Justice Department emails released in the latest tranche of so-called “Epstein Files” suggest that New York collector and magazine publisher Lisa Fayne Cohen and her husband, developer-investor Jimmy Cohen, were in regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein in late 2015 and early 2016 — years after Epstein’s sex-crimes case had become widely known.
The documents, which began to be made public in December, include email exchanges that place Cohen in Epstein’s orbit as she was preparing to launch Galerie, the glossy art, design, and interiors magazine that debuted in 2016 and continues to publish. The files do not allege wrongdoing by either Lisa Fayne Cohen or Jimmy Cohen.
Among the most striking connections in the emails is the appearance of Epstein’s Paris apartment on the cover of Galerie’s second issue, published in fall 2016, where it was presented anonymously and accompanied by an extensive interior spread.
The correspondence indicates that Cohen’s outreach to Epstein’s household began through Faith Kates, a cofounder of NEXT Model Management. In an email dated November 2, 2015, Kates wrote to Cohen that Epstein wanted to see her that day if possible, adding that he could be reached by email while traveling. Cohen replied that she was on deadline “with the arts and design website and magazine I am working on,” and proposed meeting the following day.
According to the email trail, Cohen visited 9 East 71st Street, Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, on November 3, 2015. Subsequent messages show Cohen communicating with Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, about the property and about photographing Epstein’s Paris residence. On November 14, Cohen wrote that she wanted to speak with Epstein about “possible interior design ideas and plans for the NY townhouse.” The next day, she told Groff she had spoken with Epstein and that “We want to photograph a few rooms in Jeffrey’s Paris apartment re: a story on Vintage [Alberto] Pinto design.”
Galerie positions itself at the intersection of art collecting and luxury lifestyle, covering art, interiors, design, and architecture. The publication has stated a circulation of 125,000 and says its readership includes collectors and design professionals, as well as venues and businesses tied to the high-end travel and hospitality economy, including private jet terminals and five-star hotels and spas.
The Cohens’ collecting profile has been widely noted in the art press. A 2023 Artnet News profile reported that the couple began collecting in 2009 with a work by French modernist Fernand Léger, and that they own multiple residences, including an apartment overlooking Central Park. The same profile listed works in their collection by modern and contemporary artists including Jennifer Bartlett, Cecily Brown, George Condo, Jean Dubuffet, Mark Grotjahn, Keith Haring, Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Joan Mitchell.
Epstein’s criminal case first entered public view in 2005, when Florida police began investigating him. He was arrested in 2006 after being indicted on a charge of soliciting prostitution, amid allegations involving underage girls. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor and served jail time until 2009. In the years that followed, civil litigation and public reporting continued to expand the scope of allegations around Epstein and his network.
The newly released emails add another set of names to the long list of cultural and social figures whose proximity to Epstein has drawn scrutiny, particularly when contact continued after his 2008 conviction. For the art world, the documents underscore how easily the circuits of collecting, publishing, and high-end real estate can overlap with reputational risk — and how those entanglements can resurface years later through archival paper trails.
As additional files are released, the disclosures are likely to keep raising questions about how institutions, publishers, and private actors handled relationships with Epstein in the period when his crimes were already a matter of public record.
