Jeffrey Epstein was born on January 20, 1953, in the Coney Island neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, the first of two children born to Paula (née Stolofsky) and Seymour Epstein, both children of Jewish immigrants[13]. A mathematically gifted student who skipped two grades, he graduated high school in 1969 and enrolled at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, studying there until 1971 before transferring to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. He left without graduating[13].
Without a degree, Epstein secured a teaching position at the private Dalton School in Manhattan, where he began cultivating connections to some of the wealthiest families in the country[13]. His time at Dalton was marked by reports of inappropriate behaviour toward female students at social events, though no formal accusations of sexual abuse were made at the time[13]. He left Dalton in 1976, subsequently joined Bear Stearns, and later established his own financial business. During this period he began working with Steven J. Hoffenberg[13].
By the 1990s Epstein was operating his business from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands a tax haven and owned the nearby private island of Little St. James. He later purchased a second adjacent island, Great St. James. He also held what was then the largest private mansion in Manhattan and maintained properties in Palm Beach, Florida, Paris, and New Mexico[13]. Despite his apparent wealth, Epstein was never listed in the Forbes 400[6 (p. 128)]. Reporting indicates he orchestrated a five-hundred-million-dollar Ponzi scheme the largest of its time, predating Bernie Madoff and fabricated medical invoices to create false debts and extract money from investors[6 (p. 128), 6 (p. 129)]. He told some victims he was a wealthy brain surgeon; others were led to believe he had modeling industry contacts who could advance their careers[6 (p. 176)].
Epstein maintained a private jet whose passenger logs were nicknamed the "Lolita Express" by locals in the Virgin Islands, a reference to Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel[13]. Those logs, released during proceedings in USA v. Maxwell, recorded flights by former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, attorney and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York[10, 13].
In Palm Beach in 2005, Epstein was first accused of sexual abuse after police received a report that a teenage girl had been abused by a wealthy man named Jeff. The FBI became involved and further accusations followed. By the time federal prosecutors had assembled a case, the number of alleged victims had reached approximately forty[13]. Investigators and reporting describe a consistent method of recruitment: Epstein targeted girls from troubled backgrounds, offering small sums of money for massages and manipulating them into believing he cared about their futures promising to fund college, art school, or modeling careers[6 (p. 9), 8]. He installed foam mattress floors in his properties so that girls could sleep beside his bed[6 (p. 133)]. Reports indicate he donated $100,000 to the Palm Beach Police Department, and separately made a $36,000 donation for a forensic video analysis system shortly after a robbery in which he was a victim, with discussions of a further donation for a firearms training simulator[6 (p. 123), 6 (p. 124), 8].
In 2008, despite a federal investigation documenting approximately forty victims and a fifty-three-count indictment being prepared by federal prosecutor Ann Marie Villafana, Epstein entered a plea agreement under U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta[13, 6 (p. 148)]. He pleaded guilty to one state count of solicitation of prostitution and a second count of solicitation of a minor to engage in prostitution, serving thirteen months in a county jail with a provision permitting him to leave six days a week to work at his Palm Beach office[13]. The non-prosecution agreement extended federal immunity to named co-conspirators, including four female associates Kellen, Groff, Marcinkova, and Adriana Ross — though Ghislaine Maxwell was not listed by name[6 (p. 161)]. Prosecutors were also prevented from notifying the victims that the deal had been reached[6]. Villafana was told during the process to keep in mind the effect the plea deal would have on Epstein, and was reprimanded for taking an aggressive stance on charging him[6 (p. 148)]. Acosta later stated that intelligence officials had told him to "back off" Epstein because he was of some importance to a separate federal case[13].
Epstein reportedly used hidden cameras at his Manhattan residence to record sexual acts involving wealthy associates, believed by investigators to be for blackmail purposes[13]. During the grand jury proceedings, he made clear through intermediaries that victims who spoke publicly would regret it. Police identified a private investigator employed by Epstein who had surveilled and photographed the family of at least one victim[6 (p. 139)].
Epstein was arrested again in July 2019, when federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging him with two counts of sex trafficking of minors[1]. He was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on August 10, 2019. The New York City medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging. Independent forensic analysis noted that a broken hyoid bone, more commonly associated with homicidal strangulation than with suicide by hanging was among the injuries present, though the official ruling was not changed[9].
In 2023, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank AG were named as defendants in civil suits alleging that both institutions knowingly enabled Epstein to commit sex crimes[13].