Jeffrey Epstein Isn’t a Billionaire, New Court Documents Reveal
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is a rich man, but he isn’t anywhere close to being a billionaire, according to a new court document released Monday.
Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via Reuters
Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is a rich man, but he isn’t anywhere close to being a billionaire, according to a new court document released on Monday, July 15.
Epstein’s has a net worth of about $560 million, according to an asset summary dated June 30, one week prior to his July 6 arrest.
The disclosure reveals that Epstein owns $181 million worth of property in New York, New Mexico, Florida and Paris, in addition to two private islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
An aerial view of Little Saint James Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a property purchased by Jeffery Epstein more than two decades ago. Gianfranco Gaglione/AP Photo
A man walks past the front door of the upper east side home of Jeffrey Epstein, after the Southern District of New York announced charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, in New York, U.S., July 8, 2019. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Epstein also owns hedge funds valued at $195 million, equities of $113 million and $57 million in cash, according to his asset summary.
It’s unclear if the summary includes the “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds” that prosecutors said Monday they found in Epstein’s safe.
It’s unclear how Epstein came about his wealth. His only known client is Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founder and CEO of Victoria’s Secret’s parent company.
Epstein said in a 2002 profile in New York Magazine that his money-management firm would only work with clients with a net worth of at least $1 billion, a requirement that has many financial experts scratching their head.
Furthermore, Epstein held full control over his investors’ money — all 150 of his employees in 2002 were administrative in nature.
A protest group called "Hot Mess" hold up signs of Jeffrey Epstein in front of the Federal courthouse on July 8, 2019 in New York City. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Epstein’s former mentor and convicted Ponzi schemer Steven Hoffenberg alleged in an affidavit for a federal lawsuit that Epstein is running a Ponzi scheme of his own, the Daily Beast reported.
Prosecutors said they also located a suspicious passport in Epstein’s safe.
“The passport was issued in the name of a foreign country, it was issued in the 1980s, it is expired, it shows a picture of Jeffrey Epstein, and another name,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller said of his passport, which listed Saudi Arabia as Epstein’s residence.
Rossmiller added that the safe contained “many, many photographs” of young girls, including one who claims to have been victimized by Epstein.
Epstein’s lawyer said Monday that the accused sex trafficker is willing to post bail up to $100 million, but prosecutors are fighting to keep him behind bars as he awaits his trial, alleging that he’s already engaged in witness tampering by wiring $350,000 to two possible co-conspirators in recent months. “What the defendant is asking for here is special treatment, to build his own jail, to be limited in his own gilded cage,” Rossmiller said Monday, according to CNBC. “A person who needs these conditions should be detained.”
“He has every incentive to flee if he is released,” Rossmiller added.
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