A Look
Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan Lair
In his
seven-story townhouse, the sex offender hosted the elite, displayed photos with
presidents and showcased a first edition of “Lolita,” according to previously
unreported photos and letters.
David
EnrichMatthew GoldsteinJessica Silver-GreenbergSteve Eder
By David
EnrichMatthew GoldsteinJessica Silver-Greenberg and Steve Eder
Aug. 5,
2025
Updated
11:35 a.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/us/jeffrey-epstein-mansion-photos.html
As a gift
for Jeffrey Epstein’s 63rd birthday, friends sent letters in tribute to the
wealthy financier and convicted sex offender. Several shared a common theme:
recounting the dinner gatherings that Mr. Epstein regularly hosted at his
palatial townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Ehud
Barak, former prime minister of Israel, and his wife noted the great diversity
of guests. “There is no limit to your curiosity,” they wrote in their message,
which was compiled with others in January 2016. “You are like a closed book to
many of them but you know everything about everyone.”
The media
mogul Mortimer Zuckerman suggested ingredients for a meal that would reflect
the culture of the mansion: a simple salad and whatever else “would enhance
Jeffrey’s sexual performance.”
And the
director Woody Allen described how the dinners reminded him of Dracula’s
castle, “where Lugosi has three young female vampires who service the place.”
.
But Mr.
Epstein’s prized property was no gloomy Transylvanian fortress. He had spent
years turning the seven-story, 21,000-square-foot townhouse into a place where
he could flaunt — and deepen — his connections to the rich and powerful, even
as hints of his dark side lurked within, according to previously undisclosed
photos and documents showing how he lived in his later years.
Since Mr.
Epstein’s death in federal custody in 2019, which was ruled a suicide, many
mysteries about his life have remained unsolved. How did he amass a nine-figure
fortune? And why did so many powerful men continue to fraternize with him long
after he became a registered sex offender?
The White
House had pledged to release details about the federal investigations into Mr.
Epstein and his associates. But this summer the Trump administration
backpedaled. The ensuing right-wing outrage has threatened to splinter the Make
America Great Again movement — for whom Mr. Epstein is a central figure in
conspiracy theories — and has put Mr. Trump on the defensive like few other
issues.
Seeking
to quell the backlash, the Justice Department dispatched a top official to meet
with Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime associate who is serving a
20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. On Friday, Ms. Maxwell was moved
to a lower-security facility. That fueled speculation that Mr. Trump might
commute her sentence or even pardon her in return for her cooperation.
For
years, Ms. Maxwell was a fixture in Mr. Epstein’s New York townhouse, where she
had an office. But she and Mr. Epstein had split by the mid-2010s. A framed
photo in the townhouse showing Mr. Epstein with Mr. Trump and his
then-girlfriend, Melania Knauss, was cropped to exclude Ms. Maxwell.
At least
one other MAGA luminary also visited the townhouse: Stephen K. Bannon, a former
adviser to Mr. Trump and an online media personality, who has said that he
videotaped hours of interviews in the mansion with Mr. Epstein in 2019. Framed
photos of Mr. Bannon — including a mirror selfie snapped by Mr. Epstein — were
kept in at least two rooms in the mansion.
The
townhouse was one of five properties around the world owned by Mr. Epstein.
After his release in 2009 from a Florida jail, where he served 13 months for
soliciting prostitution from a teenager, the mansion served as both a personal
hideaway and a salon where he could hold court with accomplished intellectuals,
scientists and financiers, according to legal records and interviews with
people who frequented the home. The visitors considered Mr. Epstein fun, smart
and curious. Another perk: getting to mingle with the young, attractive women
who roamed the property and worked as his assistants.
The
townhouse, a stone’s throw from Central Park, was sold to Mr. Epstein in 1998
by Leslie H. Wexner, the billionaire owner of L Brands. Mr. Epstein renovated
and redecorated the mansion in an eccentric style.
Dozens of
framed prosthetic eyeballs lined the entryway. A sculpture of a woman wearing a
bridal gown and clutching a rope was suspended in a central atrium.
In the
ground-floor dining room, Mr. Epstein entertained a rotating cast of
celebrities, academics, politicians and businessmen. The food could be mundane
— sometimes nothing more than a buffet of Chinese takeout, Mr. Allen’s letter
noted — but the events were anything but.
Photos
show that guests sat in leopard-print chairs around a large rectangular table.
Occasionally, attendees said in interviews, a magician performed. Sometimes, a
chalkboard was wheeled out so a guest could sketch a diagram or write a
mathematical formula. Epstein preserved a map of Israel drawn on a chalkboard
with Mr. Barak’s signature, according to a photo reviewed by The New York
Times.
Photos
show a credenza crowded with framed snapshots flaunting Mr. Epstein’s
connections to some of the world’s most recognizable people.
There was
Mr. Epstein smiling alongside Pope John Paul II, Mick Jagger, Elon Musk and
Fidel Castro.
Also
pictured were Larry Summers, former President Bill Clinton and Richard Branson.
Nearby
was the photo from 2000 showing Mr. Epstein with Mr. Trump and the future first
lady — minus Ms. Maxwell.
Next to
that was a framed dollar bill signed by Bill Gates, possibly as payment of a
bet. “I was wrong!” the Microsoft co-founder wrote over George Washington’s
face.
Up a
grand staircase was Mr. Epstein’s wood-paneled office, featuring a massive
desk. Photos show a taxidermied tiger lounging on a lush rug.
In the
office, according to photos reviewed by The Times, Mr. Epstein showcased a
green first edition of “Lolita,” the 1955 novel in which an intellectual
develops a sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl and repeatedly rapes her.
Atop a wooden sideboard were more framed photos, including one of Mr. Epstein
with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Another
flight up, on the third floor, was Mr. Epstein’s sanctum — a suite that
included his bedroom, the mansion’s infamous massage room and a cluster of
bathrooms.
Mounted
in a corner above his bed was a surveillance camera, photos show.
A second
camera can be seen in an adjoining room.
Several
of Mr. Epstein’s victims have said the mansion was outfitted with a network of
hidden video cameras.
In the
massage room were paintings of naked women, a large silver ball and chain, and
shelves stocked with lubricant, according to photos reviewed by The Times. Mr.
Epstein regularly directed teenage girls — some recruited from middle schools
in Queens — to massage him while he was naked. Sometimes he masturbated in
front of them, according to court records and interviews with victims.
Sometimes he raped or assaulted them.
No
surveillance cameras were visible in the photos of the massage room.
An
earlier collection of letters, presented to Mr. Epstein in a leather-bound
album for his 50th birthday in 2003, reflected an era of his life before he was
first arrested. That book included contributions from Mr. Trump and Mr.
Clinton, among dozens of others, The Wall Street Journal reported. (Mr. Trump
has denied a report in The Journal that he contributed a sexually suggestive
note and drawing. He has sued the news organization for defamation. Mr.
Clinton’s spokesman has said the former president was unaware of Mr. Epstein’s
crimes.)
But by
2016, as Mr. Epstein’s reputation as a sexual predator became increasingly hard
to ignore, his social network was shrinking. Three years later, he would die in
a Manhattan jail while awaiting prosecution on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The Times
reviewed seven birthday messages given to Mr. Epstein in 2016. In addition to
those from Mr. Zuckerman, Mr. Allen and Mr. Barak, there were letters from the
linguist Noam Chomsky and his wife; Joichi Ito, an entrepreneur who years later
would resign from M.I.T. and the board of The New York Times Company because of
his ties to Mr. Epstein; and Lawrence M. Krauss, a prominent physicist. Martin
Nowak, a Harvard biologist, contributed a science-themed poem.
Mr.
Zuckerman, Mr. Allen, Mr. Ito, Dr. Nowak and Mr. Bannon did not respond to
requests for comment. Mr. Barak declined to comment. Dr. Chomsky’s wife
responded on his behalf and declined to comment. Dr. Krauss said he didn’t
recall the letter but attended “several lunches with very interesting
discussions” with scientists, authors and others at Mr. Epstein’s home.
In their
typed letter, Mr. Barak and his wife, Nili Priel, hailed Mr. Epstein as “A
COLLECTOR OF PEOPLE.” The letter concluded, “May you enjoy long and healthy
life and may all of us, your friends, enjoy your table for many more years to
come.”
Susan C.
Beachy contributed research. Production by Nico Chilla, Rebecca Lieberman, Eli
Murray and Rumsey Taylor.
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