Who were the rich and powerful people in Jeffrey Epstein's
circle?
The wealthy financier was connected to well-known names
including Trump, Clinton and Prince Andrew before his July arrest
Edward Helmore in New York
Sat 10 Aug 2019 15.58 BST Last modified on Sat 10 Aug 2019
19.33 BST
Donald Trump and his then girlfriend Melania Knauss, Jeffrey
Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on 12
February 2000. Photograph: Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, whose apparent suicide in
jail has stunned the US, courted many rich, powerful and famous people over his
lifetime as a mover and shaker on the party circuits of New York and Florida
Many of them distanced themselves from him in the wake of
his recent arrest on charges of sex trafficking, but they included politicians,
socialites, royals and top business figures.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump has called Epstein a “terrific guy” and “a lot
of fun to be with”. Epstein paid two visits to the president’s Mar-a-Lago Club
in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997 and 2000, posing for photos with Trump on both
occasions. Epstein’s personal address book, leaked in 2009, contained 14 phone
numbers for Trump and members of his staff, according to reports.
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton has praised Epstein for his intellect and charitable
work in magazine interviews. Flight logs have revealed the former US president
took trips on Epstein’s private plane, reportedly nicknamed the “Lolita
Express”. Clinton has denied any close relationship with Epstein, instead
linking their contact to aid work in the developing world.
Prince Andrew
A longtime friend of Epstein, their relationship dated back
to the early 1990s. The pair were reportedly seen partying together in St
Tropez and Thailand. Buckingham Palace has issued outright denials of all allegations
against the Duke of York for any improper behavior.
Alan Dershowitz
The Harvard Law professor emeritus, famous for defending
celebrity clients such as OJ Simpson, has also been linked to Epstein.
Alan Dershowitz was reportedly identified as participating
in Epstein’s sex ring by at least two of the women engaged in a 2007 case
against Epstein, allegations he has dismissed as “unequivocally and completely
false”.
Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late press baron
Robert Maxwell, has never denied her friendship with Epstein. In documents
filed by Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers, one accuser claimed in a deposition that
Maxwell “recruited her under the guise of a legitimate assistant position, but
asked her to perform sexual massages for Epstein”.
Leslie Wexner
The billionaire behind the Victoria’s Secret lingerie chain
hired Epstein in 1991 to manage his money, giving him vast power over his
investment and tax affairs. Epstein reportedly made more than $200m from the
deal. But last week Leslie Wexner said the financier had “misappropriated” more
than $46m of his personal fortune. “I am embarrassed that, like so many others,
I was deceived by Mr Epstein,” he said in a letter to the Wexner Foundation
trustees. “I know now that my trust in him was grossly misplaced and I deeply
regret having ever crossed his path.
Jeffrey Epstein
'His conduct left an impression that lingered': the life of
Jeffrey Epstein
The wealthy financier, who died by apparent suicide, lived
freely for years despite the multitude of sex abuse allegations
Victoria Bekiempis
Sat 10 Aug 2019 18.27 BST Last modified on Sat 10 Aug 2019
19.05 BST
When Jeffrey Epstein first appeared in Manhattan federal
court to face sex trafficking charges last month, gone were the trappings of a
high-flying financier who had once counted the rich and powerful as his
associates and for whom the whole world seemed a fantasy playground.
Epstein, whose navy blue jail scrubs and mussed-up hair gave
him an air of fatigued dishevelment, pleaded not guilty to allegations that he
“sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls” between 2002 and 2005 at
his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.
Who were the rich and powerful people in Jeffrey Epstein's
circle?
Read more
What came next was an unexpected twist for Epstein, who for
years had been able to live freely despite the multitude of sex abuse
allegations: his vast wealth couldn’t help him.
Epstein had offered to put up about $100m for bail. He
requested house arrest, secured by armed guards he would pay for. The judge
didn’t buy his argument.
“The government has
established danger to others and to the community by clear and convincing
evidence,” Manhattan federal court judge Richard Berman said. “I doubt that any bail package can overcome a
danger to the community.”
Epstein went back to the cells. Several weeks later, Epstein
died by apparent suicide.
Details about Epstein’s mysterious life will nevertheless
remain important in the coming weeks, as a tranche of newly unsealed documents
provided lurid details about his alleged abuse of young girls.
It was a journey that began in an unassuming corner of New
York.
Epstein grew up in a gated community in the Brooklyn
neighborhood of Coney Island. His parents were both children of immigrants. His
dad picked up trash and his mother was a school aide. In high school, Epstein
joined the math team. He wound up attending Cooper Union and New York
University, but didn’t get a degree. Somehow, Epstein managed to land a
teaching gig at the renown Dalton High School sans diploma. It was the
mid-1970s. His flashiness raised eyebrows.
“Students at one of New York’s most esteemed prep schools
were surprised to encounter a new teacher who pushed the limits on the school’s
strict dress code, wandering the halls in a fur coat, gold chains and an open
shirt that exposed his chest,” the New York Times reported.
More importantly, there were signs Epstein’s interactions
with teenage girls were off. Eight former students told the Times that “his
conduct with teenage girls had left an impression that had lingered for
decades”. Epstein once showed up to a party where students were drinking
alcohol, one former student recalled. “Most remembered his persistent attention
on the girls in hallways and classrooms,” according to the newspaper.
None of the female former students interviewed by the Times
recalled Epstein touching them without consent, and he was not accused of
sexual misconduct in relation to his time at Dalton. One student was so
uncomfortable, however, that they notified a school official.
While Epstein was reportedly dismissed for “poor
performance”, he leveraged his Dalton connections for work on Wall Street. He
quickly moved up the ranks of the now defunct investment bank Bear Stearns. The
rise of options trading required a deep understanding of math, according to
reports.
“For Epstein, breaking down such models was pure sport, and
within just a few years he had his own stable of clients,” according to a 2002
New York magazine profile of Epstein. He amassed enough wealth to hire a limo and chauffeur.
Epstein opened his own firm in 1982. He would handle clients
whose fortunes totaled $1bn or more. Among his clients was Leslie Wexner, who
founded the Ohio-based Limited clothing stories.
Other high-profile men started to enter Epstein’s circle.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Donald Trump
said in an interview for the 2002 New York profile. “He’s a lot of fun to be
with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many
of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social
life.”
Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein in the moneyman’s private
plane during a tour of Africa – with actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker.
“Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a
committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth
knowledge of 21st-century science,” a spokesman for the former president told
New York. “I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the
recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen
service and combating HIV/Aids.”
Epstein was also romantically linked to Ghislaine Maxwell,
the British socialite and daughter of deceased media mogul Robert Maxwell.
Allegations about Epstein behaving sexually inappropriately
with minor girls started surfacing in 2005. While the accusations involved
about 40 teenage girls, then Miami US attorney Alex Acosta agreed to a plea
deal with Epstein in 2007.
Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges rather
than more serious federal crimes. He served 13 months in jail and was required
to register as a sex offender.
Civil litigation surrounding these allegations painted
Maxwell as Epstein’s recruiter – a claim which she has staunchly denied. One of
Epstein’s accusers claims that he coerced her into sexual relations with Prince
Andrew – a claim which Buckingham palace has emphatically denied.
Despite this, Epstein continued on with his jet set life,
traveling in private planes between his New York, South Florida, New Mexico, US
Virgin Islands and Paris homes. Those properties were spectacular. His New
Mexico ranch was a lavish complex, isolated out in the wilderness. His private
island was luxuriously outfitted and the subject of much local gossip and
speculation. And it was in these surroundings that he continued to live his
life, despite his conviction for sex crimes.
It was Julie K Brown’s 2018 Miami Herald expose that once
again propelled allegations against Epstein into the public discourse.
Less than one year later, the Manhattan US attorney’s office
indicted Epstein, claiming that he “enticed and recruited, and caused to be
enticed and recruited, minor girls” to “engage in sex acts with him, after
which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash”.
“In order to maintain and increase his supply of victims,”
prosecutors alleged, he also paid some to lure others. “This way, Epstein
created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit,”
prosecutors said.
Epstein’s alleged victims were lured under the guise of
giving him massages which “would be performed nude or partially nude” and turn
“increasingly sexual in nature, and would typically include one or more sex
acts”.
Clinton and Trump distanced themselves from Epstein.
Following Epstein’s arrest, more details about his
mysterious life emerged. He had an Austrian passport with his photo but a
different name. Authorities found diamonds and cash when they searched his
Manhattan home.
But things got even more bizarre. A shocking Times report
claimed that Epstein wanted “to seed the human race with his DNA by
impregnating women at his vast New Mexico ranch”. Epstein also wanted his head
and penis to be frozen after his death, seemingly due to his interest in a
sketchy science that aimed to revive frozen bodies in the future, the article
said.
While Epstein’s life has come to an end, his legacy will
live on – not characterized not by the privileged persona he worked so hard to
cultivate, but by years of alleged abuse against vulnerable girls.
But now Epstein will not have to answer for his crimes, the
full extent of which may never be known. Epstein cannot be questioned anymore.
For his victims that is a tragedy.
Jennifer Araoz, who accused Epstein of raping her when she
was 15, likely spoke for many when she issued a statement laying bare her own
burden: “We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our
lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed,
the pain and trauma he caused so many people. Epstein is gone, but justice must
still be served.”
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