EFTA02537773

From: Jeffrey Epstein <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2011 8:42 PM To: Lesley Groff Newscom Hedge fund mogul and sex offender Jeffr=y Epstein, who went free this =eek <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stori=s/2010-07-20/jeffrey-epstein-billionaire-pedophile-goes-free/> , lived=in a of thrice-daily massages, pornographic artwork, and hush money—that'= only now being revealed. reports on the sordid details in part two of her exclusive exposd. Also: • Nude images of young girls were scattered around the house and the bathroom soap=was shaped like sex organs • Staff trolled for fresh recruits to make sure Epstei= had two or three massage appointments each day ./p> • The house manager has been sentenced to a longer prison term than Epstein =80 for trying to =ell notes regarding massage appointments =/p> • Epstein gave $1 million to his friend Jean Luc Brunel when he was starting the modeling agency MC2 • According to a former bookkeeper, young girls were brought to the U.S. by MC2—often from Eastern Europe—then traveled on Epstein =80 s private jets Jeffrey E=stein's loyal friends say that his prosecution was unduly harsh, rather than outrageously lenient. They in=ist that his sexual habits, although obsessive and unusual, were mostly legal a=d essentially harmless. As the police records attest, the girls brought to El Brillo Way were routinely told they could "say no" at any t=me during a massage as Epstein escalated contact in a step-by-step assault that was remarkably similar in every victim's statement: First she would be asked to remove her s=irt, then her pants. and the more willing girls were lured into full- blown sexual relations with both Epstein and who was referred to in press accounts and pol=ce reports as Epstein's live-in "sex slave." A former bookkeeper in the Miami office, who also arranged visas for girls traveling to the U.S=, confirmed that MC2 girls became frequent guests on Epstein's privat= jets. It's true that so=e underage girls may have lied about their age, and some came to the house voluntarily several times— although, according to Florida statutes, none of that has any=bearing on the criminality of the contact, particularly if the girl was 16 or younger.=But what is particularly disturbing about this case—judging by arrangem=nts at the Palm Beach house—is that Epstein, a billionaire hedge-fund manager,=organized his life around this sexual compulsion in an open and methodical way that suggests he felt he was beyond the law. • : Epstein Faces Sex Traffic Probe <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010- 07=29/jeffrey-epstein-feds-probe-possible-child-trafficking-charge/> • Billionaire Pedophile Goes Free <http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/.010-07-20/jeffrey-epstein- billionaire-pedophile-goes-free/> According to police who executed a search warrant, the house was decorated =ith large, framed photos=of nude young girls, and similar images were found stashed in an armoire and o= the computers seized at the house (although police found only bare cables where other computers had been). Some bathrooms were stocked with so=p in the shape of sex organs, and various sex toys, such as a "twin t=rpedo" vibrator and creams and lubricants available at erotic specialty shops, wer= stowed near the massage tables set up in several rooms upstairs. EFTA_R1_01684852 EFTA02537773 Epstein also enlisted his=staff in the predatory activity, and four—a, Lesley Gro=f, and figured in the FBI investigation. The Non Prosecution Ag=eement stipulated that they would not be charged. According to police reports and sworn statements in the civil suits, all four women, among their other duti=s, worked to ensure that an appointment book for twice- or thrice-daily =9Cmassages" was stocked with fresh recruits. Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late Czechoslovakian-born press baron Robert Maxwell, who was for many years Epstein's live-in partner, also recruited young girls. Since his 13-month senten=e for soliciting prostitution with a minor, Epstein has settled more than a dozen lawsuits brought by underage girls. Seven victims reached a last-minute dea= last week, days before a scheduled trial; each received well over $1 million—an =mount that will hardly dent Epstein's $2 billion net worth. The victims told police t=ey waited in the kitchen to be called upstairs for a massage, and the house chef often g=ve them a bite to eat. House manager Alfredo Rodriguez said in his sworn state=ent that a maid named Lupita, who was a devout Catholic, wept when she complain=d to him about cleaning up after the massage sessions, picking up soiled towe=s and putting away the sex toys. And she was upset that a photo of Epstein wi=h the pope hung next to one of him with a young girl. Ironically, Rodriguez, wh= ran the house on El Brillo Way in 2004 and 2005, ended up being sentenced to more jail time than his b=ss as a result of the complex investigation into Epstein's activities<=span>. He was fired, he says, for inadvertently drawing police attention to one of th= girls when she arrived at the house unannounced to collect money. He saw an unfamiliar "beater" in the driveway one evening and called =11. When he left Epstein's employ, Rodriguez took away some notes and emails about massage appointments as "pr=tection" against his own prosecution, and failed to produce them during the Palm Bea=h Police Department's initial investigation. dile:///Users/Story/Library/Cachesnemporaryltems/msoclipNclip_image002.jpg> * javascript:void(0) Unable to get work as a h=use manager elsewhere in South Florida, he says, Rodriguez later tried to sell this =80 golden nugget"—his term—for $50,000, to be used in the vic=ims' civil suits. Unfortunately, he made the offer to an undercover cop, and was subsequently charged with "obstruction of official proceedings" for with=olding information that could have advanced the criminal investigation of Epstein—whic= by that point had been settled in a plea deal. Rodriguez was sentenced to 18 months=in federal prison (Epstein was allowed to serve 13 months in the Palm Beach co=nty jail), and now awaits an additional sentence on Aug. 24 in federal court in Miami for transporti=g firearms, another deal he says he made to pay the bills after he lost his j=b. In a deposition given for=the civil suits, Rodriguez testified that he was instructed to alwa s have $2,000 in =ash on hand, so that he could pay both the girls who gave massages and recruite=s such as who brought them to the house. He also testified that Epstein made large contributions to the Palm Beach Police Department, and i= return was given PBPD baseball hats to put on the dashboard of his various =ars to avoid being stopped or ticketed by local police. Retired Police Chief Michael Reiter, in his own deposition, acknowledged that, in addition to earlier donations to the police department (which are fairly common in well-heeled Palm Beach), Epstein had recently given the department $100,000=for some sophisticated equipment. The police were still researching the purchas= when Epstein came under suspicion, and Reiter ordered the money returned. (=uy Frostin, one of Epstein's local attorneys, told police that Epstein also gav= $100,000 to the Florida Ballet for massages, because he was "very passionate=E2 about massages being "therapeutically and spiritually" beneficial= Yet victims told police they had no massage training.) Perhaps most disturbing, =span style="background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow">in terms of possible=sex trafficking, was Epstein's relationship with Jean Luc Brunel= owner of the MC2 modeling agency. According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District o= Florida, an alleged victim said that Epstein, Maxwell, Brunel, 2 EFTA_R1_01684853 EFTA02537774 Rodriguez, a=d "deliberately engaged in a pattern of racketeering that involved lu=ing minor children through MC2, mostly girls under the age of 17, to engage in sexual play for money." (Which would amount to trafficking.)=/p> Brunel is a 50-plus Frenc= playboy who was formerly part owner of Karin, a Paris-based modeling agency. He lives i= New York and South Beach, Florida, and owns 85 percent of MC2, which has office= in New York, Miami, and Tel Aviv. (The remaining 15 percent is owned by his partner, Jeff Fuller.) Brunel has been observed as a house guest at Epstein=E2 s Palm Beach home and may well have had contact with him also in New York, wh=re Epstein owns a lavish home, and in Paris, where Epstein keeps an apartment =n elegant Ave. Foch. CBS reporter Craig Pyes, =ho investigated Brunel for a 60 Minute= broadcast many years ago, is quoted in Michael Gross' book about th= modeling industry, Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. Pyes told the author tha= Brunel "ranks among the sleaziest people in the fashion industry. W='re talking about a conveyor belt, not a casting couch. Hundreds of girls were not only harassed but molested." Now The Daily Beast has learned that Epstein had made a $1 mill=on wire transfer to Brunel's offshore bank account in September 2004, =ust as he was setting up MC2. Whether this was a gift or a loan or a backdoor investment in the new venture is unknown. A French citizen who managed to a=oid giving evidence in the Epstein investigation, Brunel declined to comment on=any of this, as does Fuller. Asked in April of Brunel's activities, Epstein said "I'm =00 percent convinced that he doesn't traffic children." (Brunel has never been=charged.) An American fashion desig=er who booked her girls through MC2 says they were very young and very beautiful; many we=e from Eastern Europe and spoke little English. A former bookkeeper in the agency's Miami office, who also arranged visas for girls traveling =o the U.S., confirmed that MC2 girls became frequent guests on Epstein's privat= jets. Pilot logs obtained in th= civil suits show that some of th= named plaintiffs were on the flight manifests. Other times, the pilo= would just list the other passengers plus "female." *•* ****** * ***** *****•** ***** ***** ***** ********=*******•*•** The information contained in this communication is conf=dential, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute inside infor=ation, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the property of Jeffrey Epstein Unau=horized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part th=reof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received t=is communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or=by e-mail to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> , and destroy this communication and all copies t=ereof, including all attachments. copyright -all rights reserved 3 EFTA_R1_01684854 EFTA02537775