Madison County judge finds name in Epstein files because of legal representation

EDWARDSVILLE — A man wearing a sandwich board protesting outside of the Edwardsville courthouse last month revived sleeping worries and anxieties Madison County Judge Andrew Carruthers had hoped to leave in the past.

That single protester’s sign put on display what Carruthers already knew.

His name is in the Epstein files because he once represented Epstein on a collection matter in Lake County more than a dozen years ago.

In the 3 million documents that contained horrific descriptions of child sexual abuse, photographs and videos released in January by the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the disgraced child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, there were legal filings signed by then-fledgling associate Carruthers.

“I was assigned to serve as local counsel for attorneys in another jurisdiction seeking to enforce a civil money judgment for their client who, at the time, was completely unknown to us, just as he was unknown to most of the country 13 years ago,” Carruthers said in a statement he provided after speaking with reporters.

It all began in 2013 with a collection matter, a foreign judgment for $250,000 that Epstein won in the U.S. Virgin Islands that had laid around for a couple of years. It was the result of a contract dispute over unfinished or subpar work at Little St. James, Epstein’s private island, as well as Epstein’s New York City townhouse.

The Virgin Island lawyer needed Illinois representation to collect the debt on the business that was registered in Illinois. The Virgin Islands lawyer knew a partner at the Illinois-based HeplerBroom and asked for help.

Carruthers, then a new associate at the Edwardsville civil defense firm, was the “cleanup man” handling the extraneous minute legal matters that big civil clients bring to their legal firms — traffic tickets, wills, probate, small civil issues and collection matters.

There were no conflicts that prevented working on the case, so Carruthers filed the judgment in Lake County. He proceeded to try to collect the debt, always communicating through a lawyer in the Virgin Islands.

Carruthers said he never met Epstein, never spoke to him, never even communicated in writing with him. He had no idea of his Florida conviction in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Eventually, the debtor went bankrupt. Carruthers’ representation was over.

There’s hardly a mention of Carruthers’ firm, HeplerBroom, in the files, only canceled checks to them for $900, $1,300 and a wire transfer for $1,000. Carruthers eventually left the firm, moving on to the Madison County state’s attorney’s office’s civil division.

In 2019, Epstein was indicted on federal charges related to an international sex trafficking ring involving minors. Carruthers said he found out who Epstein was and what he was accused of around the time everyone else did.

Two months after that indictment, authorities said Epstein died after hanging himself in his prison cell.

Carruthers carried on with his legal career.

In 2021, Madison County circuit judges appointed him as an associate judge.

He is a utility player as judge, just as he had been at the law firm. Carruthers volunteered to restart a docket in nearby Granite City where he would hear traffic tickets, misdemeanors and ordinance violations. The location has been closed since the pandemic. He organized a food drive and read to schoolkids.

He presides over the busy asbestos and probate docket. Lawyers who appeared before Carruthers gave him a 91% rating in an Illinois State Bar Association judicial advisory poll. Associate judges must receive at least 65% to be recommended by the ISBA.

In January, the Justice Department released its files, detailing Epstein’s associations. They were wide-ranging, including entertainment moguls, titans of industry, tech giants, two U.S. presidents, the British royals, an Israeli prime minister and, incidentally, a Madison County lawyer turned judge.

What Carruthers had dreaded had come to pass: Finding out those court filings with his name on them are part of the infamous Epstein files.

Even bad guys need lawyers

Carruthers has worried, lost sleep. He’s a father to three teenage girls, a husband to a professor at a nearby university; a symbol in his local legal community. His family, his career and his reputation weighed heavily on his mind.

Attorneys know what it is to represent a client with an unsavory reputation, one expert said, but even bad guys need lawyers.

“If every controversial client you had disqualified you, there would be very few lawyers who would be eligible to serve as judges,” said Carol Needham, a professor at St. Louis University School of Law who specializes in ethics.

An associate judge is elected by circuit judges. Circuit judges are elected by the voters. The Third Judicial Circuit, which includes Madison and Bond counties, has eight circuit judges. Carruthers is one of 13 associate judges who serve four-year terms.

The circuit judges will decide whether to return Carruthers to the bench in 2029.