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Page 15 The Talented Mr. Epstein; Lately, Jeffrey Epstein's high-ying style has been drawing oohs and aahs: the bachelor nancier lives in New York's largest private residence, claims to take only billionaires as clients, and ies celebrities including Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey on his Boeing 727. But pierce his air of mystery and the picture changes. VICKY WARD explores Epstein's investment career, his ties to retail magnate Leslie Wexner, and his complicated past Vanity Fair March 2003 According to a source, Toboroff and Nederlander told Epstein that Snyder was too late, but, without their realizing it, Hoffenberg has claimed, Snyder wrote a check to Hoffenberg and bought out some of his investment. But then Snyder wanted out. "Nederlander started to get these irate calls from (Snyder,) who wasn't part of the deal, saying he was owed all this money," says someone close to the deal. Toboroff and Nederlander were baffled. Eventually, a source close to Hoffenberg says, Hoffenberg paid Snyder off. Just as Nederlander and Toboroff were growing wary of Epstein, he became increasingly involved with Leslie Wexner, whom he had met through insurance executive Robert Meister and his late wife. Epstein has told people that he met Wexner in 1986 in Palm Beach, and that he won his confidence by persuading him not to invest in the stock market, just as the 1987 crash was approaching. His story has subsequently changed. When asked if Wexner knew about his connection to Hoffenberg, Epstein said that he began working for Wexner in 1989, and that "it was certainly not the same time." Wherever and whenever it was that Epstein and Wexner actually met, there was an immediate and strong personal chemistry. Wexner says he thinks Epstein is "very smart with a combination of excellent judgment and unusually high standards. Also, he is always a most loyal friend." Sources say Epstein proved that he could be useful to Wexner as well, with "fresh" ideas about investments. "Wexner had a couple of bad investments, and Jeffrey cleaned those up right away," says a former associate of Epstein's. Before he signed on with Wexner, Epstein had several meetings with Harold Levin, then head of Wexner Investments, in which he enunciated ideas about currencies that Levin found incomprehensible. "In fact," says someone who used to work very closely with Wexner, "almost everyone at the Limited wondered who Epstein was; he literally came out of nowhere." "Everyone was mystified as to what his appeal was," says Robert Morosky, a former vice- chairman of the Limited. Much of Epstein's work is related to cleaning up, tightening budgets, and efficiencies. One person who worked for Wexner and who saw a contract drawn up between the two men says Epstein is involved in "everything, not just a little here, a little there. Everything!" In addition, he says, "Wexner likes having a hatchet man... Whenever there is dirty work to be done he'd stick Jeffrey on it... He has a reputation for being ruthless but he gets the job done." Epstein has evidently been asked to fire personal-staff members when needed. "He was that mysterious person that everyone was scared to death of," says a former employee. Meanwhile, he is also less than popular with some people outside Wexner's company with whom he now deals. "He 'inserted' himself into the construction process of Leslie Wexner's yacht... That resulted in litigation down the road between Mr. Wexner and the shipyard that Al3R Research Profile I aNt modified 6. It 200? For internal use only CONFIDENTIAL - PURSUANT TO FED. R. CRIM. P. 6(e) DB-SDNY-0050785 CONFIDENTIAL SDNY_GM_00196969 EFTA01361582