspect, but it is so much more than that.” Sophie took Dylan on other trips to visit Epstein over the years, as evidenced by air travel arranged by Groff on behalf of Epstein, detailed in emails from 2013, 2016 and 2017. During the 2017 trip, Dylan got to ride in a Bentley driven by JoJo Fontanilla, a house servant of Epstein’s. Sophie let Dylan, then about 13, ride in the Bentley while she was taking a meeting. “She felt like such a big girl! All made for a memorable day,” Sophie remarked in an email. In one of the last communications found in the files, from Groff to Sophie in February 2019, Groff asks about Sophie’s chiropractor husband, Gilbert, reviewing an MRI of Epstein’s back. “Hi Sophie! Hope you are well. Jeffrey would like me to send his MRI of his back to your husband... can you please give me his details and the address to Fed Ex to? Jeffrey also wants to make sure it is all fed ex’d back to us once he has reviewed…I can provide a Fed Ex return label…” Groff wrote. Sophie responded with an address (which is redacted from the files) and added, “I will be sure to take it to Fed Ex after he has reviewed them, The return label will make it easy. Thank you. I hope all is well with you. Happy new year belated!” Just five months later, Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 on charges of trafficking minors in New York and Florida. Less than two weeks after that, on July 18, he was found dead inside his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide. Sophie Biddle Hakim and Gilbert Hakim showed up in the society pages of Carmel Magazine in the fall of 2016, after they attended a local fundraiser. A redacted email (left) sent to Epstein in 2014 thanking him for his encouragement is likely from Sophie Biddle Hakim, who started a health and wellness business. A year earlier, a delayed shipment of laminine supplements was the subject of emails catalogued in the files. This one (right) references shipping them to “the island.” Laminine, containing fertilized chicken egg extract and shark cartilage, supposedly combats aging. KELLI ULDALL/CARMEL MAGAZINE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==