Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Jeffrey Epstein Story (Part I)

Jeffrey Edward Epstein(/ˈɛpstiːn/ EP-steen; January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was anAmerican financier and convicted sex offender. He began hisprofessional life as a teacher but then switched to the banking andfinance sector in various roles, working at Bear Stearns beforeforming his own firm. He developed an elite social circle andprocured many women, including underage girls, who were then sexuallyabused by Epstein and some of his contacts.

In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida,began investigating Epstein after a parent complained that he hadsexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Epstein pleaded guilty andwas convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring anunderage girl for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. Heserved almost 13 months in custody, but with extensive work release.He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversialplea deal; federal officials had identified 36 girls, some as youngas 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused.

Epstein was arrested again on July 6,2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Floridaand New York. He died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. Themedical examiner ruled the death a suicide. Epstein's lawyers havedisputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticismabout the true cause of his death. Since his death precluded thepossibility of pursuing criminal charges, a judge dismissed allcriminal charges on August 29, 2019. Epstein had a decades-longassociation with Ghislaine Maxwell, who has faced persistentallegations of procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls forEpstein, which led to her arrest by the FBI on July 2, 2020. Epsteinalso maintained a years-long friendship with Prince Andrew, Duke ofYork, who resigned from royal duties over his ties to Epstein.

Early life

Epstein was born in 1953 in the NewYork City borough of Brooklyn to Jewish parents Pauline (néeStolofsky, 1918–2004) and Seymour G. Epstein (1916–1991). Hisparents were married in 1952, shortly before his birth. Paulineworked as a school aide and was a homemaker. Seymour Epstein workedfor the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as agroundskeeper and gardener. Jeffrey Epstein was the older of twosiblings. Epstein and his brother Mark grew up in the working-classneighborhood of Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brooklyn.

Epstein attended local public schools,first Public School 188 and then Mark Twain Junior High Schoolnearby. In 1967, Epstein attended the National Music Camp at theInterlochen Center for the Arts. He began playing the piano when hewas five. He graduated in 1969 from Lafayette High School at age 16,having skipped two grades. Later that year, he attended classes atCooper Union until he changed colleges in 1971. From September 1971,he attended the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NewYork University, but left without receiving a degree in June 1974.

Career

Teaching

Epstein started working in September1974 as a physics and mathematics teacher for teens at the DaltonSchool on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Donald Barr, who servedas the headmaster until June 1974, was known to have made severalunconventional recruitments at the time, although it is unclearwhether he had a direct role in hiring Epstein. Three months afterBarr's departure, Epstein began to teach at the exclusive privateschool despite his lack of credentials. Epstein allegedly showedinappropriate behavior toward underage students at the time. Hebecame acquainted with Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer ofBear Stearns, whose son and daughter were going to the school.Greenberg's daughter, Lynne Koeppel, pointed to a parent-teacherconference where Epstein influenced another Dalton parent intoadvocating for him to Greenberg. In June 1976, Epstein was dismissedfrom Dalton for "poor performance". Greenbergoffered him a job at Bear Stearns.