Epstein Files Unsealed: Juan Alessi And The Deposition Given To Detective Recarey (Part 1) - The Epstein Chronicles

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The Epstein Chronicles – Episode Summary

Podcast: The Epstein Chronicles
Host: Bobby Capucci
Episode: Epstein Files Unsealed: Juan Alessi And The Deposition Given To Detective Recarey (Part 1)
Date: May 22, 2026

Overview of Episode Theme

In this episode, host Bobby Capucci dives into a pivotal 2005 deposition from Juan Alessi, longtime house manager for Jeffrey Epstein. The deposition, taken by Detective Joe Recarey of the Palm Beach Police Department, sheds light on the day-to-day operations at Epstein’s Palm Beach residence and begins unpacking Alessi’s first-hand observations, particularly about Ghislaine Maxwell’s role, the presence of young women, and suspicious activities within the house.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Juan Alessi’s Role (00:55–02:30)

Juan Alessi details his employment:
- House manager at Epstein’s Palm Beach residence.
- Employed from January 1, 1991, through December 31, 2002.
- Began as a houseman, became a major domo/butler, driver, and was in charge of the estate staff.
Alessi’s wife also employed, but Juan had seniority and oversight of her and other staff.

Daily Operations and Chain of Command (02:31–04:30)

Ghislaine Maxwell is identified as the “manager of all the households.”
Alessi dealt directly with both Epstein and Maxwell (his "immediate superior").
She organized and notified staff when Epstein would be at the house.

House Procedures and Guest Protocols (04:31–05:40)

Staff stayed in an apartment across the bridge when Epstein was away, but would stay on estate property when he was there due to early and late hours.
The house received numerous guests; rarely was the residence without visitors during Epstein’s stays.
Assistants, chefs (notably Adam Perry Lang and a French chef named Didier), and staff rotated frequently.

Presence of Young Women and Massage Protocol (05:41–08:37)

Frequent massages—sometimes up to three per day for Epstein.
Rotating group of massage therapists; Alessi estimates he saw “100, 200 different massage therapists” over 11 years.
Most appeared to be adults, but in the final year(s), Alessi noticed one or two who seemed “young,” possibly 16 or 17.
Massages primarily took place in Epstein’s suite, bathroom, or outside on the balcony.
Staff set up rooms and massage tables as directed; massage tables present in nearly every guest room.
Most massages were for Epstein, sometimes for guests.

Observations of Suspicious Activity (07:45–09:33)

Maxwell occasionally seen going upstairs during massages; once the bedroom doors closed, staff did not witness what happened.
Alessi often did post-massage cleanup, finding substantial mess—“40 or 50 towels a day”—but no direct evidence of wrongdoing.
He “imagined there was more,” though never witnessed it:
- “I just imagined I never saw anything. But I imagine there was more. I never saw anything because it was closed doors.” (Alessi, 08:30)
Occasionally found sex toys left in Epstein’s bathroom sink and stored in a basket in Maxwell's closet, particularly toward the end of his tenure.

Details on Equipment and Items Used (10:28–13:00)

“Gallons of” different massage oils and various massagers were supplied, purchased worldwide.
Some massagers, particularly in the last year, looked like sex toys; found a few times left out in bathrooms.
All such items stored in Maxwell’s closet.
Beds sometimes found undone after massages, suggesting possible sexual activity, although Alessi would also speculate that Epstein might’ve simply napped.

Alessi’s Departure and Reflections (13:01–14:40)

Alessi and his wife left due to grueling hours and declining health—he was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer.
Recalls job as “incredibly hard” despite good pay and describes working from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm when Epstein was in town.
Departure was amicable, despite what host refers to as a prior “falling out.”
Alessi asserts he and his wife “just imagined things that could have happened,” never witnessing direct abuse nor hearing “complaints or girls crying.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Massage Therapists:
“During 11 years, I probably saw 100, 200 different massage therapists.” (Alessi, 07:20)
On Apparent Age of Visitors:
“We saw one or two young ones in the last year. Before that, it was all adults... I imagine she was 16, 17, in my judgment.” (Alessi, 07:54)
On What Alessi Witnessed:
“I just imagined I never saw anything. But I imagine there was more. I never saw anything because it was closed doors.” (Alessi, 08:30)
On Sex Toys and Evidence:
“At the last year that we were there, they had like sex toys. Some of them, I can say that maybe three or four occasions that I saw in the sink, they were left out on the sink.” (Alessi, 11:43)
On the Workload:
“It was a hard job. It was an incredibly hard job. So demanding. And hours were terrible. From 5:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night. Constantly on your feet. I got very sick. My health went down the drain.” (Alessi, 13:10)

Timeline & Timestamps for Key Segments

00:55 — Introduction to Juan Alessi’s role and experience
02:31 — Explanation of staff hierarchy/relationship to Maxwell
05:41 — Details about massages and the frequency/age of women
07:45 — Setup, cleanup, and house staff observations; mention of “closed doors”
09:33 — Host briefly recaps and transitions
10:28 — Detailed inventory of massage-related items, discussion of sex toys
13:01 — Alessi discusses health problems, departure from Epstein’s employ
14:10 — Alessi’s final reflections on what staff did/did not witness

Tone and Language

The episode maintains a matter-of-fact tone, as Capucci methodically reads and comments on the deposition, pausing occasionally to clarify names and add context. Alessi’s language is straightforward and deliberative, often emphasizing what he did and did not actually witness.

Closing & Next Steps

Bobby Capucci wraps up Part 1, noting that the next episode will continue with the deposition coverage. He directs listeners to additional materials in the episode's description box.

Overall:
This episode offers rare, inside perspective into Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach operations, highlighting the structured secrecy within the residence, Ghislaine Maxwell’s managerial role, and the heavy, often mysterious traffic of massage therapists—including some who appeared underage in later years. While Alessi admits he "imagined there was more," his testimony provides foundational detail for greater understanding of the Epstein case’s inner workings.

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Transcript4 lines

[00:00]
A
This episode sponsored by Forkfull. Most meal delivery services promise healthy food, but look closer and you'll often find cheap industrial seed oils hiding in the ingredients. Forkful does things differently. Forkful delivers chef prepared meals made with premium ingredients you'd expect at a great restaurant. From center cut filet mignon to wild caught lobster Mac and cheese. And every meal is 100% seed oil free. Instead of canola or soybean oil, Forkful chefs cook with extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil and grass fed butter. Because better fats make better food. Meals arrive fresh, never frozen, with clear nutrition and ingredient transparency so you always know exactly what you're eating. Restaurant quality meals Real ingredients, no seed oils Discover forkful today@forkfulmeals.com what's up everyone?
[00:55]
B
And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode we're going to begin taking a look at the sworn statement or deposition of Juana Lessi all the way back in 2005. And now for those of you who may not know, Juana Lessi was Jeffrey Epstein's former house manager and somebody that was around during the early days and he also played a key role at the Galayan Maxwell trial. So let's dive into this deposition and let's see what he had to say all the way back in 2005. And it looks like Detective Ricari is the one doing the questioning. So let's get started. Question Mr. Alessi, I'm Detective Joe Ricari with the Palm Beach Police Department. As I explained to you on the telephone, I'm conducting an investigation on a former employer of yours. I just spoke with your wife and she told me you guys worked for Mr. Epstein for eight years. Yes, she did work for eight years. I work longer. I was there before my wife came. Question before your wife came, I started full time with him on January 1, 1991 and we both left December 31, 2002. So I worked 11 years exactly prior to that. Prior to working full time for him. I work part time for him on an on and off basis. Question what were your responsibilities? Answer in the full time basis. I started as a houseman and I became a major domo and butler and everything else, driver and did everything. We both did all the chores in the house, but I was in charge of the house. I was above my wife and above the cleaning crew, the gardeners, pool people. So I was house manager. Major domo. Question you would have been the go to guy for the house. Answer yes and the one who would get the blame. Question Are we talking about Jeffrey Epstein? Answer of course. Question do you remember the address of the house? Answer 558 El Brio. Question Was it in the beginning of the street? Answer at the end of the street on the left hand side. We're talking about the same house? Yeah. Your wife said the same number you did. 558. 358. 558. It was 358. We left three years ago. Question and I understand it's been some time since then. So the questions I'm going to ask you basically is during your time did you deal directly with Mr. Epstein? Answer yes. Enter and her girlfriend? Manager. She was the manager of all the households because he has homes all over the world. Question Right. Answer so we have. She was my boss and I deal directly with her. Question who was he gets cut off. Answer ghisne Maxwell. Question Ms. Maxwell, that's his girlfriend. Correct? Answer huh? Question during the 11 years he would come down, she would inform you that they were coming down? Answer Right. Question make arrangements to have the house ready? Answer Right. Question during the time that he was here, you prepared the house, did all the chores, did all of the cleaning? Answer Sometimes, many times I did. Last two or three years the work was so much that we have to hire. We have to hire a cleanup crew that came twice a week or once a week. Then it was twice a week. Depends upon his schedule because he did not allow anybody at the house except us when he was in town. So when he was in town it was just us doing the cleaning and the cooking, the driving, the shopping, everything else. Question did you stay on property in the guest house? Answer yes and no. We had an apartment right across the bridge. We had an apartment in Tower 515 on Flagler and we had an apartment at the house. Why would you stay at the house then? We stay at the house mostly when he was there. When he was not in town, we went home, we went to our apartment when he was there. It was. The job was just too much to go home 9 o', clock, 10 o' clock and come back 5 o' clock in the morning. We would just stay and sleep and get up and go to work. Question when he was in town, did he receive a lot of guests at the house? Answer yes, many, many, many guests. It was never with no guests. Did he have assistants with him? Assistants at the last year he had an assistant just for him. They would travel with him all the time. At the last, in the last two years of my stay there, he also has A chef, a gourmet chef that he would travel with. And that's it. Do you remember the chef's name? There were quite a few. The last one I know is Adam Perry Perry, I think. And he was from New York. And of course that's Adam Perry Lang. And there was another French chef, Didier. I don't know his last name. And there was another English chef, but they went quickly. Question. They would come and go, come and go. What about the assistant that was his personal assistant that would fly with them. Answer, Annie Taylor. It was an English girl that would travel with them a lot and become the personal assistant. But most of the time it was Ms. Maxwell that traveled with them all the time. And he means Emmy Taylor, not Annie Taylor. Just so we're correct. Question. She was basically like his Answer. Girlfriend, whatever it was boss girlfriend. She was our immediate superior. Question, did he have girls come over to give massages? Yes. How many massages would he have in a day? Sometimes one, sometimes two, sometimes three. Was it the same girl that would come back to do the massages? Yeah, yeah. Not the same girl. I mean, during 11 years, I probably saw 100, 200 different massage therapists. Did they seem young to you? No, sir. Mostly, no. I mean, we saw one or two young ones in the last year. Before that, it was all adults. During your last year when you were working with them, what do you mean that they look young? Did they look like they were still in high school? I remember one girl was young. We never asked how old she was. It was not my job. Right, I understand, but I imagine she was 16, 17, in my judgment, she was 16 or 17. And where would the massages take place? All the time it was in his room. Sometimes it was on the balcony of his quarters. His room was a wraparound balcony facing the pool. So the massages were in the balcony, outside in the sun, or inside in his bathroom or her bathroom. Question, would you set up the room for the massages? Answer Many times, yes. He will tell me set up the room inside my bathroom or in the bedroom or in Ghislaine's bathroom or outside on the balcony. And I would go and. And set up or my wife would go and set up the table. So we have a table, massage table in basically every room, every guest room. Question. The girls that would come over to do massages, they would massage them first or massage guests. Answer, different times that were mostly they were his massage. Mostly he would get massages. Question, would Ms. Maxwell be in the room with them when he was getting a massage? Answer we don't know. Apparently we saw her going upstairs because it was when they went upstairs they closed his quarters. It had a double door, so it was a door on top of the stairs. I don't know if you've ever been in the house. And then there is another door going into his room. So it was a long corridor. So everything was closed and nobody saw anything. Question Would you clean up after once in a while? Yes, I did. Most of the times I did. I did the cleanup. Question did it appear as if there was going to be more than one massage going on in the room? Answer More than one massage? I don't know. It was massages. There was massages because it was hot oil and it was, you know, this vibrator, the neck vibrators with the long handles and towels. A lot of towels. We used a lot of towels in the house. Use like maybe 40 or 50 towels a day because every time you go into the pool it was two or three towels. Everything had to be cleaned up. I went most of the time to pick up the room and get it ready. Question did it ever appear to you that more went on in the room other than a massage? Answer I just imagined I never saw anything. But I imagine there was more. I never saw anything because it was closed doors. It was never done outside.
[09:34]
A
This episode sponsored by Forkful. Most meal delivery services promise healthy food, but look closer and you'll often find cheap industrial oils hiding in the ingredients. Forkful does things differently. Forkful delivers chef prepared meals made with premium ingredients you'd expect at a great restaurant. From center cut filet mignon to wild caught lobster Mac and cheese. And every meal is 100% seed oil free. Instead of canola or soybean oil, Forkful chefs cook with extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil and grass fed butter. Because better fats make better food. Meals arrive fresh, never frozen, with clear nutrition and ingredient transparency so you always know exactly what you're eating. Restaurant quality meals, real ingredients, no seed oils Discover forkful today@forkfulmeals.com?
[10:29]
B
based on the cleanup Based on the cleanup at the end, I cannot say there was at the end it was a few times that the bed was undone. You know we make the beds three or four times a day and something we went to clean up the massage to put it back, the massage table to pick up the towels, but the bed was undone again. So either he took a nap or went for a nap, I don't know. Question or something else occurred. Answer or something else I. I can't. Question did the girls, would they bring their own stuff or would they use his stuff? Answer no, we had everything. We had gallons of stuff. Different stuff. Question different massage oils. Answer different, all kinds. Question different massagers. Answer different stuff they would buy all over the world, different types for different. Question did any of these massagers look like sex toys? Answer at the end, at the last year that we were there, they had like sex toys. Some of them, I can say that maybe three or four occasions that I saw in the sink, they were left out on the sink. And just. Question where would he keep the massagers when I was there? We keep all the stuff in a basket inside Ms. Maxwell's closet. It was a big basket about this round indicating, with a cover on it. And we used to pick up from the towel and just dump it in there and that's it. That's the standard we went through. What sink would you find those massagers in? Answer Mostly his sink. Question his bathroom sink. Was Ms. Maxwell still his girlfriend at the time? Answer oh, yeah. Question still his girlfriend that you know of right now? Answer yeah, we left. She was still his girlfriend. I don't know now, but she was still there. Question why did you leave at the end? Answer it was a hard job. It was an incredibly hard job. So demanding. And hours were terrible. From 5:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night. Constantly on your feet. I got very sick. My health went down the drain. I was diagnosed with cancer, a kind of blood cancer, and we had to leave. It was just too much for me. Sounds like a lot. Yeah, for me and my wife, we both left. It was very demanding. When he was in town, it was terrible. Bad job. Pay was good, but we had enough. I know you guys had a falling out a couple years ago. I guess you aren't working with him anymore. This would have been in 2003. You guys had a falling out, remember? Yeah, we settled that. That was settled. That was settled between him and us. Question was that Rickari's interrupted here by Alessi. Answer it was amicable. It was. It was an agreement, mutual agreement. It was a mistake on my part. Question Are there any questions you have of me? Answer no, I told you the truth. We just. We just imagine things that could have happened. I used to talk to my wife all day working and under that environment, but we didn't know for sure what was going on. We never heard anything. We never heard a complaint or a girl crying. All right, folks, we're going to wrap up the first episode here, and in the next episode, we're going to pick up where we left off. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.