Boris Epshteyn, a longtime aide to former President Donald Trump, was arrested in 2021 after being accused of repeatedly groping two women at an Arizona nightclub, according to police records.
Epshteyn pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct of charges in Scottsdale District Court after prosecutors dropped charges of attempted sexual assault, assault and “repeated harassment.” He paid a fine and served probation, and his conviction was overturned earlier this year.
The arrest, which took place outside the Bottled Blonde nightclub in the early hours of Oct. 11, was first reported on Thursday by The Republic of Arizona. Epshteyn is considered a top adviser in Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. On Twitter, he calls himself a “senior adviser” and “special assistant” to Trump.
A club security guard assaulted police early on the morning of Oct. 10, 2021, telling officers women had complained that Epshteyn had inappropriately touched them, according to a police report and body-worn CCTV footage released under the Public Records Act from Arizona. One of the women cried, video shows.
A woman told officers that Epshteyn was particularly aggressive towards her 23-year-old sister.
Boris Epshteyn pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, his sentence was a fine and probation
The woman, who has not been identified, accused Epshteyn of cornering her and her 23-year-old sister at a bar
“All night long he touched me and my sister, especially my sister,” she said of loud music during an interview captured by the officer’s body camera.
He kind of cornered her and grabbed her and just made her super uncomfortable. Touching her after we repeatedly told him not to touch her again.’
She said the club’s security told her they couldn’t kick Epshteyn out because he spent a lot of money, though guards eventually led him out of the bar to the police.
“We have a high tolerance for people who are weird, but that was above and beyond,” the older sister told an officer. “That man was harassing women in the bar and the bar told us to go drink with him,” the woman claims.
She described Epshteyn as “fat, ugly, like a droopy face.” White Ralph Lauren Polo. Like the fatter Tony Soprano.’
“Touch her chest, touch her hips, touch her crotch,” you also hear the woman say to the officer. She said she was willing to press charges, while her sister said she just wanted to go home.
Epshteyn denied wrongdoing but said little else about the incident to police as he sat on a curb outside the bar.
‘I have no idea what’s happening. I have no idea who these women are,” Epshteyn told officers.
As a result of the groping, Epshteyn was banned from the Bottled Blonde.
Epshteyn was also charged with assault in 2014 after a fight at another bar in Scottsdale, court records show.
He reached a plea deal with prosecutors and the conviction was later overturned. The deal included community service, which he performed in his home state of New Jersey.
The Arizona Republic reports that the 2014 arrest took place near this most recent incident, in Scottsdale’s U district near Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row. He was accused of punching a man he was “considerably taller” than in the nose, leaving him with a contusion.
Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser, was one of the top surrogates in the 2016 presidential campaign and appeared regularly on television
A longtime Trump adviser, Epshteyn was one of the top surrogates in the 2016 presidential campaign, appearing regularly on television and briefly serving as senior White House adviser before becoming an analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group.
He has also been a key player in Trump’s ongoing legal battle, both as an advisor and participant.
After Trump’s 2020 loss, Epshteyn teamed up with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani — another of Trump’s attorneys — on efforts to reverse the election results by staging fake voters.
Last year, he was subpoenaed by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot and testified before a special Georgia grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in that state.
It is expected that a possible indictment in that case could come against the former president next week.
He also accompanied Trump to Washington last week for his first appearance in federal court on charges related to attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, Epshteyn appeared alongside the former president when Trump was indicted in New York on 34 felony counts as part of a hush money case — the first time in US history that a former president has faced criminal charges.
When Timothy Parlatore left Trump’s legal team in May, he cited strategic differences with Epshteyn as one of his reasons, accusing him of “doing everything to try to block us from doing what we could to the president.” as it pertains to the case accusing Trump of improperly taking secret documents from the White House.