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Ol/11/2688 21725 FBLEdEd42n x PAGE ar The Fantasist Page 2 ot Y they are, what they have accomplished in their fields?” One of the accusers—a girl of 14—had put his age at 45, not in his fifties, and you could see why. His walk was youthful, and his face was ruddy with health. He had none of the round-shouldered, burdened qualities of middle age. There was nothing in his hands, not a paper, a book, or a phone. Epstein had on his signature outfit: new blue jeans and a powder-blue sweater. “I’ve only ever seen him in jeans,” his friend the publicist Peggy Siegal had reported, saying there was a hint of arrogance in that, Epstein’s signal that he doesn’t have to wear a uniform like the rest of us. I told Epstein and Rubenstein the sort of story New York wanted to do, and Epstein seemed to find ironic delight in every word. “A secretive genius,” I’d said. “Not secretive, private,” he corrected in his warm Brooklyn accent. “And if I was a genius | wouldn’t be sitting here.” “A guy with sex issues.” A smile formed on Epstein’s bow-shaped lips. “What do you mean by sex issues?” Well ... He was 54, had never married—I didn’t finish. “‘Are you channeling my mother?” When I said we were interested in the agony of his ordeal, Rubenstein wrote out the word agony in capital letters on his pad. But agony seemed the last thing on Epstein’s soul. “It’s the Icarus story, someone who flies too close to the sun,” I said. “Did Icarus like massages?” Epstein asked. Two years before, he had tried to explain himself to the Palm Beach police in the same way. After they came into his mansion with a search warrant and carted off massage tables and photos of naked girls and soaps shaped like genitalia, Epstein conveyed an urgent message to the detectives through his attomey. “Mr. Epstein is very passionate about massages ... The massages are therapeutic and spiritually sound for him, that is why he has had many massages.” Epstem had even given $100,000 to Ballet Florida's massage fund, so that the dancers might also be treated. 1 never got to interview Epstein at length. His dream team of lawyers led by Gerald Lefcourt was negotiating a plea with Florida state prosecutors in advance of a January 7 trial date. It is expected that Epstein will plead guilty to soliciting prostitution and get an eighteen-month sentence—not that there’s likely to be a shameful admission. He has always had the confidence that comes with the power to dazzie and, though accused of “doing everything in Sodom and Gomorrah.” as one friend put it. seemed to believe that he could convince any halfway sophisticated person that he wasn't the least bit tawdry “He lives ina different environment.” says Sicgal. “He's of this world. But he creates this different envuronment. fe lives like a pasha. {he most miynificent townhouse I’ve ever been in, and P’ve been mn everything. I’ve seen a model of the house in Santa Fe ... a stone fortress. A model of the house in the Caribbean—it is not to be believed. I’ve seen photographs of the apartment in Paris ... How did he get himself into that pickle? That's the mystery of Jeffrey Epstein. He's very mysterious. Not that many people get close to him. Not that many people know him.” The descriptions of Epstein’s character veer between visionary and big talker. His world seems to be at ol distance from norma! humanity. [fe lives in what is described as the largest private residence in Latta. about 50,000 square feet in nine stories between Fifth and Madison on 71st. Visitors report a mnfted poodle is on the piano. The house. said one visitor, is like what Hollvwood might imagine w ag n sires to Show the supericn. When Popstem noticed fhe visitor s : ni shiRe mt wt his surrevetedt neg | sed against a wali win a soft smile and tapped the panciing fe vat jake“ he eid Fosaney in re oney Island, the son of a Parks Department employe «, He never got a college degree. He studied une at, Papen E] non and then NYC before migrating ineviably toward weaith. tor two vears, * 1 fo) esd math atthe Dalton School on the Upper East Side. uii * venbere. a friend of the father of one of Epstein’ s students. offered him a tob at Bear Stearns. In one hitn:/Awww.orintthis clickabilitv.com/ot/cpt?action=cnt&title=The+Fantasist&exnire=&url... 1/13/2008 07/26/17 Page 22 of 151 Public Records Request No.: 17-295 DOJ-OGR- 00032061