Detroit real estate developer Philip Kafka’s father was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s oldest childhood friends, calling the notorious sex trafficker and pedophile a role model for his son in a signed letter released Monday by Congress.

Documents released by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform included Terry Kafka’s sexually-charged letter as part of Epstein’s 50th “birthday book,” a collection of bawdy tributes from friends compiled by longtime girlfriend and alleged accomplice Ghislane Maxwell. The 2003 letter says a 16-year-old “Phillie” was enamored with Epstein, describing him as a role model for Kafka’s son. 

Philip Kafka said in a statement to BridgeDetroit that his father and Epstein were childhood friends but only talked a “handful of times” after high school. He denounced Epstein’s abuse of women. 

“My father was one of, it now seems, hundreds of people who were asked to write something on his behalf. I met Epstein once and only once, when I was fifteen for about thirty minutes, asked him some questions about his career, and never talked to him again. That half-hour is the entirety of the story,” Kafka said in the statement. 

“I don’t know words strong enough to encapsulate how thoroughly unconscionable I find Epstein to have been. His abuse and exploitation of young women; his disgusting lifestyle and utter lack of respect for people – he got exactly what he deserved.” 

The letter disclosure adds to documentation of the Kafka family relationship with Epstein in the public record.

Terry Kafka gave a glowing character statement on Epstein’s behalf when he faced allegations of abusing underage girls in 2007, claiming, among other things, that Epstein also spent “a good amount of time” with Philip Kafka when Philip was 19 years old. Epstein was offered a non-prosecution deal by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, avoiding federal charges in exchange for registering as a sex offender and pleading guilty to soliciting minors for prostitution. 

Terry vouched for Epstein in a character letter that described him as a caring friend who “spent a good amount of one-on-one time with my 19-year-old son Philip to help him sort out academic problems he was having.” The Palm Beach Post obtained the statement from the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office in Florida as part of a profile prepared by Epstein’s defense.  

Kafka did not respond to additional questions about why his father was included in documents prepared by Epstein’s defense, or why his father spoke of multiple meetings between Philip and Epstein.

The birthday letter to Epstein, first reported by Samuel Robinson’s Detroit one million Substack, raises questions about the influential figures Philip Kafka’s parents surrounded him with. BridgeDetroit attempted to reach Terry Kafka by email but did not receive a response.

Philip Kafka included a column from the Dallas Morning News in his statement to BridgeDetroit, where his father described the letter as “out of character” and “embarrassing.” In the column, Terry said Maxwell encouraged him to be “raunchy” and claimed he wasn’t in regular contact with Epstein. 

Details in the letter have featured prominently in multiple news stories and social media commentary about the collection of letters, largely focusing on a bizarre opening where Terry ruminates on Epstein’s conception in graphic detail. The letter reflects on Epstein’s enjoyment of the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, where Terry Kafka speculates on whether Epstein lost his virginity with Terry in the same room. 

The “birthday book” has made national headlines because it also contains a cryptic poem with what has been claimed to be President Donald Trump’s signature framed in a drawing of a naked woman. Trump has denied authorship of it. Maxwell, who collected letters from Epstein’s friends, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring to sexually traffic minors.

Terry Kafka, a wealthy Texas advertising executive and Republican donor, has reportedly helped finance Philp’s early business ventures in New York City, and the two still collaborate, finishing a joint development in Fort Worth, TX last year. Since his beginnings as a New York businessman, Philip Kafka moved to Detroit full-time in 2017, bought dozens of properties, opened several restaurants and has been lauded as one of the people leading Detroit’s future. 

Terry Kafka’s letter reads as an effusive account of a lifelong relationship with Epstein dating back to 1958, filled with admiration for Epstein’s charm and sexual prowess.

Documents released by Congress include a class photo with Terry from Mark Twain Junior High School in Brooklyn, which Epstein also attended, and a photo of a middle-aged Terry Kafka in his underwear with Epstein and other friends. Terry told the Morning News that the photo was a recreation of a photo taken in their youth 25 years earlier. 

The letter largely reflects on their shared experiences through high school and college, with Terry writing that they drifted apart as time went on.

“You guys made me what I became today and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you,” Terry Kafka wrote. “So Jeff, even though we don’t speak that often, and our lives don’t intersect, you really are a part of me and I will always be grateful for the great times we had. You have been and still are a great influence for me.”

The letter is labeled from “Johnny Boy Kafka” but signed as Terry and includes a letterhead with the same address registered to Terry and Janet Kafka in Texas. It contains sexually graphic descriptions of trips Terry Kafka and Epstein took together to Europe. 

“You began to realize that you could get away with shit!” Terry Kafka wrote. “That chicks and people in general were schmucks! You sensed that you were sharper and more astute than most. Especially the ones who had women, money, position and power. Yes, your charisma and persuasive ways came very early on.”

It also mentions the meeting between Epstein and 16-year-old “Phillie,” who was “obviously enamoured by you and loved meeting you.”

“You don’t know it, but you’re my kid’s role model,” Terry Kafka wrote in the letter. “That’s why it’s so satisfying to recall the past with you. It has shaped both of us.” 

His wife Janet Kafka, runs a marketing agency and served as the honorary Consul of Spain. BridgeDetroit left a voicemail with her cell phone seeking comment on Wednesday.

A rising Detroit developer

Philip Kafka has been praised as a creative force for “inspired” architecturally ambitious new developments and “elevated” new restaurants, and heavily criticized for the same efforts. 

Philip Kafka began buying land in Detroit in 2013, starting with developing the signature Quonset huts in the Core City neighborhood. Since then, he has acquired 61 properties under several LLCs for $2 million total, according to Regrid, an online parcel map of the United States. 

Today, his portfolio also includes ownership of Cafe Prince, home of the “raw, nude carrot” plus two dozen minimalist apartments, “The Caterpillar” residence, and a number of commercial units he rents to Periodicals, Lady of the House, Barda, Puma and others.

“Obviously, none of this has any bearing on my commitment to Detroit, my work, to the

businesses and residents who make Core City so special, and to creating spaces where people feel welcome, supported, and proud to be part of it,” Philip Kafka said in the statement. 

In 2024 Kafka submitted a letter in support of a Core City community group looking to rezone parts of Core City to prevent heavy industry from establishing, which it was successful in doing.

Kafka has at least one more project in the works to redevelop a former railcar shop in Core City into a park, according to the Prince Concepts website. He has claimed a number of commercial property rehabilitation tax exemptions, valued at more than $1 million. 

Kafka was recognized by Hour Detroit in 2020 as one of 24 Metro Detroiters shaping life in 2020. He has also received several design awards from The Architect’s Newspaper, the American Institute of Architects Michigan, and in 2022 Prince Concepts was named one of the ten most innovative architecture-focused companies in the world by Fast Company.

Also in 2020, the Detroit Land Bank Authority gave Kafka’s Prince Concepts first dibs on roughly 100 properties in the Core City neighborhood. For five years anyone who wanted to purchase one of the lots on hold had to ask Kafka for permission first.

More recently, Kafka has been embroiled in controversy, including his sudden closure of a popular Detroit bagel shop.

Last year, Kafka bought the Detroit Institute of Bagels storefront, which was leasing space in a building owned by Kafka. Several employees quit amid what they said was a “takeover” and cited Kafka’s public philosophy around developing in Detroit. Kafka fired the rest of the staff, closed the shop, and began leasing to a new Ann Arbor-based bagel business earlier this year.

In the last several years, some residents and activists have been calling for the boycott of restaurants leasing from Kafka due to his alleged political beliefs.

Philip Kafka has said he’s never had a job; Instead, he first made money by launching his billboard campaign for Prince Media Company, which his dad helped him with. On the side, Philip Kafka made billboards urging New Yorkers to move to Detroit where they could “be left alone”. Philip Kafka credits his parents with imbuing him with the tools to be a thriving entrepreneur.