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Case 1:19-cv-03377 Document 1-8 Filed 04/16/19 Page 14 of 16
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303

Much of Epstein’s work is related to cleaning up, tightening budgets, and efficiencies. One
person who worked for Wexner and who saw a contract drawn up between the two men says
Epstein is involved in “everything, not just a little here, a little there. Everything!” In addition, he
says, “Wexner likes having a hatchet man…. Whenever there is dirty work to be done he’d stick
Jeffrey on it…. He has a reputation for being ruthless but he gets the job done.”

Epstein has evidently been asked to fire personal-staff members when needed. “He was that
mysterious person that everyone was scared to death of,” says a former employee.

Meanwhile, he is also less than popular with some people outside Wexner’s company with
whom he now deals. “He ‘inserted’ himself into the construction process of Leslie Wexner’s
yacht…. That resulted in litigation down the road between Mr. Wexner and the shipyard that
eventually built the vessel,” says Lars Forsberg, a lawyer whose firm at the time, Dickerson and
Reily, was hired to deal with litigation stemming from the construction of Wexner’s Limitless—
at 315 feet, one of the largest private yachts in the world. Evidently, Epstein stalled on paying
Dickerson and Reily for its work. “It’s probably once or twice in my legal career that I’ve had to
sue a client for payment of services that he’d requested and we’d performed … without issue on
the performance,” says Forsberg. In the end the matter was settled, but Epstein claims he now
has no recollection of it.

The incident is one of a number of disputes Epstein has become embroiled in. Some are for sums
so tiny as to be baffling; for instance, Epstein sued investment adviser Herbert Glass, who sold
him the Palm Beach house in 1990, for $13,444—Epstein claimed this was owed him for
furnishings removed by Glass.

In 1998 the U.S. Attorney’s Office sued Epstein for illegally subletting the former home of the
deputy consul general of Iran to attorney Ivan Fisher and others. Epstein paid $15,000 a month in
rent to the State Department, but he charged Fisher and his colleagues $20,000. Though the exact
terms of the agreement are sealed, the court ruled against Epstein.

Wexner offers some insight into his friend’s combative style. “Many times people confuse
winning and losing,” Wexner says. “Jeffrey has the unusual quality of knowing when he is
winning. Whether in conversations or negotiations, he always stands back and lets the other
person determine the style and manner of the conversation or negotiation. And then he responds
in their style. Jeffrey sees it in chivalrous terms. He does not pick a fight, but if there is a fight,
he will let you choose your weapon.”

One case is rather more serious. Currently, Citibank is suing Epstein for defaulting on loans from
its private-banking arm for $20 million. Epstein claims that Citibank “fraudulently induced” him
into borrowing the money for investments. Citibank disputes this charge.

The legal papers for another case offer a rare window into Epstein’s finances. In 1995, Epstein
stopped paying rent to his landlord, the nonprofit Municipal Arts Society, for his office in the
Villard House. He claimed that they were breaking the terms of the lease by not letting his staff
in at night. The case was eventually settled. However, one of the papers filed in this dispute is
Epstein’s financial statement for 1988, in which he claimed to be worth $20 million. He listed

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