NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida woman who was paid $750,000 by a fund for people sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein has pleaded guilty to falsifying records she used in her application for the money.
Jennifer Percival, a scholar who has written books on autism, entered the plea in federal court in New York on Monday, the same day that she was charged in the case. A transcript of the proceeding was entered in the court record Wednesday.
During her brief court appearance, Percival didn't speak about Epstein and prosecutors didn’t say whether they had reached a conclusion about whether she was, or wasn’t, one of his victims.
Percival, 46, said she applied in late 2020 to a fund set up by Epstein's estate to compensate his victims after he killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. That fund, however, decided she was ineligible for a payment. Court records didn't say why she was turned down.
Then, in 2024, she applied for a share of a new fund created by JPMorgan Chase, which had agreed to pay $290 million to Epstein victims to settle legal claims that the bank should have cut him off as a customer after he was publicly accused of being a serial sexual abuser of underage girls.
In support of that application, she falsely claimed the Epstein estate fund had found her eligible for compensation and paid her $500,000. She provided a copy of her rejection letter, but altered it to make it look like she had been approved.
“The purpose of these actions was to obtain money, which gave me a sense of validation,” she told a magistrate judge, according to the transcript of Monday's court hearing.
The bank's compensation fund wired her $750,000 in 2024 based on her misstatements, but at some point the FBI began investigating.
When she was confronted by agents in late 2025 with the true and accurate rejection letter from the Epstein fund, she falsely said she had successfully appealed and was found eligible after all, Percival said. Then, she gave her own lawyer at the time altered and fabricated emails that were submitted to a federal prosecutor as part of a request for a deferred prosecution deal.
“I know that my actions were wrongful, and I accept full responsibility,” Percival said.
She brought a check to the plea hearing for the $776,031 she owes in restitution. A sentencing date wasn't immediately set.
Percival is the director of Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and lives in Boca Raton.
Messages sent to Percival, her lawyer, the autism center and media contacts for Florida Atlantic University were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Neither court records nor anything said in open court make it explicitly clear why Percival claimed to have been entitled to Epstein settlement money.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for her to spend from three to four years behind bars, according to the plea deal she signed with prosecutors, though a judge does not have to follow that recommendation. She was released from custody after the hearing while she awaits sentencing.
Her defense lawyer is likely to argue at sentencing that she has earned leniency through her life’s work helping people with disabilities. A university website listing described her as an “award-winning researcher in disability studies” and said she “participates on national and regional advisory boards.”
A prosecutor said evidence that would have been introduced at trial would have included Percival’s bank records; search warrant returns for her email account, along with testimony by the administrator of two Epstein settlement funds.
FILE - Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed on Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday passed a broad package of sanctions targeting Russian officials and key pillars of its economy as lawmakers look to deprive President Vladimir Putin of the financial resources needed to wage the war against Ukraine.
The bill is named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who spent more than a year negotiating it. The measure was approved in a 262-159 vote and now heads to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
The legislation represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since Trump's return to the White House and would break nearly two years of relative gridlock on the issue following a 2024 emergency aid package. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for the bill's passage and made a direct appeal to senators shortly before they passed it last month.
The measure sanctions Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving. It also directs Trump to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
“These countries have a choice to make about whether they will continue to sustain Putin's aggression,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
Supporters said the tariff provisions are aimed at deterring China and India from purchasing Russian energy, but critics of the bill said they fear Trump will use the legislation to target allies in the European Union and elsewhere. Americans, they warned, would pay the price for such tariffs through higher prices at the cash register.
“This president has always said he loves tariffs,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “And we know the history of what he's done with reference to tariffs to our European allies, and our allies everywhere.”
Democrats were divided on the bill, despite overwhelming support in the caucus for aiding Ukraine. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told colleagues they can't control what the president does, but they can stand up and declare where they are on the war.
“If we fail to pass this bill, there will be cheers in the Kremlin and tears in Kyiv,” Hoyer said.
But Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., predicted Ukraine supporters would come to regret voting for the bill.
“Yes they will be able to say ‘we stood with Ukraine’ in the immediate aftermath,” Beyer said. “But when Donald Trump hits our allies with new tariffs and waives sanctions on Russia, the propaganda victory for Putin will be lasting, and the damage will be embedded in U.S. law.”
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, speaking in opposition to the bill, said Democrats would continue to support the Ukrainian people until victory is won, “but this bill does not provide a path to secure that.”
In all, 58 Democrats broke with Jeffries and voted for the bill, while 152 voted against it. Among Republicans, 203 voted yes while seven voted against it.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated the vote and highlighted the additional tariff power it provides the president.
“For too long, Putin has bankrolled this devastating war with money and resources from countries willing to look the other way, and today, that ends," Johnson said.
Congress has struggled to ensure the flow of U.S. funding and munitions to Ukraine as Republican support for spending billions of dollars more on the effort has waned. Trump routinely derided the Ukraine aid while campaigning for the White House and insisted that, if elected, he would quickly end the war launched by Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
It took Graham essentially a full year to bring Trump on board with the Russia sanctions package. Eventually, Trump gave a nod to the bill after it included his push for a five-year extension of existing sanctions on Iran. Republicans speaking on the House floor in advance of Wednesday's vote were overwhelmingly supportive of the package.
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., acknowledged Democratic criticism that tariffs could be used aggressively on smaller U.S. allies, but said it was time to deliver a resounding message to the Kremlin: “End this war, get out of Ukraine, focus on rebuilding your shattered international reputation and your destroyed economy."
The Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill by a vote of 86-11 last month, but momentum slowed in the House. Republican leadership focused on other priorities, namely bills designed to put Democrats on defense going into the midterms. Meanwhile, a chorus of key Democratic lawmakers voiced alarm about the bill's tariff provisions.
Passage of the bill in the House came on the final day that the chamber is expected to be in session for votes before the Nov. 3 elections.
After the vote, a group of Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate celebrated the vote at a rare bipartisan press conference.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who wrote the bill with Graham, said he hopes the sanctions will help force Putin to the negotiating table and end the war.
“To Vladimir Putin — we have your number,” Blumenthal said. “And to Ukraine — you are not alone.”
Leading up to the vote, Zelenskyy took to social media urging the House to pass the bill. He said during war it is sometimes better to “make a not-so-perfect decision than to do nothing.”
“And this is a very important historical moment for the United States. The bill must be passed, voted on, and supported,” Zelenskyy said on X. “Beyond that, strong decisions from the U.S. Administration are important. Personal decisions by President Trump. I very much hope we will see that.”
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with reporters outside of his office on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, walks with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Jared Kushner, right, and Steve Witkoff at Mariinsky palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
