Epstein Passes on 'Torture Plane' Due to Market Value Concerns

Jeffrey Epstein was in the market to buy an airplane in April 2017. The Lolita Express, which made its final flight in July 2016, was sitting in a scrapyard in Georgia without an engine. Epstein's pilot, Larry Visoski, looked into the history of a Boeing 737 and expressed concerns about its past owners, including the CIA.

In 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency used this plane for at least 150 flights to transport detainees to Guantanamo Bay, where many were reportedly tortured under interrogation. The plane's registration number was N313P at that time. Visoski thought that the plane's history should give them a discount and wrote to Josh Mesinger, the jet salesman.

Visoski forwarded his message to Epstein, who told him not to proceed with the purchase because 'the market is not there.' Ten months later, Crescent Heights, a real estate firm co-founded by Julie Menin's husband, Bruce, acquired the plane. Crescent Heights also briefly possessed a Gulfstream in 2006 that was used in CIA rendition flights.

Menin's team told City & State's Heard Around Town that she has never flown on the jet and did not know about its backstory. Her spokesperson declined to comment for this article.