Photos from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan townhouse reveal a trove of correspondence from powerful figures celebrating the convicted sex offender's 63rd birthday in 2016, including notes from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, media mogul Mortimer Zuckerman, and director Woody Allen that reference the mansion's dinner gatherings and disturbing atmosphere, The New York Times revealed on Tuesday.
The previously undisclosed documents show how Epstein transformed his seven-story Upper East Side mansion into a sophisticated salon for entertaining celebrities, academics, and politicians, complete with surveillance cameras, a massage room stocked with lubricant, and walls lined with photos of world leaders including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Pope John Paul II.
Barak, Israel's former prime minister, and his spouse observed the remarkable variety of attendees, The New York Times reported. "There is no boundary to your inquisitiveness," the couple wrote in their message, assembled with additional notes in January 2016. "You remain like a sealed volume to numerous guests but you understand everything about every individual."
Media executive Mortimer Zuckerman proposed components for a dinner that would capture the mansion's character, suggesting a basic salad and additional items that "would boost Jeffrey's sexual capabilities," according to The New York Times.
Film director Woody Allen characterized how the gatherings evoked Dracula's fortress, "where Lugosi maintains three youthful female vampires who attend the establishment."
However, Epstein's treasured estate was not a dark Transylvanian stronghold. The financier had invested years converting the seven-floor, 21,000-square-foot residence into a location where he could display – and strengthen – his associations with wealthy and influential individuals, even as indications of his sinister nature remained present, according to previously unrevealed photographs and records demonstrating his lifestyle during his final years.
Following Epstein's death in federal detention in 2019, which authorities ruled a suicide, numerous enigmas about his existence have remained unresolved. How did he accumulate a nine-figure wealth? And why did countless powerful men persist in associating with him long after he became a documented sex offender?
For years, Maxwell was a regular presence in Epstein's New York residence, where she maintained an office. But she and Epstein had separated by the mid-2010s. A mounted photograph in the residence showing Epstein with Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend, Melania Knauss, was edited to remove Maxwell.
The residence was among five properties worldwide owned by Epstein. After his release in 2009 from a Florida detention facility, where he completed 13 months for soliciting prostitution from a minor, the mansion functioned as both a personal retreat and a gathering place where he could entertain accomplished intellectuals, scientists and financiers, according to legal documents and conversations with individuals who regularly visited the home. The guests regarded Epstein as entertaining, intelligent and inquisitive. Another benefit included mingling with the young, attractive women who moved throughout the property and served as his assistants.
The residence, located steps from Central Park, was purchased by Epstein in 1998 from Leslie H. Wexner, the billionaire proprietor of L Brands. Epstein renovated and redecorated the mansion in an unconventional style. Scores of mounted prosthetic eyeballs decorated the entrance. A sculpture depicting a woman in a wedding dress and grasping a rope was suspended in a central courtyard.
In the ground-level dining area, Epstein hosted a changing group of celebrities, academics, politicians and business leaders. The cuisine could be ordinary – occasionally nothing beyond a buffet of Chinese delivery, Allen's correspondence noted – but the occasions were extraordinary. Photographs reveal that attendees sat in leopard-print seats surrounding a large rectangular table, the The New York Times reported. Periodically, guests mentioned in interviews, a magician would perform. Occasionally, a chalkboard was brought out so an attendee could sketch a diagram or inscribe a mathematical equation. Epstein maintained a map of Israel drawn on a chalkboard with Barak's signature, according to a photograph examined by The New York Times.
Photographs display a sideboard filled with mounted snapshots showcasing Epstein's associations with some of the globe's most recognizable individuals. There was Epstein grinning beside Pope John Paul II, Mick Jagger, Elon Musk and Fidel Castro. Additionally featured were Larry Summers, former President Bill Clinton and Richard Branson. Adjacent was the photograph from 2000 displaying Epstein with Trump and the future first lady – excluding Maxwell.
Next to that was a mounted dollar bill autographed by Bill Gates, potentially as settlement of a wager. "I was incorrect!" the Microsoft co-founder inscribed across George Washington's portrait.
Ascending a grand stairway was Epstein's wood-paneled study, containing a massive desk. Photographs show a preserved tiger resting on a luxurious carpet. In the study, according to photographs examined by The Times, Epstein displayed a green first edition of "Lolita," the 1955 novel in which an intellectual develops a sexual fixation with a 12-year-old girl and repeatedly assaults her. Upon a wooden cabinet were additional mounted photographs, including one of Epstein with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Another level higher, on the third floor, was Epstein's private quarters – a suite that contained his bedroom, the mansion's notorious massage room and a group of bathrooms.
Installed in a corner above his bed was a surveillance camera, photographs reveal. A second camera can be observed in an adjacent room. Multiple Epstein victims have stated the mansion was equipped with a system of concealed video cameras.
In the massage room were paintings of unclothed women, a large silver ball and chain, and shelves filled with lubricant, according to photographs reviewed by The Times.
No surveillance cameras were apparent in the photographs of the massage room. An earlier compilation of correspondence, presented to Epstein in a leather-bound volume for his 50th birthday in 2003, reflected a period of his life before his first arrest. That collection included contributions from Trump and Clinton, among dozens of others, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trump has denied a report in The Journal that he contributed a sexually suggestive note and drawing. He has filed a lawsuit against the news organization for defamation. Clinton's spokesman has said the former president was unaware of Epstein's crimes.
However, by 2016, as Epstein's reputation as a sexual predator became increasingly difficult to overlook, his social circle was contracting. Three years later, he would die in a Manhattan jail while awaiting prosecution on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The Times examined seven birthday messages given to Epstein in 2016. In addition to those from Zuckerman, Allen and Barak, there were letters from the linguist Noam Chomsky and his wife; Joichi Ito, an entrepreneur who years later would resign from M.I.T. and the board of The New York Times Company because of his ties to Epstein; and Lawrence M. Krauss, a prominent physicist. Martin Nowak, a Harvard biologist, contributed a science-themed poem.
Zuckerman, Allen, Ito, Dr. Nowak and Bannon did not respond to requests for comment from The New York Times. Barak declined to comment. Dr. Chomsky's wife responded on his behalf and declined to comment. Dr. Krauss said he didn't recall the letter but attended "several lunches with very interesting discussions" with scientists, authors and others at Epstein's home.
In their typed correspondence, Barak and his wife, Nili Priel, praised Epstein as "A COLLECTOR OF PEOPLE." The letter concluded, "May you enjoy long and healthy life and may all of us, your friends, enjoy your table for many more years to come."
