Boris Epshteyn, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, has been accused of inappropriately touching two women in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2021.
Mr Epshteyn was arrested after the alleged incident, the aftermath of which was caught on body-camera footage by the Scottsdale Police Department, in which a woman alleges to officers that Mr Epshteyn grabbed her and her sister. He can later be seen in the footage appearing to reject the allegations.
The footage was obtained by The Arizona Republic.
Mr Epshteyn had been working with officials in Arizona in their failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, a part of Mr Trump’s larger efforts to remain in power after his loss, which has now led to his indictment from Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Mr Epshteyn was accused of touching the women at the Bottled Blonde nightclub in the early hours of 10 October 2021.
The 27-year-old woman, heard but not seen in the blurred footage, tells the police that “all night he’s been touching me and my sister, especially my sister. He kind of cornered her and grabbed her and is just making her super uncomfortable”.
The women have not been publicly identified. One of them said Mr Epshteyn had been “molesting” them.
“Touching her chest, touching her hips, touching her crotch,” she told police. Officers then ordered Mr Epshteyn to sit down on the curb.
Boris Epshteyn appears in bodycam footage in 2021 from the Scottsdale Police Department in Arizona— (Screenshot / Scottsdale Police Department)
He was charged with “assault touching,” “attempted sexual abuse,” “harassment-repeated acts” and “disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior or fighting,” the first three of which were dismissed. He pled guilty to disorderly conduct and received probation.
In January of this year, Scottsdale City Court set aside the conviction, according to The Republic.
Mr Epshteyn served as a special assistant to the president in the Trump administration and has been connected to Mr Trump since at least 2016.
He has received further scrutiny in the light of Mr Trump’s most recent indictment as it lists six unidentified co-conspirators. While five of them have been named in the media, only speculation has suggested that Mr Epshteyn is the sixth.
His actions in Arizona relating to the aftermath of the election are similar to those of co-conspirator six.
The 2021 arrest was Mr Epshteyn’s second in seven years in Scottsdale. He was charged with misdemeanour assault after a 2014 bar fight, according to The New York Times.
In that case, he reportedly signed a plea deal which included 25 hours of community service, paying legal fees, not going back to the club, and ceasing all contact with the victim, according to The Republic.
The Times reported in 2016 that the charge from the 2014 incident was dropped after he agreed to take part in anger management counselling and perform community service.
The 2021 case led to him being sentenced to five days in jail but credited with time served on the conditions that he spent 11 months on probation, finished an alcohol programme, paid a fine and didn’t contact the women.
Evening Entertainment Group, which operates Bottled Blonde, told The Republic: “If this person approached our door and was recognized, they would not be allowed entrance going forward.”
The police state in its report and supplements regarding the October 2021 incident that a security guard called police over to tell them about a possible sexual assault and directed officers to the two women, one of whom was crying at the time.
“That guy was molesting women in the bar and the bar told us to go drink with him,” the older sister told police in the bodycam footage.
She claimed that Mr Epshteyn pulled the younger sister onto his lap, adding that she told security about the improper behaviour, but that the security initially didn’t take action.
“The club is like, ‘Oh, he’s spent like fifty grand here tonight. We’re not going to say (expletive),’” she told officers.
Evening Entertainment Group told the paper: “We have a robust security team who are singularly focused on the safety and enjoyment of all of our guests day-in and day-out.
“This was an isolated incident, and we have had no additional interaction with these guests, or complaints of this nature in our 10 years in business.”
The older sister told police that Mr Epshteyn attempted to grab her younger sister again as they were heading out. The younger sister declined to press charges, telling police she wanted to go home.
“We have a high tolerance of people like being weird, but that went above and beyond,” the older sister told police. She said they were grabbed about ten times. “I was like, stop touching my sister. Stop touching me. Stop touching my friends.”
When asked to describe Mr Epshetyn, she said he looked like a “fatter Tony Soprano”, adding when asked that she would be willing to press charges.
Security removed Mr Epshteyn from the club via a side gate and police told him to sit on the curb.
“A female is alleging that you touched her inappropriately,” police told him.
“I didn’t touch anybody,” Mr Epshteyn said.
“I had nothing to do with those women over there,” he added at the time.
Mr Epshteyn declined to give a comment when contacted by The Independent.
