File 021090

Images

Text

Date:
Subject:
From:
To:
Attachments:
Sunday, April 3 2011 03:49 PM
RE: Daily Beast
Peter Green .1.11.>
image001 jpg; image002.jpg
You are mentioned !
Jeffrey Epstein's Society Friends Close Ranks
by Alexandra Wolfe
Alexandra Wolfe is a former contributing editor to Conde Nast Portfolio. She has written for publications
including the New York Times, New York magazine, the New York Observer, and the Wall Street Journal,
where she wrote design and lifestyle features for the Weekend Journal section. Before that, she was a reporter
at the New York Observer. She is currently working on a book called American Coddle, about America's
culture of entitlement.
X Close
No, back then Epstein was mid-makeover. He had monarchy in-house and famous faces at his table. Former
Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne had just endorsed Epstein on his science foundation's website (which has been
since removed). It seemed Epstein had joined the ranks of former President Clinton, director Roman Polanski,
and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, whose sex scandals faded in comparison with their celebrity.
The conventional wisdom among his friends was that Epstein has been victimized by greedy, morally dubious
teenage girls and unscrupulous lawyers. "I've never condoned paying for sex, but if the young lady lied about
her age it's her own fault," explained one socialite, who along with hedge-fund manager Wilbur Ross and real-
estate magnate Leon Black hobnobbed with Epstein at a Southampton movie screening just two months after
his release from "community control" in Florida.
Much of Epstein's entrée into New York society can be credited to Ghislaine Maxwell, the superbly well-
connected daughter of the late press magnate Robert Maxwell. Epstein started dating her in the 1990s. The
romantic relationship ended after a few years, but they have remained close ever since. Last week two victims
publicly alleged that Ghislaine procured them for Epstein, one at age 15 from a Mar-a-Lago country club locker
room. Virginia Roberts, now 27, who was Epstein's sexual plaything for several years, told the Mail on
Sunday. "Ghislaine sent me to a dentist to have my teeth whitened and I went for Brazilian waxes. He wanted
me to look pre-pubescent."
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 021090
Now, New York friends are suddenly hesitant to talk about Maxwell. "She's a high-end 'fixer'," and so what?
they ask. "No one in café society gives a damn that a 15-year-old girl gives massages," says one frequent
charity-benefit guest. "She gets people into parties and runs around for a lot of people." As to the fallout from
her association with Epstein, he says, "If you're Mike Huckabee it would matter but not if you're Ghislaine
Maxwell."
The crowd at the events top publicist Peggy Siegal has organized for Epstein proves the point, at least behind
closed doors. "I and many others that know him describe him as brilliant," says Siegal. "His unique mind is
what attracts the world's smartest people to his home." Last September, with Siegal's help, Epstein hosted a
Break Fast after Yom Kippur. A group of 120 friends brought their children over for a buffet dinner. One
attendee, Jonathan Farkas, a New York real-estate heir, has known Epstein for 35 years and visited him while
he was in prison. "The side I've been reading about is a side I don't know," he says. Farkas considers Epstein
one of the smartest people he knows and often asks him for investment advice. "Unless I've seen it, I don't focus
on it," he says.
"From a cerebral and business side he's worshipped," says socialite Debbie Bancroft. "He's incredibly
charming and handsome. He's an extraordinary package so I can see why people don't want to believe what
they hear. If people come out of jail and are still successful, people are very forgiving, shockingly so."
Renowned scientists whose research Epstein has generously funded through the years also stand by him.
Professor Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist and author of Quantum Man, has planned scientific
conferences with Epstein in St. Thomas and remained close with him throughout his incarceration. "If
anything, the unfortunate period he suffered has caused him to really think about what he wants to do with his
money and his time, and support knowledge," says Krauss. "Jeffrey has surrounded himself with beautiful
women and young women but they're not as young as the ones that were claimed. As a scientist I always judge
things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything
else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other
people." Though colleagues have criticized him over his relationship with Epstein, Krauss insists, "I don't feel
tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it."
Alexandra Wolfe is a former contributing editor to Conde Nast Portfolio. She has written for publications
including The New York Times, New York magazine, The New York Observer, and The Wall Street Journal,
where she wrote design and lifestyle features for the Weekend Journal section. She is working on a book
called American Coddle, about America's culture of entitlement.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Original Message--
From:____________________
Sent: 03 April 2011 12:36
To: Peter Green
Subject: Re: Daily Beast
I cant open anything that is not underlined in blue sorry Peter i am not good at computer stuff.When are you
coming here so i can call Catherine Crier please nothing to maryanne about thsi jonathan
HOUSE OVERSIGHT 021091