Kirkland & Ellis Foundation

IRS filings (990:363160355) document a decade of consistent grant-making punctuated by one significant revenue anomaly. Annual revenue held in the $6–10 million range from 2011 through 2015, then spiked to $25.5 million in 2016 before settling to $8.6 million by 2023 (990:363160355). The 2016 spike is explained by the filing data: partners contributed 317 noncash gifts of publicly traded securities valued at $11.3 million, on top of $14.2 million in cash (990:363160355). Rather than distributing the full windfall immediately, the Foundation moved most of it into temporarily restricted net assets, which grew from $6.2 million to $18.6 million that year (990:363160355). Grants in 2016 totaled $11.9 million to 321 organizations (990:363160355); the deferred funds were released in 2017, when grants rose to $14.6 million against only $9.6 million in new revenue.

Schedule R filings (990:363160355) document the financial relationship between the Foundation and K&E LLP. In 2016, K&E LLP transferred $154,853 as a gift/grant plus $23,000 in reimbursements (990:363160355). By 2022, the firm-level transfer had grown to $13,743,532 in a single cash gift (990:363160355). Both filings confirm sharing of facilities, mailing lists, and a de minimis number of paid employees (990:363160355). K&E LLP is designated as the Foundation’s sole related entity.

Across 2015–2024, total Foundation grant disbursements reached $78.6 million (990:363160355). The 2015 filing is the last year in which individual recipients were itemized in the public return; from 2016 onward, the 300+ recipient schedules are attached as separate documents marked “SEE ATTACHED” and are not included in the publicly filed XML. The 2015 itemized data (990:363160355), covering $10.8 million across 341 named organizations, shows the following distributional pattern: legal and policy organizations received $2.66 million across 83 recipients; universities received $2.22 million across 29 institutions, weighted toward K&E feeder schools such as Northwestern ($588K), University of Chicago ($565K), and the University of Chicago Law School; social services received $3.44 million across 140 organizations; Jewish communal and Israel-related organizations received $591K across 16 recipients including the Jewish United Fund ($159K), UJA-Federation ($104K), and the American Jewish Committee ($101K); youth and education received $811K; arts and culture $764K; and medical $301K. The Federalist Society received $8,167 (990:363160355).

Cross-referencing the 2015 itemized recipient list against known Epstein-network foundations—Gratitude America Ltd, Enhanced Education, the JEVI Foundation, Southern Trust Company, and Ghislaine Maxwell’s TerraMar Project—returns zero matches. K&E Foundation did not fund any of these entities in its last publicly itemized year (990:363160355). This absence, combined with the pattern of broad distribution to mainstream nonprofits, indicates that review of available records does not support a finding of financial flows from the Foundation to the Epstein network during the period for which recipient-level data is available.

The K&E Foundation’s board consists entirely of current K&E partners serving without compensation (990:363160355). The 2016 board was led by Andrew McGaan (President), with directors Feirstein, Gregory, Handler, Shoaib, Traxler, and Walker (Secretary/Treasurer) (990:363160355). By 2022, Daniel Laytin had replaced McGaan as President; Handler, Shoaib, and Traxler continued as directors, joined by Jennifer Levy (Secretary/Treasurer), Jai Agrawal, Jason Kanner, and Leo Plank (990:363160355).

Per its filings (990:363160355), the K&E Foundation explicitly discloses that it does not monitor the use of grant funds after disbursement (Schedule I, Part IV). This is standard practice for matching-gift foundations distributing to hundreds of established nonprofits, but it means the Foundation lacks internal controls that would detect if a grant recipient subsequently directed funds to related parties. The 2015 itemized recipient list (990:363160355)—the last year of full public disclosure—shows no indication of any such problematic end-use.

The K&E Foundation is legally and operationally distinct from K&E LLP, but understanding the Foundation requires placing it within the firm’s broader profile. K&E LLP (EIN 36-1326630) represented Jeffrey Epstein in the 2007–2008 federal prosecution in Florida. Partner Jay Lefkowitz served as lead defense counsel, corresponding directly with SDFL prosecutors and meeting with the US Attorney alongside co-counsel Ken Starr. The firm billed at least $1,319,336 on the Epstein defense matter through December 31, 2008, plus $9,000 for an FTC/DB Zwirn matter through September 30, 2009. The resulting non-prosecution agreement—signed when K&E partner Alex Acosta served as US Attorney for SDFL—was ruled a Crime Victims’ Rights Act violation by a federal judge in 2019. (dossier: Kirkland & Ellis)

K&E’s network significance extends beyond the Epstein matter. Graph analysis of the full investigation network places K&E at degree rank 6 (47 direct connections) and betweenness centrality rank 15. The firm anchors the largest closed triad cluster: the clique {Brian Benczkowski, Jeffrey Rosen, K&E, Mark Filip, William Barr} represents concentrated DOJ leadership—all K&E alumni who held positions in the Criminal Division, the Deputy Attorney General’s office, or the Attorney General’s office during periods relevant to this investigation. Additional K&E alumni holding relevant positions include Brett Kavanaugh (SCOTUS), Pat Cipollone (White House Counsel), John Eisenberg (Deputy White House Counsel and NSC Legal Adviser, now AAG National Security Division), Erin Nealy Cox (US Attorney for NDTX who brought the Boeing DPA), and Patrick Philbin (Deputy White House Counsel). (Kirkland & Ellis; William Barr; Brian Benczkowski; Jeffrey Rosen; Mark Filip)

Mark Filip’s career trajectory illustrates this pattern: as a K&E partner, he became Deputy Attorney General in 2008—the highest DOJ official to review the Epstein NPA. He returned to K&E after his DOJ service and subsequently led the firm’s defense of Boeing in the 737 MAX criminal matter, BP in Deepwater Horizon, Volkswagen in the emissions scandal, and Goldman Sachs in the 1MDB case. The Deferred Prosecution Agreement framework that shaped all of those outcomes was substantially developed during Filip’s tenure as DAG. (Mark Filip)

William Barr served as K&E Of Counsel from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2017 to 2018, joining the firm one year after K&E secured Epstein’s NPA. When Barr became Attorney General in 2019, he partially recused from the Epstein matter—only from review of the NPA itself, not from the ongoing prosecution. (William Barr)