Jeffrey Epstein's Properties Worth Millions, Could Be Connected To Brother's Real Estate Firm
After Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal charges for sex trafficking of minors, any relationship with him has become toxic.
Perhaps that explains why his younger brother Mark has disavowed any direct connection with Epstein's presence at 301 East 66th St. in Manhattan, a condo building owned by Mark's real estate company Ossa Properties, Crain's New York Business reports.
The building is listed on finance documents as a condominium project with three-quarters of the units unsold. Condo building owners are allowed to rent out unsold units, and Mark acknowledged to Crain's that Jeffrey had used some of those unsold units, but denied any knowledge of who paid rent or what activities went on there.
Lawyers for some of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims have claimed that he put up several teenage girls at 301 East 66th over the years while he supposedly sought out modeling jobs for them. The business entity that legally owns Epstein's lavish Upper East Side house at 9 East 71st St., valued as high as $77M, lists 301 East 66th St. as its address.
Even the most basic elements of Mark and Jeffrey's connection have been shrouded in secrecy. In attempting to deny the latter's bail, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that he had no immediate family, Crain's reports. Mark has since put up a home of his own in Florida as collateral for a potential bail bond for his brother.
A more explicit potential business connection between the two arose after Harlem Link Charter School named Ossa in a court filing as affiliated with J. Epstein & Co. The company primarily served as a wealth manager for Jeffrey Epstein's friend and mentor Leslie Wexner, but Mark told Crain's the school's assertion was inaccurate.
"There's no business relationship between those entities," the younger Epstein told Crain's.
Wexner is the founder and CEO of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, both of which have suffered in the stock market since the connection between him and Epstein was put in the spotlight.
In preliminary court filings, Epstein's legal team claimed that his net worth stands at $559M, including over $179M in real estate. The largest chunk of that figure comes from two private islands within the U.S. Virgin Islands: Little St. James, valued at $63M, and Great St. James, valued at $22.5M, CNBC reports.
The rest of Epstein's real estate portfolio consists of homes in New Mexico, Paris and Palm Beach, Florida. The Palm Beach estate was the focus of the investigation that led to his guilty plea in 2008 on underage prostitution charges.
The sentence Epstein's legal team negotiated with then-Department of Justice attorney Alex Acosta led to accusations of improper favoritism. The intense controversy surrounding the deal eventually led Acosta to resign as Secretary of Labor days after Epstein's arrest on a litany of more severe charges in July.
