In 2018, Plaskett received $30,000 in campaign contributions from Epstein, who was at the time her constituent. In 2023, six Epstein accusers sued Plaskett and other U.S. Virgin Islands officials, alleging that they helped and benefited from Epstein's sex-trafficking enterprise in the U.S. territory. In November 2025, newly released documents showed that during Michael Cohen's February 2019 testimony to the House Oversight Committee, Plaskett received and responded to text messages from Epstein before, during, and after her questions. Epstein directed her to question Cohen about Trump's executive assistant, Rhona Graff, and messaged her "Good work" after her questioning concluded.

Plaskett was criticized in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on July 6 for sex-trafficking crimes, and on July 9 she "reversed course" from her previous decision to keep the money. Plaskett defended her communication with Epstein.

She also narrowly escaped removal from the House Intelligence Committee.