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Case 1:19-cv-03377 Document 1-8 Filed 04/16/19 Page 2 of 16
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303

Society

The Talented Mr. Epstein

Lately, Jeffrey Epstein’s high-flying style has been drawing oohs and aahs: the bachelor
financier lives in New York’s largest private residence, claims to take only billionaires as clients,
and flies celebrities including Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey on his Boeing 727. But pierce his
air of mystery and the picture changes. Vicky Ward explores Epstein’s investment career, his ties
to retail magnate Leslie Wexner, and his complicated past.
by

• Vicky Ward

June 27, 2011 12:00 am

On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, home to some of the most expensive real estate on earth, exists
the crown jewel of the city’s residential town houses. With its 15-foot-high oak door, huge
arched windows, and nine floors, it sits on—or, rather, commands—the block of 71st Street
between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Almost ludicrously out of proportion with its four- and
five-story neighbors, it seems more like an institution than a house. This is perhaps not
surprising—until 1989 it was the Birch Wathen private school. Now it is said to be Manhattan’s
largest private residence.

Inside, amid the flurry of menservants attired in sober black suits and pristine white gloves, you
feel you have stumbled into someone’s private Xanadu. This is no mere rich person’s home, but
a high-walled, eclectic, imperious fantasy that seems to have no boundaries.

The entrance hall is decorated not with paintings but with row upon row of individually framed
eyeballs; these, the owner tells people with relish, were imported from England, where they were
made for injured soldiers. Next comes a marble foyer, which does have a painting, in the manner
of Jean Dubuffet … but the host coyly refuses to tell visitors who painted it. In any case, guests
are like pygmies next to the nearby twice-life-size sculpture of a naked African warrior.

Despite its eccentricity the house is curiously impersonal, the statement of someone who wants
to be known for the scale of his possessions. Its occupant, financier Jeffrey Epstein, 50, admits to
friends that he likes it when people think of him this way. A good-looking man, resembling
Ralph Lauren, with thick gray-white hair and a weathered face, he usually dresses in jeans, knit
shirts, and loafers. He tells people he bought the house because he knew he “could never live
anywhere bigger.” He thinks 51,000 square feet is an appropriately large space for someone like
himself, who deals mostly in large concepts—especially large sums of money.

Guests are invited to lunch or dinner at the town house—Epstein usually refers to the former as
“tea,” since he likes to eat bite-size morsels and drink copious quantities of Earl Grey. (He does
not touch alcohol or tobacco.) Tea is served in the “leather room,” so called because of the
cordovan-colored fabric on the walls. The chairs are covered in a leopard print, and on the wall

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