8 Creepy Facts About Jeffrey Epstein’s Personal Life
Some of them are weird.
Getty Financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting his trial, remains at the center of the high-profile case involving the trafficking of underage girls during the early 2000s.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on charges of trafficking and conspiracy to engage in trafficking.
Just a month after spending time in jail, Epstein died of an apparent suicide that was officially ruled by the New York City medical examiner.
Epstein spent most of his career in the shadows, and it wasn't until his death that the cracks in his affairs started to shine through.
Here are 8 creepy facts about Jeffrey Epstein's personal life.
1The origin of Epstein's wealth is largely unknown.
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According to one of Epstein's associates, a Harvard professor and lawyer Alan Dershowitz, he said that Epstein "has so much money that you can't give him anything."
However, Forbes has denied that Epstein is a billionaire, saying that his money-management firm has generated no public records and very few public clients.
2He had a mural of a prison yard inside his house.
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According to The New York Times, in Epstein's seven-story Manhattan residence, he commissioned a mural of a prison yard, with Epstein drawn in the center.
The painting consists of barbed wire, corrections officers, and a guard station.
Epstein had reportedly wanted the painting to serve as a reminder of "the possibility that could be me again."
Epstein had been previously sentenced to 18 months in jail at the Palm Beach County Stockade after being charged with sexually abusing minors.
3There's a strange temple on Epstein's private island, and no one knows what it's for.
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According to Insider, rumors of the temple's purpose range from workers on the island suggesting it may be a music room with a piano, since Epstein is a trained pianist.
Other's have conspiracy theories that it houses an elevator the leads into a lair and space for religious worship.
There are other rumors that infer Epstein ran his alleged trafficking ring there.
Those allegations have led to sinister nicknames including "Island of Sin" and "Orgy Island," according to The Cut.
4A video of a police walkthrough of Epstein's home shows creepy furniture.
Wikimedia Commons / CC by 4.0
In 2005, Epstein's Palm Beach estate was raided by authorities, and they took videos of what had been inside, according to Insider.
Many of the creepy and unsettling furnishings in the house included framed naked photos of underage girls and a portrait of Epstein's reported ex-girlfriend and British socialite, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell was convicted on December 29 of grooming minors for sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein and was found guilty of five of the six federal counts related to Epstein's trafficking ring, according to CBS News.
5Epstein owned a private jet nicknamed 'Lolita Express'
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According to CNBC, Epstein had allegedly owned three passports, along with two private jets and 15 motor vehicles, which were mainly Chevrolet Suburbans.
One of the jets that Epstein owned was reportedly nicknamed the 'Lolita Express,' and a list obtained by Gawker named some of its passengers, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
6Epstein called his female assistants "an extension" of his brain.
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According to Insider, Epstein reportedly only hired female assistants.
Each assistant was required to maintain a 24/7 presence that Epstein called "an extension" of his own brain.
He would treat them to lunches from expensive restaurants, renowned hairstylists, and even hired a full-time nanny after one of his assistants got pregnant.
7Epstein allegedly lied about what he did for work.
Wikimedia Commons
According to Salon magazine, a former friend of Epstein's said that when the two met in 1986, Epstein told him stories about what he did for work.
He told the former friend that he worked as " a high-level bounty hunter. Sometimes, he told me, he worked for governments to recover money looted by African dictators."
"Other times those dictators hired him to help them hide their stolen money," the friend recalled.
8Jeffrey Epstein owned a bizarre portrait of Bill Clinton.
Anthony Correia / Shutterstock
According to Rolling Stone, Epstein reportedly owned a portrait of former US President Bill Clinton wearing a women's blue dress.
“It was hanging up there prominently — as soon as you walked in — in a room to the right,” a law enforcement source told The New York Post. “Everybody who saw it laughed and smirked.”
The artwork by artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid shows the former US president draped over a chair in the Oval Office, dressed in a blue dress and red heels, seeming to reference his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
It was also reported that the artist who originally painted the portrait had no idea that Epstein even owned it, only finding out after the financier had died.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.