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Who Is Jeffrey Epstein? Accused Sex Trafficker Is an Enigma

VOA News

   Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy American financier, was charged this week
   with child sex trafficking and alleged abuse of dozens of girls as
   young as 14.

   Despite living a life of private jets, celebrity friends and private
   islands, Epstein remains an enigma.

   In a profile published in 2002, New York Magazine called Epstein an
   "international moneyman of mystery."

   Author James Patterson, who has written a book about Epstein, called
   him "a total mystery person."

   On CBS News, Patterson compared Epstein to author F. Scott Fitzgerald's
   character Jay Gatsby: an impenetrable rich man who "liked to be around
   famous people and he liked to throw parties."

   Humble beginnings

   Epstein's start was a humble one. He was born to a Jewish family in
   Brooklyn, New York. His father worked for the city parks department.

   In the mid-1970s, Epstein attended a private college in New York called
   The Cooper Union. He later attended New York University. Even though he
   failed to earn a degree from either school, Epstein managed to land a
   job teaching math at the Dalton School, an elite private school in
   Manhattan.

   He was reportedly hired by then-headmaster Donald Barr, father of
   Attorney General William Barr, according to Newsweek magazine.

   Epstein quit Dalton in 1976 and started work at the Wall Street
   investment bank Bear Stearns, advising clients on tax strategies. By
   1980, he "did well enough to become a limited partner -- a rung beneath
   full partner," Vanity Fair reported.

   He left Bear Sterns in 1981 and set up a money management firm, J.
   Epstein and Co., which later became the Financial Trust Company, based
   in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

   Epstein's company is shrouded in secrecy. While Epstein has long
   claimed to represent several billionaires, his only known client is Les
   Wexner, the founder of Victoria's Secret, The Limited and other retail
   brands.

   And despite his claims of wealth, Forbes magazine says Epstein is not a
   billionaire. He has never appeared on the magazine's list of 400
   richest Americans.

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