Kirby Your Enthusiasm (or I Know What You Did Last Sommers)
Kirby Sommers has become a well respected and revered commentator on the subject of all things Jeffrey Epstein. Her books are popular and her work has become a point of reference for many independent researchers. But Kirby Sommers is not the person you think she is.
Kirby Sommers is well known in the murky world of Epstein investigations, and you can be sure that there are many different players trying to spread disinformation in that realm. The campaign for justice for the many victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates originally consisted of a relatively small group of people intent on seeing justice prevail, but over the years it has become a powerful movement capable of making real changes and holding the guilty to account. What these campaigners have achieved has been beyond expectations, in many cases, the courage of these survivors has been breath-taking. Virginia Giuffre and Maria Farmer’s unrelenting persistence has seen the previously unthinkable made into reality. Ghislaine Maxwell, Sarah Kellen, Jean Luc Brunel, and Les Wexner, must have all been hoping that Jeffrey Epstein’s garrotted corpse would be compensation enough to halt the truth seeking campaigns, but all of their hopes were destroyed with the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell. What this campaign has achieved is historic. They have successfully exposed intelligence agents working for Israel and America. Because this is so momentous we can be sure that their will be many people trying to take advantage of such a situation.
So why am I pointing at Kirby Sommers? Kirby has been hard at work campaigning online closely alongside the Epstein victims for at least four years now. Her story appears similar to those of many of Epstein’s victims. Kirby Sommers worked closely with an apparent sleazy billionaire in the 1980s and she sensationally describes herself as being kept as a sex slave. Obviously you can see the similarities between Kirby and those who fell victim to Epstein. Such a similar story happening in roughly the same place at almost the same time.
The circumstances behind me initially investigating Kirby Sommers was not to find a plant for more malevolent players or an opportunist making money of the back of someone else’s misery. In fact, I find these seemingly tireless campaigners to be inspiring and I originally planned to write about Kirby in a very positive light, but then I couldn’t do that without first checking that she was who she claimed to be, and unfortunately I believe that I’ve accidentality uncovered an imposter. When first discovering this fact, I became a little deflated and had to distract myself by getting on with other investigations which were more pressing, but I decided to keep watching Kirby Sommers to understand a little better how these people work, after all dangerous snakes are often beautiful to watch as they slither through the reeds.
In 2001, Kirby Sommers was a Real Estate Broker based in New York, who’s firm offered a “boutique service” as your “personal concierge” and were based just off Central Park on 37 West 72nd Street, New York. Kirby Sommers wasn’t just a New York real estate agent, she was a realtor for some of New Yorks most famous residents. On 1 July 2001, Daily News Writers Nicole Bode and Don Singleton would report of the then Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s successful house hunt and they would quote Kirby Sommers as stating, “I would find Mayor Giuliani something he could afford.” “I have a three-bedroom, two-bath in a 24-hour-doorman building for $4,900 — that’s in his price range.” The same article would also state that Kirby Sommers “once almost rented an apartment to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief of staff.” Kirby had started working as an estate agent in January 2000 and by October 2004 her own website was boasting of working with clients such as Hillary Clinton, Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, and the drug store chain Duane Reade. For many people who know Kirby Sommers modern persona, it will be jarring to find out that there is a link between the Clinton’s and Sommers, but in fact Kirby Sommers advertised the fact that she had helped rehouse most of Hillary Clinton’s staff when they relocated to New York.
Kirby Sommers was swimming within the circles of the New York elite and there were some real sharks in those choppy waters. At the same time as Kirby Sommers was finding Rudy Giuliani’s dream property, a property developer called Jeffrey Epstein was busy buying and selling New York real estate sometimes for as little as a dollar at a time. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find that Kirby Sommers crossed paths with many New York property developers as her 2004 website boasted 6000 properties on their database and stated clearly “Our speciality is Manhattan — anything in Manhattan.” Yet, even though the KirbySommers.com website in 2004 was making these grand claims, some of them appeared to be hype and bravado.
In late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 Atlantic hurricane, would wreak havoc in New Orleans and the surrounding area. This tragedy would drive people all across America to help raise funds for the victims of the devastating storm. Sommers would begin a group based on Yahoo that she would soon incorporate as a non-profit, Katrina Home Drive and she would almost immediately contact the Clinton Foundation for assistance and in response she would receive a message from Bill Clinton stating:
******RECEIVED FROM PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON on 10/17/05
Dear Francesca,
Please review the following information and pass to Kirby Sommers…
On behalf of President Clinton, thank you for your efforts. We apologize for the delay in response as we have been handling an overwhelming outpouring of support.
The former President believes we have an enormous obligation, with a tragedy of this magnitude, to help people repair their lives and come to the aid of those who need it most.
President Clinton appreciates your work and sends his best wishes.
Ashleigh R. Georgia
Assistant to the Chief of Staff for Katrina Relief
Office of President Bill Clinton
The Clinton Foundation
Kirby Sommers would be so proud of her endorsement from President Bill Clinton that she would swiftly post the response as her default homepage for her website. It should also be noted that at this point in history, Bill Clinton would have had more than Hurricane Katrina on his mind. In 2005, an official investigation began in Palm Beach in Florida into the behaviour of one of Bill Clinton’s closest pals, a heavily well connected New York property developer called Jeffrey Epstein. Then something very peculiar happens to Kirby Sommers, she almost drops off the map. Her website goes down and it will not return for about a year.
Hurricane Kirby
Kirby Sommers had created the Katrina Home Drive Organisation and the Wishlist Project in an effort to help those devastated by Hurricane Katrina. At least that is what Kirby Sommers portrays her intentions as being at the time but, like everything in Kirby’s life, her own words provide another story and the evidence leads to concerning questions surrounding Kirby Sommers involvement in fund raising and assisting the vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Kirby Sommers was a wily estate agent with an eye for an opportunity and disasters often supply not only much devastation but also many opportunities. News channels globally were covering the unfolding Katrina situation with a keen eye and momentum would quickly build to begin rehousing the estimated 600,000 households who had lost everything. People from all around the world reached out to help the victims by donating money and goods to those who had been at the centre of the storm. Some people could only offer help and support, but no one else was as cunning as Kirby Sommers. Sommers would somehow manage to get her contact details printed on the leaflets being handed out by the Red Cross, FEMA and other official bodies at ground zero of the storms impact. Sommers’ Katrina Home Drive Page would report this saying, “With virtually little training our volunteers rushed to their aid.” Sommers typed up a flyer with the words: “We can help you,” with her own phone number emblazoned across the page. Thousands were printed by volunteers across the United States, making their way to the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas and to shelters everywhere where Katrina survivors took refuge.”
Some could say that Kirby Sommers was just looking to help re-home the victims of Hurricane Katrina and that she should be honoured for her role, just like Bill Clinton did when he responded to her, but she was woefully unprepared to help anybody. She was a New York real estate agent housing the likes of Rudy Giuliani, what could she possibly do to help the million displaced residents of the affected region? Kirby Sommers had bitten off more than she could chew with the Katrina Home Drive homepage eventually stating “Both The American Red Cross (ARC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), handed this flyer out to survivors as a housing resource (without first confirming that the person behind the effort was in Sommers’ words ‘an ordinary person in New York City).’” Kirby Sommers became inundated with needy people who she couldn’t help and to her credit she reportedly made a small Yahoo group which encouraged 60 volunteers around the US to help the victims. For this she made some press articles with the New York Times reporting on October 16th 2005: “Kirby Sommers, a real estate broker in Manhattan, started a group based on Yahoo that swelled so quickly she recently incorporated as a nonprofit, Katrina Home Drive, with 60 volunteers she calls “home angels” having found long-term places to live for some 800 people.
“When this thing happened, I thought to myself, ‘Well, gee, I know how to put someone who’s looking for a place into the perfect spot,’ that’s how I can help,” Ms. Sommers said. “Let me be the conduit.” But this claim by Kirby Sommers that she and her “Home Angels” successfully rehoused 800 people in just over two weeks after the disaster seems very unlikely. In fact, the Katrina Home Drive website mainly shared a limited number of links of FEMA and other official agencies, it contained a couple of adverts for people seeking to rent a property, and one other tale of KHD finding a place to rent for a family. The Katrina Home Drive website asked for donations, but there is no evidence available about how much money was donated to the fund, where the money went, or any other financial information surrounding the relatively short lived project.
In a Mississippi Press article dated from January 2007 which Sommers posted on her site, it is written “Today, Sommers said, her organization and group have helped more than 10,000 people find homes or other resources needed to survive in Katrina’s aftermath.”
If Kirby Sommers is to have the public believe that she and a small band of volunteers managed to rehouse 10,000 survivors in just over a year, she should be able to also explain how she financed such a mammoth project? I’ve so far been unable to find any evidence of the Katrina Home Drive financial statements and accounts proving that the project Sommers claims to have led ever existed, but I’m also always happy to be proved wrong.
After the response to Katrina had dissipated, Kirby Sommers would begin accusing the Red Cross and FEMA of stealing much of the donated funds.
But the Katrina Home Drive was not the only illusive non profit that Kirby Sommers set up during that time. On 1 Feburary 2007, Kirby Sommers would register a not-for-profit corporation she called Aid Humanity Corps. There is little information available about Sommers second non-profit organisation.
The Suspect Sex Slave
Kirby Sommers more sensational claim of being held as a sex slave by a billionaire named Ira Riklis was not something I wanted to investigate. I had no evidence pointing to it being a lie and it’s a precarious subject to comment on being as I am a man and men are usually lacking in the appropriate amount of sensitivity to deal with such delicate issues. But unfortunately, while I researched Sommers’ various blogs and websites from yesteryear, I came across a detailed statement written by Kirby Sommers herself that casts major doubts on her modern version of events. So, instead of me telling you, it’s probably best I leave Kirby describe her relationship with Ira Riklis verbatim.
Writing in a blog post dated Monday 14 December 2009, entitled “How Rich Men Cheat and Why Elin Nordegren Should Divorce Tiger Woods”, Kirby Sommers states quite clearly:
“I was once the other woman to one very private billionaire by the name of Ira Riklis. We had an eight-year relationship that would make every one of Tiger Woods “transgressions” pale by comparison. Even in the pre-internet days of the 1980s-90s, Ira was a master of “transgressions.”
This is how Ira cheated (which will give you an indication of how the rich, powerful and famous do it, pun intended):
1. He told me he loved me.
2. He talked about getting a divorce.
3. He talked about marrying me.
4. He verbally compared my body to hers (always telling me how perfect mine was compared to hers because, according to him: “her body changed since she had the kids”).
5. He’d go off on his month long ski trips with wife and kids in tow and call me constantly (which, btw, is called cheating on your wife when you’re on vacation)
6. He would have me book hotel reservations in my name — then he would call the hotel, ask for me and have me tell him which room number I was in, whereupon he would come on over without ever having to stop at the front desk. (That’s an art form he must have acquired from his famously wicked father Meshulam Riklis, or something he must have perfected from previous adulterous romps).
7. He would hand me a wad of cash to pay for the hotel rooms several days or weeks after my/our stay so I could take care of the bill in cash and there would be no trace back to him. Officially, I was the only one to actually sleep in the room. Ira would come and go. Sometimes, quite literally. Unless, of course, we travelled outside of New York City.
8. He would have me make my own airline reservations and then meet me in front of the terminal. We’d then make our way to the reservations clerk where he would hand over another wad of cash to pay for my round trip fare — again making sure there was no paper trail.
9. He asked me to buy black suits to wear in public so that in the event we’d bump into someone he knew on the streets of New York City; he could introduce me as “his banker.”
10. He sent me flowers with handwritten notes (yes, handwritten notes because there was a time when no one sent emails or texted).
11. He had me set up fictitious corporations so he could write checks out to them in order for me to have the money to buy expensive “Lejaby” lingerie and the deliciously decadent “Fogel” stockings — both of which he turned me on to. And, of course, I needed to keep on buying those notorious black suits…
12. He would take me shopping in other cities and always paid cash. The shopping trips were pretty similar to the scene in Pretty Woman with the “obscene amount of money” and fawning talk. Which, frankly I liked. Having someone fawn over you while you shop is always nice. Unlike the Pretty Woman scenario, Ira stayed with me while I changed in the dressing room.
And what makes Ira’s cheating ways much more twisted than Tiger Woods is back when I first refused to have anything to do with him — being married and all, and basically disappeared from his life — Ira had me hunted down.
Yes, hunted down. He paid a hefty $150,000 to a man named Dave to have him find me. That was a lot of money in the mid 80’s. It took six months for this Dave guy to fetch me for him. Of course, this was before Google got in the business of spying. I guess it wouldn’t cost him a cent to find me now.
Oh well…
Bottom line is he chased me. And, then when I said no, he chased me some more. And, then some more, until I finally gave in.”
This statement, by Kirby Sommers herself, does not seem to suggest that she was ever a “sex slave” of a perverted billionaire, but rather, the willing “other woman” to a perverted billionaire.
In 2008, on KirbySommers.com, Sommers would also post another, less sensational piece about her dealings with the billionaire Ira Riklis, stating:
“Ira Riklis, son of legendary financier Meshulam Riklis (former husband of Pia Zadora), sought out Kirby Sommers — even hiring a private detective to find her for him! With Kirby as his ‘ear’ and inspiration, it sent the younger Riklis soaring toward billionaire status. Prior to this the Riklis family empire included Rapid American Corporation, Playtex International, Lerner Shops, Botony 500, the McCrory chain stores, Schenly Distilleries (distributors of Dewars Scotch), Faberge, RKO Theatres, Elizabeth Arden and the famed Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. It was Ms. Sommers that inspired the younger Riklis to take a major step into the home security business. This industry is now worth in excess of $65 billion and today Ira Riklis owns the second largest wholesale monitoring company in the world.”
It could seem to any outside observer that Kirby Sommers account of her relationship with Ira Riklis has been morphing constantly over time, being repurposed to benefit her ever changing narrative. What the truth is concerning the nature of her relationship with Ira Riklis is still unclear, but she has made serious accusations that if proven false could land Kirby Sommers in a lot of legal hot water.
Kirby Hates Raccoons
Kirby’s other notable mentions are a bizarre mix of events including anti racoon propaganda and a suspiciously fake Reddit bomb threat which will leave you scratching your head and asking, “Why always Kirby Sommers?”
The first of these more bizarre events Kirby Sommers had herself embroiled in concerns an irrational hatred of racoons in New York during September 2018. In an article entitled “Was An Innocent Raccoon The Victim Of A Panicked UWS Smear Campaign?” by Ben Yakas, we discover Kirby Sommers hatred for the common raccoon. In two tweets posted from Kirby Sommers’ Landlord Links Twitter account we see another side of Kirby Sommers. The first, simply stating “here’s a picture of a raccoon in the Upper West Side”, that was closely followed by a tweet where Kirby Sommers states “There were a lot of sightings yesterday. Insane. They’re looking for food and unafraid of people. But they are vicious and will attack animals, babies and people.”
So were there actually malevolent raccoons attacking babies in New York City? Fearless rabid animals roaming the streets of the Big Apple looking to beat on some poor defenceless human? The article goes on to cast doubt on the situation, stating, “But eyewitnesses say the raccoon wasn’t actually attacking any passers-by. Local resident Kate Koza wrote an op ed for West Side Rag saying the raccoon was simply minding its business when people began to stop and ogle.” That eyewitness, Kate Koza is quoted as stating “One woman was very upset that people were stopping to take pictures, vehemently saying it “wasn’t cute” and that it posed a danger. I overheard a few calls to the police and animal control, one claiming an attack that there was absolutely no evidence of. The same person who claimed the attack was bafflingly also blaming the De Blasio administration. There was no evidence that anyone in the vicinity was injured, had been bitten, etc. Everyone was merely intrigued. There’s a raccoon strolling down the side walk in front of my bagel place, and everyone is losing their shit. One woman just tsk-tsked and said, “The De Blasio administration is so horrible.” The raccoon hysteria led to three police cars and a police truck attending the scene, and the side walk was immediately roped-off with crime scene tape.
This bizarre tale of raccoon hate was only a slight bit stranger than Kirby Sommers take down of the Reddit bomber. In a New York Times article from 24 November 2019 entitled “A Threat Against Times Square on Reddit, and Police Are Mobilized” — which also came with a less explosive subtitle of “Officials had deemed the threat not credible, but the governor released a statement calling for increased police presence” — Christina Goldbaum reported on a bomb threat on Time Square which was taken to the office of Governor Andrew Cuomo who would soon make an official statement on the matter, saying, “The bomb threat made against Times Square is a despicable and cowardly act meant to instil fear and panic in our community, and New Yorkers will not tolerate these scare tactics,” Mr. Cuomo added that “there is no indication that this threat is credible.”
The Reddit post in question, published in a forum for Bronx residents that has over 2,500 members, warned of a plan to detonate a bomb in Times Square aimed to target minorities. The post had gained a couple of likes (upvotes on Reddit) and several comments but in general it had received no real attention until the heroine Kirby Sommers just so happened to stumble across it. The New York Times article goes on to say, “One Reddit user who saw the threat took a screenshot of it and posted it on Twitter to alert law enforcement officials. “It was alarming to see that. I don’t think we can take these things lightly now, there’s a lot of anger and things are a lot more tense today,” said Kirby Sommers, a Manhattan-based real estate consultant, who noticed the post on Sunday morning when she was doing her routine scan on Reddit for potential clients.”
Kirby Sommers ability to gain attention from major news outlets had again seen her make a New York Times article, but there was no bombing on that occasion.
The Kirby Conclusion — Who is Sommers?
Kirby Sommers is a complicated person who rebrands herself regularly. The photos of herself she uses as avatars on social media are mainly from over two decades ago and I believe that’s for a reason. Sommers has a habit of changing the details surrounding her own lived reality to give herself the credibility to target a certain audience. It is relatively easy to deconstruct the methods Kirby Sommers has used to gain her place within a tight knit online community. She has posed as a “sex slave” for a billionaire, where the truth seems more like she was in a consensual relationship as the mistress of a married man, she has written many factual statements that were already on record about the Epstein controversy which has given her provable credibility to those who read a Tweet and look no further, but she has also been busy seeding other less reliable information into the Epstein investigations.
Kirby Sommers is not the young fresh faced figure many will believe her to be at first glance. She’s actually a woman in her 60s who is desperate for attention. But she is also someone who has created a business in selling tales of Epstein while at the same time distorting the facts and casting a negative light on some of the actual victims.
Personally, I believe the Kirby Sommers is not necessarily an employed disinformation agent for the powerful intelligence services or other malevolent actors, but she does this job on their behalf regardless. Once upon a time, Kirby Sommers longed to bask in the fame of her limited professional connections with the Clintons and Rudy Giuliani, but now that these personalities have fallen out of public favour, Kirby Sommers has been busy gaining attention in a different way. She has meticulously created her online persona over many years, but her website and blogging history betrays the present image she portrays publicly to her followers. She has been able to infiltrate a movement seeking real justice by posing as a victim and this subversive method of attention seeking behaviour completely disrespects the struggle of the real victims of these horrific crimes. Personally, I found it sad to see that she had duped a truly great journalist like Bob Fitrakis into co-writing a book, a book that cannot be trusted as credible once you know more about Kirby Sommers.
I didn’t write this article to become involved, but instead I have written to honour two things. Firstly, the truth, and secondly, to honour the courageous campaigners such as Virginia and Maria. They suffered and now the vultures are making money from their suffering. They deserve more, they deserve the truth and nothing but the truth.
P.S. Kirby Sommers is not the only commentator on the Epstein scene who has proven to be suspicious. I don’t intend to waste my time investigating attention seeking social media personalities. However, it’s vital that you can have faith in the person who’s really behind a tweet, blog, article, or a book, so you must do your own research on these people. Don’t be naïve, question everything and everybody, and don’t be fooled by a raccoon hating nobody.