How Epstein tried to buy a Moroccan palace months before his death

As US federal charges loomed for Epstein, newly released documents show offshore structuring, rejected bank transfers.

Behind high walls outside Marrakesh, Bin Ennakhil unfolds like a private kingdom. The estate spans 4.6 hectares (11.4 acres) and has 60 marble fountains that spill into mosaic-tiled courtyards. Gold-draped salons open onto gardens threaded with olive trees and more than 2,000 palms. A hammam steam spa sits beneath carved ceilings while an outdoor pool glints in the Moroccan sun.

It is the kind of property that keeps its owner beyond the view of the outside world.

In the summer of 2019, a wire transfer request bearing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s signature and dated July 4 was submitted to buy the Moroccan palace – in a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States. Two days later, Epstein was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Newly released US Department of Justice documents reviewed by Al Jazeera show that in the months before that arrest, Epstein had been negotiating to acquire the Moroccan estate through a layered offshore structure spanning the British Virgin Islands and Liechtenstein.

But as scrutiny intensified and details of Epstein’s life and crimes became public, the financial institutions that had long handled his money began to tighten their grip. The documents show banks rejecting wire transfers tied to his accounts and compliance teams escalating internal reviews. Tens of millions of dollars were sent abroad and then pulled back.