Jeffrey Epstein (20 January 1953-10 August 2019) was an American multi-millionaire financier and sex trafficker. He, Donald Trump, and Tom Barrack were close friends between the 1990s and 2000s, and he was well-connected until his 2008 conviction for sex crimes. In 2019, after being arrested a second time for the sexual trafficking of minors, Epstein hanged himself in his jail cell.
Biography[]
Jeffrey Epstein was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, in 1953, and worked for the investment bank Bear Sterns before forming his own firm, J. Epstein & Co. He became a well-connected multimillionaire, and was a longtime friend or acquaintance of Tom Barrack, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Donald Trump, Katie Couric, and Woody Allen. From the 1990s to the 2000s, Epstein, Barack, and Trump were called "nightlife musketeers," and Trump even commented on Epstein's taste for "beautiful women," commenting that many of them were on the younger side. From 1989 to 2003, Epstein donated over $139,000 to Democratic political candidates and $18,000 to Republicans, and he funded New Mexico governor Bill Richardson's successful 2002 and 2006 campaigns. However, in 2008, Epstein fell from grace when he was convicted for sex crimes against minors; he served 13 months in custody for soliciting the services of an underage prostitute. He was controversially released as part of a plea deal, which later resulted in prosecutor and future Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta's resignation in 2019. In 2010, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, influenced by Epstein's donations to several New Mexico candidates, stated that he did not have to register as a sexual predator, which was unconstitutional. On 6 July 2019, Epstein was arrested again for sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York, and he faced up to 45 years in prison. He was assaulted by fellow inmates who called him a "child predator" and attempted suicide in early August 2019 before being placed under a suicide watch. On 10 August 2019, a week after his suicide attempt, Epstein was found hanged in his cell. Suicide was suspected, although far-right conspiracy theorists accused the "deep state" of murdering him due to his friendships with many leading Democrats.