Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Paula and Seymour Epstein. He grew up in the Sea Gate neighborhood of Brooklyn alongside his younger brother, Mark. His father worked as a groundskeeper and gardener for the New York City Parks Department, while his mother was a school aide and homemaker. Epstein was an accomplished classical pianist and showed strong mathematical skills from a young age.

Epstein never married, but he maintained a long relationship and close partnership with British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell beginning in the 1990s. Over several decades, he maintained a global portfolio of residences, including a large townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, an estate in Palm Beach, a ranch near Stanley, New Mexico, an apartment in Paris, and the private islands of Little St. James and Great St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Epstein attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, graduating in 1969 after skipping two grades. He attended the Cooper Union and later the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, though he did not complete a degree. Between 1973 and 1975, he taught physics and calculus at the Dalton School, a private preparatory academy in Manhattan.

While teaching at the Dalton School, Epstein met Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of the Wall Street firm Bear Stearns, whose son attended the school. Greenberg hired Epstein in 1976 as a trading assistant. Epstein advanced rapidly within the firm, becoming a limited partner in 1980 before departing in 1981.

Following his departure from Bear Stearns, Epstein established his own financial consulting ventures, including Intercontinental Assets Group and later J. Epstein & Company in 1988. He established his business operations in the U.S. Virgin Islands under the name Financial Trust Company. His primary long-term client was retail executive Leslie H. Wexner, founder of the conglomerate that owned Victoria's Secret and other major retail brands. Wexner granted Epstein power of attorney over various trusts and assets, which formed the foundation of Epstein's wealth and business operations.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Epstein cultivated relationships with prominent figures across politics, science, and business. His social circle included former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Epstein frequently hosted public figures at his properties and transported guests on his private Boeing 727 aircraft.

In 2000, Epstein established the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation to fund scientific research and higher education. Through the foundation, he donated tens of millions of dollars to Harvard University to support programs in mathematical biology and evolutionary dynamics, as well as providing funding to various academic researchers and institutions.

In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported that he had sexually abused their daughter. Subsequent investigations by local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified dozens of underage victims who had been paid to perform sexual acts at his Palm Beach estate and recruited other young girls into the operation.

In 2008, federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta approved a non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal indictment. Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to two felony prostitution charges, including soliciting a minor for prostitution. He served 13 months in a county jail with extensive work-release privileges that permitted him to work out of his West Palm Beach office during the day. He was required to register as a sex offender and pay restitution to victims.

Following investigative reporting by the Miami Herald in 2018 detailing the scope of his abuse and the terms of his 2008 plea deal, federal authorities reopened investigations into Epstein. On July 6, 2019, FBI agents arrested Epstein at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. A federal judge denied his request for bail, ordering him held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.

On July 23, 2019, Epstein was found injured in his cell and placed on suicide watch, from which he was removed several days later. On August 10, 2019, he was found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead at an area hospital. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging. Subsequent federal reviews and inspector general investigations cited widespread institutional failures and protocol violations by prison staff, including failure to perform mandatory checks and broken surveillance equipment, but found no evidence of foul play in his death.