Financier Jeffrey Epstein Begins Sentence for Prostitution Charges

New York Times — 06/30/08 Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case -NYTimes.com Page 1 of 4 ge 1 of 4 July 1, 2008 Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case By LANDON THOMAS Jr. The bad news arrived by phone last week on Little St. James Island, the palm-fringed Xanadu in the Caribbean where Jeffrey E. Epstein, adviser to billionaires, lives in secluded splendor. Report to the Palm Beach County jail, the caller, Mr. Epstein’s lawyer, said. So over the weekend Mr. Epstein quit his pleasure dome, with its staff of 70 and its flamingo-stocked lagoon, and flew to Florida. On Monday morning, he turned himself in and began serving 18 months for soliciting prostitution. “T respect the legal process,” Mr. Epstein, 55, said by phone as he prepared to leave his 78-acre island, which he calls Little St. Jeff’s. “I will abide by this.” It is a stunning downfall for Mr. Epstein, who grew up in Coney Island and went on to live the life of a billionaire, only to become a tabloid monument to an age of hyperwealth. Mr. Epstein owns a Boeing 727 and the largest town house in Manhattan. He has paid for college educations for personal employees and students from Rwanda, and spent millions on a project to develop a thinking and feeling computer and on music intended to alleviate depression. But Mr. Epstein also paid women, some of them under age, to give him massages that ended with a sexual favor, the authorities say. Federal prosecutors initially threatened to bring him to trial on a variety of charges and seek the maximum penalty, 10 years in prison. After years of legal wrangling, Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty to lesser state charges. Upon his release from jail, he must register as a sex offender wherever he goes in the United States. People from all walks of life break the law, of course. But for the rich, wrapped in a cocoon of immense comfort, it can be easy to yield to temptation, experts say. “A sense of entitlement sets in,” said Dennis Pearne, a psychologist who counsels people on matters related to extreme wealth. The attitude, he said, becomes, “I deserve anything I want, I can have anything I want — and I can afford it.” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021786