Bruce A. Green

INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY

Bruce A. Green is the Louis Stein Chair at Fordham Law School and Director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. He is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and a former law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall. He has no direct personal involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case as a defendant, associate, or victim. His connection to the Epstein matter is entirely in his capacity as a recognized legal ethics expert and media commentator. Green has been cited in major outlets on two distinct Epstein-related legal ethics questions. First, in July 2025, he was quoted by the New York Times regarding the conflict of interest questions surrounding Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney who became Deputy Attorney General and then led the DOJ's handling of Epstein-related files and negotiations with Ghislaine Maxwell. Green stated that the matter "ought to be handled by someone who is disinterested in the results because if they are not, then they can't be trusted to do what's in the public's interest," and noted that Blanche was "likely not disinterested not only because he used to be Trump's lawyer, but because Trump put him in his high office in the Justice Department." Second, in December 2025, Business Insider quoted Green while reporting on communications between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein that revealed discussions of a so-called Kovel agreement, an arrangement that can extend attorney-client privilege to third parties such as accountants or public relations professionals. Green explained the mechanics of the arrangement and cautioned that for the agreement to be valid, Epstein's lawyer would have needed to formally retain Bannon to assist on the lawyer's own work, noting that courts typically find privilege protection unavailable when the arrangement is "designed to assist the client" rather than the attorney. In summary, Bruce A. Green's role in coverage of the Epstein case is that of a neutral academic expert providing legal ethics analysis. He holds no criminal, civil, or investigative accountability status in the matter.