Palm Beach- THERE was no happy ending for massage-loving New York financier Jeffrey Epstein over the weekend – the eccentric New York billionaire was busted on a sex charge.
Epstein, once named by Page Six as one of the Big Apple’s most eligible bachelors, was indicted for soliciting a prostitute at his luxurious home in Palm Beach. “He asked for a ‘happy ending,’ ” a friend of the money manager said. It’s believed that one masseuse called the cops earlier this year, sparking an investigation.
Epstein, 53, isn’t sure yet exactly what he’s accused of because the indictment is sealed. The billionaire, who was Mort Zuckerman’s partner in the second coming of Radar magazine, surrendered at the Palm Beach precinct Sunday after he was informed that a Florida grand jury had indicted him last week. He was released on $3,000 bond after hiring high-powered West Palm Beach attorney Jack Goldberg.
Oddly, Epstein was charged with a third-degree felony instead of a misdemeanor – the more serious charge usually being lodged when a defendant has at least two past solicitation convictions, although Epstein has no previous busts for soliciting.
The moneyman, who has been known to date top models, refused to comment. But a pal told us he’s only being prosecuted because he’s an affluent outsider. “This is one of the dangers of being wealthy,” said the friend. “It’s sort of strange that people give a [bleep] about this stuff.”
Epstein’s nightmare weekend was made even worse by a story about his arrest in yesterday’s first edition of the Palm Beach Post, which said he’d been busted in 1993 for stealing his neighbor’s mail, convicted of postal fraud, and given five years probation. It turns out that was a different Jeffrey Epstein, and the paper fixed the error in later editions.
The bust is the latest strange twist in the life of a man whose rise to fabulous wealth is somewhat of a mystery. Epstein was a math teacher at the ultra-posh Dalton School when he started handling the money of billionaire fashion czar Leslie Wexner, who owns The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, Express and Henri Bendel.
He lives now in a 21,000-square-foot Manhattan mansion and owns a private Boeing 727, which he once used to take Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey to Africa on a charity mission.