The week after Epstein was released, the emails show he apparently told Stern that Ferguson needed to get together details of who she owed money to. “She is a woman with no sense of this whatsoevr [sic],” he writes.
The following month, Stern appears to write: “fergie data collection remains slow and unbelievable what it takes to get basic info.”
A long email to Stern, signed “Sarah”, lists all the projects she was working on, from books to TV, and demands to know who was keeping track of them and collecting the money she was owed.
“It is imperative I employ a CEO or Manager who sorts all of my life out. The warts and all, all the little tiny boring jobs like cleaning up my royalty statements from all my book deals. I have written 26 books. There must be revenue there,” the email apparently says.
“I know we do not need to go Bankrupt as the revenues are with [sic] and can be generated. But I am one person, and I cannot be my accountant, brand police manager, personal assistant, TV manager, etc etc it is simply not possible,” she continues.
Stern apparently forwards it to Epstein with the words, “Don’t waste time reading the below, just scroll through it for a flavour of the mess”.
Ferguson seemed to be struggling with the process too. In September, she apparently confides to Stern: “Just spoke to Jeffrey. I told him we are working on everything. Wow it is so so demoralising. I am about to freak with exhaustion.”
One proposal apparently put forward by Stern would see a chief executive hired to run Ferguson’s business affairs. She would be paid a $200,000 salary, and any spending over $1,000 would need to be signed off by Epstein. He says they would need to own at least 30% of the business to be “remotely worthwhile”.
In September, Stern apparently writes to Epstein that Ferguson asked him to meet someone she said was a Russian billionaire, Vladimir. She couldn’t remember his surname.
“She thinks he will finance everything in case you will not” – possibly suggesting that Epstein was considering a financial contribution to Ferguson’s financial rescue.
This turns out to be Vladimir Zemtsov, who Stern apparently describes as “substantial, pragmatic, and for russian standards discreet”, and willing to bail Ferguson out if a “hired professional firm believes that the revenue side is more than the debt”. There is no sign the conversation went further than this.
Together Epstein, Stern and Ferguson appear to be making detailed preparations for a personal bankruptcy. Stern apparently sends Epstein an email headed “F liabilities”. Ferguson was often referred to by a single initial in their correspondence.
Stern says he had attached a liability statement – a document often drawn up in a bankruptcy process, where a person compiles a list of all the money they owe.
In October 2009, Stern appears to have reported on a meeting with “F”. “Met [redacted] yesterday with her girls. As you predicted, she made statements such as: ‘I surrender, I am ready to die, death is easier than this’ My mission continues.”