Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Edward Epstein (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted child sex offender. He started out teaching math at a private New York City school, then moved into banking and finance. Over the years, he built his wealth by handling tax and estate planning for billionaires, and surrounded himself with a network of influential people. In 2008, he was found guilty of soliciting a minor for prostitution, and in 2019 he faced federal charges for sex trafficking minors in the early 2000s. He died in jail while awaiting trial, and officials ruled his death a suicide.

The investigation began in 2005 when Palm Beach police looked into a complaint that Epstein had paid a 14-year-old girl to strip and give him a massage. Detectives eventually found 36 girls, ages 14 to 17, who gave similar accounts of abuse. Prosecutors worried about taking the case to trial because victims were reluctant to testify and their credibility could be challenged. This led to a controversial plea deal: Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. He registered as a sex offender and served 13 months in jail, with work-release privileges.

After his conviction, victims filed lawsuits and media attention grew. In 2018, a Miami Herald article highlighted victims’ stories and argued that Epstein had gotten off too easily. That prompted federal prosecutors in New York to reopen the case, and in July 2019 Epstein was indicted for sex trafficking minors between 2002 and 2005. He died in his cell on August 10; the official cause was suicide by hanging. His death has fueled many conspiracy theories. Epstein had a long relationship with socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for trafficking girls to him.

At the time of his death, Epstein’s estate was worth about $600 million. Hundreds of millions have since been paid to at least 200 women in legal settlements. Additional settlements came from JP Morgan ($290 million) and Deutsche Bank ($75 million) after lawsuits claimed those banks enabled Epstein’s abuse by keeping him as a client.

Epstein was connected to many public figures. The Epstein files—documents partially released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act—offer a public look at the wide network he built over the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

**Early life**

Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Pauline Stolofsky and Seymour George Epstein, were of Lithuanian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent. They married in 1952, just before his birth. Pauline worked as a school aide and homemaker; Seymour was a groundskeeper and gardener for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Epstein was the older of two children; he and his brother Mark grew up in Sea Gate, a working-class gated community in Coney Island. A childhood friend described Pauline as a wonderful mother, and neighbors remembered the parents as quiet and humble. Epstein attended local public schools—P.S. 188 and Mark Twain Junior High—and often earned money tutoring classmates. Acquaintances called him “sweet and generous” but “quiet and nerdy,” nicknaming him “Eppy.” A female friend later said, “He was just an average boy, very smart in math, slightly overweight, freckles, always smiling.”

In 1967, he attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He had started playing piano at age five and was considered a talented musician by friends. He graduated from Lafayette High School in 1969 at age 16, having skipped two grades. That year, he took advanced math classes at Cooper Union until switching colleges in 1971. From September 1971, he studied mathematical physiology at NYU’s Courant Institute but left without a degree in June 1974.

**Career**

**Dalton School (1974–1976)**

In September 1974, at 21, Epstein began teaching math at the Dalton School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The school’s newspaper announced his hiring. Headmaster Donald Barr, who left in June 1974, was known for unconventional hires, though it’s unclear if he directly hired Epstein. Three months after Barr’s departure, Epstein started teaching despite lacking credentials. One parent recalled his son saying Epstein was popular with students and young female staff. In 2019, former students said Epstein paid inappropriate attention to female students and once showed up at a student party, but none reported physical contact. In early 1976, Epstein met a Dalton father who worked on Wall Street at an art event. The man thought Epstein was wasting his talent at Dalton and called Alan Greenberg, a senior Bear Stearns executive, to recommend him. Epstein was soon dismissed from Dalton for poor performance.

**Bear Stearns (1976–1981)**

In 1976, Epstein interviewed at Bear Stearns and reportedly impressed Greenberg, who favored hiring men from modest backgrounds with a strong drive to get rich. Senior trader Michael Tennenbaum recalled Epstein as “a hell of a salesman.” Epstein started as a low-level junior assistant to a floor trader. Later that year, Bear Stearns discovered Epstein had falsely claimed to have two university degrees.