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TERSON of Spanish families — including _—had invested with Drysdale. indreds of millions of dollars. 2 investors. ey Epstein was help in recover- ing stupid,” she told him. lyn accent. They blended well vely. is willing to help. e, with the money. The family (lit? A scheme. He knew some of $ ” _ And now the money 1s gone. in recall that he was bad off after tt was—from Bear Stearns. Mov- a while. Sleeping in his lawyer's an apartment in the Solow: Tower, \fter all, Epstein left Bear Stearns i t Epstein’s lifestyle was expensive. 4 ien, and Ana was still in her twen- q ctors Studio—the New York City 4 on Brando, Robert De Niro, Jack id all been members of. d formed a company, sry impressive. In fac i i riment was running out of his apa : International” t, IAG was @ Firtyy Ricu But if Ana had known that, would she have cared? She could already see that Epstein was brilliant. And though she would maintain that their friendship was strictly platonic, it was Ana who helped set Epstein on his course. Like other beautiful women he'd cultivate throughout his life, she opened doors to whole other kingdoms. Ones that no boys from Brooklyn had even dreamed of. Andrew Levander was an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. He was assigned to look into Drysdale’s collapse. The case he was building would result in fraud convictions for a number of Drysdale executives, and even today, Levander remembers Epstein bringing “a very attractive woman” to meet him when Epstein came to him in the course of the investigation. The woman was Ana Obregon. Levander told Ana that he was already working the case. A lawyer named Robert Gold, who was a former federal prosecutor himself, was assisting. And now Epstein would join them in the hunt for the monies. In effect, DGS had built a series of labyrinths, rabbit holes, 7 deadfalls. And even investors who'd lost vast sums to the com- ' pany were less than forthcoming when it came to speaking > to the US attorney. Several of the investors were foreign. Some had violated their own countries’ laws pertaining to foreign investments. This was where Epstein—with his calm, confident air of discretion —came in. Ana Obregon gave Epstein power of attorney over any monies 103 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021961