Jeffrey Epstein craved big homes, elite friends - and, investigators say, underage girls

By Andrew Marra
August 14th, 2006

WINGED GARGOYLES guarded the gate at Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Inside, hidden cameras trolled two rooms, while the girls came and went.

For the police detectives who sifted through the garbage outside and kept records of visitors, it was the lair of a troubling target.

Epstein, one of the most mysterious of the country’s mega-rich, was known as much for his secrecy as for his love of fine things: magnificent homes, private jets, beautiful women, friendships with the world’s elite.

But at Palm Beach police headquarters, he was becoming known for something else: the regular arrival of teenage girls he hired to give him massages and, police say, perform sexual favors.

Epstein was different from most sexual abuse suspects; he was far more powerful. He counted among his friends former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, along with some of the most prominent legal, scientific and business minds in the country.

When detectives started asking questions and teenage girls started talking, a wave of legal resistance followed. (….Full Article)