LI urologist Darius Paduch, convicted of sexually abusing minors, treated Jeffrey Epstein, documents show

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sought medical treatment from high-profile pedophile Darius Paduch, a former Long Island urologist serving a life sentence in federal prison, emails and letters released by the U.S. Department of Justice show.

It is unclear from the records reviewed by Newsday what treatment Epstein sought from Paduch, who specialized in treatment for fertility and sexual dysfunction, but it appears from email chains sent back and forth between the medical staff and executive assistants that the late financier had to wrangle to get an appointment with the highly sought-after, but now-disgraced, physician.

In September 2018, just over a year before he died in federal lockup in lower Manhattan while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, Epstein reached out to Park Avenue doctor Woodson Merrell, who specializes in integrative medicine, about his medical problem.

Merrell recommended Paduch, who is referred to as an endocrinologist in emails, as well as a cardiologist and a sleep doctor.

At the time, Paduch was working at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where prosecutors said he had molested underage boys and men who sought treatment for Klinefelter syndrome, a rare genetic disease that inhibits fertility.

Paduch had been the subject of patient complaints about inappropriate sexual behavior to New York’s Board of Professional Medical Conduct dating back to 2006. It is unclear if state authorities did anything regarding those complaints, but in April 2023 while he was working at Northwell Health in Great Neck and Lake Success, he was arrested by federal authorities and charged with the sexual abuse of at least five minors, though 11 victims testified at his trial.

The doctor was convicted in 2024 of six counts of inducement to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity and five counts of inducing a minor to engage in sex.

Paduch’s lawyer, Michael Baldassare, did not respond to a request for comment.

At the time Epstein sought treatment, none of Paduch’s sex crimes had yet become public.

The disgraced financier, who rose from a working-class beginning in South Brooklyn, was 65 with houses on the Upper East Side, Palm Beach, Florida, Paris and Santa Fe. He hobnobbed with bold names, including presidents, royalty, Hollywood directors, actors and some of the wealthiest people in the country.

He had already been convicted of engaging in prostitution with a minor in Florida, but was still half a year away from being charged federally with sex trafficking minors.

Emails show that Paduch showed Epstein none of the deference he got from the elite crowd he ran with.

"I called and was told Dr. Paduch is completely booked until the beginning of November ... Jeffrey ... is truly hoping you can help," an Epstein staffer wrote to Merrell on Sept. 20, 2018.

It wasn’t until about a week later that he was able to see Paduch for an 8 a.m. appointment, the first patient of the day.

The records show that Epstein’s assistants tried to get the visit covered by health insurance, UnitedHealthcare or Medicare, but the doctor’s assistant told them that he only accepted direct payment.

"The office visit will range between $600-$729," a medical staffer wrote to Epstein in an email, adding that "an ultrasound, injection or any other in-office procedure" would have run an additional $2000 to $5000.

Records show that Epstein was there from 8 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and got a blood test, though it’s not clear what the result was.

Paduch prescribed 30 pills after the checkup, but there was no follow-up visit.

Emails indicate that Epstein’s health insurance only paid enough for three of the pills and the rest, $600, had to be paid out of pocket.

The correspondence ceased in October 2018 until the head of urology at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center sent a form letter on April 19, 2019, to Epstein’s Virgin Islands address informing him that Paduch had left the hospital.

"While Dr. Paduch will no longer be seeing patients at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, we would like you to know that our department and affiliated physicians are able to offer you follow-up care for conditions including sexual medicine, Klinefelter syndrome and male reproductive treatment at Weill Cornell Medicine."

Epstein was arrested two months later.