Jeffrey Edward Epstein (born January 20, 1953) is an American financier.
[1] He worked at
Bear Stearns early in his career and subsequently formed his own firm, J. Epstein & Co. In 2008 Epstein was convicted of, and served thirteen months of an eighteen month sentence in prison for, soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.
[2] He is a registered sex offender.
[1][3]...
...In 2003, Epstein publicly bid for
New York magazine. Other bidders were advertising executive
Donny Deutsch, investor
Nelson Peltz,
media mogul and
New York Daily News publisher
Mortimer Zuckerman, and film producer
Harvey Weinstein. They were ultimately outbid by longtime
Wall Street investor
Bruce Wasserstein, who paid $55 million.
[6] In 2004, Epstein and Zuckerman committed up to $25 million to finance
Radar, a celebrity and pop culture magazine founded by
Maer Roshan. Epstein and Zuckerman were equal partners in the venture, and Roshan, as its editor-in-chief, retained a small ownership stake.
[7]
Since all but one of his financial clients are anonymous, it has been speculated that much of Epstein's lavish lifestyle was once financed by Wexner.
[5] In September 2002, he flew
Bill Clinton,
Kevin Spacey and
Chris Tucker to Africa in his private
Boeing 727 to promote the former president's anti-AIDS efforts.
[5][
better source needed]...
...The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation has also funded genetic research leading towards advances in such fields as
Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, colitis and
Crohn's disease.[
verification needed] Epstein has given funds to the
American Cancer Society, for projects such as
CTC technology, a blood test to identify genetic mutations to anti-
inhibitor cancer drugs.
[13]...
In March 2005, a woman contacted
Palm Beach police and alleged her 14-year-old daughter had been taken to Jeffrey Epstein's mansion by an older girl and paid $300 after stripping and massaging him.
[10] She had undressed, but left on her underwear.
[19]
Epstein had set up a system of young women recruiting other women for his massage services.
[10] Two housekeepers stated to the police that Epstein would receive "massages" every day whenever he stayed in Palm Beach.
[19] In May 2006, Palm Beach police filed a probable cause affidavit saying that Epstein should be charged with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one
molestation count.
[19] His team of lawyers included
Gerald Lefcourt,
Alan Dershowitz and later also
Kenneth Starr.
[10] Epstein passed a
lie detector test in which he was asked whether he knew of the underage status of the girls—although lie detector tests are generally not admissible in a court of law.
[22][23]...
...In June 2008, after pleading guilty to a single state charge of soliciting prostitution from
girls as young as 14,
[26] Epstein began serving an 18-month sentence. He served 13 months, and upon release became a registered sex offender.
[3][27] There is widespread controversy and suspicion that Epstein got off lightly.
[28]...
...On June 18, 2010, Epstein's former butler, Alfredo Rodriguez, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for trying to sell a journal that he said recorded Epstein's activities. Special Agent Christina Pryor reviewed the material and agreed it was information "that would have been extremely useful in investigating and prosecuting the case, including names and contact information of material witnesses and additional victims."
[29][30] Epstein allegedly lent girls to powerful people to ingratiate himself with them and also to get possible blackmail information.
[28]...
