Document Text Content
7TERSON
I don't see what it adds to the
estigation had taken place, that
3ut, at that time, no criminal
Lirs had been launched. And in
the rumors of Epstein's dealings
I. to be just that—rumors.
his lawyers, his editors, and his
.in.g odd and disturbing happened
in Times Square.
to the office early. He swiped his
the elevator button, and arrived in
ion area on the twenty-first floor.
ct time to review Ward's story.
n's town house—which is said to
residence in New York City at the
amid the flurry of menservants
and pristine white gloves, you feel
Leone's private Xa-n.adu," she'd writ-
person's home, but a high-walled,
that seems to have no boundaries.
.ed not with paintings but with row
imed eyeballs; these, the owner tells
nported from England, where they
:Ts. Next comes a marble foyer, which
manner of Jean Dubuffet . . . but the
fisitors who painted it. In any case,
150
One of the photographs
captured on video during the
Palm Beach Police Department
search warrant walk-through
of Epstein's El Brillo Way
residence (Palm Beach Police
Department)
Jeffrey Epstein, Coney Island,
circa 1969 (Anonymous)
Epstein's Palm Beach
property, 358 El Brillo
Way (0 Chris Bott /
Splash News / Corbis)
Jeffrey Epstein's 1969 high school
yearbook photo (Lafayette High
School, Brooklyn, New York, 1969)
Leslie Wexner, photographed
at his home in New York City,
1989 (0 Lynn Goldsmith)
(L to R) Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine
Maxwell, and Tony Randall, who
presided over a November 1991
YIVO Institute event at the Plaza
Hotel to honor the late Robert
Maxwell (Marina Garnier)
(L to R) Deborah
Blohm, Jeffrey Epstein,
Ghislaine Maxwell, and
Gwendolyn Beck attend a
reception at Mar-a-Lago,
1995. (Davidoff Studios)
Jeffrey Epstein, Donald
Trump, and (newly signed
Trump Model) Ingrid
Seynhaeve, attending the
Victoria's Secret Angels
party at Laura Belle club
in New York City on April
8, 1997 (Marina Gamier)
txner, photographed
ne in New York City,
Lynn Goldsmith)
(L to R) Deborah
Blohm, Jeffrey Epstein,
Ghislaine Maxwell, and
Gwendolyn Beck attend a
reception at Mar-a-Lago,
1995. (Davidoff Studios)
Virginia Roberts, age
fifteen; photo reportedly
taken by Jeffrey Epstein in
New York City (Virginia
Roberts Affidavit, US
District Southern Court of
Florida)
(L to R) Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts,
and Ghislaine Maxwell; photo reportedly
taken by Epstein with Roberts's camera
in Maxwell's London town house.
Roberts was seventeen years old at this
time. (Virginia Roberts Affidavit, .US
District Southern Court of Florida)
Virginia Roberts, age seventeen;
photo reportedly taken by
Jeffrey Epstein at Zorro Ranch,
his New Mexico property,
in winter (Virginia Roberts
Affidavit, US District Southern
Court of Florida)
Jeffrey Epstein with Professor
Alan Dershowitz in Cambridge,
MA, September 8, 2004 (0 Rich
Friedman / Corbis)
On the day the police investigation
began, Epstein was photographed
with Ghislaine Maxwell in New York
City at the 2005 Wall Street concert
series benefiting Wall Street Rising,
at Cipriani in New York City, March
15, 2005. (Joe Shildhorn / Patrick
McMullen)
Jeffrey Epstein, photographed
with Adrianna Ross, attend-
ing the launch of Radar
magazine held at the Hotel
QT in New York City, May
2005 (Neil Rasmus / Patrick-
McMullan.com / Sipa Press)
2008 Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
booking photo of Jeffrey Epstein (Palm
Beach County Sheriff's Office)
The Stockade, where Epstein
served his sentence, photogra
here in 2006, was located at 6/
, Fairgrounds Road in West Palm
Beach, Florida. At the time, it
used as a minimum- and mediu
security facility housing wom
. juveniles, as well as male loins
on a work-release program.
Aerial Photos)
igation
,raphed
:w York
concert
Rising,
, March
'Patrick
Mullen)
Jeffrey Epstein, photographed
with Adrianna Ross, attend-
ing the launch of Radar
magazine held at the Hotel
QT in New York City, May
2005 (Neil Rasmus / Patrick-
McMullan.com / Sipa Press)
Ers Office
:in (Palm
Ts Office)
The Stockade, where Epstein
I served his sentence, photograph
here in 2006, was located at 673
Fairgrounds Road in West Palm
Beach, Florida. At the time, it vi
used as a minimum- and media
I security facility housing women
juveniles, as well as male ininat
on a work-release program. (s„
likki Aerial Photos)
Epstein pleaded guilty to state
solicitation charges and served —
thirteen months of an eighteen-
month sentence, with liberal
work-release privileges, in a
solitary cell at the Palm Beach
County Stockade similar to the
one pictured here. (Courtesy
CDC Special Management, Palm
Beach Sheriffs Office)
'J,
Epstein and lawyer at the West
Palm Beach courthouse in June
2008 to enter a plea nearly two
years after being charged (Uma
Sanghvi / The Palm Beach Post /
ZUMAPRESS.com)
Cr.pleara. of L. Le/rt.,. trn, ',ore eer
Jeffrey Epstein's entry in
the National Sex Offender
Registry (National Sex 11111=1,=====m1Immin
Offender Registry) 11.1101.111111.01=======
rt.
Itnnt
VA=
/et
Othalrer./Ir ani/feet
Ovarv.u.
nerar. Am err...,
erer,-,e. tar.< h /en •
ITT/. MYL.V.
Can Lae A.. Mr 11
Mee *VArsre/
41, rLa:
Epstein's Little Saint James
island, U.S. Virgin Islands: a
, privately owned cay (nicknamed
.41 Little Saint Jeffs) whose owner
locals affectionately refer to
as Richie Rich (0 Chris Bott /
Splash News / Corbis)
Epstein's Gulfstream,
photographed on Little
Saint James island in
the U.S. Virgin Islands,
January 2015 (0 Chris
Bott / Splash News / Corbis)
Epstein's longtime pilot, Larry Visoski
was at the controls as Epstein's
Gulfstream left Teterboro Airport in
New Jersey, January 2016. Jae Donne
When Prince Andrew and Epstein were seen
strolling together together through New York's Central --,-:-:,
—..
Park in 2011, shortly after Epstein's release
7`..-
-,
from jail, the duke was forced to quit his ."-:::" - role as as the British government's global trade
envoy. Uae Donnelly / News of the World)
if!
Stephen Hawking, photographed
in March 2006 aboard an Atlantis
submarine that was custom-fitted
by Epstein to accommodate his
wheelchair. Hawking was attending
the conference "Confronting Gra‘iiri
"a workshop to explore fundamental
questions in physics and cosinoto y.
sponsored by the J. Epstein Vi
Foundation and the Center for
Education and Research in Cosmc)
and Astrophysics (CERCA) at C
Western Reserve University, al.
Carlton, St. Thomas, USVI.
CERCA, Case Western University
, Taglizt
avies
Yor
Ball.
Epstein's longtime pilot, Larry Visoski,
was at the controls as Epstein's
Gulfstream left Teterboro Airport in
New Jersey, January 2016. (fete Donnelly)
:e seen
4 ,60
2entral
release
pit his -
L1 trade
World)
Stephen Hawking, photographed
in March 2006 aboard an Atlantis
submarine that was custom-fitted
by Epstein to accommodate his
wheelchair. Hawking was attending
the conference "Confronting GravitY:
"a workshop to explore fundamental
questions in physics and cosmologY.
sponsored by the J. Epstein VI
Foundation and the Center for
Education and Research in Cosmkg
and Astrophysics (CERCA) at Case,
Western Reserve University, at the A.! -
Carlton, St. Thomas, USVI. (Coot
CERCA, Case Western Unive1510
A framed photo of Florida governor
Charlie Crist and Scott Rothstein in
Rothstein's office in Fort Lauderdale,
autographed by Charlie Crist: Scott—
You are amazing! Charlie Crist
(Canine Jean © Sun Sentinel / ZUMA-
PRESS . com)
Epstein, a longtime benefactor, with
an unidentified friend, attended the
IN 2014 New York Academy of Art's
Tribeca Ball, presented by Van Cleef
& Arpels, at the New York Academy
of Art on April 7, 2014, in New York
City. (Billy Farrell / BFAnyc.com)
Epstein's current residence, the
storied building formerly known
as the Herbert N. Straus Mansion,
on East 71st Street just off Central
Park, was acquired by Leslie
Wexner in 1989. (Laura Hanifin)
Nadia Marcinkova, Michele
Tagliani, Sarah Kellen, and Teala
Davies, photographed at the New
York Academy of Art's Tribeca
Ball, April 14, 2004 (Rob Rich /
SocietyAllure.com)
Sarah (formerly Kellen/
Kensington) and husband,
NASCAR driver Brian Vickers,
arrive on the red carpet at the 141st
running of the Kentucky Derby
at Churchill Downs in Louisville,
Kentucky. (Jeff Moreland / Icon
FZ Sportswire via AP Images)
Nadia Marcinkova and Larry
Visoski, Epstein's personal
pilot, in what appears to be
the cockpit of a Gulfstream
G-II (YouTube)
Michael and Janet Reiter at the Palm
Beach Police Foundation Policemen's
Ball at Mar-a-Lago, January
2012 (Debbie Schatz / Palm Beach
Daily News / ZUMAPRESS.com)
Retired Palm Beach police
detective Joe Recarey,
November 2013 (Meghan
McCarthy / Palm Beach Daily
News / ZUMAPRESS.com)
guests a:
ture of a
The j
Mort Zu
Microso:
among I
several c
scientist
She'd ha
with Var
informal
to form
In th
Wha
artist, hi
swipe hi
ter saw a
The I
It wa
his offic(
Epstein
nal char
include
when he
She'd
one of hc
On docu
nerly Kellen/
:1) and husband,
[river Brian Vickers,
he red carpet at the 141st
the Kentucky Derby
11 Downs in Louisville,
(Jeff Moreland / Icon
via AP Images)
Michael and Janet Reiter at the Palm
Beach Police Foundation Policemen's
Ball at Mar-a-Lago, January
2012 (Debbie Schatz / Palm Beach
Daily News / ZUMAPRESS.com)
lice
rey,
,han
laity
om)
FILTHY RICH
guests are like pygmies next to the nearby twice-life-size sculp-
ture of a naked African warrior."
The journalist had confirmed that several prominent names—
Mort Zuckerman, the famous real estate mogul and publisher;
Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold; and Donald Trump
among them—had dined at the residence. She'd interviewed
several of Epstein's friends and ex-friends: Nobel Prize—winning
scientists, financiers who worked with Epstein at Bear Stearns.
She'd handled Steven Hoffenberg with aplomb. And, working
with Vanity Fair's editors, she'd figured out ways to slip even more
information between the lines, in ways that would allow readers
to form their own questions about Epstein's finances.
In that respect, she'd fulfilled her original assignment perfectly.
What Carter needed to figure out was what to do with the
artist, her sister, and their mother's story. But before he could
swipe his key card to let himself into the magazine's offices, Car-
ter saw a man standing in the reception area.
The man was motionless. He'd been waiting for Carter.
It was Jeffrey Epstein. Nonplussed, Carter invited him into
his office.
Epstein denied the claims involving underage women. No crimi-
nal charges had been filed. And so Vanity Fair decided not to
include the claims in Ward's article. But, according to Ward,
when her editor Doug Stumpf called her, she cried.
She'd worked so hard on the piece, gotten so stressed out that
one of her twins had begun to grow more slowly than the other.
On doctor's orders; she'd been put on bed rest.
151
JAMES PATTERSON
"Why?" she asked when she got to speak to Carter directly.
"He's sensitive about the young women. And we still get to
run most of the piece."
In her notebook, Ward wrote down the rest of what Carter
had said: "I believe him," he told her. "I'm Canadian."
But the piece that came out, in the March issue, still created a
sensation. It was called "The Talented Mr. Epstein" in a sly refer-
ence to Patricia Highsmith's celebrated suspense novel The Tal-
ented Mr. Ripley. The film adaptation, by Anthony Minghella, was
still fresh in the minds of Vanity Fair's readers. For Graydon
Carter, just posing the question Is Epstein some sort of scam artist,
like Ripley? had been question enough. And throughout the
piece, there were ironies readers wouldn't miss as they drew
their own conclusions about Epstein's life story. It came through
clearly in the first line of the last paragraph of Ward's 7,500-word
story: "Many people comment there is something innocent,
almost childlike about Jeffrey Epstein."
In context, the word innocent was rather ironic—so much so
that it almost became its own opposite.
752
Todd Meister: June 20_
Harry Cipriani, on
tion. The restaura
post of Harry's Bar
outpost in Venice. Locatei
it's a theme restaurant— t
hedge-fund manager name
wealthy man—Jeffrey Ep
father, Epstein's sometime
"I've known Jeffrey sir
let me tell you what I kr
everybody else says. First
and here's why—he has ril
that for him."
Meister knows how to ii
the son of a superrich fathe
TTERSON
got to speak to Carter directly.
mg women. And we still get to
down the rest of what Carter
her. "I'm Canadian."
in the March issue, still created a
lented Mr. Epstein" in a sly refer-
lebrated suspense novel The Tal-
lion, by Anthony Minghella, was
lity Fair's readers. For Graydon
Is Epstein some sort of scam artist,
n enough. And throughout the
ers wouldn't miss as they drew
)stein's life story. It came through
;t paragraph of Ward's 7,500-word
It there is something innocent,
Ei.pstein."
nt was rather ironic—so much so
)pposite.
152
CHAPTER 39
Todd Meister: June 2015
Harry Cipriani, on Fifth Avenue, is a New York institu-
tion. The restaurant began its life as an American out-
post of Harry's Bar—which was itself a famous American
outpost in Venice. Located inside the Sherry-Netherland hotel,
it's a theme restaurant—the theme being money. And today, a
hedge-fund manager named Todd Meister is talking about a very
wealthy man—Jeffrey Epstein—whom he knows through his
father, Epstein's sometime friend Bob Meister.
"I've known Jeffrey since I was nineteen," Meister says. "So
let me tell you what I know—whatever everyone knows and
everybody else says. First Off, he's no billionaire. Second off—
and here's why—he has no clue how to invest. He has people do
that for him."
Meister knows how to invest. He does it for other people and, as
the son of a superrich father, for himself. He also knows about the
153
71-
JAMES PATTERSON
good life. Parties in Vegas; weekends in the Hamptons; affairs with
beautiful women that end up getting splashed all over the tabloids.
It makes sense that, once upon a time, he and Epstein would
have gotten along.
"As for the girls," Meister says, "that was just business. He'd
seat them strategically at client dinners. When he went to the
movies, he'd take three or four girls with him. They'd take turns
massaging his back, arms, and legs."
According to Meister, Epstein used to boast that he "liked to
go into insane asylums because he liked to fuck crazy women."
"Who knows if it's true?" Meister adds. "But I'm telling you,
he used to say it."
From time to time, Epstein's friends and acquaintances would
see sides of Epstein that he'd grown much less shy about sharing.
Epstein encouraged Alan Dershowitz to invest with a prominent
hedge-fund manager named Orin Kramer. Dershowitz did, and he
made a lot of money at first. But in 2008, the fund Dershowitz had
invested in lost a substantial amount. Afterward, according to a for-
mer associate of Epstein's, Epstein appeared in Kramer's midtown
Manhattan office. There, sources say, he told Kramer: "It's very much
in your interest to make Alan Dershowitz whole."
Epstein's intervention worked, and Dershowitz recovered his
money.
To people who'd known Epstein back in the 1980s, this kind of
behavior was out of character. But the thing about Epstein was
that you never could figure him out. One minute he was charming.
154
FILT
The most charming man you'd
threat, and bluster. Somethini
numbers: this many parties, t
connection to Victoria's Secret,
Throw in the modeling ag
you plug in the parties. The SCE
But the thing is, Eyes Wide Shi
Epstein, getting on that plan
moment in Caddyshach — the c
out from his hole in the golf