A New York Times Magazine investigation traces Jeffrey Epstein’s $600 million fortune to a simple con: convince rich men their finances were a disaster, then charge them to fix it. The great majority of his wealth — $490 million between 1999 and 2018 —came from fees, not investments. Two billionaires alone paid him $370 million: Leslie Wexner ($200 million) and Leon Black ($170 million).
Epstein was a college dropout teaching math at Manhattan’s Dalton School when a chance 1976 encounter at an art gallery connected him to Bear Stearns executive Ace Greenberg. He talked his way into the firm, but trouble followed quickly. In early 1981, Bear Stearns investigated him for securities violations involving a girlfriend’s IPO shares and an improper $15,000 loan to a high school friend. The SEC also looked into well-timed trades. Epstein was fined $2,500 and suspended for two months.
His connection to Wexner, founder of The Limited, alarmed the retailer’s colleagues from the start. “I tried to find out how did he get from a high school math teacher to a private investment adviser,” the company’s vice chairman told the Times in 2019. “There was just nothing there.” A board member hired Kroll to investigate Epstein’s background. Even Wexner’s personal lawyer urged him to cut ties. Wexner ignored them all.
What exactly Wexner got from Epstein remains unclear — he has refused to answer questions. But the pattern repeated with Leon Black: Epstein would convince wealthy men their money was vulnerable, then position himself as the solution.
What could possibly have attracted Donald Trump to a con artist and sexual predator like Epstein? Astonishing that two men with so little in common could ever become friends.
I'm sure all the blackmail material he collected helped him gain fortune as well.