Here's How Deceased Financier Jeffrey Epstein Built a Fortune Worth More Than $500 Million

A sex offender or a billion-dollar entrepreneur? Jeffrey Epstein was as much a man of mystery as he was of wealth. The disgraced financier committed suicide while awaiting his trial on sex trafficking charges and left behind over a $500 million fortune. However, the question remained: how was he worth so much?

Similar to his death, there are several conspiracy theories about how Epstein built a million-dollar empire. He was a renowned financier and socialite who mingled with billionaires at high-profile soirees. The 66-year-old came into the spotlight after a girl accused him of running a well-connected sex trafficking scandal. 

To begin with, the politically connected businessman never attended college, but he still roped in a wide range of public figures like former president Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, software moguls, and members of the British royal family like Prince Andrew, reports CBS News.

Born into a family of Jewish immigrant grandparents, Epstein's childhood was spent in Brooklyn, where he excelled in math and graduated from high school. He briefly attended Cooper Union and New York University, according to some reports by multiple news outlets.

However, it was reported that the bulk of Epstein's wealth came from his money management firm for ten-figure clients. Although not much was known about his clientele at the time, he worked as Victoria's Secret's founder and Les Wexner's business and money adviser. But he was only associated with the American lingerie brand for over a decade.

After the sex charges against him surfaced in the media, several financiers claimed Epstein was absent from the market. Enrique Diaz-Alvarez, chief risk officer at Ebury, reported, "He's supposed to run an enormous FX [foreign-exchange] trading firm. But I never once heard of him, his firm, or anyone who worked or traded with him," as reported by Intelligencer. 

Echoing the above statement, Forbes 2010 published a blog report in 2010 titled: Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein Is Not a Billionaire, and in it, the publication claimed Epstein's money-management firm based in the Virgin Islands "generated no public records, nor has his client list ever been released." 

Aside from his firm, he owned a palatial townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which was worth $50 million. The disgraced financier also owned a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, worth about $12 million, a ranch in New Mexico worth $17 million, and an apartment in Paris worth an estimated $8.6 million.  

In terms of his other properties, Epstein also owned two private Caribbean islands—Great St. James and Little St. James, both valued at $86 million. The 72-acre Little St. James was dubbed "pedophile island" and included several villas. He also had a private jet used by many famous and influential names in America. 

Spencer Kuvin, an attorney representing three of Epstein's alleged victims, said in 2008, "In the litigation itself, we were never able to get him to produce verified financial information. The 'nine figures' came by negotiation. It kept going up and up and up. They started at zero—they wouldn't tell us at all."