Sleuth Report: Bekah Day Examines Epstein Contacts Around LAVO and The Surf Lodge
Snapshot
Bekah Day’s video, published September 26, 2026, follows connections among Ana Maria Gomes Macedo, Jayma Cardoso, nightlife businesses and people associated with Jeffrey Epstein. Day credits photojournalist Selma Fonseca’s research and archive. The video is a useful map of investigative leads. The evidence reviewed here does not establish that these venues formed a continuing trafficking organization after Epstein’s death. (E01)
- Verified: The video belongs to Bekah Day’s verified YouTube channel, @bekahdayyy, and runs 6 minutes, 6 seconds
- Independently supported: Macedo appears in a civil discovery exhibit; Cardoso describes working with Tao Group and opening LAVO; official records document Surf Lodge regulatory penalties; the Alexander brothers were convicted in March 2026
- Important limit: Day expressly acknowledges that she does not know whether Epstein visited The Surf Lodge
- Correction: Snow Lodge’s 2019 Aspen opening and its 2021 move to the St. Regis are separate events
- Review date: October 2, 2026
Scope: This report reviews the public YouTube transcript and page details, a closely matching Substack article, and the independent sources listed below. Selected original Epstein email PDFs could not be retrieved. The distinction between a verified source statement and a verified underlying event is maintained throughout.
Original Reporting and Video
The original video is titled “The Epstein Network Didn’t Die With Him.” Its description links to Substack post 216266025 and directs viewers to Selma Fonseca’s channel. The title expresses Day’s thesis; it is not itself evidence that an organized criminal network continued operating. (E01)
Watch on YouTube if the embedded player is unavailable.
The accompanying research, “Epstein’s Network is Alive and Evolving,” is dated September 24, 2026, and credits Bekah Day and Selma Fonseca News. Its subjects and sequence closely match the video. The article was readable through web retrieval, although the supplied Substack shortlink itself did not resolve in this review. The numerical post identifier has therefore not been independently matched to the canonical article. (E02)
Related EpsteinWiki reporting introduces Day and Fonseca’s earlier nightlife archive investigation. This report focuses on the later video and its specific venue connections.
Credit: Day supplies the video’s argument and reporting leads. Fonseca supplies archival and nightlife expertise. The independent checks and evidentiary distinctions below are this report’s analysis. No copyrighted archive photographs are reproduced.
Finding 1: Macedo Appears in Discovery Material, Not a Judicial Finding of Guilt
The court exhibit confirms Ana Maria Gomes Macedo’s name as item 13 in Exhibit C of Document 145-1, filed May 15, 2023, in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR. The relevant list appears on PDF page 139. (E03)
The same filing defines the discovery category broadly by association with Epstein and incorporates Exhibit C. It accompanies a subpoena directed to Celestino White Sr. This establishes why Macedo’s name appears in that discovery request. It does not establish that the court found her to be a recruiter, trafficker or knowing participant in crimes. (E03)
Assessment: Day’s description of the litigation listing at approximately 0:57 is supported, with that procedural qualification. Her stronger interpretation concerning introductions and access at approximately 1:03 requires the complete underlying emails and their context. This review did not authenticate those emails or independently verify the property and payment history described in the video. (E01)
Finding 2: Cardoso’s LAVO Role Is Supported, While the Criminal Inference Remains Unproven
Cardoso’s own interview with ELLE in July 2023 supports the professional connection. She identified joining Tao Group and opening LAVO as an important career experience. She also said her own hotel was already open at that point. This supports the hospitality connection, while cautioning against a chronology in which LAVO employment preceded the existence of The Surf Lodge. (E04)
Day’s discussion at approximately 2:08 to 2:50 moves from that professional relationship to alleged Epstein communications and dining activity. A manager’s employment at a venue does not establish knowledge of a guest’s crimes. An email about a reservation or proposed meeting also does not, without further evidence, prove that the meeting occurred. (E01)
Fonseca’s earlier article identifies EFTA02421052, EFTA02421687 and EFTA00594966 as relevant records. These are useful document leads. Their complete original PDFs were not available for authentication in this review. No finding about investment, the frequency of Tepperberg’s contact, or the number of completed Epstein visits is made here. (E11)
EFTA Document Leads
The file identifiers below appear in the source trail. The Epstein Data links are supplied for followup access; those destination pages were not opened or verified in this review. None of the four original PDFs was retrieved. E01 through E12 elsewhere in this report identify source references, not EFTA file numbers.
| EFTA file | Lead identified through | Verification status |
|---|---|---|
| EFTA02421052 | Fonseca’s nightlife article | Identifier cited by the source; original unretrieved |
| EFTA02421687 | Fonseca’s nightlife article | Identifier cited by the source; original unretrieved |
| EFTA00594966 | Fonseca’s nightlife article | Identifier cited by the source; original unretrieved |
| EFTA02365536 | Publicly indexed Fisher email text | Search lead; original unretrieved |
Assessment: A documented professional link can guide further inquiry. It cannot carry an allegation of criminal participation on its own. The companion article’s reported LAVO search count was not independently reproduced, and a search count would require checking duplicates and context before being treated as a count of events.
Finding 3: A Surf Lodge Suggestion Does Not Establish an Epstein Visit
Day’s video discusses Paula Heil Fisher suggesting The Surf Lodge to Epstein. At approximately 2:01, Day expressly says she does not know whether he went there. That qualification is central to the evidence and should remain attached to any summary of this claim. (E01)
Document lead: A public search index identifies EFTA02365536 as an August 10, 2014 email from Fisher concerning a performance at The Surf Lodge. The original DOJ PDF was inaccessible during this review. The precise wording, completeness and original timestamp therefore remain pending primary document verification. This lead is not being used to establish attendance. (E12)
Assessment: Suggested destination, planned visit and completed visit are different propositions. Verification would require a responsive email, a reliable contemporaneous schedule, venue records, authenticated photographs, testimony or comparable evidence connecting Epstein to an actual visit.
Finding 4: The Alexander Verdict and Snow Lodge Photograph Establish Different Facts
The Justice Department announced on March 9, 2026 that a unanimous Manhattan jury found Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander guilty of multiple federal sex offenses, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. The statement describes trial evidence and testimony from 11 victims. The conviction is independently supported; it should not be reduced to an unresolved allegation. (E05)
Vogue’s event coverage separately identifies Kamila Hansen in photograph 4 and Jayma Cardoso in photographs from the Snow Lodge’s late March 2026 season closing events. This supports the narrow event appearance described in the video. The page does not establish a trafficking operation at the venue. (E06)
Assessment: A conviction establishes the defendants’ criminal liability on the adjudicated charges. Another person’s later appearance at a publicized event establishes a different fact. Combining the two does not establish that the event’s attendees, operator or venue facilitated the crimes. This review did not locate evidence in the materials examined establishing a shared criminal organization between Epstein and the Snow Lodge operator.
Finding 5: Snow Lodge’s Location Timeline Needs Correction
Vogue’s Aspen guide states that Snow Lodge opened at the base of Aspen Mountain in 2019 and moved to the St. Regis in 2021. The video’s approximately 4:20 to 4:28 description compresses the opening and hotel location into one 2019 event. (E07)
Snow Lodge’s official website confirms its current St. Regis Aspen setting. It does not establish that the venue occupied that location in 2019. Any comparison with an alleged incident must use the operator and location that applied on the incident date. (E08)
Assessment: The corrected chronology matters whenever investigators connect a venue to historical events. A later business name or operator cannot automatically be projected backward onto an earlier location.
Finding 6: Regulatory Violations Are Documented, but Their Meaning Is Specific
The New York State Liquor Authority’s agenda records the adverse history of JC Hospitality LLC, trading as Surf Lodge, under license 1264474. On PDF page 20, it lists a $25,000 penalty imposed February 6, 2018 for 2017 violations and a $55,000 penalty imposed March 20, 2019 for 2018 occupancy and local regulation violations. The latter entry also records restrictions on outdoor music and outdoor lines. (E09)
Assessment: These records substantiate a regulatory history. The listed violations do not establish trafficking. They should not be described as criminal sex trafficking findings or used as substitutes for evidence of victim recruitment or abuse.
The inserted social video, beginning around 3:47, includes a visitor’s impression that many patrons were underage. An observer’s visual estimate cannot establish patrons’ ages, whether alcohol was served to them, the applicable event policy or the proportion of attendees below a particular age. Those questions require dated records and direct corroboration. (E01)
Finding 7: Serious Accusations Need Precise Attribution
Reporting on Amy Dorris’s account documents her allegation that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her at the 1997 U.S. Open and the Trump campaign’s denial. The Washington Post report, republished by The Philadelphia Inquirer, also describes people who said she had previously told them about the incident. This report preserves the allegation and denial rather than treating the video’s categorical wording as an adjudicated fact. (E10)
Day also uses the designation “co-conspirator” for Leon Black at approximately 5:21. This review did not establish a judicial finding supporting that designation. Before adopting it, a report must identify the exact allegation, proceeding or finding and distinguish a pleaded claim from proven participation. (E01)
Assessment: Careful attribution does not prevent investigation. It preserves the difference between evidence of a relationship, an accusation of misconduct and an adjudicated offense.
Key Takeaways
- The original reporting is Bekah Day’s, with explicit credit to Selma Fonseca. Their work supplies specific people, venues and documentary leads worth testing
- The strongest checks in this review come from the actual civil discovery exhibit, a direct Cardoso interview, official regulatory records and the Justice Department’s verdict announcement
- The central inference remains open. Social and commercial overlap does not by itself establish a continuing trafficking organization
- Epstein’s attendance at The Surf Lodge is not established here. Day herself preserves that limitation
- The most useful next step is a dated, document by document comparison of the original emails, venue history and independently corroborated conduct
Unanswered Questions
- What do the complete EFTA records show about Tepperberg’s communications with Epstein, and which entries document completed meetings rather than proposals?
- Does EFTA02365536 contain any response or corroborating record establishing that Epstein accepted Fisher’s suggestion?
- Which records support claims that Macedo knowingly facilitated abuse, beyond association or inclusion in discovery requests?
- Is there incident specific evidence linking any Alexander offense to Snow Lodge, identifying the date, exact location, operator and alleged conduct?
- What reliable records establish ages and admission practices for the particular event shown in the inserted social video?
- What responses have the named subjects and venue operators provided to the specific claims? No fresh requests for comment were made for this review
Sources
E01. Bekah Day video. “The Epstein Network Didn’t Die With Him,” September 26, 2026. Channel identity, description, duration and public transcript reviewed. Transcript spelling errors were resolved against named written sources. This was a transcript based review, not a frame by frame authentication of the displayed documents.
E02. Bekah Day and Selma Fonseca News article. “Epstein’s Network is Alive and Evolving,” September 24, 2026. Read as the closely matching companion article. Its direct equivalence to the supplied post 216266025 shortlink remains unconfirmed.
E03. USVI v. JPMorgan, Document 145-1. Filed May 15, 2023. Subpoena package, definitions on PDF page 6, production requests on page 8, and Macedo entry in Exhibit C on page 139. Public court document hosted by CourtListener.
E04. Claire Stern Milch’s Cardoso interview. ELLE, July 31, 2023. Cardoso’s account of joining Tao Group and opening LAVO.
E05. SDNY verdict announcement. U.S. Department of Justice, March 9, 2026. Alexander brothers’ convictions.
E06. Freya Drohan’s Snow Lodge event report. Vogue. March 2026 closing party coverage and named photo captions.
E07. Elise Taylor’s Aspen guide. Vogue, January 10, 2025. Snow Lodge opening and relocation chronology.
E08. Snow Lodge official website. Current venue location checked October 2, 2026.
E09. NYSLA disciplinary agenda. March 24, 2020, item 2020-00411, PDF page 20. Official record of prior Surf Lodge penalties.
E10. Rosalind S. Helderman’s report on the Dorris allegation. The Washington Post, republished by The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 2020. Includes the denial.
E11. Selma Fonseca’s nightlife document leads. May 8, 2026. Identifies EFTA02421052, EFTA02421687 and EFTA00594966. These identifiers are leads, not authenticated findings in this report.
E12. EFTA02365536 official file location. Identified through publicly indexed text as a Fisher email concerning a Surf Lodge performance. Original PDF retrieval failed. The link is supplied for followup verification, not as a claim that the original was reviewed.
Access and verification limits: The YouTube page and transcript were readable. Original EFTA PDFs and the Substack shortlink were not. The canonical companion article, cited court document, official regulatory agenda and other sources were readable. No original archive photographs, private guest lists, current ownership records or complete litigation docket histories were authenticated. All findings are limited to the sources and dates stated.