Buried in the many, many pages of the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice a few days ago, one of the last things we expected to find was reference to everyone’s favorite boxer-engined turbocharged sports sedan, the Subaru WRX.
However, Car and Driver has dug out something interesting among the three million or so pages released at the end of January, revealing that Epstein was close to purchasing a WRX in late 2017 – until the brakes were put on the deal when it was discovered that the car was a manual.
https://www.justice.gov/
A series of email exchanges between Epstein himself and his accountant, Richard Kahn, show that the latter had been looking around at WRXs to buy, eventually tracking down a suitable model at Carbone Subaru in Troy, New York – or so it seemed.
The WRX Wasn’t Atually for Epstein
Although the email exchanges are between Kahn and Epstein, it wasn’t actually the convicted sex offender who was looking for the punchy all-wheel drive sedan. Rather, the first batch of emails mention that the car was for ‘Jojo’ – most likely referring to Jojo Fontanilla, Epstein’s housekeeper.Â
It seems that the deal was close to going through, until Kahn discovered that the WRX in question was a three-pedal model, and Fontanilla was looking for an automatic.
Jojo ended up with a Legacy
In the end, it seems that Fontanilla went down a slightly different route, opting for something a little larger and more relaxed than the WRX, but sticking with Subaru. A second round of emails from January 2018 show that a Subaru Legacy had been tracked down at another New York Subaru dealer, with Kahn proposing that he and Epstein contribute $25,000 and that Fontanilla provide the remainder towards the $33,772 out-of-the-door price. It’s unclear if this deal ended up going through, as the trail appears to end there.Â
https://www.justice.gov/
While all this is obviously a miniscule part of the ongoing story unfolding around the release of the Epstein files, it’s nevertheless a little surprising to see such an enthusiast-focused car finding its way into the drama.
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