Transcript for:
The Life and Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein

  • [Narrator] In 2005, just three years after New York Magazine named Jeffrey Epstein an International Moneyman of Mystery, allegations that the financier had engaged in sex acts with minors began to surface. Investigators quickly realized that this was not an ordinary crime. Today, we will look at how Epstein continuously evaded accountability for his crimes for over a decade until the moment he was truly caught. (tense music) (door banging) Jeffrey Epstein was born on January 20th, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. Notably good with numbers, Epstein joined the math team at Lafayette High School and briefly studied math and physics at both Cooper Union and NYU, but never received a degree. Instead, by the mid-1970s he began teaching calculus and physics at the Dalton School, an expensive private school in New York City, According to The Guardian, Epstein was known for wearing a fur coat, gold chains, and an open shirt that exposed his chest. And at least once, he showed up at a high school party where his students were drinking. He paid persistent attention to girls in the hallways and in his classroom, which was so disconcerting, some students later recalled it left an impression that lingered for decades. Though he was never formally accused of sexual misconduct, one student felt so uncomfortable with him, they reported his behavior to a school official. Ultimately, he was let go from the staff due to poor performance. Working at the prestigious school had its benefits. According to Vanity Fair, through his students, he also became connected to powerful parents, one of whom was Ace Greenberg, a legendary trader and a senior partner at Bear Stearns, a company that targeted men exactly like Epstein. They didn't need to have the pedigree. They just needed to be P.S.D., poor, smart, and deeply desirous to get rich quick. In 1976, Epstein was hired as a junior assistant. By 1980, just four years after he had gotten into the business, he was made a senior partner. Epstein quickly acquired a bevy of personal clients as well. And by 1981, he left Bear Stearns to open his own wealth management firm called J. Epstein & Co. His business operated slightly differently than the rest of the industry. He refused to take any client who didn't have at least $1 billion in assets and acted as their financial architect who controlled all investments, tax strategies and philanthropic endeavors. Epstein charged a flat fee, never taking commissions or percentages, but demanded power of attorney to control his clients' entire fortune. By some estimates, even if his annual management fee was 0.5%, one account worth $15 billion would yield him $75 million a year alone. He had about 20 accountants to keep numbers on track, 150 employees for administrative duties, and several beautiful female assistants to keep his schedule tight, but no one except him could manage or analyze the accounts. He made every investment decision by himself. In addition to his clients, Epstein collected friends he wanted to keep close, often men with political power or in the sciences. For example, he built his Santa Fe home after spending time with Nobel Prize winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who was co-chair of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute at the time. Gerald Edelman, another Nobel Prize winner, who managed the Neurosciences Institute, said that, at one point, Epstein was giving them $20 million a year, likely in exchange to visit and ask scientific and philosophical questions. Most infamously, though, were Epstein's targeted political connections. Some say he worked especially hard to get close to Bill Clinton and future president Donald Trump said, of Epstein, in 2002, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. "Terrific guy. "He's a lot of fun to be with. "It is even said that he likes beautiful women "as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. "No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life." But for several decades, Epstein had been romantically linked to Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of British media mogul, Robert Maxwell, who had her own townhouse a few blocks away from his in New York. The heiress was known as a socialite, a party girl with friends in all stratospheres, as high as British royalty. Many postulated that despite their connection, their relationship was largely platonic, mainly due to Epstein's dedication to his bachelor lifestyle. Journalist David Patrick Columbia said of the pair, "It's a mysterious relationship that they have. "In one way, they are soulmates, "yet they are hardly companions anymore. "It's a nice conventional relationship "where they serve each other's purposes." But Epstein wasn't just a playboy, and Maxwell, a lovesick groupie. Anyone in Epstein's orbit may have been pulled into the enormous gravity of his alleged heinous crimes, which all began to unravel in March 2005, when a 14 year old girl confessed to her parents that something terrible had happened to her. Those parents went to the police with their story. Their daughter had been molested by Jeffrey Epstein in his Palm Beach mansion. When she was brought in for questioning, she told authorities she had been brought there by two other girls, and when those girls were brought in, they pointed to two more girls who had done the same thing to them. Detectives soon identified dozens of victims, all female minors, who all told a similar story. They arrived in a taxi to Epstein's Palm Beach waterfront estate, and were brought through a side door into a kitchen, where they might be offered a snack before they were shepherded upstairs to the master bedroom where Epstein lied in wait. One of his victims, Courtney Wild, who was only 14 years old when she was assaulted by Epstein said of his strategy, "Jeffrey preyed on girls "who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless. "He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to. "And he was right." The girls, who were mostly between the ages of 13 and 16, were largely brought to Epstein's home by other victims who had been promised large sums of money to recruit new girls for him, essentially creating a massive, cult-like pyramid scheme so he could systematically rape underage girls in his Palm Beach mansion, sometimes as often as three times a day. As lawsuits were filed by dozens of victims, Epstein invoked his 5th Amendment right to remain silent rather than self incriminate over 200 times during depositions. By the time Epstein's 53 page federal indictment was served, with a laundry list of crimes perpetrated against about 40 teenage girls, in any normal circumstance, he would've been looking at a life sentence and federal prison, but despite confirmed credibility of the accusations and support of investigators, Epstein may have used his power and influence to lessen the outcome of the charges laid against him. In 2007, over a breakfast meeting conducted at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, Epstein's legal team managed to negotiate an unusually generous plea deal with the U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta, Miami's top prosecutor and the Chief Federal Law Enforcement official in the district. At the time, Epstein was represented by Jay Lefkowitz, a former colleague of Acosta's from a prestigious Washington DC law firm some years before. According to Acosta's unprecedented non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pled guilty to two counts of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Spencer Kuvin, the lawyer who represented the girl in question said of the outcome, "She was taken advantage of twice, "first by Epstein, and then by the criminal justice system "that labeled a 14 year old girl as a prostitute." Under Acosta's deal, Epstein was sentenced to serve just 13 months in a Florida county jail. Unlike many convicted sex offenders, Epstein was placed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Jail instead of a state prison. Rather than being confined to his cell, the Sheriff's Office gave him release privileges to work in his luxe office in West Palm Beach, giving him the ability to leave the jail six days a week for 12 hours a day. Epstein's limousine would often pick him up from the prison as early as 7:15 a.m., and some days he was not dropped off till almost 11:00 p.m. At the time, the Sheriff Department's official policy ruled explicitly that sex offenders did not qualify for work release. (tense music) Acosta also allowed another unprecedented stipulation that was in direct violation of federal law as ruled by a federal judge in 2019. The victims would not be informed of the deal. During the time the case was sealed, the extent of Epstein's alleged crimes from 2001 to 2005, including the number of girls he assaulted and any information on co-conspirators were lost in a legal limbo. Not even the victims were privy to that information. Local authorities had referred Epstein's case to the FBI as well, but with the plea deal, some have criticized that Acosta had also effectively halted their extensive ongoing probe. In fact, Acosta's deal ensured that Epstein and at least four accomplices received immunity from all federal criminal charges, with an incredibly flexible clause granting immunity to any potential co-conspirators, as well. Many believe this was meant to protect any influential men who might have had sex with underage girls while with Epstein at one of his properties. In 2017, while Acosta was being nominated to be Secretary of Labor under the Trump administration, a position that directly impacted labor laws related to human trafficking, he was questioned about his choices in Epstein's case, to which he said, "At the end of the day, "based on the evidence, "professionals within a prosecutor's office "decided that a plea that guarantees someone goes to jail, "that guarantees he register as a sex offender, "generally, and guarantees other outcomes is a good thing." In 2018, the secret that was absolutely not a secret despite the best efforts of a few powerful men was out again. Julie K. Brown wrote a scalding investigative expose in The Miami Herald that put forth allegations, once again, that Epstein had molested or sexually abused what they now believe to be about 80 girls between 2001 and 2006. The article put Epstein in the hot seat again and this time, he couldn't wiggle out of it. Certain his crimes could not be exclusive to his home in Palm Beach, investigators in New York City now took up the case and on July 6th, 2019, Epstein was arrested. By July 8th, 2019, the Manhattan US Attorney's Office issued federal charges against Epstein for the sexual trafficking of minors. The allegations would also extend to Ghislaine Maxwell, as one of Epstein's recruiters. Upon his indictment in early July, Epstein pleaded not guilty to all allegations that he had sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls in the early 2000s, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach. His trial was slated for June 2020, but what came next was an unexpected twist for Epstein. For years, Epstein had been able to live freely despite the multitude of sexual abuse allegations, but finally, his vast wealth couldn't help him. Epstein offered to put up about $100 million for bail requesting house arrest, secured by armed guards he would pay for. The judge didn't buy his argument. Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Berman said of Epstein's case, "The government has established "danger to others and to the community "by clear and convincing evidence. "I doubt that any bail package "can overcome a danger to the community." After being denied bail, Epstein was returned to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. At 6:30 a.m., on the morning of July 23rd, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell. According to the BBC, The New York Medical Examiner officially ruled the death a suicide by hanging. Reportedly, Epstein had injuries on his neck from unidentified sources that some believe may have been self-inflicted in relation to suicide, but others have not ruled out assault by another inmate. Many have since criticized the prison for their careless treatment of a man who needed the strictest supervision, in part because of how it impacts his victims. On July 2nd, 2020, about a year after Epstein's death, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on charges related to the sexual trafficking of minors and is currently in prison awaiting trial. The women Epstein tormented still await any form of justice for the sick abuse that was perpetrated unto them. The effects of both that abuse as well as the continued failure of the legal and criminal justice systems to protect Epstein's victims have left many of the women deeply traumatized. Jennifer Araoz, who had said Epstein raped her when she was 15 issued a statement offering her perspective. "We have to live with the scars of his actions "for the rest of our lives, "while he will never face the consequences "of the crimes he committed, "the pain and trauma he caused so many people. "Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served." (somber music)