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- Former money manager Jeffrey Epstein pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking of minors on July 8.
- President Donald Trump once referred to Epstein as a “terrific guy.”
- Some of Epstein’s former friends include L Brands CEO Les Wexner and President Bill Clinton. Both have said they cut ties with the disgraced financier years ago.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Former hedge-fund manager and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein may have kept his client list under wraps, but he didn’t do the same with a social circle that included presidents and Hollywood stars.
Epstein, who ran a business out of the US Virgin Islands, was known for jetsetting with the likes of former President Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew (the third child of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth).
“I invest in people — be it politics or science,” Epstein was known to say, according to New York Magazine. “It’s what I do.”
Epstein, 66, was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors on July 6 shortly after exiting his private jet in New Jersey. He pleaded not guilty on July 8. However, Epstein has pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida.
Keep reading to learn more about the famous people who have crossed paths with Epstein.
President Donald Trump once considered Epstein a friend.
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The future president claimed in 2002 that he had a long friendship with Epstein. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump said, according to New York Magazine. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
According to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, Trump now believes the crimes Epstein was charged with are “completely unconscionable and obviously criminal.” She also labeled them “disgusting,” according to a report from the Associated Press.
“The president told me this morning he hasn’t talked to Epstein, he doesn’t think he’s talked to him or seen him in 10 or 15 years,” Conway added.
Former President Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein in 2002 and 2003.
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A statement released by Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said the former President traveled to Europe, Asia, and twice to Africa on Epstein’s private jet. Clinton’s staff and Secret Service agents also went on these trips, which were to further the work of the Clinton Foundation, according to the statement.
At the time, Clinton told New York Magazine through a spokesperson that Epstein was a “both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science.”
Ureña also said that Clinton and Epstein haven’t spoken in “well over a decade” and that Clinton “knows nothing about the terrible crimes” Epstein was charged with.
Read more: Bill Clinton said he ‘knows nothing’ about charges against Jeffrey Epstein
Prince Andrew and Epstein were close friends, the Guardian reported in 2015.
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Maxwell introduced Epstein and the Duke of York in the 1990s, the Guardian reported, and the two became close friends.
The Duke is the son of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth. He has also been criticized for frequently taking flights on the taxpayer’s dime while serving as the country’s special representative for international trade. This earned him the nickname “Airmiles Andy,” according to the Washington Post.
Court documents reviewed by the Guardian allege that Epstein instructed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a 15-year-old employee at Trump’s Mar-a-Largo resort, to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions.
Buckingham Palace said in 2015 that the allegations against Prince Andrew were “false and without any foundation,” according to the Guardian.
Read more: New charges against Jeffrey Epstein highlight his reported past ties to the British royal family
L Brands CEO Les Wexner is Epstein’s only confirmed client.
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Epstein became a trusted confidant of Wexner’s while Epstein managed the CEO’s fortune, according to Vanity Fair. Wexner has a net worth of $6.7 billion, Bloomberg reports. The magazine reported that Wexner allowed Epstein to take an active role in L Brands, which owns Bath & Body Works, Express, and Victoria’s Secret.
In 1989, Wexner used a trust to buy an Upper East Side townhouse that is believed to be the largest private residence in Manhattan for $13.2 million, Vanity Fair reported. Epstein moved in after Wexner and his wife, Abigail Koppel, moved to Ohio in 1996. Wexner’s trust transferred ownership of the house to Epstein in 2011 for $0, Bloomberg reported.
Wexner later fired Epstein as his money manager. “Mr. Wexner severed ties with Mr. Epstein more than a decade ago,” an L Brands spokesperson told Forbes.
US Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta worked with Epstein’s legal team to arrange a plea deal after Epstein was charged with solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida in 2007.
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An investigation by the Miami Herald revealed that Acosta, then a US attorney, had enough evidence against Epstein to request a life sentence. Instead, he reportedly met with one of Epstein’s lawyers, who happened to be a former colleague of Acosta’s. In the resulting plea deal, Epstein served 13 months in a private wing of a county prison, which he was allowed to leave six days a week to work in his office.
Business Insider previously reported that Acosta said he was “pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case based on new evidence,” on Twitter.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called for Acosta’s resignation because of his involvement in the plea deal.
Read more: Stunning new report details Trump’s labor secretary’s role in plea deal for billionaire sex abuser
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Jeffrey Epstein
Donald Trump
Bill Clinton
Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is Epstein’s ex-girlfriend — and alleged madam.
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