One Key to Epstein's Fortune: He Was a 'Prodigious' Liar

So how exactly did Jeffrey Epstein get so rich? The New York Times is out with a deeply reported story that provides perhaps the fullest account yet of how the college dropout began amassing his fortune. It is not a flattering one. "In his first two decades of business, we found that Epstein was less a financial genius than a prodigious manipulator and liar," reads the story by David Enrich, Steve Eder, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Matthew Goldstein.

• First big break: In 1976, Epstein was on the brink of losing his job as a teacher at the Dalton School in Manhattan, when a Dalton parent put him in touch with Ace Greenberg, future CEO of Bear Stearns. Greenberg mentored Epstein and gave him another life-changing break: Bear Stearns forgave Epstein when it learned he had lied about graduating from two California universities.

• Big picture: "It was perhaps the first example of Epstein getting caught cheating—and then avoiding punishment thanks to his uncanny ability to take advantage of those in positions of power," reads the story. "This would become a lifelong pattern, one that largely explains Epstein's remarkable success at amassing wealth and, eventually, orchestrating a vast sex-trafficking operation."
• First big windfall: Over and over, it seems, Epstein lied about his credentials, inflated his client list, exploited girlfriends and young assistants as social currency, and pushed right up to—and sometimes over—legal and ethical lines. One early investor accused him of absconding with $450,000, and it wasn't the only such accusation. But he also had legit windfalls. He was handsomely rewarded, for example, for tracking down a wealthy Spanish family's stolen money in the Cayman Islands. The reward made him a millionaire.
• Two big names: The piece also recounts how Epstein exaggerated his association with David Rockefeller to win clients, and how billionaire Les Wexner (behind brands such as the Limited and Victoria's Secret) ended up being perhaps Epstein's biggest benefactor. It wasn't only because of the "hundreds of millions" Epstein made through his work for Wexner but because of the clout and connections he gained as a result of the association.
• Read the full investigation.